Joel Dondis- chef, caterer, owner joels.com website

Joel began his culinary sojourn at the age of eleven, serving classic French cuisine to his family and friends in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Many years later after attending and graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, in New York, Joel traveled Europe to expand his knowledge of the culinary arts, fine dining and perfect service. He worked at the Schloss Hotel and Restaurant Gargantua, both of which are Michellin Rated establishments in Frankfurt, Germany.




Upon his return to the United States Joel worked for the Brennan family in their restaurant Mr. B's. Next stop, Emeril's (for three years) where he eventually earned the responsibility and title of Sous Chef. Since his departure from the world-renowned Emeril's Restaurant, Joel has been quite successful in bringing the elements of fine dining and service to the catering and event-planning arena. A business he built from the kitchen of a small gourmet sandwich shop, not far from the Big Easy, has grown to offer full-service catering needs for social clients as well as corporate clients the likes of Eastman Kodak, American Express, CBS Eyemark, J.P. Morgan and a host of many others. Joel has traveled to the Bahamas, Florida, Washington DC, and New York City to cater some noted high-profile events. Joel was requested to train Princess Margaret's chef in the Lower Grenadines and he also catered a backstage bash for the Eagles in the New Orleans Superdome.

Joel's philanthropic contributions favor the arts, children, music and education. Joel's latest feather in his cap is the marketing success of his now famous White Chocolate Pecan Pie. The pie was featured in the pages of InStyle Magazine as a "Top 100 Gourmet Food Gift" and appeared on the NBC Today Show during a "Holiday Gift Giving" segment. As Joel continues to grow his business, the niche he fills places him at the top of his craft.

-from the www.joels.com website



Joel Stein, Woidsmythe

Joel Stein is desperate for attention. He grew up in Edison, N.J., went to Stanford and then worked for Martha Stewart for a year. After a year of fact-checking at various important publications (okay, Readers Digest Books and TV Guide), he got hired as a sports editor at Time Out New York, where they paid him to write sentences. He felt like the luckiest boy in the world.

But the luck was just beginning.

Two years later he lucked into a job as a staff writer for Time magazine, where over seven and a half years he wrote a dozen cover stories on subjects such as Michael Jordan, Las Vegas, the Internet bubble and — it being Time and he being a warm body in the office — low-carb diets.

Being desperate for attention, he has appeared on any TV show that asks him: VH1's "I Love the Decade You Tell Me I Love," HBO's "Phoning It In," Comedy Central's "Reel Comedy" and E! Entertainment's "101 Hottest Hot Hotties' Hotness." This, to his surprise, is the only thing anyone knows him for. But he’ll take it any way he can.

After teaching a class in humor writing at Princeton, he moved to L.A. at the beginning of 2005 to write a column for the Los Angeles Times and work as a sitcom writer. In addition to working for the failed show Crumbs, he has already had two failed pilots at ABC and hopes to expand into failed pilots at other networks.

He still contributes to Time and whatever magazines allow him to. Did he mention that he taught at Princeton? The University?

And, yes, he’s married. To a woman. Shut up.

For an unbiased view, you can go to wikipedia. Warning: It isn’t all nice. But it’s accurate, except the part about my first boss, Martha Stewart, firing me twice in one day. She doesn’t have time for two firings. The woman has jellies to jar.

Bio written by Joel Stein; used with his permission. He also has his very own theme song at http://thejoelstein.com/thejoelstein.com/Theme%20Song.html!







Joel Brodsky, rock photographer

Joel Brodsky was one of the most important and prolific photographers of album cover art during the classic rock era. His photos adorn LP covers by the Doors, Van Morrison, Kiss, Tom Waits, Eric Anderson, Otis Spann, Isaac Hayes, The Ohio Players, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Funkadelic, Salsoul Orchestra, Joan Baez, Harry Chapin, Judy Collins,The Box Tops, Country Joe & the Fish, the Stooges and the MC5. His many photos of Jim Morrison and the Doors merit special attention.

Joel Brodsky was born on October 7, 1939 and first developed an interest in photography at a young age. After graduating Syracuse University and a stint in the Army, he set up a studioin NYC in 1966. One of his fiest gigs was Eric Anderson's second LP cover, 'Bout changes n Things. Anderson's record label, Vanguard, used him a lot after that.



