Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Michael Barry Show, Steve Cropper's our guest. He co
wrote that song with Otis Redding. Eighteen days after the
recording session. Of course, Otis Redding died at the young
age of twenty six years old. He went back into
the studio. Now it's not clear, and I'm scared to
say anything. Now you're going to contradict me. But the
Wall Street Journal articles suggests that the whistle bit there
(00:24):
at the end. It says that you left in about
ten measures because Otis liked to add lib impromptu in
the song, and that the whistle was a placekeeper. Is
that correct?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
That is kind of correct. He couldn't think of anything
to say.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Do you think later he would have said something, you
think the whistle?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Sure? The funny thing that happened. And there are some
outtakes and people can actually purchase them that they want to.
Fantasy Records put out some out the three outtakes I
think or two outtakes, and right before the master cut
that we all know, Ronnie upon the engineer gets on
the talkback and he's and I was playing acoustic guitar.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I wasn't playing electric. I was playing acoustics.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
There's two guitars on the record, and he said, Steve,
move in a little bit. And the other thing he
says to otis he says, otis one thing for sure,
you'll never be a whistler.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Well, probably the most famous whistle in.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
History, in history. So I just think that's funny.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Let's fast forward if we could. I want to go
back to the Stacks period in a minute. But you
hooked up with two white guys that loved jazz named
dan Aykroyd and John Belushi And I've posted to our
site the article after this interview, folks, I encourage you
to go back and read it. Vanity Fair did a
piece entitled soul Men The Making of the Blues Brothers,
(01:46):
and they go through the history of dan Aykroyd and
John Belushian and the movie and the music. And you
still tour with the Blues Brothers.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I mean, you're going to be in europe Cosion Blues
Brothers band.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Twenty five years two of us still left you. Donald
done not with us anymore, the trumpet player, your best
friend from sixth grade.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Absolutely, Donald Duck done.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
That is uh tell us. I think the article's fascinating,
but I'd like to hear it in your own words,
Steve Cropper, how that came to be that you joined
John Belushi and dan Aykroyd for the Blues Brothers.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Well, I don't know who suggested me. I really don't
the thing that probably spurred the John Belushi to pick
this particular band.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
We that band, including the Saturday Night Live Horns, had
recorded and done two world tours with Levon Helm and
the band called the r CEO All Stars. We went
up and recorded up in Woodstock and then we recorded
another record out in Malibu, their studio out there in California,
did two world tours. We were playing New Year's Eve
(02:52):
at the Palladium and John Belushi happened to be there
and whatever was sparked in his head, as best I
can tell, as he said, if I go on the road,
that's the band I want, which did include the Saturday
Night Life Horns. So, as it turned out, Steve Martin
later he had a big record called King tut number
one record the Nation had been asked to do I
(03:14):
think nine shows at the Universal Amphitheater in California, and
they needed an opening act and they said, get whoever
you want. So being a writer and connected with Blushi
and Akroyd. He called them and said, Hey, I'm doing
these shows in California. I need you guys to open
for me. And Belushi said, well, we don't really do
stand up coming and he said, well, I don't care
(03:35):
what you do. He said, can we do music?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And he said sure.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So he put together the band and he started calling
these guys he sought to play in the past Christmas
for New Years.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And apparently I did not realize the commercial success that
the Blues Brothers had had in album sales record sales
at that time until the Vanity Fair article. I was
blown away. I mean, this wasn't just this wasn't just
a band.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
In the initial record sold two and a half three
million copies. Wow, Briefcase full of Blues. And it was
a live album, but it doesn't really sound live. It
sounds very professional and out of the I think nine
days they recorded four and out of those four dates
they pieced together that album.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Now soul Man my favorite out of that. You had
played on the original with Sam and Dave, who say
play at Steve, Sam and Dave were with stacks with
you and then doing that with John Belushi and dan Aykroyd,
who chose to put that song in there.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Well, I did, but I don't want it to appear
that I'm credited with any of it. But Douck and
I had a little bit of concern because we are
commercial what you call commercial studio musicians, all about chart records,
you know, and it takes a.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Certain type of record.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Is that a bad thing to get?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I wouldn't think. So.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
It keeps your bank account.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
So we just have a commercial mind. And so what
I mean by that is that we have a different
direction than just playing music. We have to play music
for a purpose, and that purpose is to make people
want it. So they were more concerned about a lot
of blues direction and stuff that Duck and I really
(05:19):
didn't feel was very commercial. And in the rehearsals in
New York, I came in late, I came in about
two days later or whatever, and Duck grabbed me and said,
you know, we're cutting a lot of good stuff here,
rehearsing a lot of good stuff, but it's all kind
of blue stuff. I said, nothing commercially. He said, you
need to go in there and talk to these guys.
