'Fringe' benefits at Jewish Heritage Night
By Sarah Morrison
July 18, 2008
Jewish pop-rock band Blue Fringe is a reference to t'cheilet -- a blue string attached to the biblically commanded four-cornered garment tzitzit. To the band's fans, their music stands out as powerfully as the blue string does against the other white strings.
Despite performing July 10 at the Trenton Thunder's home stadium, the band claims it was founded with modest expectations.
"A friend [at the
From that chance gig nearly seven years ago, Blue Fringe became a tight unit with fans all over the world. The band has played in several countries at some of the biggest venues around the world.
"And now we're playing at Trenton Thunder!"
Blue Fringe focuses on religious themes both inside and outside biblical text. Songs like "Eicha" are taken from the biggest copyrighter of all: God. It uses lines from the biblical book of Lamentations, and then Blue Fringe commentates to further explain the text over a smooth and slightly sad beat to communicate the negative theme of the book. Songs like "Shidduch Song" are used as Jewish social commentary, in this case, a parody on the world of dating through a matchmaker. It is the blending of the seemingly contradicting worlds of pop-rock music and Judaism that makes Blue Fringe so appealing to music fans everywhere, even landing all three of their CDs in major music stores like Virgin Records and Barnes & Noble.
"It's such a feeling of accomplishment to see our CD on those racks,"
The rest of the band couldn't agree more.
All four members came to the project with different musical tastes and backgrounds. Rosenblatt, 27, from
"I'm also into Motown," Rosenblatt said. "I love the simplicity of the songs," a trait evident in songs like the basic and melodic "Eishet Chayil".
Guitarist Avi Hoffman, 27, from Hillside, and Danzig, 26, from
Zwillinberg, 25, from
"We just draw from all of our influences in our songwriting," Rosenblatt said. "It comes together in whatever style you want to categorize it in."
Borders might categorize Blue Fringe's music under "World Music -- Judaica/Israeli," but fans put it simpler: "great music."
No matter which category Blue Fringe is placed under, the difference between their music and anything else on the radio is plain. The lyrics are meaningful, and something with substance is a great alternative to mainstream pop rock.
"We released the first album, and it went really well,"
"And now we're on to our third album," Hoffman added.
From such an unexpected beginning, Blue Fringe worked tirelessly up to the day when Trenton Thunder asked them to perform at Jewish Heritage Night. Blue Fringe wasn't just a band then, but they became the face of Judaism for those at the ballpark who had no idea how Jewish pride might manifest in mainstream youth.
"It's good that people think about us if they're having an event like this," Zwillenberg said. "People are interested in hearing us play! It doesn't matter how many shows we play, it's really cool every time."
Their tremendous success hasn't gone to their heads, either. Although they're practically celebrities in the Jewish world, Blue Fringe keeps up a self-effacing image. They're much more thankful for how far they've come than they are caught up in the privileges that come with fame and fortune. They even strayed from their rehearsed setlist at Jewish Heritage Night to take a little girl's song request during their concert.
"You never really expect success,"