Some 46-plus years ago I found myself side stage at the closing night of Winterland, handing comedic actor Dan Akroyd, a live microphone to address the long sold out New Year’s Eve audience. While Dan bellowed out his opening line “Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Winterland ballroom….” to the audience, he had me hold his briefcase of harmonicas, the one with the handcuff & chain. I thought it was a prop. I didn’t know then that “The Briefcase Full of Blues” would literally become the stuff of legend.
A couple of our rabid listeners pushed the new audible book in front of us, called “The Arc of Gratitude”. It is written and voiced by Dan Akroyd, and it is a veritable sleigh ride through the story of the band that was not a joke. Only two hours long, it’s loaded with inner-circle cameos and it is most definitely worth a listen, if for no other reason than to learn how John Belushi literally put his house on the line to follow his dream, a dream that would end up resurrecting the careers of a handful of America’s greatest talents. Oh, and I learned why Elwood’s harmonica sound was so fucked up for the first few songs at Winterland (you’ll to have get the book).
Here’s a clip from the night that was, the last show at the aged skating rink with the New Riders of The Purple Sage opening for The Blues Brothers and The Grateful Dead playing till dawn when breakfast was served for 5500 spun-out souls on New Years 78/79: