Still at the Party

Chicago, Illinois, August 1975. Mom enjoys some time with one of the celebrants.

Reception

Chicago, Illinois, August 1975. Mom attends an anniversary party.

Some dance in the modern style.

Chicago, Illinois, August 1975. Guests at an anniversary party hit the dance floor. I believe this event took place at "JC's."

This was a time when women often wore wigs and floor-length dresses to parties.

Related by Marriage: Blues "Broliai"

By the time "The Blues Brothers" premiered in June 1980, the principal characters, Jake and Elwood (played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd)—and especially their music—were already well known to many Americans and a lot of Chicagoans. Jake and Elwood had released their double-platinum album, Briefcase Full of Blues, in November 1978. The LP featured two hit singles, "Soul Man" and "Rubber Biscuit," that Belushi and Aykroyd had performed on Saturday Night Live. The music was a tribute to the Chicago blues tradition.
 

Chicago played an integral role in the Blues Brothers' story. The film reopened the door to on-site production in the city in a way that hadn't occurred since the early 1920s. At a key moment in planning the movie, Universal Studies sent John Belushi—a native of suburban Wheaton—to obtain unprecedented permission to film in the Loop from newly elected mayor, Jane Byrne.

 

There were over thirty Chicago and suburban locations in the final cut of "The Blues Brothers," including a a scene in Marquette Park.

 

Mr. Irene's Lithuanian dance band enjoyed the Blues Brothers music. The fellows—dressed in Blues-Brothers-inspired garb—performed at a 1979 Mardi Gras dance gig at the Lithuanian Youth Center.

 

The band received its most enthusiastic audience response ever when it played a rendition of "Soul Man" to close the first dance set.

 

 

*     *     *     *     *

 

 

Gage Park, Chicago, Lithuanian Youth Center, February, 1979. Mr. Irene plays the guitar with the band, covering the Blues Brothers for a dance sponsored by a Lithuanian cultural group.

UPDATE: Welcome "Official Blues Brother Website" readers. Thanks for the link!

Related by Marriage: Party Band

Chicago's Lithuanian DP community maintained busy, annual social calendars from the 1950s through the 1970s. In the fall, political, cultural, and relief organizations held fundraising dinner dances. Christmas and New Year's Eve galas followed. Easter Balls heralded the start of spring and a new season of wedding parties. Occasional picnics and neighborhood festivals punctuated the summers.

Many banquets and dances took place within the main assembly hall of the Lithuanian Youth Center (what we called "JC's"). The Center—located in Gage Park—was part of a complex built in 1957; it housed the residence of Lithuanian Jesuit priests, an art gallery, a chapel, research archives, and facilities for conducting Lithuanian language school on Saturdays. The Center also is the place at which I (sometimes) attended weekly choir practice.

 

Each gala featured live dance music, from the simplest, single accordion player to combos covering American big-band dance standards and rock music.

Mr. Irene played electric guitar for a Lithuanian dance-music trio throughout his college years. The other musicians were our contemporaries; their families were part of the Chicago Lithuanian network. One, an accordionist, was lead singer, and the other, a drummer, sang harmony and managed the bookings. The trio played waltzes, tangos, and polkas. They also substituted Lithuanian lyrics in pop tunes. Mr. Irene remembers many quaint translations and arrangements; "King of the Road," "Besame Mucho," and "Spanish Eyes" were popular numbers. A lively rendition of "Mack the Knife" or "Proud Mary," sung in English, usually closed out a night's performance.

 
For New Year's Eve 1978, the accordionist's parents contracted the group to perform for an annual gathering of Chicago snowbirds near Juno Beach, Florida. Mr. Irene packed up the drummer's van and departed for the 22-hour drive on a snowy December morning, just before Christmas Eve.

Juno Beach, Florida, December 31, 1978. Mr. Irene accompanies his band mates on guitar as the revelers prepare to take the dance floor.

Catwalk

The annual fashion show, the "Madų Paroda," was a celebrated event in the Lithuanian community. My Mom and her best friend, Donna, attended the show every year. The show was a stylish event, and it took place at the Lietuvių Jaunimo Centras, or "Lithuanian Youth Center,"on a Saturday night. Women sat at long tables, and, during the intermission, they ate a family-style meal of Lithuanian foods, namely sausages and sauerkraut, boiled potatoes, kugelis, a lingonberry crumble cake, and Napoleonas. The room smelled like hairspray and cigarette smoke.

All garments featured at the Madų Paroda were handmade. Women submitted their items to a committee that juried the selections for the show. We were thrilled when a few suits that my Mom had knitted made it onto the runway.

The catwalk models were Lithuanian women; most were former Displaced Persons. They were among the most elegant in the community: they had perfect figures, and most had "Baltic blonde" hair and frosted nails. When not fashioned for the show, the stylish women usually wore a lot of black clothing, accented by bulky amber jewelry. If you grew up in the Lithuanian community, then I'm sure you can picture this 1960s standard of ethnic beauty.


Gage Park, Chicago, about 1963. A woman, serving coffee, stands between my Mom and Donna. Mom and Donna have secured a great table, right next to the catwalk. (Photo by V. Noreika.)

*     *     *     *     *

Gage Park, Chicago, about 1963. There's a lot going on here! (Photo by V. Noreika.)

*     *     *     *     *

Suburban Chicago, 1972. It's my first Madų Paroda, and Mom and I have sewed matching dresses.

A book that touches my heart.

I linked recently to Daiva Markelis's book, White Field, Black Sheep.

If you enjoy the entries here that linger on the experiences of the Lithuanian-American offspring of DP immigrants, then Daiva's book is a "must read."

Choir

I once mentioned my scatttered participation in the Jaunimo Centro Lithuanian teenagers' choir. When performance dates arrived, I usually positioned myself in the back row of the alto section so that the choir master would not notice that I was unfamiliar with the songs.

Here, I somehow landed right in front of the choir master—my face is just to the left of his. It was probably not long after this performance that a parent of one of my rehersal-dodging partners got a telephone call from the choir master himself.

Marquette Park, Chicago, Spring 1975. My friends and I almost always attended the first half of the choir's Wednesday-night rehersals. We usually ditched out during the "pertrauka," or recess. Our key reason for bolting during recess was because we felt so shunned by the "Marquette Parker" cliques that made up most of the choir.

Lietuvių Jaunimo Centras

The "Lietuvių Jaunimo Centras," or "Lithuanian Youth Center," was the South Side hub of cultural activities in the 1960s.

"JC's," as we called it, was close to the neighborhood occupied by the Marquette Parkers. JC's featured art exhibits at which the Displaced-Persons generation selected modernistic paintings for their homes. Each fall, the center hosted a "Madų Paroda," or fashion show. Expert knitters like my Mom and her friend, Donna, sometimes featured their pieces at the show. Children of the Marquette-Park DPs attended Lithuanian School every Saturday at the center.

JC's also sponsored a Lithuanian choir for teenage singers. I belonged to the choir for a couple of years. The choir practiced every Wednesday night. For me and three of my suburban friends—childhood pals from our satellite, Lithuanian School—choir practice was an opportunity to get out of the house during the middle of the week. Choir practice also served as a pretext when we decided to engage in other mischief. We played hooky so often from choir that the choir master once barely recognized us when we showed up in full folkdress for a performance. (Hi, Mom!!)

Jaunimo Centras is the place at which Lithuanians greeted Simas Kudirka when he finally emigrated to the United States. I sang at the reception that welcomed Kudirka to America.

Finally, JC's organized many stimulating historical conferences for the older set:

Gage Park, Chicago, December 1967. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, joins others for a presentation at JC's.