Actress Penelope Ann Miller turns 61 today. She has been in so many great movies. She was in Kindergarten Cop, Carlito’s Way, Other People’s Money, The Shadow, Along Came a Spider, and so many more. I will always remember her as Brenda in Adventures in Babysitting.

Penelope plays Brenda, who runs away to a bus station. Elisabeth Shue’s character decides to go get her, and is talked into taking the kids she is babysitting. Thus begins the adventure…

The movie is set in Illinois – in Oak Park and Chicago. Chicago is known for some fantastic blues music, and some great songs appear on the soundtrack. One of my favorite cuts is from the legendary Muddy Waters.

In 1977, Muddy Waters released his Hard Again album. It was produced by Johnny Winter. The album was Waters’ first after leaving the famous Chess label. There were a couple re-recordings on the album, but new stuff, too. A great cut from that album appeared in Adventures in Babysitting. Give a listen to The Blues Had a Baby and They Named it Rock and Roll!

Muddy Waters – The Blues Had a Baby and They Named it Rock and Roll

So today you get a bonus cut. One of the greatest scenes in the movie is when Shue and her tag along kids enter a blues bar. The great Albert Collins is on stage. When the kids try to leave, Collins tells them that “nobody leaves” the bar “without singing the blues.” This leads to Shue’s character telling (“singing”) their story as a blues song. To me, it’s one of the best scenes in the movie.

Albert Collins and Elizabeth Shue – Babysitting Blues

Here is the actually scene:

Happy Birthday to Penelope Ann Miller!