The Clown School Dropouts are an incredibly unorthodox instrumental musical duo featuring Cranky (Frank Turek) on saxophones and hornucopia, and Moishe (Michael Dank) on old junky old drum kit, bike horns, cap gun, slide whistle and about a dozen other things to hit with a stick. You can easily hear the influences of klezmer and 30's jazz but in our way of tweaking this genre we've had to coin the terms Circus Jazz and Avant Schmaltz in order to capture the musically savvy silliness, carnivalesque extravagance and sly wit.

We've been playing regularly in Portland, Maine since February 2000 and have a regular gig opening for Straight Up! with Chicky Stoltz at the Skinny every last Sunday of every month. (See our Performance Schedule Page for full list of our outings.)

To contact us for booking or just to say hello email us at:
clownschooldropouts@yahoo.com