December 23, 2024
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Aykroyd and Belushi in Joliet: ‘How cool would it be?’

Signature moment in Old Joliet Prison revival comes Friday with Blues Brothers performance

By Bob Okon
"The Blue Brothers" starring Dan Aykroyd (left) and the late John Belushi, is Illinois' favorite movie according to a poll as part of the Illinois Top 200 project.

"The Blue Brothers," starring Dan Aykroyd, left, and the late John Belushi featured in an opening scene at the Joliet Correctional Center. Aykroyd will return with Beulshi's brother, Jim, to the prison on Friday for a Blues Brothers performance.

This is the weekend so many have been waiting for as Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi come to the Old Joliet Prison in a Blues Brothers performance.

“That’s one of the things we heard from everybody: How cool would it be to get Dan Aykroyd here?” said Greg Peerbolte, executive director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum that manages the prison.

That cool moment for Joliet arrives at 9:30 p.m. Friday when Aykroyd and Belushi take the stage in the prison yard for the headline performance of a two-day event dubbed Blues Brothers Con. The event features a series of blues and gospel music acts for two days and concludes Saturday night with a showing of “The Blues Brothers” movie.

Among those coming for the weekend are Tom “Bones” Malone and Steve “The Colonel” Cropper, trombonist and guitarist from the Blues Brothers band in the movie, and Judy Belushi, widow of John Belushi, who co-starred in the movie with Aykroyd.

The shuttered Joliet Correctional Center is seen Tuesday. Joliet officials said the prison has potential as a future tourist draw. The prison has been featured in several films, including "The Blues Brothers" and "Public Enemies."

The shuttered Joliet Correctional Center is seen Tuesday. Joliet officials said the prison has potential as a future tourist draw. The prison has been featured in several films, including "The Blues Brothers" and "Public Enemies." (AP photo)

Judy Belushi “was one of the early people who helped us envision this event,” Peerbolte said. And, Aykroyd and Belushi want to be part of it.

“We’ve told them how much this event means to the community, and they understand that,” he said. “They get it.”

The movie was a motivating factor in the movement to open up the closed prison to tours and events, Peerbolte said, because so many people traveling into Joliet wanted to see what they called “the Blues Brothers prison.”

The prison opened in 1858 and has a storied place in American cinema and television.

But its use as the setting for the opening scene of 1980 movie, “The Blues Brothers” – when Joliet Jake, played by Jim Belushi’s late brother, John, is releasesd from prison and picked up by Elwood Blues, played by Aykroyd – has been driving tourists to Joliet for years.

The west sally port to the Old Joliet Prison was one of the entrances to the Joliet Correctional Center. (Bob Okon)

It doesn’t hurt that Joliet is a stop in historic Route 66 tours, which are taken by people across the U.S. and other parts of the world. But the prison has been the main Joliet attraction, Peerbolte said.

“People from all over the world wanted to come to the Blues Brothers prison,” he said.

The city has leased the former Joliet Correctional Center since late 2017. The prison had been virtually abandoned by the state since it closed in 2002, but the city and museum aided by volunteers cleaned up the prison property and has opened portions of it for tours and events.

Volunteers cleaned up the former Joliet Correctional Center after the city leased it from the state in late 2017 so it could be reopened for tours and events. (Eric Ginnard)

That worldwide recognition is being felt with Blues Brothers Con, Peerbolte said.

“We have people from as far away as the United Kingdom coming specifically for this,” he said.

More than 4,000 tickets priced at $60 have been sold. Sales will be capped at 5,000.

Peerbolte said there will likely be ticket availability at the gate, but they are going fast.

The Old Joliet Prison is located on Collins Street in Joliet. (Herald-News file photo)

Hotel rooms are filling up.

“Most of our hotels are already sold out in Joliet,” said Dan Scott, vice president of Operations for Posh Hospitality, which has five hotels in Joliet.

Details of the event, including how to get tickets, where to park, and the two-day schedule of performers can be found on the Old Joliet Prison website, jolietprison.org.

It starts at 2 p.m. Friday running to 11 p.m. before resuming on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

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