The Impossibly Long Tail of My Day at the Blues Brothers Convention

When I learned that there would be a Blues Brothers Convention in Old Joliet Prison, where the classic 1980 comedy begins, I knew I had to be a part of it, particularly once I discovered that James Belushi would be performing with Dan Aykroyd as “The Blues Brothers.” 

I found the idea of going to a celebration of a silly movie in a former prison to be in terrible taste and utterly irresistible. So I resolved to make the first and perhaps only Blues Brothers convention my big trip of 2022. 

Alas, I seem to have reached an unfortunate stage in my failing career where nobody seems willing to pay me money to do anything, with the exception of the Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place patrons, Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas subscribers and book buyers who keep me just barely in business. 

So I had a GoFundMe for the experience that did way better than the campaign I set up for the 2021 Gathering of the Juggalos despite my GoFundMe promising donors nothing beyond me writing a compelling essay about my experiences and the campaign for an aborted trip to the 2021 Gathering of the Juggalos offering the usual desperate assemblage of books and essays and experiences and signed artwork and whatnot. 

The Blues Brothers Convention was incredibly cheesy and almost impressively half-assed. The big attraction of the second night, for example, was a Q&A about the movie featuring Aykroyd and Belushi that would accompany a screening of The Blues Brothers that mysteriously vanished from the schedule. 

I discovered why when, during the “Blues Brothers” performance, Aykroyd obliviously told a crowd excited for a full weekend of Blues Brothers magic that they were booked for a marijuana festival in Michigan the next night that we were all invited to attend. 

Yet the Blues Brothers Convention was also one of the most fascinating, sad and unexpectedly emotional events I’ve experienced over the last five years. I’m incredibly proud of the 4500 word essay I wrote about it. 

It’s one of the best things I’ve ever written. It’s the final piece and emotional centerpiece of the extended version of The Joy of Trash, which I hope to unveil in the next week or so. 

My essay about the Blues Brothers convention, nostalgia, childhood, my dad, the blues, inter-generational depression and my complicated feelings about my home town of Chicago is the final and longest essay in the Flaming Garbage Fire extended edition ofThe Joy of Trash. It’s also far and away the most personal. 

That alone would justify going to the Blues Brothers convention but I got a lot more out of it than just one of the best pieces I’ve ever written and an invaluable addition to The Joy of Trash: Flaming Garbage Fire Extended Edition. 

I was so perversely fascinated by James Belushi’s strange, unique career arc and messy relationship with his brother’s legacy that I decided to make writing about EVERY LAST MOVIE THE MAN MADE an option for my Substack, Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas when I launched it about two months ago. 

I was mildly surprised when Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas voted for me to write about all of James Belushi’s movies rather than those of Gary Busey despite Busey being a much bigger cult icon. 

But it STILL didn’t end there. When I was looking for another big project to pursue for Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas I seized upon the idea of writing about all of the Saturday Night Live movies in chronological order. 

Despite my enduring fascination with Saturday Night Live I probably would not have agreed to write up all of its movies, even the ones that are less than great, if I hadn’t had such an unforgettable experience with Saturday Night Live’s most legendary cinematic spin-off. 

Spending one night in Joliet inspired one of the best pieces I’ve ever written and two ambitious Substack projects, one of which will last years. 

And that was all just the unexpectedly voluminous product of one weird day and night in Joliet! 

I think if I left my home and Atlanta more often I could accomplish great things. It takes very little to inspire me so universe, please send me on more weird adventures! I promise I’ll make the most of it! 

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