I said, okay, give me a chance to see what's
going on. So we're going there and we're playing. We're
(05:39):
having a big time. And so I looked at John
and I said, John, I said, if you guys ever
thought about doing something that you could like dance to and.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Something like that? And he said like what?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And I said, well, like Sam and Dave, you know,
I mean, they had great records, but they always they
were dancers. They were known as dancers. They really get
the house going, all that kind of stuff. And he said, well, okay,
he said you got a suggestion. And I looked at
Paul Shaeffer and I said, you know so men, don't you?
And he said sure. So I hit so men and
they start dancing and clowning around and all that sort
of stuff, and everybody was laughing and having a big time.
(06:12):
And John turned around and he said, man, that song's great,
but he said it's too high for it. I said, okay,
so I just brought it down a fourth and we've
been playing it there ever since.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Can you I know you're irritated you don't have your
right amp, you're right guitar. You got your guitar, but
not your right amp. So we'll make allowances. Could you
show us the difference.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Well, and I do a thing, and I'll probably do
it tonight. I'll bring up an old show that used
to be on TV called Name that Tune and the
contestant simple contest. The contestants name the song, and the
least notes would win the prize of the day. So usually,
if I have a full house, I guarantee you ninety
percent of the people can name this song and two notes,
they already know what I'm gonna play, So it goes
(06:48):
like there.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Let's talk about the Blues Brothers. Vanity Fair did a
story that's a very you would read you are a
big part of, and they talk about the making of
the movie and John Belushi's cocaine problems and keeping this
group together and the incredible costs that went with it
and the choice of artists. You know, one of the interests.
(07:15):
I don't know how much of an influence you had
over this, but one of the things they talked about
was bringing in Aretha Franklin, and the makers the studio said,
Aretha Franklin, you know she had been she hadn't had
a hit in twelve years. Well, you had produced Aretha
in the sixties, and obviously her scene turned out to
be one of the biggest, and James Brown, who arguably
(07:36):
wasn't at the peak of his career, and then of
course Cab Calloway, whom most people's grandparents remembered. And yet
that kind of gives us a charm to the music
is that it went back into history and brought these
people back.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I think the thing about the Blues Brothers movie is
that Dan Aykroyd who wrote that and wrote it with
John Landers, of course, but he really researched everything. And
having Cab Calloway, I think that was the third time,
third major motion picture that Kevi Callaway had performed a
song in.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
And uh, you know, to bring back you talk about
Manny the moocher, and and to be.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Smart enough to bring back Aretha and Ray and James.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I mean you just picked from.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
The top of the crop basically what he did, and
it all seemed to work out. And they had so
much fun making that movie. Uh that's probably a thrill.
They say, what's the most fun you ever had? We're
making a movie. I mean we left there going we
could do this every day.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
This was really cool, but the studio would have none
of it. Steve Cropper is our guest. According to Vanity Fair,
the studio was ready to shut this thing down pretty much.
It was costume. Have you seen the movie Tropic Thunder?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I have all of it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Well that you know, it's running the costs overruns. They're
about ready to shut this thing down. Tom Cruise plays
a great role as this, you know, crazy guy that's
making this movie, and I kind of get the sense
that's what's going on there. They're getting notices that you
guys are supposed to be filming and you're not. In blue.
She's knocked up and then I guess, I guess he
sprained his wrist and he still hadn't done the flipping
(09:06):
scene that they do in the church with James Brown.
