Aiken Blues Brothers credit Corey Burns for their success

Hit it! During the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce’s awards banquet in late January, incoming Board Chairman Buzz Rich, left, and Chamber President J. David Jameson appeared as the Aiken Blues Brothers. Both credited longtime instructor Corey Burns for providing instructional time and choreography.

The Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce had its very own Blues Brothers at an awards banquet late last month - a three-minute dance routine to "Everybody Loves Somebody" that Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce President and CEO J. David Jameson and incoming board chairman Buzz Rich suggest will never be seen again.

Still, they got rave reviews from the audience of about 500 people, and they credit their choreographer, Corey Burns of Burns Studio, for their success. Burns' job, Jameson said, was to figure out how two men with a total of four left feet could pull it off.

"He watched the movie and had the wonderful ability to dummy it down for us," said Jameson. "The biggest thing was that he kept motivating us by telling us were doing a great job. We didn't always believe it, but he gave us confidence."

The Chamber had come up with the Blues Brothers theme for the awards banquet. While getting a formal photograph taken for the event program, Rich casually mentioned to Jameson that they could work up a 10-second dance, just to get the crowd going.

"I realized later you don't say something like that to David unless you plan to do it right," Rich said. "The next thing I knew, he had contacted Corey. We had about five lessons, and he was so enthusiastic and so patient with us. He gave us his time and leads by example."

Burns confirmed that his task was to simplify the steps and eliminate anything too complex.

"The main thing is nobody wants to see people do something awkward for two minutes or more," Burns said. "I just wanted to give them the confidence that they could do it."

He gave his prospective dancers a few steps at a time, Jameson said, then led them through a lot of repetition. Burns even gave Rich and Jameson a CD of the music and instructed them to play it in their cars to think about the steps mentally.

At the studio for one practice, Burns encouraged his prize pupils to perform in front of about 20 young girls who are students there.

"That was our first audience, and it was intimidating," said Rich. "But the girls were wonderful and clapped and cheered for us."

On the big night, the Aiken Blues Brothers took the stage. They knew the words so they could lip-sync effectively.

"As luck would have it, that was our best run through it," Jameson said. "Adrenaline kicked in, and Corey had us so prepared. My wife has been far more complimentary than I ever anticipated, making sure our sons have seen the video. But I think she would like for me to go into (dance) retirement."

Rich agreed that they've made their first and last appearance as the Aiken Blues Brothers - like hundreds of one-hit wonders over the last 50 years or so. Heck, even Rodney Dangerfield recorded a song called "Rappin' Rodney" in the late 1980s - with one major difference: Jameson and Rich generated a lot more respect from the audience and especially from the one person who counted most.

"They nailed it, better than they did in practice," Burns said proudly. "I was pleased with their performance and how the Aiken community reacted. They were fun to work with, a blast."

Senior writer Rob Novit is the education reporter and has been with the Aiken Standard since September 2001. He is a native of Walterboro and majored in journalism at the University of Georgia.