The Laurie Berkner Band Blog

A Typical Tour

Touring with the Laurie Berkner Band is a fun, hectic, and always-exciting experience.  We have two main kinds of tours – one-day shows and overnights.  Here is a typical overnight experience:

 

DAY ONE:

10:00am(ish) – Meet at office.  Shannon (Tour Manager), Corinne (in charge of Merchandise), Katie (Stage Manager), and Teralyn and/or Carly (Merch Sellers) meet at the office and gather our gear!

. 

 What we bring: 2 big duffel bags with the show backdrop and props, the merch bag, the gig bag (all the things we need to get ready for the show), 2 guitars, postcards, and our personal belongings

11:00am – leave the office.  We pack up our things into a taxi or van and go pick up Laurie, Susie, Bob, and Adam.  The car ride is usually filled with funny and interesting conversation.  Bob keeps us all on our toes with his jokes and stories, and Adam quizzes everyone on their music history.  Susie is usually busy making sure everyone is happy, healthy, and feeling good, and Laurie is engaged in a lively discussion about the latest interesting findings in health and wellness. 

 

12:00pm – we arrive at the airport.  It’s usually pure chaos as we check 9 or 10 people’s baggage and try to find our gate.  We usually have packed too much and need to reorganize to keep our bags under 50lbs.  Never a dull moment...

 

1:30pm – we board the airplane and settle into the plane ride.  We like to visit each other throughout the flight, catching up after a few weeks apart and sharing stories, information, and food.

 

4:00pm – we arrive at the destination airport.  It’s chaos again as we try to locate all our bags at baggage claim.

  

 Everyone getting our luggage and letting our loved ones know we landed safely

4:45pm – we meet up with the runner who takes us and all our luggage to the hotel.   Laurie takes this time to call Lucy and Brian and check in.  Everyone gets to know the runner and jokes with him/her.

 

5:30pm – we check into the hotel.  Again, it’s organized chaos as Shannon distributes room keys, room lists, and reminds us where and when we are meeting in the morning.

 

6:30pm – Some of us meet for dinner.  Some of us go to the gym.  Some of us stay in our rooms and get a little work done.  Laurie usually looks for the pool, and sometimes she even finds one! If we have time and know someone in the area with a car, we love to explore the city we're in and catch up with old friends :)

DAY TWO:

5:45am – our sound team (who usually meet us at the airport or at the hotel) gets up and goes to the venue to begin setting up.  

 

7:00am – Katie and Shannon go to the venue to begin setting up the set and meeting the theater staff.  For the pajama set, we blow up the air mattress and pillows, arrange balloons, hang the backdrop, post the set lists, iron the sheets and pillows, set the areas where the band will stand, tape down cords, set up the head/foot board, and make sure everything looks beautiful!

 

8:00am – Bobby arrives at the theater to set up his drums.  Corinne and the merch-sellers begin setting up in the lobby.  

 

9:00am – The band arrives and quickly eats breakfast (lots of veggies, eggs, rice, ume plum vinegar, flax seed oil, and fruit), then begins sound check.  They play songs as the sound team adjusts the volume, and everyone in the theater usually dances/bops around (sometimes even the stage hands!)

 

10:15am – The band finishes sound check and goes to their dressing rooms to get ready for the show!

  Adam, Bobby, and Laurie in a dressing room in Maine, posing with Felix the traveling bunny

10:30am – the doors open and the audience arrives!  Laurie and Susie are busy warming up and getting ready in their dressing room as Bobby and Adam joke around and get ready in their room. Laurie always like a cup of yummy organic green tea before a show :)

 

10:58am – the band goes backstage and hold hands in a circle, saying kind things to each other and getting excited about the show.  Katie goes on headset and warns the lighting and sound team that we’re getting ready to start!  The band jumps up in the air while holding hands, and the show begins!

 

12:30pm – the show ends and the scramble begins!  The crew and staff begin packing up as Laurie and the band go to meet special needs fans for a quick meet and greet.

 

2:00pm – after an hour of utter packing-craziness, the bags are packed, the merch team finishes counting, the band grabs a quick bite to eat, and we make the familiar rush back to the airport to catch our flight home! 

  

 All bundled up at the Chicago airport and laughing about the usual scramble to get our bags

7:00pm – Our respective family and friends greet us at home after a crazy weekend. Phew!  What a ride!

Make it up!

Here's a fun idea for the whole family:

Make up a song together!

You don't have to be a musician to make beautiful music.  All it takes is a little imagination and whatever noise-making things you have lying around the house.  If you don't have a thing to spare, your voice and your body will do just fine!

1) Start a beat - clap your hands, stomp your feet, bang a wooden spoon on a pot, shake some paper clips in a bottle... anything!

2) Make up words!  It's fun to practice rhyming, play with different noises, or think of a silly story.  Put those words together with the beat, and sing 'em out!  It doesn't have to make any sense or even be real words - just make some noise!

3) Think of a tune - it can be one you know already, or you can make one up. Hum, sing, play on the piano or guitar, or just string some rubber bands on a tissue box! 

4) Experiment!  What can you add to your song to make it different? If you change the beat, does the song change? What if you keep the beat, but change the words? What about the tune? Try adding shakers, blowing raspberries on your belly, rolling sounds around on your tongue, or making new instruments to add. 

You can write a song in the car, at the dentist's office, watching a soccer game - Anywhere!  Get creative!

Did you know? Laurie wrote the song "Five Days Old" when she made a guitar out of a soy milk carton for her daughter.  She started strumming, and the lyrics came out exactly as you hear them today!  

If your family has a fun song you've written together, we'd love to hear it!  Send us a video or mp3 of your song!

Can you use your imagination to make instruments out of this stuff we found lying around? 

