Big night makes Joliet focus of Blues Brothers fandom

Emily Mohring traveled from Canada for Blues Brothers Con, saying the trip to Joliet was the fulfillment of a dream.

Her enthusiasm reflected the attention Joliet received last week from people in other states and other countries as the Old Joliet Prison opened its gates for a second time for a performance by the Blues Brothers band that provided the opening scene of the movie that continues to attract new fans in its fifth decade.

Mohring of Hamilton, Ontario, was born 20 years after the movie came out.

“I pretty much loved the Blues Brothers from day one because of my late parents,” she said. “It’s been a lifelong dream to come here and experience Joliet and Illinois in general.”

Visitors from around the country had unique stories about what brought them to Joliet on Saturday to see Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi perform with the Blues Brothers band.

Jason Lamborne of Los Angeles, California, performed the role of Elwood Blues himself in a tribute band that played in a pre-game show in an early 1990s Super Bowl and has traveled to Japan to perform.

“This is fantastic,” Lamborne said of the Blues Brothers experience inside the Old Joliet Prison.

Lamborne said he stopped by the prison once before in 1988 when he was traveling cross-country. He parked his car outside the prison and got out to look at the Joliet Correctional Center that he had only seen before in “The Blues Brothers” movie that came out in 1980.

“I said, ‘wow, this is fantastic,’” he said. “And, then somebody yelled at me, ‘You can’t park here! Get out of here!’ It was still a prison.”

Lamborne had got the attention of a prison guard.

On Saturday, he gathered inside the prison with friends Anthony Gallela of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Nate McReynolds of Fort Worth, Texas. They took photographs of themselves at the gate where Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues exit when they leave the prison in the movie.

Blues Brothers fans came not only from across the country but around the world.

The Joliet Area Historical Museum, which manages the Old Joliet Prison and organizes Blues Brothers Con, said before the event that ticket sales showed people coming from 11 countries on six continents.

At Ray’s Music Exchange, a vending tent comprised of four local record stores that took on the name of a music store in “The Blues Brothers” movie for the day, Tiffany Johnson said the vendors had met people from Australia, Brazil and the United Kingdom in the early hours of Blues Brothers Con.

“This is an international event,” Johnson said.

Axl Blues, his stage name, traveled to Joliet from Florence, Alabama, in a used Ford Crown Victoria that he bought for its Bluesmobile qualities.

He first watched “The Blues Brothers” in 2002 at a time when he did not use the name Axl Blues and was not an enthusiast of blues music.

“But I saw the light,” he said. “So, I started performing karaoke as a solo blues brother.”

He’s been performing since with harmonica in hand, sometimes getting on stage with big names in blues music, he said.

That enthusiasm for the Blues Brothers and the bands that performed in the movie likely is music to the ears of Dan Aykroyd, who talked about what the movie with the media after he arrived at Old Joliet Prison.

“The Blues Brothers was about cultural preservation,” Aykroyd said, emphasizing that the band “never appropriated publishing rights” for songs and has shown respect for the musicians who created the music. “We preserved on film these incredible artists.”

Aykroyd called the Saturday performance “a closing chapter of Blues Brothers history” because of the recent death of Judy Belushi Pisano, who was not only instrumental in keeping the band alive but was a key figure in bringing the band to Joliet.

Belushi Pisano was the wife of the late John Belushi, the original Joliet Jake.

Jim Belushi, John’s brother, keeps the role alive and appears to enjoy interacting with fans. He spent time signing autographs, posing for photos and mingling with people after arriving at the prison.

“We got a handshake, and he [Belushi] complimented our tattoos,” said Tim Hofmann of Lowell, Indiana, who, like his brother Sam Hofmann, has the Blues Brothers image tattooed on his arm.

Hofmann and other fans in Joliet on Saturday also wondered how much longer Aykroyd, now 72, would continue to perform with the band.

But it was clear Aykroyd enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm, especially from young people.

“I love seeing new generations being turned on by the music,” he said.

Aykroyd said the first Blues Brothers Con in Joliet in 2022 was “an amazing night. What impressed me was all the families that came out.”

While it was mostly an adult crowd Saturday, many of the adults were younger and many of the adults brought children with them.

Vincent Severino of Warren, Illinois, brought his 9-year-old grandson, David Severino. Both wore black fedoras and sunglasses.

“We just watched ‘The Blues Brothers’ last night,” Vincent said. “I’ve watched it a lot. I love it.”

But it was David’s first time seeing the movie.

“I thought it was amazing,” David said. “It was funny. It was great. The music was awesome.”