Other Cool Stuff

Jewish Jug Band Champions Joel is a regular in the Jewish Jug Band "The Schticklers," with esteemed musicians Barb Silverman, Jon Spiegel and Stuart Rosenberg. The Schticklers’ unique mixture of traditional jug band music and Jewish folk songs won them the top slot at the 2010 Midwest Jug Band Competition. You can see their trophy prominently displayed on the wall of the café at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Just look for the antique sausage grinder with their names engraved on it! See them on the staff stage at this year's Folk and Roots Festival.

Down Boy Down Reunites Joel and his long time musical partner, Eddie Guru Gannet have reassembled their Los Angeles band, Down Boy Down, with a few new members including Jimmy Tomasello on bass and David Sims on drums. Down Boy Down got a fair amount of attention in the 1990’s playing and recording Joel’s original rock songs, some of which made it into the soundtrack of the MTV Movie of the Week and the television series "Catwalk." The band is currently rehearsing regularly with performances scheduled for the fall, but you should be able to catch them on stage at Evanston SPACE and at Lizards Liquid Lounge.

Joel and the Family Frankel The kids are finally old enough to join the band! Joel’s daughter Layla studies jazz vocals and his son is a guitar maestro, so, with his wife on bass, Joel and the Family Frankel have preformed numerous times at the Old Town School of Folk Music’s tribute concerts. See their version of Safety Dance. And here, Layla joins Joel at Evanston SPACE