What a Saturday night for John and Rob Skolits, leaders of the Blues Brothers Tribute show.
They got busted by the cops.
They blew a marriage ceremony for lack of a Villages ID card.
And the Bluesome Twosome got bailed out by Mama Theresa Skolits and her other kids: Ted, Steve, Rich and Kathy.
It all happened Saturday during a charity performance before a sellout crowd at the North Lake Presbyterian Church. Money raised went to support Children of the Ocala Forest and The Fraternal Order of Police Foundation.
It was a rip-roaring night of hard-rocking blues and soulful music, mixed in with aerobic choreography, zany stunts and goofy skits.
This concert almost ended before it began.
John and Rob were ready to take the stage with an outrageously talented band of nearly 16, when Chris McKinstry, Lady Lake police chief, turned up.
The top cop of Lady Lake started running around the church with another officer waving wanted posters. He wanted to put the blues duo in the pokey.
“The Blues Brothers are wanted and this show will not go on,” McKinstry said with a straight face in front of the stage before a packed house.
Finally, John and Rob appeared in character as Jake and Robwood Blues, dressed like John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in the “Blues Brothers” movie.
“We didn’t do nothing, man,” Johnny Blues told the lawman. “We’re on a mission from God,” Robby Blues chimed in.
McKinstry, instead of reading the boys their Miranda rights, showed a softer side. He decided to leave the Blues boys fate in the hands of the audience.
“Should we take them away or leave them here?” McKinstry asked the crowd. Suddenly people were booing and hissing the cop and screaming and yelling for the blues brothers.
You can see actual footage from the bust here:
What could McKinstry do? He walked away and the show started with a rollicking version of the Otis Redding standard, “I Can’t Turn You Loose.” Then John showed his tough-guy side with “Messing With the Kid.”
Rob, not to be outdone, got down and dirty with “Hey Bartender” and combined with his musical soul brother John on “Everybody Needs Somebody.”
Yep, the boys sounded like gangster angels harmonizing on those thumping poetic words: “I need you, you, you, I need you, you, you.”
Now, we all know the Skolits crew is tough, rock and rolling wise guys but there is one person they don’t fool with: Mama Terry, who just turned 89.
She and son Ted live in The Villages and Mom is the real leader of Skolits gang. So, just as the boys were ready to sing “Gimme Some Lovin’” with help from Cool Rocking Daddy Ralph DiNome, Rob found out he had the wrong cowbell on stage.
“Son, you didn’t bring the right cowbell and here it is,” Mama Skolits said from a row near the front of the stage. Then she handed her son the right one.
“Thanks Mom,” Rob said like a good boy. And he started banging the bell and blasted off the song.
DiNome was soon joined on stage by his daughter Dawn DiNome. She was spectacularly soulful on such numbers as “Respect,” “Think” and “Chain of Fools.” Dawn teamed with Ralph for a heavenly version of “The Prayer,” and they earned a well-deserved standing ovation.
But then Dawn pulled out a marriage certificate and wanted to hook up with Rob.
Retired pastor Gene Orr suddenly appeared and was ready to unite the couple in bluesy matrimony. But there was one hitch.
“Dearly beloved, we are –wait a minute — this is The Villages, I’m going to need to see your Villages ID,” Orr told the bewildered couple. “You know, a picture ID. I can’t do without it, I would not be in compliance.”
So Dawn and Rob left the stage, not as one, but two.
And the concert rocked on.
The band was cooking all night long and really knocked down the walls on the jitterbugging “Sing, Sing Sing.” Ted Skolits turned up some hot and heavy heat on the drums helped by a couple of Terry Skolits’ grandkids also on percussion: Jason and Kevin Skolits.
Saxman Tony Nasser was wailing throughout the show but the same could be said for the rest of the remarkable band: Mary Lund, Dave Czohara, Chuck Mander, Keith Miland, Jim Fish, Ernie Souell, Dave Hosack, Ray Lamia, Gary Davis and Sara Kallioinen.
Debbie Hurtt and Kathy Skolits joined Dawn DiNome as the backup singers. Rick Skolits ran the spotlight and Steve Skolits held up signs at the side of the stage to interpret the sometimes undecipherable words of Rob and John.
Speaking of unintelligible lyrics, Rob rapped his way through “Rubber Biscuit” while cracking jokes and John brought back memories of Sam and Dave on a torrid “Soul Man.”
The whole night was a lot of music and laughs rolled up into a Skolits family reunion.
“This show was so much fun,” said Blues Sister Joanne Morgan, who came dressed like brothers. “It’s a party.”
And the real winners of this party were the needy Children of the Ocala Forest.
“I got my exercise tonight chasing these guys,” Chief McKinstry said after the show. “It was a lot of fun for a good cause.”
John and Rob Skolits also had good vibes after the show.
“It’s all about the music,” John said.
“This band was amazing,” Rob said. “There was a lot of love on that stage and we’re so glad to help the kids.”
Villager Ted Skolits helped organize the event and seemed to get a bigger kick out of his mother than the performers.
“I couldn’t believe Mom out in the audience coming up with that line about the cowbell,” he said. “That was awesome.”
Mama Skolits summed up the night this way: “I’m proud of my family.”
