Hello Everyone!
I hope you’re all as excited for this next post as I am blogging about out it!
Any regular reader of this blog will tell you, as well as any of my followers on Instagram and Facebook, that part of what I love doing with The Bluesmobile is driving around the Chicagoland area to find filming locations from the original Blues Brothers movie and take update pictures with my Bluesmobile.
A lot of the time I will try to replicate closely the angle and perspective of the original, other times I just have to go with what I can get.
At the end of 2017 while trying to catalog areas that I have been and where I wanted to go next with the Bluesmobile it dawned on me that one of the most iconic filming scenes was literally in my own backyard.
The Richard J. Daley Center in beautiful downtown Chicago.
I know what your thinking, big whoop, you take that Bluesmobile of yours and drive around the block a few times until you get all of your shots. You know if front of that Picasso and everything.
Sure I could have done that. In fact I have done that on several occasions when I was desperate for a shot to go along with a quote that I just HAD to put on Instagram that day!
But this time, it was different.
I HAD to get some shots of The Bluesmobile ON THE DALEY CENTER PLAZA!!!
Well that might not be that easy I said to myself. A lot of things have changed since they filmed those scenes in the fall of ’79, and even more things have changed since security has become a major concern in all cities across America, especially government buildings.
On of the biggest changes was around the perimeter of the plaza. It was not longer completely open as it was in the movie. Stone benches and concrete planters have been placed with just enough room to walk around and move freely, but not enough room to get a car through. And even if I were to get a car onto the plaza without permission, I would be deemed an immediate threat and probably shot on site. So scratch getting a picture of me driving through the glass!
I had to do this smartly, with permission, and no gonzo b.s.
But where do you start on a request like this?
Simply enough, I contacted my ward’s alderman, Marty Quinn. I sent him an email, outlining what I would like to do, and gave him some background on The Bluesmobile and sent him a link to the blog. I was very surprised that he called me back personally within a matter of days!
He was very excited to help out with a project like this, but obviously it had to go through the proper channels. Now, just to set the stage, this was back in November of 2017. While my alderman was excited, he needed to make sure that the alderman whose ward the Daley Center sits in would be okay with it.
Getting approval from that alderman seemed to go fairly quickly, next was getting the okay from the Director of Chicago Film Office! My alderman graciously made the introduction between myself and the director. I told him the whole background of my Bluesmobile and what I do with it. He seemed to like the idea, and he would get permission from the building and we’ll work on scheduling some dates. That was in January! So while things were progressing nicely!
After a couple more months of waiting, it was finally early March and I finally receive word that the buildings management approved the photo-shoot and that I should hear from my contact soon. At this point I thought it might be another month or so. Boy was I wrong!!!
Sydney asked if we could do it Saturday March 24th. Uh, little less than a week away. Wasn’t quite ready, but…
ARE YOU CRAZY??? Of course I could do it March 24th!!!
I call my friend from work that is a photographer and asked if she would be interested in doing a photo-shoot with me on a cold March morning at the Daley Plaza. The offer was accepted almost immediately!!! So we met up a little early than we were supposed to in order to get some action shots, and figure out shots on the plaza.
Once it was time for me to go on the plaza, a building engineer came over to lower what they call the bullets. I thought it was some high tech James Bond scenario were there was a secret access for a key to be inserted, twisted, and the bullets would lower down into the ground.
Nope. All Manual.
Now this is were the butterflies and excitement starts to kick in! Surprisingly I was calm and collected up to this point!
And the moment I have been waiting for, for a really long time has just came to reality!
Now, at this point I am blowing my horn like crazy, grinning from ear to ear like a little kid locked in a bakery! This is too cool!
It took every single ounce of control that I could muster, not to do any crazy burnouts or figure eights in the plaza. I wanted to so badly. My family and friend thought I was going to, they expected it from me. But, that would have made those that helped make this happen look badly so I will leave that part in my dreams!
When we were taking pictures on the plaza, it became very surreal to me that I more than likely became the only other person than Elwood Blues, Mr. Dan Aykroyd himself to drive a Bluesmobile onto Daley Plaza! How cool is that?
I would like to thank everyone that has helped me with this project and made my little dream become a reality. Obviously, my beautiful wife and son for putting up with these crazy ideas on an almost DALEY basis (pun intended). I would like to especially thank 13th ward Alderman Mary Quinn, 42nd ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, Richard Moskal, Director of the Chicago Film Office, and Sydney Pryor with MB Real Estate for the most awesome birthday present in the world!
UPDATE!!! Check out actual video of me driving onto the Daley Plaza!!! Click on the link below!
I was grinning from ear to ear reading that. I’m jealous yet happy you were able to make a dream a reality. Amazing shots, as always, I continue to appreciate your attention to detail. I hope to see you at another convention some day. So do what you feel and keep both feet on the wheel.
Thanks Shane! I know exactly how you feel, because I would be jealous too! Thanks for your support!