The Official Blues Brothers Revue Plays the Van Wezel, 2/8

Dan Aykroyd and the Belushi Estate hand-picked this Jake and Elwood for The Official Blues Brothers Revue, bursting onto the Van Wezel stage Wed. Feb. 8 @ 8 PM for a one-of-a-kind stage show that faithfully recreates the magic of the Blues Brothers including the music, comic antics and affectionate character quirks that made blues fans out of millions of rockers in the 1970s and ‘80s.

It almost seems like yesterday that brothers Jake and Elwood Blues, played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, invited the world to join them on their ‘mission from God’. The hit movie The Blues Brothers was a loveable tale of redemption about a pair of over age juvenile delinquents who set out to save the Catholic orphanage where they grew up from the tax man. In the film, they re-form their rhythm and blues band, The Blues Brothers, and organize a benefit concert to help pay off the debt. Though Jake and Elwood’s mission devolved into a journey of misadventure and mayhem, in the process they created one of the best-loved movies of all time with some of the most extraordinary musical performances ever recorded on film.

It’s that music that The Official Blues Brothers Revue is all about. After auditioning over 400 performers for this rollicking blues show, Aykroyd and John Belushi’s widow, Judith, hand-picked veteran blues artists Wayne Catania and Kieron Lafferty to play Jake and Elwood Blues. The show boasts Blues Brothers staples like “She Caught The Katy,” “Shake A Tail Feather,” “Minnie The Moocher,” and “Sweet Home Chicago,” along with a host of other tunes from the five popular albums recorded by Belushi and Aykroyd. A band of crack blues musicians and singers from the U.S. and Canada perform the music with all the soul, skill and playfulness of the original Blues Brother Band while Catania and Lafferty command center stage as Jake and Elwood. Wayne Catania, who plays the eccentric Jake Blues, began his entertainment career in the mid 1970’s as a drummer and vocalist touring rock and R&B bands and gradually established the compelling stage persona that is now his trademark. He is a recognized movie soundtrack writer/recorder, drummer and vocalist. He is also a successful actor and can be seen in Relic Hunter, Doc and 15 Minute Death. Kieron Lafferty plays the harmonica virtuoso Elwood Blues. Lafferty spent his youth playing the blues, R&B and jazz circuits. He has released several CDs, including the critically praised Sensible Religion and Seven Sisters, and performed in several independent art films including the Sci-Fi musical Synchronicity and in A&E’s Lost in Las Vegas.