Blue Fringe Rock Band Kicks Off KFAR Jewish Arts Centers Fourth Season of Tzitzit

CHICAGO (PRWEB) July 31, 2005 -- Blue Fringe, a powerpop Jewish rock band sensation whose start at Yeshiva University propelled sales of their debut album, My Awakening, to over 15,000 copies, and Heedoosh, an Israeli-led rock band whose edgy Hebrew anthems and intricate, brooding religious ballads have already built a loyal following, headline the first concert of alternative Jewish music in the fourth season of contemporary Jewish music concerts presented by Chicagos KFAR Jewish Arts Center.

This years series will also include performances by a bevy of other funky acts exploring the threads tying the ancient Hebrew culture to the avant-garde.Blue Fringe band kicks off KFAR Jewish Arts Centers Season IV at Martyrs Live, Aug 20th

Two Jewish rock bands walk into a bar... Its not the start of a tasteless joke, but the start of the fourth year of KFAR Jewish Arts Center's Tzitzit: Voices from the Jewish Fringe, a series of club concerts exploring the threads that tie the ancient Hebrew culture to the avant-garde.

The bar is one of Lakeviews best listening rooms, Martyrs Live, whose eclectic calendar is a natural fit for the unusual double bill. Performing are Blue Fringe, a powerpop quartet whose sensational start at Yeshiva University propelled sales of their debut album, My Awakening, to over 15,000 copies to date. Opening for them are Heedoosh, an Israeli-led rock band whose edgy Hebrew anthems and intricate, brooding religious ballads have already built a loyal local following.

The concert marks the start of the fourth season of contemporary Jewish music concerts presented by Chicagos KFAR Jewish Arts Center. This years series will also include performances by the circus-like Balkan Beat Box, punk Klezmers Golem, The Crossroads Ensemble, Jewish groove band Beyond Eden and a bevy of other funky acts exploring the threads tying the ancient Hebrew culture to the avant-garde.

Songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist Dov Rosenblatt met his bandmates at summer camp and in Israel the summer before starting YU. They met, jammed and found they gelled well around clever pop music and improvisation. The group quickly found a niche in Modern Orthodox circles with the tongue-in-cheek "Flippin' Out," describing the process by which Jewish high school graduates go to Israel for a year and undergo a dramatic religious transformation. Im getting frummer, yeah Im on my way, learnin those catch phrases that you have to say, like 'Shkoyach and 'MStama too, cuz if you dont say them then youre not a frum Jew..."

An eager world of young observant Jews immediately identified with the song, and young seminary girls went nuts over the band 's good looks and Rosenblatts silky vocals. But they needed a name. Says Rosenblatt, "We were trying to think of names that were English but Jewish, so we could appeal to all different audiences." Some of the scribbles on the paper that night were Uncle Pete's Goat, a nod to Jon Stewart's essay on God, Citron, and Six-Point Star. The name they had settled, Blue Fringe, was an esoteric biblical reference to the ocean-colored four-cornered strings worn by Jewish men.

Within two months of the release of their debut CD, My Awakening, it sold out its initial pressing of 3,000. As of June 2005, sales topped 15,000 copies worldwide, a very respectable figure for an unsigned band of any sort. A string of tour dates brought the band to every major US market, plus Australia, South Africa and a few dates in Europe. As if waiting for a musical Messiah, attendees lined up outside sold out shows averaging 600 seats but ranging up to 2500 seat auditoriums, just to see the band live. In Israel, their tour included a performance in Beit Shemesh for a festival audience of 10,000.

So why play modest sized Martyrs for a paltry sum when you can fill the Metro for a major payday? (They did fill the 800 seat North Shore Center for the Performing Arts last year in Skokie) It turns out that aside from a handful of dates New York, they rarely play upclose and personal. Whats more, since the majority of their audience is underage, nearly all of their shows are devoid the warm feel of an intimate venue or a mature audience. When the band played a suburban youth convention last Christmas eve, they agreed to perform a set KFARs annual Knishmas concert show for little more than fun and a few rounds of beer. The adult audience also let them tryout more complex material for the second Blue Fringe CD.