When Elektra records signed the Doors, they turned to Brodsky to shoot photos for their first LP. The cover was good, but his black & white photos of a young, drunken, shirtless Jim Morrison were great. Even (and perhaps especially) after Morrison's death in 1971, the "Young Lion" session photos became the core of poster, t-shirt and other merchandising. From that first lp, through the interestingly Fellini-esque cover of Strange Days and onwards, almost every Doors album is graced with his work.



Somehow, Brodsky had a knack for conveying the essence of an artist or group. Take a look at the sexy Ohio Players covers. Consider the power of Isaac Hayes. And Brodsky's covers for the Stooges and MC5 in 1969 conveyed the raw power of the new punk movement.



In the 1980's Brodsky picked up some pretty major corporate clients outside the music industry. He directed commercials and did print ads for DuPont, Avon, Revlon & Bloomingdale's. He died of a sudden heart attack on March 1, 2007; age 67.

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.



Joel Barlow, American poet, politician

Joel Barlow was an American poet and politician, born in Redding, Fairfield county, Connecticut, on the 24th of March 1754. He graduated at Yale in 1778, was a post-graduate student there for and from September 1780 until the close of the revolutionary war was chaplain in a Massachusetts brigade. He then, in 1783, moved to Hartford, Connecticut, established there in July 1784 a weekly paper, the American Mercury, with which he was connected for a year, and in 1786 was admitted to the bar.

At Hartford he was a member of a group of young writers including Lemuel Hopkins, David Humphreys, and John Trumbull, known in American literary history as the “Hartford Wits.” He contributed to the Anarchiad, a series of satirico—political papers, and in 1787 published a long and ambitious poem, The Vision of Columbus, which gave him a considerable literary reputation and was once much read.

In 1788 he went to France as the agent of the Scioto Land Company, his object being to sell lands and enlist immigrants. He seems to have been ignorant of the fraudulent character of the company, which failed disastrously in 1790. He had previously, however, induced the company of Frenchmen, who ultimately founded Gallipolis, Ohio, to emigrate to America. In Paris he became a liberal in religion and an advanced republican in politics. He remained abroad for several years, spending much of his time in London; was a member of the “London Society for Constitutional Information “; published various radical essays, including a volume entitled Advice to the Privileged Orders (1792), which was proscribed by the British government; and was made a citizen of France in 1792.

He was American consul at Algiers in 1795—1797, securing the release of American prisoners held for ransom, and negotiating a treaty with Tripoli (1796). He returned to America in 1805,and lived near Washington, D.C., until 1811, when he became American plenipotentiary to France, charged with negotiating a commercial treaty with Napoleon, and with securing the restitution of confiscated American property or indemnity therefor. He was summoned for an interview with Napoleon at Wilna, but failed to see the emperor there; became involved in the retreat of the French army; and, overcome by exposure, died at the Polish village of Zarnowiec on the 24th of December 1812.

In 1807 he had published in a sumptuous volume the Columbiad, an enlarged edition of his Vision of Columbus, more pompous even than the original; but, though it added to his reputation in some quarters, on the whole it was not well received, and it has subsequently been much ridiculed. The poem for which he is now best known is his mock heroic Hasty Pudding (1793). Besides the writings mentioned above, he published Conspiracy of Kings, a Poem addressed to the Inhabitants of Europe from another Quarter of the Globe (1792); View of the Public Debt, Receipts and Expenditure of the United States (1800); and the Political Writings of Joel Barlow (2nd ed., 1796).

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.



Karl Amson Joel, Billy Joel's grandfather

Karl Amson Joel was born in 1889 in Colberg, Germany, about 40 miles west of Nuremberg. He expanded upon his father's textile trade, becoming both a manufacturer and retailer of textiles and clothing. In 1928 he founded a mail order business in Nuremberg, which quickly rose to become one of the three foremost mail order textile firms in Germany.

After the rise of Nazism in the early 1930's, Joel found it increasingly difficult to conduct business. As a highly visible and succesful Jew, he was targeted for all manner of discrimination. Like so many others, he was eventually forced to sell his business to a non-Jew, Josef Neckermann, at an extremely low price.

He was fortunate enough to be able to escape to Switzerland with his wife and son in 1938. Not surprisingly, he was unable to access the proceeds of his business sale, which were supposedly in a trust account in Germany.

The family wanted to find a place they could call home, moving to France, then to England, then to Cuba, and at last reaching the United States in 1942. Joel established a small hair ribbon business in the Bronx.

In 1957 Joel got two million German Marks compensation from the Neckermann family; the equivalent of roughly $500,000. A very tidy sum in 1957, but not nearly what the company had been worth at the time of its "Aryanization".

