The Blues Brothers 25 Years Later.

While not in the same vane as many of my recent post. I have been posting mostly prewar blues in SqueezeMyLemon, that is because that is where I am at right now. Those blues are the ones that shade me right now. That is how blue I am. If you understand what I trying to say.

But there is an event that is going on in the world of the blues that I want to draw your attention to. It is the up coming release of the 25th Anniversary Edition of the 1980 movie "The Blues Brothers".

I have heard some of the critics say that this movie is really not about the blues at all. I mean it does not really have any blues greats in it. But that is OK. I think that Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi both loved the music and it showed in the work that they did on Sartuday Night Live and in the original movie.

Then there is the matter of the musicians, in the movie. The band, which had among others, Steve Cropper, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Lou Marini, was a real band of real musicians that played a tight, sharp, and clean set. In the movie there were musical performances by the band and guests Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, and James Brown which are classic and priceless. Even though they are not strictly blues performances. But they reflect where the music was at when the movie was made.

A very good interview was done on Terry Gross' NPR show, Dan Aykroyd, Still Full of the 'Blues'.

On Aug 30th there will be an anniversary event. The event will feature a live Q&A discussion with director/writer John Landis and the film's star and co-writer, Dan Aykroyd (via satellite from Toronto), followed by a first time screening of the film in high definition and cinema surround sound. The entire program will be presented live via satellite beginning at 6:30 p.m. PT / 9:30 p.m. ET to 83 movie theatres from coast to coast.

There are many highlight in the movie that still make me laugh to this day;

1. The seemingly endless, escalating series of car crashes. (I loved this, some don't)
2. "We've got both kinds of music: country AND western"
3. "We're on a mission from God"
4. When Ray Charles (God rest his soul) orders during the diner scene "four fried chickens and a Coke."
5. The scene with Carry Fisher, makes me laugh to this day.