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Tuesday, July 1, 2008

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Red, white and Blues

Blues Brothers tribute band has become a mainstay in Brainerd, Nisswa parades on the Fourth of July

By JOHN HANSEN

Entertainment Editor

They might as well be called the Blues Family. Our local Blues Brothers tribute band - a staple in the Brainerd and Nisswa parades for 15 years - is a collection of 15 friends and relatives who stumbled upon a great excuse to see each other every Fourth of July.

"You could almost think of the band now as an excuse for everyone to put their schedules aside and get together," said saxophone player Kevin Boyles during a laugh-filled interview Sunday at Matt Cooper's home south of Brainerd. "I mean, if we didn't have the Blues Brothers, we wouldn't suffer. We'd spend the time on the lakes or have a picnic."

Vocalist Amy Borash disagrees slightly. The band took one year off, and they knew something was missing from the holiday experience.

Matt Cooper (left) plays Jake and Erik Paulson plays Elwood in the Brainerd area incarnation of the Blues Brothers. The duo rehearsed Sunday at Cooper's garage in rural Brainerd in preparation for two parades and a stage show this week. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
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"We tried taking a year off and I sat next to (trumpet player) Di (Kiehlbauch) and watched the parade. I said, 'This is the most boring thing I've ever done. Why did we decide we needed a year off?'"

"Basically, we get together every year, we rehearse for four or five days and we add a song every now and then," said Cooper, who plays Jake Blues. "We do it for fun, and to see each other."

"When it's no fun, we're done," added Erik Paulson, who plays Elwood Blues.

When Dave and Amy Borash came together as a couple in 1993, they also brought the band together. Dave brought his musician friends; Amy brought her theater friends. Everything clicked when they tapped Cooper and Paulson to play the title characters, who were made famous by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd on "Saturday Night Live" and in the classic 1980 movie.

"I had done a lot of (theater) shows with them and I knew they were really animated, and that they liked the movie and that genre of music," Amy Borash said.

"And Erik does look a lot like Aykroyd," added drummer Michael Dilley.

"With the suit on, yeah, I do," agreed Paulson, who then launched into a dead-on Aykroyd impression.

Through the years, Brainerd parade-goers have demonstrated their approval of the casting decision, especially in 1998, when the Blues Brothers Band followed the parade with a performance on the American Celebration main stage.

Amy Borash (left) and Emily MacDonald of Baxter sang during a Blues Brothers Band rehearsal Sunday at Matt Cooper's garage south of Brainerd. The Blues Brothers Band has performed together for 15 years. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
» Purchase reprints of this photo.

"We've always had a great response to it," Cooper said. In '98, we did a really long show, and right after that - don't ask me why this happened - Erik and I signed autographs for about 40 minutes."

"It was really weird. People thought we were actually the Blues Brothers," Paulson said.

"The young kids did," Cooper said. "But we didn't expect it, really."

When playing on a float, Cooper and Paulson don't have room to perform many antics from the movie - they basically just play the songs, like "Gimme Some Lovin'," "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" and "Soul Man." But on stage that year, they played out a scene from the film.

"We had the Brainerd police arrest us - because in the movie we get arrested - and they asked, 'Do you want 'em to do one more song?' So we came out in handcuffs and did one more song," Cooper said.

"The law enforcement in this community has been pretty generous with arresting them whenever we ask them to," Amy Borash said.

Of course, it's not just the band that has fun with this. The community loves it, too. And Amy Borash said it's not necessarily because of the quality of the music.

The Blues Brothers Band posed Sunday on the trailer it will use for upcoming parades in Nisswa and Brainerd. The band includes Suzanne LaFlex (bass, front left), Matt Cooper (vocals), Emily MacDonald (vocals), Amy Borash (vocals), Erik Paulson (vocals), Charlie Johnson (keyboards, middle left), Michael Dilley (drums), Jerry Swanson (trombone), Kevin Boyles (tenor saxophone), Diana Kiehlbauch (trumpet), Doug Durant (trombone) and Dave Borash (trumpet). Not pictured are Hannah Cooper (guitar), Brittany Stegora (alto saxophone) and Steven Johnson (guitar). Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
» Purchase reprints of this photo.

"It's hard to mix well on a moving vehicle," she said. "Somebody posted us on YouTube, and we suck rocks. But as I told Dave the other day, in some ways we've become an Alice's Restaurant. That was a float in the Brainerd parade since I was a little girl, and I can remember loving that. I've heard from random people that they look forward to our float coming through. I don't know what the magic is."

Trumpet player Dave Borash said it's the horn section that sets the Blues Brothers apart.

"We're unique to this area because there aren't many groups that carry that horn thing through. Throughout high school, we loved playing, and a lot of times once you leave high school, that's it for horns. There's not a lot of demand out there. So for us to continue to use that gift we were given is a rush."

If you go

You can see the Blues Brothers Band:

¥ in the Freedom Days Parade at 7 p.m. Thursday along Main Street in Nisswa,

¥ at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Trailside Park in Pequot Lakes,

¥ and in the American Celebration Parade at 4 p.m. Friday along College Drive in Brainerd.

Cooper has another theory on the band's appeal.

"We're not selling anything," he said. "It's a float, it's something fun to look at, (and) that's why people like us. We're not selling all these goods. If I wanted to go to the tractor store or the lawnmower store, I would go there."

Still, it's hard to imagine anyone has more fun with the Blues Brothers Band than the musicians themselves. Although the other 14 members live in the Brainerd lakes area, Pillager native Dilley comes all the way from San Jose, Calif., every year to play with his friends.

"I come back because there aren't people this sick and twisted in California," the drummer said with a laugh. "I've got family and friends in California, and they say, 'Are you gonna come over for the Fourth?' And I say, 'No, I'm gonna be in Minnesota in the Blues Brothers tribute band in the local parades.'"

Dilley often gets a confused look from the listener. All he can say is, "You'd have to see it. And it still wouldn't make any sense."

JOHN HANSEN may be reached at john.hansen@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5863.

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