Karl Amson Joel returned to Nuremberg in 1964, and remained until his death in 1982 at the age of 92.

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.

Amos E. Joel, cellphone pioneer

Amos Edward Joel, Jr. was born in Philadelphia, March 12, 1918, and spent portions of his youth living in New York City, where he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.

He earned his B.Sc. (1940) and M.Sc. (1942) in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on the Rockefeller-funded differential analyzer (project headed by Vannevar Bush), and a thesis on functional design of relays and switch circuits, advised by Samuel H. Caldwell. Joel worked at Bell Labs (1940-83) where he first undertook cryptology studies (collaboration with Claude Shannon), followed by studies on electronic switching system that resulted in the 1ESS switch (1948-60). His 1960 assembler-computer patent for Bell Labs, was the largest patent ever issued as of that date.

He then headed the development of advanced telephone services (1961-68), which led to several patents, including one on Traffic Service Position System and a mechanism for hand-off in cellular communication (1972). Since 1983 he worked as a consultant to AT&T, developing mechanisms for optical switching. He was responsible for over seventy patents related to telecommunications switching systems, specializing in cellphone related technologies. He was also the winner of many scientific awards, including the National Medal of Technology in 1993, and was named to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008.

Joel died in his home in Maplewood, New Jersey on October 25, 2008, at age 90.

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion or comment by the Blogger may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.



Joel the Prophet

The Prophet Joel

from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling.

To those reading this Book of Joels, the Bible prophet Joel is a big deal. To most of the rest of the world, he was a minor prophet, even if he did have a Bible book of his own.

His personal history is quite unclear. Most scholarly sources say he lived anywhere from the 9th to the 5th century BCE. That's quite a few centuries folks. Others peg him down to the mid-ninth century BCE (850-860 BCE).

He prophesied in Judea, the southern kingdom, which encompassed the area of Jerusalem and Beersheba, but still north of most of the Negev.

Prior to his prophesy the land had been scourged by locusts and drought, with resulting famine. Typically, these plagues came about because the children of Israel had turned away from the Word of the Lord. (Chapter 1)

The locusts are likened to an invading army. When the people repent, the Day of the Lord is announced. The army is repulsed and plenty is restored. (Chapter 2)

Joel prophesies the return of all exiled Jews to the Holy Land, where they shall be judged All non-Jews will be thrown out of Israel, and all peoples who have caused suffering to the people of Israel shall be punished. (Chapter 3).

The redemption of the people and prophecy of the Day of the Lord are vigorously interpreted in Christian literature as visions of the Last Judgment and coming Kingdom of G-d.

One interesting quote from the Book of Joel turns a classic phrase on its head: "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears..." (Joel 3:10)

Read the book. It's short, but heavy stuff.

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion or comment by the Blogger may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.

Preface

Some time ago I was reading TIME magazine's annual "100 Most Influential" issue.

"Who are these people?", I thought, and “what makes them the 100 most influential people in the world anyway?”

The fact is, I recognized fewer than half of these important names. Of those I recognized, I could try to explain what half of them do, or why they might be considered influential. But “most influential”? As in, "All these people significantly affect most people's lives?" Nope. Not really.

The best part of the entire issue was the last page, where staff writer Joel Stein explained it all. He said, "I don't believe TIME editors think these are the 100 most influential people in the world. I think they want you to think they think these are the 100 most influential people in the world." What an awesome column. Joel Stein...

I like the name Joel. It's my name too. So, while drifting off to sleep, I mused, "Hey if those smart folks at TIME can arbitrarily chose who is important, based on little more than each others' say-so, I'm going to have my say-so too. I'll come up with the most important Joel's of all time.

Remember, I was getting sleepy. Sense had little to do with it.

Dedication

This project is dedicated to all you great Joels out there. My apologies for not including all of you in the book. Also dedicated to my wife, who puts up with lot.

Etymology

Joel- "The Lord is God".... elaborate.....

Joel is supposedly the 133rd most popular first name for a boy in the U.S. Somewhere between John and Jehosophat.

Epilogue

The goals of this book:

• You recognized more of the people in this book than you would have recognized in the TIME 100.
• These Joels have more relevance in most people's lives than the folks in the TIME 100.
• Hopefully, you enjoyed the book & maybe learned something.
• If your name is Joel, your ego has been stroke d, and you're now more sure than ever that you're a wonderful, special person. If that's possible.