Blues Brothers

Think buying and selling a house these days is migraine-inducing? Multiply it times four and pass the Excedrin to Dan Aykroyd. The comic actor and his wife, Donna Dixon, paid $14.5 million in February for a 5,244-square-foot house in Pacific Palisades that wasn't listed in the Multiple Listing Service. Just two months earlier, they sold their 4,828-square-foot home on Woodrow Wilson Drive to "Vacation" star Beverly D'Angelo (you know, the actress who looks like Lauren Hutton) for $3.

When it moves to Monte Carlo Resort and Casino on Oct. 10, the ever-evolving multimedia entertainment phenomenon that is Blue Man Group will offer audiences a dramatically enhanced version of its already jaw-dropping Las Vegas production. For visitors who've never witnessed Blue Man in Vegas, this latest and most elaborate incarnation is all the more reason to take the plunge. For those who caught the production at the Venetian (or at the Luxor before that), the updated show merits another look.

"18 Years Later." With that pre-credit title nudge, the sequel to John Landis' supercharged 1980 car chase and R&B comedy "The Blues Brothers" begins, and you are warned: If you don't have a detailed and reverent memory for the first film, rent it and love it, or save your money for the soundtrack. "Blues Brothers 2000" is the best noise you're going to hear all year. "BB 2000" actually plays more like a self-celebrating 20-year reunion of aging hipsters than a sequel.

Trumpet player Alan Rubin was recruited to join the Blues Brothers after backing up John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in the "Saturday Night Live" television skits that spawned the band in the late 1970s. One of many gifted session musicians in the group, Rubin became known for his movie portrayal of head waiter Mr. Fabulous in 1980's "The Blues Brothers" and a 1998 sequel. Rubin died Wednesday of lung cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said his wife, Mary Moreno Rubin.

It must be nice to be a Hollywood Personality. If you're a Hollywood Personality, you can present yourself as a Pop Star without the benefit of any musical experience, qualification, knowledge or even discernible talent, and people will come see you anyway. Witness Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, Harry Dean Stanton, Don Johnson, Cybill Shepherd, etc. Witness Jim Belushi.

Jim Belushi proved it once and for all Tuesday at the House of Blues: He's not his late brother John. He's way too graceful. Where John used to punctuate his Blues Brothers performances with clumsy cartwheels, Jim came on stage by executing a rather elegant back somersault to take his new role as Z Blues. In this revived version of the act, he teamed with Dan (Elwood Blues) Aykroyd and a new brother--the stone-faced John (Mighty Mack Blues) Goodman.

Jim Belushi proved it once and for all Tuesday at the House of Blues: He's not his late brother John. He's way too graceful. Where John used to punctuate his Blues Brothers performances with clumsy cartwheels, Jim came on stage by executing a rather elegant back somersault to take his new role as Z Blues. In this revived version of the act, he teamed with Dan (Elwood Blues) Aykroyd and a new brother--the stone-faced John (Mighty Mack Blues) Goodman.

Last week's Top 5 rentals: "U.S. Marshals," "Good Will Hunting," "Sphere," "Wag the Dog" and "Fallen." Last week's Top 5 sellers: "Spirit of Mickey," "Grease 20th Anniversary With CD," "Spice World," "Springer: Too Hot for TV," "Dennis the Menace Strikes Again." What's New In stores this week: "The Wedding Singer" (New Line), romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler. (PG-13) "Jackie Brown" (Miramax), crime caper starring Pam Grier. (R) "The Proposition" (Polygram), drama with Kenneth Branagh.

Belushi Buys: Eight years after he died, the public is about to get a chance to buy John Belushi's belongings--including rumpled "Blues Brothers" suits with sun glasses--a Chicago auction house said Thursday. Among the items to go on the block at a June 9 charity auction are golf shoes, electric guitars, a drum set and a skull salt and pepper shaker set with gold eye sockets.

