Didn't you always want to meet the august personalities behind such amazing music? Here's your chance. And we also have cool instruments.

Some of the profiles may contain gross inaccuracies.

Raysh Weiss is our fearless leader. In her fourth year at Northwestern in WCAS/Speech, she majors in Philosophy and RTVF and Comparative Literature (or any other major of the hour. But we like her despite her oft-switching major). After many years of superb service in the junior component of the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, she has begun her own in college. In a short time, the band has grown, acquired a decent repertoire, and begun playing at performances. Raysh graces the band with saxophone playing (tenor, alto, and soprano, although not all at once) and occasionally singing.

Adam Arents plays drum set, djembe and various other percussion. He is a senior Religion major from Kentwood, Michigan and the current Wildkatz webmaster. He recently spent a semester in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he ate haggis, milked cows and rode ponies.

Paul Braun, from Madison, WI, is one of our two clarinetists. In his fourth year in Tech, he's pretty darn good. He has a solo in "Bei Mir" that rocks faces.

Daniella Cheslow also plays clarinet. She hails from the fine state of New Jersey, and is in her thirs year at Medill, Northwestern's Journalism school. She's recently back from her Teahing Media internship, and is once again singing and plaing her heart out.

Jonah Grabelsky is a senior majoring in History who plays a mean trombone on the side. During his on-days, he conjures up the harmonic bliss of Jay Jay Johnson, but during his off-days, he really gives new meaning to the word 'sackbut'. Wildkatz is his first klezmer-playing opportunity, and he has been relishing his time here.

Andrew Levin is another one of our trombone players. Every klezmer band (particularly the jazzier ones) needs a trombone, and we are no exception. That strong bass line, full of slides and pure schmaltz is just... perfect. Hailing from the wonderful land of Colorado, he is in his second year in WCAS.

Beth Lipoff is a violist. No, I didn't misspell that. She plays the viola, which I'll have you know is significantly different from a violin in three main ways: the viola burns longer; the viola holds more beer; and you can tune the violin. Anyways, she's a junior in the Medill School of Journalism.

Jeff McHugh plays trumpet for us. He's got a nifty looking instrument, and has really added some strength to our horns section. He's a junior in WCAS, so you should be hearing more of his great music in the upcoming years.

Melissa Peterson plays her heart out on flute and does a lot of organizational stuff as well. She is a sophomore majoring in English and Legal Studies.

Matan Ring is our resident dance instructor, singer and a huge source of energy for the band. He basically rocks socks.

Doug Rosenthal kicks it on trombone both with Wildkatz and in the rest of his life, for he is a music performance major. He's a sophomore and he likes Tchaikovsky and he's cool.

New Members

These folks are the newest additions to the Wildkatz, and we extend our welcome to them. Bios will be here soon.

Fletcher Elkins: tenor trombone
Adam Fine: Piano, viola, voice
Josh Fink: electric bass, upright bass
Josie Menkin: french horn
Jason Plautz: trumpet
Erik Saras: bass trombone, tuba
Laura Thompson: violin
Dena Trugman: trumpet

Alumni

Alas, what with the WildKatz being a university band, our membership is by nature transitory. As years have passed, we have had to say goodbye to many of our compatriots who have provided us with friendship, fun, and incredible music. They will be missed.

Keith Dworkin played clarinet and piano for us and did lots of crazy arranging. He's still around, doing his thing.

Matvey Farber played a damn fine trumpet for us. He previously played in another klezmer band, and shared much of their music with us. He's a physicist, and left us in 2004 to work at JPL (lucky dog!).

Darren Lefkowitz was another drummer for us as well as our "woohoo!" manl. If you went to any Darren-era gigs, then you'd know what that means. He's a good guy who put a lot into the band.. He departed in 2004 for warmer climes (originally coming from Florida) - he majored Political Science.

Jon Lefkovitz played the electric guitar and occasionally sang. One of the familiar faces who were around at Wildkatz's conception, Jon supplied the band with boundless energy, insane guitar solos over klezmer standards, and impeccable style. He graduated from the School of Speech in 2005, but his legend will live on in our music.

Jeff Katz played drumset for us and excelled at jazz, among other things. In 2005 he departed for Duke University, where we wish him the best of luck.

Shimon Unterman played piano and keyboard for us. Yes, they're the same. No, what he did wasn't very hard (lots of chords). He played previously for a short time in the junior division of Maxwell Street, before college killed his chance at a life. He graduated from Tech in 2005, majoring in Biomedical Engineering. He created much of this website and its content.

Yehuda Yudkowsky played the coolest instrument of the whole band, a hammered dulcimer. It's a wooden, trapezoidal doohickey that is played horizontally by striking strings strung across the top with hammers. You'll have to see it to believe it, but it produces really cool trilling sounds. This is another soft instrument, but it really comes out in the slower pieces, or where Yehuda gets a solo. Yehuda was a joy to know, and will forever leave an impact on all of us who knew him.

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