Putting the band back together: How Mount Prospect's Bluesmobile became part of Blues Brothers Con
They're putting the band back together in more ways than one for the inaugural Blues Brothers Con this weekend at the Old Joliet Prison.
Besides an appearance Friday night by the Blues Brothers - Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi, reprising his late brother John's role - the inaugural event will feature the Bluesmobile, a vintage Mount Prospect police vehicle making a special trip from the Northwest suburb with a contingent from the village.
Mount Prospect has a special connection to the 1980 movie classic. The brothers' ride, a 1974 Dodge Monaco P1, was bought by Elwood Blues (Aykroyd) at a Mount Prospect police auction.
"They were practically giving 'em away," Elwood says early in the film.
There's also a connection between Mount Prospect and the Joliet prison museum: Its executive director, Greg Peerbolte, previously led the Mount Prospect Historical Society.
Peerbolte said the Joliet prison began offering public tours in part because of the interest generated by "The Blues Brothers."
"After several years of trying, and one pandemic, we were able to share the vision with Dan Aykroyd, with Judy Belushi (John's widow), with Jim Belushi," persuading the Blues Brothers to appear at Friday's event, Peerbolte said.
"Why not get P1 down here for this and really make it special?" he added.
Representatives of the Mount Prospect Police Department, including Chief Mike Eterno, will be there, too.
"(The car) speaks to our history," Eterno said. "It's been great that it's been portrayed in the movies, and people around the country and the world recognize it. We've gotten a lot of fame from that.
"As soon as I say I'm from Mount Prospect, they automatically associate it with the Blues Brothers."
Although Eterno is not old enough to have driven a 1974 Dodge Monaco on patrol, he has been in the vehicle during parades. It also shows up at the Lions Club's Bluesmobile Cruise Nights in downtown Mount Prospect.
Eterno said he hopes Aykroyd - who has championed law enforcement and in 2014 was sworn in as a reserve sheriff's deputy with the Hinds County (Mississippi) sheriff's department - might stop by to see the Bluesmobile and other police vehicles on display at the event.
The village's car was not among the more than a dozen Bluesmobiles used, and sometimes wrecked, while filming the movie. Instead it was acquired in the 1990s by Paul Carlstedt, the treasurer of the Mount Prospect Historical Society.
Carlstedt collected donations and bought the vehicle from a Palatine retiree. It then was restored and eventually given to the village.
Mount Prospect Public Works Director Sean Dorsey said public works employees keep the car in running condition but have been giving it special attention in preparation for this weekend's event.
Like the Blues Brothers in the classic film, Peerbolte also is on a mission - to showcase the old Joliet prison site.
"It's a phenomenal, fascinating historic site that has this great connection to film, and music. But it's got a lot of stories to tell us for better or worse about ourselves," he said.