Scientists at the American Rocket Company (AMROC) in Silicon Valley are currently testing a pair of prototype commercial rocket engines that they've christened, Calvin and Hobbes, after the mischievous little boy and stuffed tiger in Bill Watterson's syndicated comic strip. (Two earlier engines were named Elwood and Jake, after the Blues Brothers.

TV THIS WEEK SUNDAY What if a classic science-fiction scenario became fact? That possibility is imagined in the special "When Aliens Attack. " And it's all sci-fi farce when "Family Guy" completes its spoofing of the original "Star Wars" trilogy with a send-up of "Return of the Jedi. " (National Geographic, 5 and 8 p.m.; Fox, 9 p.m.) Tom Selleck and his manly mustache star in the made-for-TV thriller "Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost," while Donald Trump and his crazy comb-over pick a winner on the season finale of "The Celebrity Apprentice.

Runner's World magazine a few years ago asked an expert in music and athletic performance to recommend the best songs to listen to while running. British professor Costas Karageorghis selected songs with a particular number of beats per minute (120) and other factors to get folks moving: "The Heat Is On" by Glenn Frey; "Reach" by S Club 7; "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" by the Blues Brothers; and "William Tell Overture" by Rossini. Really? We'll just stick with "Gonna Fly Now," a.k.a.

An episode of "Saturday Night Live" contains, on average, 11 sketches. Given the 35 (!) seasons of "SNL" and an average of 20 episodes per year, that makes for approximately 7,700 sketches written, rehearsed and performed on the influential comedy show. Out of that enormous trove of raw material, a handful of sketches have received the honor of being bulked up to feature-film length. After a decade-long hiatus (anyone remember 2000's "The Ladies Man," starring Tim Meadows?), "SNL" returns to the big screen Friday with the action-film parody "MacGruber," featuring cast members Will Forte and Kristen Wiig (joined by Ryan Phillippe, Powers Boothe and Val Kilmer)

CHICAGO -- I'm waiting for luggage at O'Hare with Jim Belushi. We're both going to be at Wrigley Field tonight. He will be the Cubs' guest, singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch. I hope they have a seat in the press box. We played together as kids in our hometown of Wheaton, Ill., climbing the same tree. Obviously Belushi is a much better climber. According to Jim, the Cubs are going to win this series. He's wearing a Cubs cap, and he's going to be the emcee at a downtown rally.

Think buying and selling a house these days is migraine-inducing? Multiply it times four and pass the Excedrin to Dan Aykroyd. The comic actor and his wife, Donna Dixon, paid $14.5 million in February for a 5,244-square-foot house in Pacific Palisades that wasn't listed in the Multiple Listing Service. Just two months earlier, they sold their 4,828-square-foot home on Woodrow Wilson Drive to "Vacation" star Beverly D'Angelo (you know, the actress who looks like Lauren Hutton) for $3.

Another hit film property is going to get new life as a stage musical. This time it's "The Blues Brothers Revival," which opens April 20 in Chicago, where the 1980 film starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd was set.

Cinderella without the tiara. Popeye without his spinach. The Hansons without their hair. And the Blues Brothers without their shades. When Dan Aykroyd picked up John Belushi as he rolled out of prison in Joliet, Ill., back in 1980, they were just a couple of dopey dropouts--until they put on their Ray-Bans. A star was born: the Ray-Ban Wayfarer. Along with skinny ties and black fedoras, the squared-off black frames with darker-than-dark lenses became almost as famous as the soul men themselves.

Actor Dan Aykroyd and his wife, Donna Dixon, have listed their Hollywood Hills home at $2.45 million. Aykroyd, 47, was an original member of the "Saturday Night Live" cast, who shared a writing Emmy in 1976-77 for the show. Later a star of "The Blues Brothers" (1980), "Ghostbusters" (1984) and "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), he co-stars in the recently released movie "Diamonds" with Kirk Douglas.