"We're putting the band back together" - Jake and Elwood Blues visit Sowpub!

Okay, I'm going back 20 years now.... To the movie, The Blues Brothers.... Although it's 20 years old, to many people it's a movie classic!

Jake just got out of jail, and he and his brother Elwood go to see the orphanage where they were raised. But they've discovered that the orphanage will be closed down unless they can pay $5000 in taxes in 11 days. So they go to raise the money - they're "on a mission from God."

How are they going to raise the money? Their solution -- "We're putting the band back together" to hold a concert, and pay the taxes to the orphanage. So they take off to round up their former band buddies. (And jam with many famous singers on the way, like Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and Ray Charles!)

All would be smooth, except they make a huge stash of enemies along the way -- like a Country music band ("The Good Ol' Boys"), Jake's ex-wife who's trying to blow him up, and not the mention the cops, who are all chasing their tail. Which provides some of the best car-chase scenes on the silver screen. :)

But in the end, they hold the concert.... and....

Okay, I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen the movie. Here's the lesson about success!

Jake and Elwood Blues go to ridiculous lengths to make this concert a success. Why did they do so? What was behind their sheer determination? Let me give my answer....

They had a higher purpose. They weren't out just to enrich themselves - they went all out to save the orphanage they were raised in.

Like Jake and Elwood Blues, in order to have the determination for success, a higher purpose could help for creating a business too....

Is your purpose just to make more money? If that's your only motivation, your success rate probably won't be as high. But what if you have a higher vision - some call this a "spiritual mission" for your business?

How will you improve the world in some way? That can be an additional motivation to the obvious goal to also make a living.

In business, it comes down to Win/Win/Win. It's not just about enriching yourself, but also enriching the lives of others and of the society around you. Think about it.... most (if not all) successful businesses have helped to improve people's lives in some way or another.

It could be by distributing useful knowledge (like here at Sowpub).

It could be by making life easier through various tools of some kind (like home appliances, computers, software, and so on).

It could be by making people's lives more enjoyable or happier in some way.

But it is based on Win/Win/Win!

A good "spiritual mission" for your activities - how to make life better for people in some way - could help with your own motivation.

Then, like Jake and Elwood Blues, you too will have the determination you need to do what's needed to succeed in your goals!

Jake and Elwood Blues.... an example of success....(!!!)

Well, you probably wouldn't read that anywhere but here at Sowpub! ;)

Dien Rice

Dien ~

Twenty years you say!!! Dang!!! Lemme get my toes out.... 29... 30... yep... I guess I am 40 now!!! :-0 (actually I have 10 toes for you analyticals!) LOL

Jake and Elwood... The Blues Beagles

Well... Good ol' Jake and Elwood!!! Not long after the movie hit the theaters I acquired a couple of beagle pups from a hunting buddy of mine. We just fed them and kept them around the house in a nice roomy run I had built for them.

At the time I was training my Black Lab and duck/goose hunting was my all-time favorite thing to do. (Yes I said All-time!!!)

But after the wildfowl were gone... I decided to take the beagles out into the brush to bust some rabbits and have a little fun. My brother-in-law and I also ran Blue Ticks and Red Bone hounds on raccoons too! Yep... Jest a good ol' farmboy... Been to two county fairs and one hog callin'!!!

Well these two beagles were ravenous after bunnies!!! Just like the hounds chasing 'Cool Hand Luke' through the swamps... My beagles were inside of the thickest of brush piles rootin' out the game!

Then once the rabbit broke cover... You should have heard those dawgs sing the blues!!! Wailing deep and long. Much like B.B. King or Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker!!!

They were my "Blues Beagles"!!!

So rightfully so... Both being males... They were ceremoniusly dubbed "Jake and Elwood"... "The Blues Beagles"...

Sadly enough, one afternoon I come pulling into the yard in a Ford F-150, 4" lift with 12.50 x 33 B.F. Goodrich mud tires... and Jake was lose...

I was 26 then, and cried to myself as I buried him alone that afternoon, down along the Marais des Cygnes river. I sat afterwards and watched the squirrels play in the trees and fish rise in the waters where we set trotlines for flatheads.

Leaning against an old oak tree heavy with ripening acorns. Smelling the breezes I knew Jake would never scent again. I was feeling sorry for myself and guilty I didn't see Jake come around the corner to meet me.

The Marais des Cygnes river was, and still is, one of my favorite places to be. I'm a River Rat to the core... We hunted, fished, skinny dipped as kids (and adults) in the river that flowed through our town. It's french for River of Swans.

Soon after burying Jake, Dave, my brother-in-law, and I took Elwood out to the bunny fields to enjoy an afternoon of running rabbits in the crisp Fall air. But Elwood wouldn't hunt. Not without Jake.

We both came home understanding the quizzical look Jake was giving us. We missed Jake too. It wasn't the same any longer... Not without the pair. Elwood wouldn't go into a brushpile without his partner Jake.

No longer did we go out after bunnies... Elwood became a pet for my three toddlers. He would be fine with us.

But a few months later... I heard shotgun blasts from the neighbors and Elwood wasn't home. A few minutes later here he came limping home.

The phone began to ring...

Elwood had killed some chickens up the road and the neighbor took a few shots at him as he was escaping...

Elwood died later that night... I went and paid for the hens he had killed. Cost me a twenty dollar bill and the life of my beagle.

I understood though... The way of life on a farm. He didn't want to shoot my dawg anymore than I wanted him to. But it's the code. Dawgs chasing cows, livestock and chickenkillers needed to be dealt with. If 'Ol' Man Walker' hadn't of shot him... I would've had to.

The next day we buried him next to his brother Jake overlooking the river. Dave and I both had tears welling up in our eyes, but said nothing to one another... We ended up in the local tavern shooting pool, drinking beers, telling stories of hunts gone by. Jake and Elwood were chasing rabbits, and each other, elsewhere. Romping through the tall grass together.

Cheers to Jake and Elwood... The Blues Beagles

We were given rides home...

Think I'll go rent 'The Blues Brothers' this weekend...

Hi Mike,

That was a great story.... Very sad.... You've got me feeling sad too about the loss of Jake and Elwood Beagle....

Sounds like the code of the farm can be tough, but there are good reasons for it.... While I've never really lived in the country (always having been a city slicker), my father was a farm-boy, raised on a farm near Coldwater, Michigan.... He used to tell me how he'd enjoy playing with his brothers (when they weren't working!) around Hog Creek....

I have a feeling the Australian Outback has a bit of a different feel to it.... I told one of my American cousins once that here in Australia, we don't seem to have any of those barn-style roofs that you find in the US....

"No barn-style roofs!" he said.... "I don't think I could live there without any barn-style roofs!"

(He was just joking around, of course....) :)

I also did some of my very early growing up years in Hawaii, and there I had a dog named "Tuffy".... Tuffy was ink-black with a mess of curly fur all over his body....

Tuffy and I would always hang out together and do things together. He was my true companion.... (I was around 4 years old....)

I had my other 4 year-old friends too, but when I wasn't at pre-school pledging allegiance to the flag, taking an enforced nap or playing with my other friends, I was hanging around with my best friend Tuffy!

Thanks Mike.... Great story! You brought back some great memories.... :)

Cheers,

Dien