Music and Disability

One of the really special things about this job is the interactions we all get to have with very special children.  We meet hundreds of incredible kids who are struggling with disabilities each year, and every single one has made a very real impact on the band and staff.  We receive e-mails everyday from parents sharing their children's journeys with disability.

One of the greatest things about music is its universal appeal – just about anyone can connect to the rituals of music.  Even our hearing-impaired fans enjoy the movement, vibration, and togetherness that come along with music.  We meet children who have been struggling with speech suddenly singing their hearts out to a song they connect to.  We hear stories about children with eating aversions being coaxed to take a bite when listening to music they enjoy.  Our autistic fans’ parents regularly explain how their child becomes more connected to their surroundings when a favorite song or music video comes on.  The list goes on.

There is something mysterious and beautiful about the community that comes along with music – it is a language that can bridge huge gaps.  There are absolutely no words to describe seeing a group of children with various disabilities dancing together and connecting to each other.  Neurodiversity and physical diversity is something we see everyday.  It’s an honor to be a part of something that helps bring all kinds of people together.

For the kids:

We all have something unique about ourselves!  Next time you're playing with a group of kids, why not reach out to someone who might seem a little different to you?  If you're curious about someone, just ask them about themselves!  Start a dance party, draw, play a game, or just find ways to make each other giggle.  Everyone has something in common with you - make it your mission to find out what it is!!

Do you have a story about music bringing people together?  Leave us a comment!

Check out this episode of Soundcheck (radio show) about "Music and Autism".

Didja Know??

11 fun facts about the band you may not have known:

1) Bobby has a kitten named Kato.  Those two boys play together ALL the time.  Everyone else in the band also has at least one cat - Laurie's cats are Jazzy and Cole, Susie's cats are Jackson and Dosi (though Lucy calls them "Nippy" and "Mischievous"), and Adam's cat is named Sam. We'll post more about the cats in a future blog!

 

 Kato helping Bob with his music

 

Laurie with Jazzy and Cole

2) Laurie belongs to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and gets fresh organic produce every week from the same plot of land upstate.  She gets to interact with the farmer who produces her food face-to-face, which feels really good.  She loves to cook, and her daughter, Lucy, helps (well, sometimes...)

3) Susie has a sweet tooth, and loves to get a little treat for the train/airplane whenever we travel.  And because she's Susie, she always shares with the whole band/crew.

 
 Susie and Katie on the train to Waukegan eating a candy necklace

4) Shannon, Corinne, Katie, and Carly - the four girls who run the office - listen to NPR throughout the day AND watch Nick Jr.!  We also have an office cat named Dora who likes to hang out while we work.  

 
 Dora at Carly's desk

5) Our office has two swirly, lime green shady trees painted on the colorful walls.  Corinne and Katie had a blast painting them (we'll blog about the process in the future)

                  

 

6) We are extremely environmentally-conscious.  We work really hard to recycle, reduce, and reuse everything we consume.  It's not always easy, but it feels really important to us :)

7) Every year for the holidays, we do a Laurie Berkner Band Secret-Santa-style gift exchange.  The way we play, you can "steal" an unwrapped present from a person who has gone before you.  Laurie, who is the best person in the world at keeping peace among people, is RUTHLESS at this game (but we still love her)!

8) Bobby has composed music for a number of television shows/movies.  He worked with Jonathan Larson (creator of RENT) to create a children's show called "Away We Go" in the 90's and has done lots of music for Sesame Street.  He recently composed music for Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story", and his most recent film is premiering at Sundance this month!  Bobby also produced all the music for the videos on season 1 of Jack's Big Music Show.

9) After doing Pajama Party shows and working with the Pajama Program for the last 8 months, all of us have at least one pair of CRAZY pajamas!

10) Susie is a nurse in NYC.

11) Adam has started the Jazz Mindfulness Program based on his Buddhist practice and many years involved in Jazz education.

What would YOU like to know?

 

Who's Who?

Now all you need to do to find the blog is type: www.LaurieBerknerBlog.com!

       Laurie Berkner           Susie Lampert             Adam Bernstein           Bobby Golden              

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to our blog! 

The Laurie Berkner Band is so excited to finally be part of the blog community, and we hope you will join us through our musical adventures. 

2009 was a very exciting year for us - we've been working on some amazing projects that we will talk more about in future blogs!  

Some Highlights From 2009:

• Laurie appeared on the Grammy-Nominated "Family Time" album by Ziggy Marley in the song "Future Man, Future Lady". 

• The LBB played a FREE concert in Philadelphia to raise funds and awareness for CHOP's (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) Healthy Kids Day 2009!  The band played at the Mann Music Center in Philly.  Laurie got to meet with some really special kids who will benefit from the event.

• Noggin (now Nick Jr.) aired "Let's Hear it for the Laurie Berkner Band" on July 12th.  The hour-long special featured the Laurie Berkner Band's videos and released a new video, "My Family".  We hope to be able to release this song for download very soon!

• Laurie and Susie played a special fundraiser for Housing Works bookstore. (Roll mouse over the link to read more about Housing Works!)

• Our Facebook Weekly Contests were a hit for our fans who have joined the LBB Facebook Fanpage - we gave 23 lucky winners an autgraphed CD of their choice, and over 150 runners-up autographed postcards! 

• We started a relationship with Honest Tea, who will be giving out FREE tea and juice at some of our concerts!

• One of our biggest accomplishments of 2009 was the collection of 1,400 pairs of pajamas and over 950 books that were donated by our amazing fans to the Pajama Program.  We will continue to collect new PJ's and books at our Pajama Party concerts this year!

Thanks so much for joining us!  New posts every Tues-Friday!