Phishing for Queen Esther

This design is a simple and fun mash-up of the band Phish and the Jewish heroine from the story of the Purim holiday. This style of design is what the initiated "Phan" would affectionately refer to as a "lot shirt", as in one that you would find being sold in the parking lot market before the show.

Esther was a Jewish commoner from ancient Persia who became queen and once in power was able to sway her king from a planned genocide of the Jewish people. Esther is also the name of a beautiful and eccentric song by Phish off their breakthrough avant-garde album "Junta".

The main image resembles the Phish logo but we've replaced the letters with Esther in a font with some Hebrew-style to it. The crown is a nod to the heroic Jewish queen, and the tiny circles in the letters’ background pays homage to the garb worn by their (Jewish) drummer, Jon Fishman, called "the donut mumu". Their bassist Mike Gordon is also a Jew and they have two full Hebrew songs they include in their repertoire, “Avenu Malkenu” and “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav”. Clearly, Phish endorses the notion that you Gotta Love the Jews!

Now for some deep-sea "gefilte Phishing”....

While it may seem totally random to the casual observer, the ties between the band and the Jewish community actually run long and deep. So much that there was recently a full-fledged academic conference on the subject and Penn State published a book on the topic as well! Colleges these days, am I right...?! To read more on the subject click on this article from the Jerusalem Post.

And in case you were curious... here's a live performance of Esther in front of roughly 80,000 close friends and family.