Rod Blagojevich Singing Jailhouse Rock Karaoke Is Fuckin Golden
Elvis is hot as fuck in the streets right now thanks to the new movie out where that new metro kid who used to be a no-name plays him, they pay zero tribute to the names that influenced him, and Tom Hanks pretty awful portrayal of The Colonel ruins the whole thing.
But regardless of that, "Jailhouse Rock" still does, and always will fuck.
As for Blago?
Rod Blagojevich is the epitome of Chicago politics. A good guy, who got a little too intoxicated with the power that came with the Governor's seat, and began dipping his hand inside the cookie jar when he thought nobody was looking.
For the unfamiliar, the cookie jar in this metaphor was the vacant United States Senator seat given up by Barry Obama when he left it to run for President. And reaching inside of it equated to him auctioning off the seat appointment, something the Governor, by right of law, is tasked with doing, to the highest bidder.
Here he is on tape with now Governor, and billionaire, J.B. Pritzker discussing the transaction -
(This state is something else man)
Long story short, the Feds were listening.
And as is often the case with rich and powerful people, one person takes the fall while everybody else involved slithers away from them and the entire episode. Which is exactly what happened to Blago. He took the fall, and everybody else acted clueless.
He did cold hard time at a big boy prison, and exhausted all of his appeals.
Throughout it all, his wife Patti, daughter of another major power player in Chicago politics, Dick Mell, stood by his side.
In a wild turn of events, it was actually Republican President Donald Trump who showed mercy on Blagojevich and pardoned him (commuted his sentence) in 2020.
Since then Hot Rod has been trying to get back on his feet.
His wife's only demand is that he not re-enter politics in any way shape or form. (She says that will be the straw that breaks the camels back and forces her to leave him) but Rod being Rod, (and Illinois being Illinois), has still not ruled the idea out.
He took on a job at a logistics and trucking company where he claims he is greasing wheels and making inroads (metaphorically speaking) with people in power Rod still knows.
He's also big into karoake still, as is apparent by the video posted on our Barstool Chicago account yesterday.
You might be asking, "Dante, how and why the fuck do you know so much about a former disgraced Illinois Governor?"
Well for one, when I first came to Illinois, the Blagojevich debacle was in full swing. I remember thinking how casual and unsurprised everybody here was about the whole thing. Like it was truly just par for the course. "Yah, that's what Illinois Governors do."
After all, we're talking about a place where "four of Illinois’ past 10 governors spending time in federal prison. An additional two governors were prosecuted for wrongdoing but acquitted at trial. Even current Gov. J.B. Pritzker has come under federal investigation for a toilet removal scheme that resulted in property tax breaks at one of his Gold Coast mansions."
So in a weird way that fascinated me.
And secondly, I watched an INCREDIBLE documentary on Rod on Hulu last year titled, "Being Blago".
It was produced by a great team at ABC7 Chicago with Rod and his wife's full participation.
It gave a great look behind the scenes at what lead to his rise in city, and then state politics. His prosecution, conviction, and pardoning. As well as his impressively affable character and charisma. Just seeing him still being able to work a room and relate to everybody he shakes hands with is truly impressive.
It also shows some great karaoke scenes of him. He performed in prison (no joke), and still performs at fundraiser events. And his go-to's are all Elvis songs.
(Turns out he's a huge Elvis nut).
The saddest part of it all, or brightest spot, depending on how you look at it, is when the doc shows a normal day in Rod's life now that he's a free man once again.
He still goes jogging every morning up by his near northside home. Greets all his neighbors with friendly hellos. He loves being stopped and noticed- asked for pictures, and all that shit.
Then he goes home and gets to work knocking out cameo requests.
Yes, Rod Blagojevich is on Cameo where for $100 he records personal messages to people you ask him to. As the doc shows, he's expected to go like 30-60 seconds but he goes on rants claiming his innocence and they turn into almost 10-minute clips. It's wild.
Again, the documentary is awesome and I highly recommend it. I tried really hard to get Chief and Eddie to watch it so we could discuss it on Dog Walk last year but its 4 parts and that's too long I guess.