That album, 70 Faces, was released in June and shows a diversity of influences and a maturation of the bands sound. Several songs, like Generations, Lo Irah and Modim, continue to bow to the John Mayer, Chris Martin and Jakob Dylan school of power pop, but other tracks depart into territory that subtly nods to Fagen and Becker-like appreciation for jazz session players and stacked horn arrangements that call on the spirit of Earth Wind and Fire and the Tower of Power.

Rosenblatt's silky lead vocals are better than ever- light but with a wry sound wholly appropriate given this generation's attitude towards everything, falling fall somewhere between Jakob Dylan and John Mayer, whose influences are evident in the band's arrangements and overall sound. Hayyim Danzig is having more fun than ever thumping away with a more aggressive approach to his bass lines tracks than before and at 64", the big man is the rock to which the rest of the band is anchored. Danny Zwillinbergs percussion is also crucial to the bands success; theres not a rhythm repeated from song to song.

None seem more seasoned now than guitarist Avi Hoffman, the slight, sweet yeshivish kid with a blazing lead guitar. His solos have take on a lyrical quality and depart somewhat from the shtick that made their first album slightly saccharine. His blues edged solos and picking flash moments of Jeff Baxter (Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan) and Trey Anastasio (Phish) with an expressive style that ties this project together.

The first song on the album is the driving guitar-laden pro-Israel Lo Irah (no fear), a rock anthem about inner strength of the Jewish people facing adversity living in the land of Israel, leading the album with a rush to the head and the heart. Track two, Av Harachamim (Father of Mercy), is the most sonically expressive song on the album, starting with a spare and delicate vocal and guitar interplay that builds into an unrestrained storm of slow, lush progression and distortion. Modims more upbeat jazz approach, with a little more soul and a bissel funk, is a welcome change. Lyrics playfully allude to a relationship with either the Divine or a member of the sex he made most in his image before Zwillenberg spins it into time-signature cartwheels that spread out into a jammy canvas onto which Hoffman dreamily paints lyrical guitar solos.

Those who know the band knew their Shidduch Song would be this album's Flippin Out. And the studio arrangement features a fat horn section and neo-soul flair that could cause synagogue windows to cloud up. The bluesy song has been part of the set list for years and is an underground fave in the yeshivah and seminary crowd. Its satirical take on the pressure among young Orthodox people to get married early and quickly (3 dates) refers to particulars common to the Orthodox custom of setups." It nods to the Shomer Negiah set (no touching the other gender) after answering friends insane nit-picky questions on his intendeds religious preferences, Rosenblatt recaps the whole setup (shidduch) process. Got setup on Mopnday, we went on the shidduch on Tuesday, we had the LChayim on Wednesday, OnlySimchas Thursday and Friday is Shabbes, Moved to Teaneck on Sunday... Sheva Brachas Monday, more Sheva Brachas on Tuesday.." and on through the week. Sheva Brachas, the seven blessings traditionally read to newlyweds the week following their nuptuals also alludes to that forbidden topic of post-marital bliss.

Of a similar, albeit more aggressive sound is Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs. The translation of this text has more than its own share of allusions to sensual, physical love, which are traditionally explained as allegory to the love between G-d and the People Israel. Here the funky chorus of Ani lDodi vDodi Li" (I am to my beloved and she is to me) leaves room to doubt that is mere allegory. The albums final track, Hineni shows off the bands sold songwriting and musicianship as Rosenblatt gets breathier in his vocals and invokes the ghost of Elliot Smith in this deceptively simple song about the Binding of Isaac, which gets much of its shape from Zwillenbergs pulsating and changing rhythm.

Blue Fringe performs with Heedoosh at 10pm on Saturday August 20th at Martyrs Live, 3855 N. Lincoln, Chicago. Presented by KFAR Jewish Arts Center. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased securely online with more info on the band, their music ( mp3s) and the concert.

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