News

Joel’s News

JoJo the Scarecrow soon to be released in Spanish!

Juan Dies of Sones de Mexico, has recorded Joel's Jojo the Scarecrow in Spanish. A sampler with fourteen songs, half in English and Half in Spanish is now available from Joel and Juan.The full recording will be released in the summer. Songs include: "JoJo's Barnyard Bash/Fiesta en la granja de Jojo," "Hey Horse/Mi Caballo." "I'd be a Bee/Si you fuera una abeja," and "Rabbit's Hopping Habbit/Los conejos saltan lejos." If you are interested in receiving a copy, contact Joel at joel@joelfrankel.com.

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JoJo lyrics in English and Spanish - click here

jojo en espanol

Joel joins the Old town School in making World History!

More than 1,350 people gathered at Wells Park in Chicago on the hot and sticky evening of August 7th, 2007 to make their way into the Guiness Book of World Records for the World's Largest Music Lesson. (The previous record had been set in Switzerland when some 500 plus people gathered for a harmonica lesson.) Joel was on hand with the Old Town staffers to help the crowd with their lesson.

Ship of Chocolate Chips gets a “Parent’s Choice” award!! 

“The Parents' Choice Awards Committees, comprised of moms, dads, teachers, performing artists, librarians, and yes, kids themselves, search out and recommend products that help kids grow - imaginatively, physically, morally and mentally - fairly priced products that are fun, safe and socially sound. Children's media that helps children.” 

That is what they say on their website and Joel is proud to be a recipient of this venerated award.  For more info visit:

Parent's Choice Awards

"Ship of Chocolate Chips!" gets the NAPPA Award!!

This year, NAPPA (National Parenting Publications Award) judges evaluated more than 600 entries to select the top 70 children’s resources which were spread across four age groups in six categories of products. We are pleased to announce that Ship of Chocolate Chips won an honor award from this esteemed group of judges. More information can be found at http://nappa.parenthood.com/.

Babytalk Magazine hosts Joel for their blast off event!
Time Magazine has launched a new publication for parents called BabyTalk and to celebrate the release hosted "The World’s Biggest Playgroup" at Water Tower Place in Chicago. Joel was featured on the ABC Morning News to promote the event and played live for the throngs of children participating in the event.

Joel rocks the Spertus Museum for their "Something Else" event

THe Spertus Museum hosted a huge event on Christmas Day for those who don't celebrate Christmas. Entitled "Something Else," the museum was host to a lot of grea attractions including Jol Frankel

Joel plays at the "Hair Ball"

Joel played to an enthusiastic crowd of children at the One Step at a Time camp for kids with Cancer and Leukemia in Lake Geneva, WI. This wonderful camp provides two weeks of fun and adventure for kids with cancer and this year the "Hair Ball," a fun-filled dance and party, was organized by volunteer and hairdresser, Kelly MacAvoy. Colorful wigs were provided to the children and an original CD with the song "Wig Out at the Hair Ball", (written and recorded by Joel and blues artist, Dave Specter) was given to each participant. The dancing went on late into the night and everyone had a blast!

Sitter City gives Joel a boost!
Looking for a sitter? Go to SitterCity.com. This national organization matches families with qualified sitters in the neighborhood - a great service for stressed out parents and as they say on their website "Bringing parents and sitters together: a simple service for busy people." The good folks at SitterCity are big Joel Frankel fans and have given him a plug on their website by sponsoring a contest in which you can win the new CD, Ship of Chocolate Chips. Thank you SitterCity for spreading the word about Joel to your families all over the country.

Joel co-writes the title track on Dave Specter's new CD.
Dave Specter's latest CD "Is What It Is" has just been released and is receiving rave reviews. Joel has co-written the title track with Dave. It is one of several songs that the two have co-written including the title track of Lurrie Bell's Grammy nominated CD, "Kiss of Sweet Blues."

The Spanish Connection
Joel has been performing several bi-lingual concerts with the Old Town School's Juan Dies, also of Sones de Mexico fame. These concerts took place at the OldTown School of Folk Music for Cinco de Mayo and also at Cedar Park as part of the Chicago Park District's Summer Concert series. Juan has translated the songs from the JoJo the Scarecrow CD which he performs with Joel as well as other favorites in a bilingual show. Joel has recently enlisted percussionist Carlos Cornier of Funkadesi as well his long time rhythm partner, Lenny Marsh.

Singin' in the City
Joel is proud to be included on the Chicago Parents Magazine's compilation CD "Singin' in the City", featuring the best of Chicago's children's recording artists. Joel is joined on the CD by some very talented people including 2004 Grammy Winner Ella Jenkins, Fred Koch, Jim Gill, Justin Roberts, Steve Rashid, Nelson Gill, Susan Salidor and others. It's a great sounding CD, lovingly compiled by the above mentioned Fred Koch, and people have been telling us how much they love it. Order it directly from Crunchy Records by sending a check for $15.00/ppd to our address or you can shop the Chicago Parent website.

Chai Lifeline - A world class organization helping kids on the road to recovery
Joel joins Chaplain Jim Manzardo once a month at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, bringing songs and good cheer to children who are convalescing through the in-hospital television program that is broadcast to their rooms. Each month the music of a particular country is featured as the volunteers, staff and the families as well as the patients enthusiastically join Joel and Jim. They always have a great time. This program is made possible Chai Lifeline, a wonderful organization whose motto is "Fighting Illness With Love" which indeed it does. They do remarkable work for very sick children and are a great organization to support.

For booking information email joel@joelfrankel.com
or call 773-588-3353
 
Copyright Joel Frankel 2005
Joel Frankel Musical Merriment: Chicago-based
children's music performer and entertainer
Crunchy Records and Productions
PO Box 257965, Chicago, IL 60625