The Staff
Joe Blumenthal
Joe Blumenthal, owner of Downtown Sounds, has been selling musical instruments for over thirty years. In his spare time, he plays electric and string bass for
Klezamir (a local klezmer band), XOPO (a Balkan dance band), and Mando Paradiso. Blumenthal is also treasurer of the
Northampton Community Music Center. See Downtown Joe playing his novelty instrument, the nose flute,
on YouTube!
Jim Weeks
Jim Weeks is one of the Valley's most respected musicians and recording engineers. He has been selling instruments at Downtown Sounds since 1982, and now runs his own recording studio, Cloud Cuckoo Land. He plays guitar, bass, drums and keyboard and has contributed a great deal to the local music scene with bands such as R-Complex, Square One, Doom Nation, Behemoth and Dunce. He has recently recorded and engineered albums for
Ray Mason,
Lonesome Brothers, Superkart and
Dunce. Check him out on
MySpace!
Keith Levreault
Keith Levreault is the Downtown Sounds resident drum expert and one of the busiest drummers around, doing a variety of live and studio projects. He has played with Square One, Doom Nation, Blood Oranges,
Kevin Salem and
Freedy Johnston. He currently drums for
Robert Holmes' Love Bomb and
Klezamir.
Dave Trenholm
Dave Trenholm is one of the most versatile members of the Downtown Sounds staff. He plays guitar, sax, flute, clarinet, bass and drums, and is a member of the local band
King Radio. He also teaches guitar, bass and sax at the store.
Robert Kapitzky
Robert Kapitzky is a local guitarist, bassist and vocalist. He also does sound engineering and mobile on-site digital recording. Ask him about guitars!
Mike Benoit
Mike Benoit is a local percussionist, bassist and singer. He has been playing music professionally since middle school and is currently a full-time member of several projects:
Mountain Interval,
Fashion People,
The Trials & Tribulations and Merene. Mike has studied percussion with Keith Levreault, Steve McCraven and Christopher Swist, theory and musical direction with Mitch Chakour and Janet Polvino and songwriting and voice with his father, the late Harold Benoit.
Dylan Makowski
Dylan is a musician from the Valley who plays and enjoys many types of music. He is in several bands including Merene,
The Trials & Tribulations and involved in other various projects. He studied vocal technique under Mitch Chakour and is now broadening his horizons by focusing more on the instrumentation aspects of music along with theory.
21 Pleasant Street