LISTEN UP: THIS WALLFLOWER DANCES WITH HITS

1.98 for the Jewish Exponent

Friday afternoon was quickly becoming Friday evening, and Rami Jaffee, keyboard ace for The Wallflowers, had just finished doing a sound check at Princeton University. Now, he was rushing to get to the band's tour bus. There was something he had to take care of before the sunset.

A few hours before taking the stage on this rainy late afternoon, Jaffee, 28, pulls out a bottle of kosher wine and a challah he had bought that afternoon, draws some Magen Davids on a plain wine glass to create a kiddish cup, and says the brachot over the bread and wine, joined by a writer and a member of the band's crew. It is difficult, if not impossible, to be part of one of rock's most popular bands and be an observant Jew. Friday nights mean performing, and this night was no exception.Saturday is usually a travel day. Jaffee says he does the best he can. "Jews are always trying to maintain their traditions in strange places, and this is proving it," says Jaffee, the son of an Ashkenazic father and Sephardic mother who met at a wedding in Israel. He adds that he tries to follow his mother's heritage.

Meanwhile, bandmate Jakob Dylan is clearly following in his father's footsteps.You might have heard of Dad. His first name is Bob. Though Jakob Dylan gets most of the attention in this band as the writer and lead singer for The Wallflowers, Jaffee is, well, no shrinking violet when it comes to talent. "I've studied piano since I was 3 years old," notes Jaffee, who lives in Los Angeles. "I got my Bar Mitzvah money together and bought a keyboard and started playing in bands." In L.A., one of the hubs of the rock world, Jaffee found himself playing in many bands, including one with El Vez, the Hispanic Presley wannabe. As a quality keyboard player, Jaffee says, he was much in demand.

One night late in 1990 he heard about a band that was looking for an organ player. He met the band in a back room at Canter's Deli in the city's Fairfax District."They really were wallflowers," he recalls of their desire to keep away from the crowd. "We talked for two seconds. They said, `We have a demo.' I went out to the car to hear it. That was the chemistry. It was amazing," he recalls of Jakob Dylan's songwriting. His new friends said they had a manager and were talking about a record contract. Jaffee says he realized he was a part of something potentially good. Jaffee met up with the band the next day at 11 a.m. "I was just gonna use them for jamming," he acknowledges. The next thing he knew, it was 11 p.m. "We did the same thing every day for like a month straight." The band got its act together in that back room at Canter's, playing parties. At first, they were paid in sandwiches, and then, as their popularity brought in more customers, it went from bread and lettuce to money. "Then I found out who he was," Jaffee recalls of the son-of-a-Dylan.

Soon after, The Wallflowers were signed to Virgin Records, which put out their first album. "I felt like I was on top of the world. It was all exciting. We started doing mini tours,"opening for other bands. But the album sold a mere 20,000 copies, and they were dropped by the label.

"Between the records, around 1993, I was delivering pizzas," Jaffee allows. "I had to pay the rent." Colleagues started leaving the band, doubting there was a future. Meanwhile, Jaffee continues, "Jakob was always writing, trying to keep things going. I was always playing and doing sessions" in the studio and with other bands. The two of them persevered. "If I could make ends meet playing these gigs...," Jaffee says. "I kept denying anything that would take me away from Jakob. We got along, and he's such a nice guy and a great writer." The two of them reassembled a band piece by piece, and eventually were signed by Interscope. In 1996, the band released "Bringing Down the Horse," which has sold more than 4 million copies. Why the different outcome?

"Things started clicking," Jaffee says, listing the label and management's promotion of the record, radio play and videos. Though he's back on top of the world, Jaffee is not taking anything for granted."I'll always keep it in the back of my mind: I was happy way back when we were just hanging on by a thread." Meanwhile, they've spent much of the year headlining concerts before huge crowds. Jaffee, a big guy, is typically on stage in a snazzy suit and hat, puffing away on a long cigar, grooving behind his various keyboards.

"I'm having a great time [on stage]. You can get so down sometimes,"notes the new father. "But once you get up there and all these fans [are cheering], it's all washed away. It's amazing."

The band will head back into the studio in January to record a follow-up. As he recalls the band's ups and downs, Jaffee leafs through a colorful catalog of Judaic and Holocaust-related materials he picked up two days earlier while in Philadelphia's Einstein Books and Toys' Einstein Presents Gallery and Museum. "I want reminders of the Holocaust, reminders of my roots, my grandparents. [A lot of] people feel Jewish, but don't put anything like this in their house."