Dan Aykroyd's voice booms over the telephone wire from Kingston lake country as though he is an announcer speaking through a megaphone.
He sounds slightly like the Super Bass-O-Matic huckster he made so popular back during his '70s days on Saturday Night Live.
This home town boy who, if our records are correct, turned 51 on Canada Day, tells me he has an ale in hand as he catches up on some of the television his TiVo has captured. He's back home, albeit briefly, after having been out on the road with his latest blues road show, "Have Love Will Travel -- Big Men Big Music," with younger sibling to the late, great Jake Blues himself, John Belushi's brother Jim.
Jim Belushi, star of the ABC sitcom According to Jim, has been getting most of the attention at the shows, explains Aykroyd, still broad-voiced over the wire.
"I'm surprised at the ladies over 60 who were looking at Jimmy like he was Bon Jovi," says Aykroyd. "I'm the exploiter, Belushi's my Elvis and I'm like Colonel Parker. I'm the one who gets them out there dancing and singing."
Some may respond to the foisting of yet another Blues Brothers-esque act on the North American public --Have Love Will Travel stops at the Bluesfest Main Stage tomorrow night -- with been-there, done-that groans.
Aykroyd says he doesn't care, and I believe him. He tells me he and Belushi had simply been playing with an amazing band, found some new music that hadn't been covered by Jake and Elwood Blues during a career which spanned 25 years, two movies and five records, and decided to put out a new CD mostly by themselves.
For a small label effort, Have Love Will Travel has done pretty well. It's already hit No. 1 on the U.S. blues charts, broke the Billboard 200 without radio play and is bringing in some pretty enthusiastic crowds.
"I can tell you solidly that our demographic is the following: Women 35-75, men over 300 lbs. and late-starting couples with adolescent children, couples who got started in their 30s," says Aykroyd.
Aykroyd and his best pal John Belushi, who hooked up while performing at Second City in Toronto, introduced the Blues Brothers during a Saturday Night Live skit in 1977. Their first album as Jake and Elwood went platinum, there was a Blues Brothers movie, and though Belushi infamously died of a drug overdose in 1982, the Blues Brothers' days were far from over.
This time around, Aykroyd and Belushi -- dubbed by Aykroyd as "the weakest components in the act" -- still serve as singers, dancers, musicians and mostly emcees to a sweeping "musical review" featuring an assembly of 10 top musicians.
These talents have played with everyone from Etta James to Bruce Springsteen to Bob Dylan.
"Somehow when it all coalesces and comes together and when my opening theme starts, the Skybox Ballroom Pump ... my ace bandages tighten up and the adrenaline starts pumping and I haul the bulk across the stage at relatively high speeds," says Aykroyd.
We're nearing the end of the interview, and vocally Aykroyd is still on his virtual megaphone. Before signing off he urges Ottawa to come out and see the show.
"It's real music, it's not triangles, whistles and kazoos here, this a real genuine interpretation of blues, R&B and rock 'n' roll standards," he says, later adding, "get ready to dance and party and bring all the men in your family."
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