Thursday October 9, 1997 By LOUIS B. HOBSON --

NEW YORK -- Jim Belushi is refusing to sing the blues.

For three years, Belushi and Dan Aykroyd worked together preparing a sequel to the 1980 cult hit The Blues Brothers.

Belushi was to step into the shoes of his brother John Belushi, who died of a drug overdose in 1982.

The Blues Brothers 2000 filmed this summer in Toronto without Belushi.

"Of course, I was disappointed. The Blues Brothers is part of my family legacy. But you get over disappointment quickly in this business," says Belushi, who stars alongside late rapper Tupac Shakur in Gang Related, which opens in Calgary tomorrow.

Rather than appearing in Blues Brothers 2000, Belushi opted to accept his new Steven Bochco series Total Security. In this Saturday night ABC series, Belushi plays a rough-edged private detective whose lack of morals gets him into many a wrong bed and trouble galore.

"Bochco came to me with this absolutely fabulous series.

"The character was me.

"It was as if he'd gotten into my head to create him. I've always let women get me into trouble.

"When I was a safety patrol at school, I stop traffic every time a girl got to the corner.

"They took away my stop sign because I was causing traffic jams.

"When I was a doorman at a blues club in Chicago, I'd let every woman who lined up in and kept the guys out.

"It gave me such a wonderful, false feeling of power."

Belushi thought everyone would be as excited as he was with Total Security, but he was in for a big surprise.

"I told Danny I was doing Total Security only to have him announce that The Blues Brothers was going to be filming (in Toronto) at the same time.

"Danny said this was the only window he had because it was during the hiatus of his TV series (The PSI Factor).

"It was a huge letdown for me because of the three years I'd put into the project."

During the prep period for The Blues Brothers 2000, Belushi toured with Aykroyd and John Goodman, keeping the Blues Brothers phenomenon alive.

"I'm not touring with them any more. I have my own band called The Sacred Hearts.

"We're currently working on a CD."

For Belushi, performing in a band is "like doing musical theatre. I approach each performance as it I was doing a stage musical."

The actor starred the American tour of Pirates of Penzance and then brought the play to Broadway for a year.

He has also headlined major touring productions of Guys and Dolls and Man of La Mancha.

In a film career that spans 15 years, Belushi has had his share of annoying co-stars, but his worst was the dog he worked with in K-9.

"That dog was a total prima donna. I really envied him," Belushi says.

"Every time he did something, he'd get fed. I worked my butt off and starved. He also got to get real friendly with every female on set. They'd pat him on the head.

"When I tried the same things, I'd got slapped and called a dog."


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