I mean, I can't imagine what that period was.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Well, well, there's so many things about that movie that's really funny.
But you know, they talked in there about going over
budget and all that, and I remember, I think it's
long enough now I can say this, but I flew
with Bob Wish, who was a producer from LA back
to the set in Chicago, and we're sitting together back
in the plane and I said, I've got to ask
(09:32):
you a question. I know, if you can't answer, you
can't answer. But I said, I'm curious, what is the
budget on this film? And he looked at me and
he said, well, Steve.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
There's not one. So what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well, now they talk about they were going over budget. Well,
if there wasn't a budget, there wasn't anything to go over.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
I don't know the articles suggests Steve Croppers. I guess
the article suggests that John Linda's had absolutely no control
over the set and particularly the stars.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I don't know about that true, but but the the
the gossip running around the set was when if we're
still talking about budget, was that John Landis wanted to
spend one more dollar than Steven Spielberg. It's kind of
a not a rival, but you know, there were good buddies.
Steven had come by the set.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And when you when you look back at the tracks
from that how did Hay Bartender get put in there?
It just seems like an odd choice for that movie.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Well John Belushi came up with that one. I'm not sure.
I don't remember having heard that song before we started
rehearsing songs for the movie. You know, I learned a
lot in that movie. I was very educated because, like
I said earlier, that we were so tuned into and
train with the commercial ear that everything we touched just
(10:54):
sort of had to be commercial. So we as growing
up and playing in the studio and and so forth,
we missed out on a lot of great music because
it was all focused towards the commercial end of it.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
It was almost twenty years later, y'all made Blues Brothers
two thousand, actually in nineteen ninety nine. Was that tough
to do because there's a lot of pressure when you know,
and what.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
We both said, my good buddy Donald duck Dunn and
I both said we had more fun making that movie
than we did the first one. Now, maybe we had
preminis or you know, pre empstius about what we thought
making a movie would be, what our role would be.
Maybe we were nervous about being in the movie. That
was one thing that the first movie accomplished that was
(11:38):
almost taboo. The powers that be in Hollywood told Dan
and John without question, your band will not be in
this movie period. You know, we're not going to try
to teach a bunch of musicians how to act. We
will use actors. Well, they turned out to be wrong.
I mean, I guess John and Danny called their bluff
(11:58):
on it and said, well, there'll be no movie if
our band's not in it. So that was one of
the big front end coups. I guess that worked out
pretty good. And Landis went along with.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
A lot of people knew your music, that had been
singing your music, songs you had written, and of course
songs you had played. You had toured the world already
by the late seventies early eighties, but now all of
a sudden, wherever you go, people know who you are
because you're Steve the Colonel Cropper. And there are scenes,
I mean, my favorite going back and looking at these
(12:28):
preparing to do this interview was one, you know, when
Dan Aykroyd gives that great speech about you know, we're
all here to have a good time, and even the
cops are okay, and John Kenny's up there. It's just
such a great scene and then they start playing and
they keep bringing you forward. Was that scripted or did
you just step to the front of it?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Was Dan's intention, very definitely his intention, and also Landis
went along with it that he wanted to bring us
to the forefront and in the second movie that you
brought up. In the first movie, Donald duck dun'scene was
cut out of the movie and never never, not cut out,
cut out of the script, never film. I had a
whole scene that was cut out of the script that
(13:10):
was never you know filmed. So that went along, I
guess with budget saving one of those deals, because in
its entirety, I was told by John Landers that they
filmed over six hundred miles of film, which would have
made that movie about a four hours saga, and they
really had to edit a lot of it down, and
(13:31):
they were going to save about a half an hour
to forty minutes of it for a TV special that
would run in those three part series you know and
get the whole time in.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
But that never happened.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Had John Belushi not died when he did, which wasn't
long after that, do you think there would have been
a sequel?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Center absolutely had already signed contract for Really, if you.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
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The Michael Barry Show, Steve Cropper's our guest. He co
wrote that song with Otis Redding. Eighteen days after the
recording session. Of course, Otis Redding died at the young
age of twenty six years old. He went back into
the studio. Now it's not clear, and I'm scared to
say anything. Now you're going to contradict me. But the
Wall Street Journal articles suggests that the whistle bit there
(00:24):
at the end. It says that you left in about
ten measures because Otis liked to add lib impromptu in
the song, and that the whistle was a placekeeper. Is
that correct?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
That is kind of correct. He couldn't think of anything
to say.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Do you think later he would have said something, you
think the whistle?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Sure? The funny thing that happened. And there are some
outtakes and people can actually purchase them that they want to.
