Were the Blues Brothers real

Answer 1

No and Yes. While there was no actual band entitled, "The Blues Brothers" there did exist at that time (circa 1970's) a number of local blues bands who were very active in the Joliet, IL area. The two main groups were called The MoJo Blues Band, headed by 'Guitar Slim', aka Kevin Martis and also included 'Butch' George Stimak on bass, 'Skut', aka Frank Sharp on rhythm guitar who was a farmer that hailed from Elwood, IL 5 miles south of Joliet, Dennis Kramer on drums. I was sound man in those days between 1973 and 1980, a good five years before the movie came out. We used to do gigs at the Joliet Correctional Center which is the prison that is in the opening scene of the movie. As the story goes, Kevin had a best friend, Jake Viscum, who was a free-lance photographer for Playboy in Chicago. Jake would party with the actors from Second City comedy troup in Chicago, and chief among his friends there, was a certain John Belushi from Maywood, IL and Dan Akroyd from Toronto, CA. Over several years of partying, the encounters were numerous. The look of the blues brothers included the black fedora and the cheap horn-rimmed sunglasses, which were part of the look of the Mojos from the early 70's, all of whom worked in various phases of the construction industry as iron workers, laborers, electricians, etc. In a twist of fate, I was 'born again' in 1983 and ever since have been on 'a mission from God'. In my travels I invariably run into the Blues Brothers theme in say, Spokane, WA where there is a Brews Brothers chain of coffee shops or the full sized wood carved Blues Brothers in New Port Richey, FL that resemble the modern counterpart to the cigar store Indian. All in all, after watching the movie and realizing that part of my life was immortalized in that way, even as it was prophesying in a strange way of what the rest of life would be about, I certainly feel compelled to answer this particular question with an eye witness account of things back in those days.