Joel Silberberg

[Rennhack]

As I understand it, Joel Silberberg's heart just exploded one day. He had really high blood pressure and was a really excitable boy, to boot. I don't know how he got into the biz, but I remember him telling me about being a door gunner on a chopper in Viet Nam at age seventeen. He said he knew he had made a bad choice when he was first flying into the country and his plane almost ran out of gas waiting for the bombing to stop at the airport so they could land. He's the same guy who flipped out over a Great Blue Heron in the yard at a party one time at Crystal River . He thought it was an eagle. (He had grown up in the Bronx and didn't get outdoors much.)
Info provided by: David J. Richards djrich@csra.net 12/28/96

[Chelios]

Worked with Joel once - at DC Cook in '83. He was a very funny guy, could make anyone laugh. I was sorry to see him go.

[gator62]

Joel was the first guy I met on the road and my best friend.  To say he was funny is a big understatement.  I met him in the Snowflake motel lounge at DC Cook in March of '84'.  He told me all about the door gunner stuff after I saw the big scar on his back.  Without going into detail, he was another casualty of the Viet Nam war and I still miss him.

[RDTroja]

I was there in Boyle's Tavern just north of Calvert Cliffs when Joel met his wife Kathy. She was sitting with some friends and Joel gave the best pick-up line I ever heard. He walked up to her and said "You are without a doubt the ugliest woman I have ever seen." They went home together and stayed that way for a long time. Loved the man like a brother.