Fantasy Records put out some out the three outtakes I
think or two outtakes, and right before the master cut
that we all know, Ronnie upon the engineer gets on
the talkback and he's and I was playing acoustic guitar.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I wasn't playing electric. I was playing acoustics.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
There's two guitars on the record, and he said, Steve,
move in a little bit. And the other thing he
says to otis he says, otis one thing for sure,
you'll never be a whistler.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Well, probably the most famous whistle in.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
History, in history. So I just think that's funny.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Let's fast forward if we could. I want to go
back to the Stacks period in a minute. But you
hooked up with two white guys that loved jazz named
dan Aykroyd and John Belushi And I've posted to our
site the article after this interview, folks, I encourage you
to go back and read it. Vanity Fair did a
piece entitled soul Men The Making of the Blues Brothers,
(01:46):
and they go through the history of dan Aykroyd and
John Belushian and the movie and the music. And you
still tour with the Blues Brothers.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I mean, you're going to be in europe Cosion Blues
Brothers band.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Twenty five years two of us still left you. Donald
done not with us anymore, the trumpet player, your best
friend from sixth grade.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Absolutely, Donald Duck done.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
That is uh tell us. I think the article's fascinating,
but I'd like to hear it in your own words,
Steve Cropper, how that came to be that you joined
John Belushi and dan Aykroyd for the Blues Brothers.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Well, I don't know who suggested me. I really don't
the thing that probably spurred the John Belushi to pick
this particular band.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
We that band, including the Saturday Night Live Horns, had
recorded and done two world tours with Levon Helm and
the band called the r CEO All Stars. We went
up and recorded up in Woodstock and then we recorded
another record out in Malibu, their studio out there in California,
did two world tours. We were playing New Year's Eve
(02:52):
at the Palladium and John Belushi happened to be there
and whatever was sparked in his head, as best I
can tell, as he said, if I go on the road,
that's the band I want, which did include the Saturday
Night Life Horns. So, as it turned out, Steve Martin
later he had a big record called King tut number
one record the Nation had been asked to do I
(03:14):
think nine shows at the Universal Amphitheater in California, and
they needed an opening act and they said, get whoever
you want. So being a writer and connected with Blushi
and Akroyd. He called them and said, Hey, I'm doing
these shows in California. I need you guys to open
for me. And Belushi said, well, we don't really do
stand up coming and he said, well, I don't care
(03:35):
what you do. He said, can we do music?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And he said sure.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So he put together the band and he started calling
these guys he sought to play in the past Christmas
for New Years.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And apparently I did not realize the commercial success that
the Blues Brothers had had in album sales record sales
at that time until the Vanity Fair article. I was
blown away. I mean, this wasn't just this wasn't just
a band.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
In the initial record sold two and a half three
million copies. Wow, Briefcase full of Blues. And it was
a live album, but it doesn't really sound live. It
sounds very professional and out of the I think nine
days they recorded four and out of those four dates
they pieced together that album.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Now soul Man my favorite out of that. You had
played on the original with Sam and Dave, who say
play at Steve, Sam and Dave were with stacks with
you and then doing that with John Belushi and dan Aykroyd,
who chose to put that song in there.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Well, I did, but I don't want it to appear
that I'm credited with any of it. But Douck and
I had a little bit of concern because we are
commercial what you call commercial studio musicians, all about chart records,
you know, and it takes a.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Certain type of record.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Is that a bad thing to get?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I wouldn't think. So.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
It keeps your bank account.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
So we just have a commercial mind. And so what
I mean by that is that we have a different
direction than just playing music. We have to play music
for a purpose, and that purpose is to make people
want it. So they were more concerned about a lot
of blues direction and stuff that Duck and I really
(05:19):
didn't feel was very commercial. And in the rehearsals in
New York, I came in late, I came in about
two days later or whatever, and Duck grabbed me and said,
you know, we're cutting a lot of good stuff here,
rehearsing a lot of good stuff, but it's all kind
of blue stuff. I said, nothing commercially. He said, you
need to go in there and talk to these guys.
