Butterflake Featured in ‘Shlock Rock’ Parody Music Video

There are few occasions in which students embrace school work during their summer vacation.

But for three high school students who take part in a video-production class at Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, one summer-vacation project was just too sweet to pass up.

On Aug. 16, Eitan Rubin of West Orange, Michael Lefkovits of Livingston, and Zachary Kessel of West Orange filmed the “Kosher Cake” music video for Jewish rock band Shlock Rock at .

Shlock Rock lead singer Lenny Solomon found out about the school’s video-production class from a longtime friend, who just happened to be Rubin’s mother.

“She came to me and told me about how her son has been doing videos with his school, and I asked her son if he’d like to be on the video team,” said Solomon. “They were pumped; they loved it. They were incredibly professional.”

Solomon got full access to Butterflake thanks to his friendship with bakery owner Rich Heisler, who, according to Solomon, insisted that “Kosher Cake” be filmed under his roof.

“I told him about our upcoming video and our upcoming CD, and he said we must shoot a video in his store,” Solomon said. “And where else do you shoot a video about kosher cake except in a kosher bakery?”

‘WE’RE LIKE THE JEWISH VERSION OF WEIRD AL’

Solomon formed Shlock Rock in 1986 with band mates Mark Infield, Mark Skier, Yonah Lloyd, Gary Wallin and Danny Block. Currently, Solomon runs Shlock Rock by himself, but he calls on his musician friends, which includes the original members, whenever he performs in the U.S. and around the world.  

“We’ve played Australia six times, South Africa nine times, England dozens of times, Canada – every city pretty much. In the U.S., we’ve played in 37 out of the 50 states, so we really tour,” said Solomon. “The whole career was unplanned, and it was God who led me in this direction, and I followed the lead.”

The band has performed in more than 2,000 shows and has put out 32 albums, with the November album – tentatively called “Kosher Cake” – being No. 33.

Shlock Rock relies on humorous and fun lyrics to connect with audiences. The song “Kosher Cake” is actually a parody of the Lady Gaga song “Poker Face.”

“All we really talk about is eating kosher cake, and how much we like eating kosher cake,” Solomon said. “The whole purpose of Shlock Rock is to educate the Jewish people informally through music, and the way we do it is through song parody, ala Weird Al Yankovic. We’re like the Jewish version of Weird Al is how I always describe us.”

Along with Solomon, the “Kosher Cake” video also starred Infield (one of the original band members) and David “Dr. D” Winter.

A former Teaneck resident, Infield now lives in Bergenfield and teaches at The Frisch School in Paramus. He said he plays music on the weekends and that whenever he’s performing with Shlock Rock he usually plays the saxophone or flute. He played percussion with the group when it first formed.

Infield said shooting the video was a lot of fun and that viewers can expect a lot of comedic scenes inside Butterflake.

“We filmed out front where the customers come in, and we also did some shooting in the back in the kitchen,” he said. “The kids had a lot of good ideas. They definitely knew what they were doing and how to do it. They knew how to shoot, and they had multiple angles, which is important for a music video.”

‘WE JUMPED AT THE CHANCE’

Gary Berger, director of Guidance and Student Services at Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, said the school’s video-production class is a full-year course open to juniors and seniors that covers a basic history of film and TV and teaches proper use of film technology, camera diagnostics, lighting, set design, scripting and editing.

“Our students have produced hundreds of hours of video, including our weekly newscast, which goes out to our student and parent body,” Berger said. “We have even won a national video contest when we produced a video about Israel. That video was chosen as the winning video for the 2010 Salute to Israel Parade in New York City.” 

Kessel, who handled some of the filming for the video, said he, Rubin and Lefkovits are doing post-production work now.

“It was a great experience filming this music video and working with Shlock Rock,” Kessel said. “Lenny, David and Mark were joking around and were very patient, which made the bakery a comfortable filming environment. It was also a pleasure to work with Rich, the owner of Butterflake.”

Heisler, who couldn’t be reached for comment, will appear in the video along with the bakery’s popular confectionaries, said Kessel.

“It was great filming at Butterflake because we were given the opportunity to play around and to try different things in the storefront and in the kitchen, making it a goldmine of creative possibilities,” Kessel said. “Additionally, Butterflake was already filled with all the props (cakes) we needed. We filmed all the cakes – not just the ones that were made specifically for the shoot. We used cupcakes, small circular cakes, large cakes, a custom-made Shlock Rock cake, and even large plastic model cakes.”

At the end of the video shoot, which took place from 7 to 11 p.m. after the store closed, all those involved got to dine on the “delicious” Shlock Rock cake.

“It was great having Rich on location because he knows how everything in the bakery works, so consequently, he was able to suggest insightful shots that we wouldn't have thought of,” Kessel said. “It was beyond great to work with him, he is a really fun and friendly guy.”

Kessel said the goal now with the footage is to create a rough cut of the music video before school starts. Then, other students from the video class can offer their input throughout the editing process.

Even though the teens were enjoying their last few weeks of summer vacation before being approached by Solomon, Kessel said they didn’t hesitate to accept working on this project when it came their way.

“We are all familiar with Shlock Rock's music and have been to multiple Shlock Rock performances at our elementary school: Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy,” Kessel said. “Eitan, Michael, Mr. Berger and I are all very passionate about film and its production, so when an opportunity like this presented itself, we jumped at the chance, regardless of the season.”