THE BEACH REPORTER Tuesday, March 8, 2016

The Oficial Blues Brothers Revue opens at the Norris Theatre by Michael Hixon

“Joliet” Jake Blues and Elwood Blues, famously known as The Blue Brothers, irst appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” featuring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as the blues belting brothers, in 1978. That appearance led to a No. 1 album that year and a hit movie in 1980.

Many incarnations of The Blues Brothers have arisen since Belushi's untimely death in 1982, including “The Oficial Blues Brothers Revue,” which comes to the Norris Theatre in Rancho Palos Verdes March 11 and 12.

Produced by Aykroyd and Judy Belushi-Pisano, Belushi's widow, OBBR stars musicians Wayne Catania as Jake and Kieron Lafferty as Elwood. With musical direction by Paul Shaffer, the show features hit songs like “Soul Man,” “Rubber Biscuit” and “Gimme Some Lovin.”

“It pays homage to the great music of Chicago and these great irreverent characters of Jake and Elwood,” said Lafferty, who channels Aykroyd as Elwood. “Although they’re factitious, they really come from a sincere place blues wise and musically. There’s a great tradition with Dan and Judy and Jim Belushi (John's brother who has carried on the Blues Brothers mantle) to respect the music irst and also equally the comedy.”

Catania, who plays Belushi's Jake, added, “In knowing Dan, one thing that always loors me is his knowledge of music. He’s like an encyclopedia of who's who, going back to the 1940s ... they were really quite serious about the music. We do the history of American music right here in this song book that we play.”

Origin story

Belushi-Pisano and John Belushi were married in 1976. Belushi played the drums in his junior high marching band and was in a band during high school. He began performing musical parodies early in his career. John's irst show in New York, after moving from Chicago with his wife, was with National Lampoon Lemmings, a stage show that helped launch his career as well as Chevy Chase.

Aykroyd had introduced him to the blues, but it wasn't until his time in Eugene, OR. ilming “National Lampoon's Animal House,” that he really got into it.

“We went to hear a local band and he did sing with them and he became friends with this kid who was 19 at the time, Curtis Salgado, who turned into a very successful R&B singer,” recalled Belushi-Pisano. “They befriended each other and in the free time in Oregon, Curtis used to come over and play him blues records. It was an education to John that was immersive.”

Then one night in New York, Lorne Michaels was at club with Belushi.

“John got up and sang and he (Michaels) said, 'Why don’t you warm up the audience before the show tonight?' He said, 'I’ll get Danny and we’ll do something,'

Belushi-Pisano said. “At that point they went with something they talked about and jokingly called it Blues Brothers. Another friend and I went and found them suits from a thrift shop, shoes and hats. They performed and it went over really well. So they were asked to be the musical guests.”

The Blues Brothers were the musical guest on SNL in April 1978, hosted by Steve Martin. From there, Shaffer, who was in the SNL band, helped assemble a band for The Blues Brothers. That band released its irst album, “Briefcase Full of Blues” in 1978. “They made the pact that if they were going to do it, they were going to have good music,” Belushi-Pisano said. “They were going to get really good authentic players and present a show that was worthy of the music they love to be the best frontmen they could be.”

Then in 1980, came the feature ilm, “The Blues Brothers,” directed by John Landis, which tells the story of the recently paroled Blues brothers and their mission to save an orphanage where they grew up. The Blues Brothers could have ended with Belushi's death.

Blues Brothers return

Lafferty played Elwood Blues in the Las Vegas show “Legends in Concert” beginning in 1998, where he teamed with Catania. They did “Legends” for about a year in Toronto when A&E contacted them about making a ilm. Belushi-Pisano and Aykroyd were planning a show in Chicago titled “The Blues Brothers Revival,” which was written by Belushi-Pisano's second husband, Victor Pisano, when they saw the A&E ilm. Lafferty and Catania got the job and the show opened in 2004 in Chicago. They started OBBR four years ago.

Lafferty, who is also Canadian like Aykroyd, and Catania remember the “rigorous auditions” and how nervous they were meeting Belushi-Pisano and Aykroyd for “The Blues Brothers Revival.”

According to Lafferty, Aykroyd wasn't there for the auditions and he told Belushi-Pisano that he couldn't go on unless he met Aykroyd.

“Judy goes, 'Dan never meets anybody before a show,'” Lafferty recalled. “They really played it up and about 10 minutes before the show I hear this voice, ‘Where’s that Elwood Blues?’ He (Aykroyd) came in and met us and was very gracious, a great guy to work with.”

Catania added that he was “terriied” when he met irst met Akyoyd and Belushi-Pisano.

“We were living in Chicago and I was in my apartment. (There was a knock) I had no idea who it was. I opened the door and there’s Victor, who I already knew and met and there’s Judy. I shut the door. I had to put a shirt on I was lounging in my apartment. I said, 'I’ll be right back,' and I put a shirt on. When I opened the door, Judy just jumped on me and gave me a hug. She just broke the ice and from that moment on I felt very comfortable and have since that moment.”

The duo has worked on various projects in the past as The Blues Brothers but they have toured the US, Canada and Australia, including the past four years as OBBR, where they've averaged about 150 shows a year.

“They are the closest thing to the original,” Belushi-Pisano said.