Blues Legend Jim Belushi & A Letter To The Editor

"Join Island Affordable Housing for the hottest party of the summer! Dance the night away with blues legend Jim Belushi with Jerry Bennett & The Sultans of Swing. Also, surprise musical guests, island celebrities and more. Enjoy a sumptuous cocktail buffet by V. Jaime Hamlin & Sons. R.S.V.P. by July 20. Space is limited and this is always a sell out so get your tickets early."

No legend at all

To the Editor:

Maybe it's me, but the surreal nature of seeing the name Jim Belushi anywhere within a hundred miles of the designation "blues legend" inspires a sort of bewilderment usually associated with hallucinogens. Locating an internal compass from which to formulate an understanding of a universe that can support a statement so boldly unearned can be tricky. I should know, for that is precisely the predicament I found myself in upon perusing the MV Times last week. Granted, this unearned title adorned an advertisement whose sole, hell-bent allegiance must be to the almighty box office and therefore a retraction cannot legally be demanded. Yet and still, "Blues Legend Jim Belushi" is a phrase of such disproportionate vulgarity, especially this week, that it taunts me even now as I write.

Anytime I feel this type of disconnect, it is imperative to rule out insanity. In this case, my immediate mental inventory of mundane facts, definitive dates and common trivia were compared against various sources (even the paper of note) and all were confirmed as accurate and unaffected. Once my heart rate resumed an acceptable metabolic frequency, I re-read the advertisement taking into account the sly, immoral marketing universe that spawned it, a panorama from which the effrontery would hardly be diluted. Therefore, I attempted to digest the pronouncement from the perspective of the target demographic, who I presumed to be upper-class vacationers, the slightly stiff and the generally out of touch.

In short, it mattered little the angle; once approached, the madness had no choice but become pervasive. While the danger of playing into it was palpable, letting it go unchecked would simply be irresponsible. I felt at the very least, a few questions were in order, chiefly among them; where was I while the brother of iconic funnyman John Belushi was taking blues lore on this breezy summer house detour? The answer to that is, of course, on Martha's Vineyard, within the same 10-mile radius of the legend himself. Now, being a music connoisseur of sorts and one who is not prone to hiding beneath rocks for interminable lengths, logic leads me to ponder how I missed the apparent zeitgeist shifting, elitist whitewash of one of music's most enduring and beloved genres. Note: I was not even alive at the time, never mind living on the same island as Elvis, and I can practically recite his legend.

I do recall eyeing a poster to last summer's underperforming Underdog movie with the name Jim Belushi above it's title and wondering if this was the same Jim Belushi from K-9 and the straight to video classic K-9: P.I.? Either way "works well with dogs" is certainly not an applicable prerequisite claim, nor even likely to enhance the resume of a blues legend. Vague memories of a moderately successful sitcom, and obnoxiously titled/supremely unnecessary memoir aside, are we to stand for this history-defiling, revisionist ego stroke? False advertisement is one thing, total lack of respect another. Many people have given all they have of this life, heart and soul to this music and still have never earned and would hardly accept the term legend. Then again, that may depend on how loosely you interpret the word. Let's take the first definition Google spits out.

legend\'le-jend\noun a: a story coming down from the past; especially one popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable. b; a person or thing that inspires legends.

I would tend to agree that the term "not verifiable" works in both Mr. Belushi and his publicist's favor. However within the phrase "popularly regarded" lies the rub.

If the same paper that published the "Jim Belushi Blues Legend" advertisement were to conduct a poll asking its readers to describe Jim Belushi, is it more likely that even one of them employs the words "blues legend," or that all of them reply with some form of "successful but relatively unadmired actor"?

What if those same readers are asked to describe Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, or Stevie Ray Vaughn? Would even one of them make mention of a more famous brother?

By the way, I Googled "Martha's Vineyard Blues Legend" and on the first page, Jim Belushi's name was right where it belonged, nowhere to be found. Do you know whose name did turn up on that page, in each and every article/blog/website without exception? That's right: Maynard Silva.

Martha's Vineyard, let's learn to respect our legends.

Todd Estrella
Edgartown