Blues Brothers and Italy

February 21, 2014

Growing up in Chicago, you know the know the film, Blues Brothers. At least, that's how it was for me.  It was staple of my childhood.  My dad, my brother, and I would quote lines from the film.  I was a Blues Brother for Halloween when I was 12 years old.  It was a source of cultural pride.  The film shows some fantastic parts of Chicago, what it means to be a Chicagoan and from the Midwest.  At least, partially, what it means.  I had the film memorized.  

When I got my first apartment in Chicago, I was especially thrilled that my bathroom window overlooked the el (at the Paulina Brown line stop), just like the apartment in Blues Brothers, but just not as noisy.  At that time, I was working at a law firm and regularly went to the Daley Plaza, City Hall, and the County Building, all seen at the end of the film, to file, certify, and retrieve documents.  And later while working in radio sales, I often used Lower Wacker Drive to enter or exit the city.  (And movie aside, going to the Billy Goat, which Belushi and Aykroyd made famous with their Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, no Coke, Pepsi SNL sketch, is a place you go to once in a while.  I don't really like their burgers, nor the chips, but I love going there.  It's a beautiful, little hole in the wall.  I adore Second City, too, the improv club where those guys made their start.)

After being here in Milan for a about a year, I had moments of homesickness.  So, you know what film I watched, that made everything feel better and the world seem right again:  Blues Brothers.  

Well, there's some sort of Blues Brothers cult following here.  About a week after watching it, I saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show live for the first time.  The two hosts at the beginning were dressed as the Blues Brothers and came out to their theme music.  Then I slowly began noticing it more and more everywhere.  Blue Brothers were used in advertising signs for a terrible, yet super cheap gym.  And when I tell people that I'm from Chicago, a common response is, oh, like the Blues Brothers.  I smile and nod, yes, yes.  

But tonight clinched it for me.  Nearing the end of the lesson, my 10 year old student and I had just started playing Go Fish.  I asked him what music he wanted to listen to.  He said, Blues.  Then he said, Blues Brothers.  I was taken aback.  Then he said, Everybody Needs Somebody.  My jaw hit the floor.  I pulled it up on YouTube, and in no time we were watching it.  And he sang along!  We didn't finish Go Fish.  We ended up watching other scenes from the film, and I turned it into a receptive language task on the present continuous.  

Watch out, Chicago.  Italy loves the Blues Brothers, too.