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http://www.oidar.com/blues.jpg
The gang at the R& R convention in LA.
Don't know everyone but here are the names I know. Seated L to R: "Eddy" Barbis, Debbie Sholin, Chris (Les Garland's girlfriend). Standing L to R: ?, ?, Jo Interrante, me, Johnny Barbis, Dave Sholin, Les Garland, ? Dino Barbis.
At the R&R convention. Michael Kleffner invited me to come up to his suite one night to meet Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. I was a huge fan of the Blues Brothers and couldn’t wait to meet them. We stood around having drinks for a while before they were to come up. Aykroyd came in first and we were introduced. He was cordial but seemed uncomfortable. Maybe it was unfamiliar ground or maybe it was the drug use by some people in the room. Suddenly, John walked in. Someone handed him a vial of cocaine. He picked up a room service menu dumped the contents of the tall brown bottle on it. With one swipe he snorted the entire pile. Wiping his nose, he asked "Anybody got a ‘lude (methaqualon)?" I watched all of this from the balcony outside the suite. I looked at the people I was standing with and we were all taken back by his behavior. I’d heard stories, but now I’d seen it. Belushi came out to talk to us. We chatted about Memphis; he loved talking about Stax records. After a few minutes, he and Aykroyd left to prepare for their show at the convention. A couple of years later I saw them again in Houston. By this time, Judith Belushi and everyone around John were watching him like a hawk to try and keep him clean. The guy in charge of John twenty four hours a day, seven days a week was named "Smokey". "Please don’t offer John drugs, don’t even kid about it, Longman." Les Garland, working for Atlantic Records then, arranged for me to go backstage at their concert at Rice University. When the critics panned "The Blues Brothers" movie, I defended it in a letter to the editor of Rolling Stone. John remembered me as "The Longman", that Memphis radio guy. Again Aykroyd was cordial, but definitely uncomfortable. John seemed down. They autographed a "1941" movie poster to me. A few months later, I awoke one morning to the news that John had died. I loved John Belushi’s acting and I really loved the Blues Brothers.