I said, okay, give me a chance to see what's
going on. So we're going there and we're playing. We're
(05:39):
having a big time. And so I looked at John
and I said, John, I said, if you guys ever
thought about doing something that you could like dance to and.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Something like that? And he said like what?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And I said, well, like Sam and Dave, you know,
I mean, they had great records, but they always they
were dancers. They were known as dancers. They really get
the house going, all that kind of stuff. And he said, well, okay,
he said you got a suggestion. And I looked at
Paul Shaeffer and I said, you know so men, don't you?
And he said sure. So I hit so men and
they start dancing and clowning around and all that sort
of stuff, and everybody was laughing and having a big time.
(06:12):
And John turned around and he said, man, that song's great,
but he said it's too high for it. I said, okay,
so I just brought it down a fourth and we've
been playing it there ever since.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Can you I know you're irritated you don't have your
right amp, you're right guitar. You got your guitar, but
not your right amp. So we'll make allowances. Could you
show us the difference.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Well, and I do a thing, and I'll probably do
it tonight. I'll bring up an old show that used
to be on TV called Name that Tune and the
contestant simple contest. The contestants name the song, and the
least notes would win the prize of the day. So usually,
if I have a full house, I guarantee you ninety
percent of the people can name this song and two notes,
they already know what I'm gonna play, So it goes
(06:48):
like there.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Let's talk about the Blues Brothers. Vanity Fair did a
story that's a very you would read you are a
big part of, and they talk about the making of
the movie and John Belushi's cocaine problems and keeping this
group together and the incredible costs that went with it
and the choice of artists. You know, one of the interests.
(07:15):
I don't know how much of an influence you had
over this, but one of the things they talked about
was bringing in Aretha Franklin, and the makers the studio said,
Aretha Franklin, you know she had been she hadn't had
a hit in twelve years. Well, you had produced Aretha
in the sixties, and obviously her scene turned out to
be one of the biggest, and James Brown, who arguably
(07:36):
wasn't at the peak of his career, and then of
course Cab Calloway, whom most people's grandparents remembered. And yet
that kind of gives us a charm to the music
is that it went back into history and brought these
people back.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I think the thing about the Blues Brothers movie is
that Dan Aykroyd who wrote that and wrote it with
John Landers, of course, but he really researched everything. And
having Cab Calloway, I think that was the third time,
third major motion picture that Kevi Callaway had performed a
song in.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
And uh, you know, to bring back you talk about
Manny the moocher, and and to be.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Smart enough to bring back Aretha and Ray and James.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I mean you just picked from.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
The top of the crop basically what he did, and
it all seemed to work out. And they had so
much fun making that movie. Uh that's probably a thrill.
They say, what's the most fun you ever had? We're
making a movie. I mean we left there going we
could do this every day.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
This was really cool, but the studio would have none
of it. Steve Cropper is our guest. According to Vanity Fair,
the studio was ready to shut this thing down pretty much.
It was costume. Have you seen the movie Tropic Thunder?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I have all of it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Well that you know, it's running the costs overruns. They're
about ready to shut this thing down. Tom Cruise plays
a great role as this, you know, crazy guy that's
making this movie, and I kind of get the sense
that's what's going on there. They're getting notices that you
guys are supposed to be filming and you're not. In blue.
She's knocked up and then I guess, I guess he
sprained his wrist and he still hadn't done the flipping
(09:06):
scene that they do in the church with James Brown.
I mean, I can't imagine what that period was.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Well, well, there's so many things about that movie that's really funny.
But you know, they talked in there about going over
budget and all that, and I remember, I think it's
long enough now I can say this, but I flew
with Bob Wish, who was a producer from LA back
to the set in Chicago, and we're sitting together back
in the plane and I said, I've got to ask
(09:32):
you a question. I know, if you can't answer, you
can't answer. But I said, I'm curious, what is the
budget on this film? And he looked at me and
he said, well, Steve.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
There's not one. So what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well, now they talk about they were going over budget. Well,
if there wasn't a budget, there wasn't anything to go over.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
I don't know the articles suggests Steve Croppers. I guess
the article suggests that John Linda's had absolutely no control
over the set and particularly the stars.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I don't know about that true, but but the the
the gossip running around the set was when if we're
still talking about budget, was that John Landis wanted to
spend one more dollar than Steven Spielberg. It's kind of
a not a rival, but you know, there were good buddies.
Steven had come by the set.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And when you when you look back at the tracks
from that how did Hay Bartender get put in there?
It just seems like an odd choice for that movie.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Well John Belushi came up with that one. I'm not sure.
I don't remember having heard that song before we started
rehearsing songs for the movie. You know, I learned a
lot in that movie. I was very educated because, like
I said earlier, that we were so tuned into and
train with the commercial ear that everything we touched just
(10:54):
sort of had to be commercial. So we as growing
up and playing in the studio and and so forth,
we missed out on a lot of great music because
it was all focused towards the commercial end of it.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
It was almost twenty years later, y'all made Blues Brothers
two thousand, actually in nineteen ninety nine. Was that tough
to do because there's a lot of pressure when you know,
and what.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
We both said, my good buddy Donald duck Dunn and
I both said we had more fun making that movie
than we did the first one. Now, maybe we had
preminis or you know, pre empstius about what we thought
making a movie would be, what our role would be.
Maybe we were nervous about being in the movie. That
was one thing that the first movie accomplished that was
(11:38):
almost taboo. The powers that be in Hollywood told Dan
and John without question, your band will not be in
this movie period. You know, we're not going to try
to teach a bunch of musicians how to act. We
will use actors. Well, they turned out to be wrong.
I mean, I guess John and Danny called their bluff
(11:58):
on it and said, well, there'll be no movie if
our band's not in it. So that was one of
the big front end coups. I guess that worked out
pretty good. And Landis went along with.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
A lot of people knew your music, that had been
singing your music, songs you had written, and of course
songs you had played. You had toured the world already
by the late seventies early eighties, but now all of
a sudden, wherever you go, people know who you are
because you're Steve the Colonel Cropper. And there are scenes,
I mean, my favorite going back and looking at these
(12:28):
preparing to do this interview was one, you know, when
Dan Aykroyd gives that great speech about you know, we're
all here to have a good time, and even the
cops are okay, and John Kenny's up there. It's just
such a great scene and then they start playing and
they keep bringing you forward. Was that scripted or did
you just step to the front of it?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Was Dan's intention, very definitely his intention, and also Landis
went along with it that he wanted to bring us
to the forefront and in the second movie that you
brought up. In the first movie, Donald duck dun'scene was
cut out of the movie and never never, not cut out,
cut out of the script, never film. I had a
whole scene that was cut out of the script that
(13:10):
was never you know filmed. So that went along, I
guess with budget saving one of those deals, because in
its entirety, I was told by John Landers that they
filmed over six hundred miles of film, which would have
made that movie about a four hours saga, and they
really had to edit a lot of it down, and
(13:31):
they were going to save about a half an hour
to forty minutes of it for a TV special that
would run in those three part series you know and
get the whole time in.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
But that never happened.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Had John Belushi not died when he did, which wasn't
long after that, do you think there would have been
a sequel?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Center absolutely had already signed contract for Really, if you.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Lift the Michael Berry's Show in podcast, please tell one friend,
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(14:16):
or simply by clicking on our website Michael Berryshow dot com.
The Michael Berry Show and Podcast is produced by Ramon Roeblis,
The King of Ding. Executive producer is Chad Knakanishi. Jim
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(14:42):
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give credit, where not, we take all the credit for ourselves.
(15:03):
God bless the memory of Rush Limbaugh. Long live Elvis,
be a simple man like Leonard Skinnard told you, and
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(15:23):
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