The Laurie Berkner Band Blog

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving! 

The band wanted to share some of the things they are thankful for in honor of the holiday.  We'd love to hear about whar YOU are thankful for! Leave us a comment and let us know!

Adam:

1) My family and friends, many who coming over to our house for Thanksgiving.

2) Music, been composing and playing a lot! I love being a bassist and always have gratitude that the universe chose to play the bass.

3) My Zen practice and all my Sangha brothers and sisters!

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Susie:

 1) For my family and friends, both human and animal... I would be nothing and nowhere without them. They give me love,support and give my life meaning.

2) Music - My life would be colorless and empty without it...

3) Health - both physical and mental - a blessing  taken  for granted too often.

4) I am grateful to be allowed choice... what to eat, to believe, to listen to. 

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Bob:

1) All the pottery I'm able to make in the midst of all the music I'm able to make

2) All the close friends I have all over the world... and deeply thankful that most of them are passionate people!

3) I have a brother and sister to share Thanksiving with

4) All the AMAZING new technology that allows me to be so public in thanks!

5) That it's the holiday season!

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Laurie:

 1) My family (especially Brian and Lucy) and my friends

2) The feeling I get when I see something beautiful in nature like the Hudson River or the leaves changing on the trees.

3) Music, especially singing because it is one of the things that gives me the most pleasure, where I can express myself and my feelings

 

And here is a special Thanksgiving tidbit from our fan, Olivia:

 

 

 

 

Tour Photos and Special Announcement!

We were very lucky to have had our good friends from Umi Shoes join us at the Paramount Theater Austin, TX show this past weekend.  Umi Shoes has been helping us with shoe donations for Soles4Souls at our Birthday Party Concerts this year.

They brought along a photographer to document some of the fun of the concert, and since we don't often post live picture, we thought it would be fun to do a photo blog from the show.

The theater marquee

Our set

Everyone is invited to wear a birthday hat!

And a party outfit!  Rock on, ladies!

The audience getting pumped

Let the concert begin!

 
Bobby has a dog on his head (and he's very excited about it)

The kiddie moshpit begins to form...

The band takes their bows

Some of our friends from Umi

 
WOW!  Awesome t-shirts... good job, rock stars!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

We are THRILLED to announce that our brand new mobile app is now available for the Android! (the app will be available on Apple mobile devices - iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad - shortly).

The Laurie Berkner Band app lets you bring the LBB with you anywhere you go!

Listen to your favorite songs, get tour information, buy tickets, get exclusive offers, be eligible for presale tickets, watch videos, look at photos, talk to fans, leave messages for the band, and much, much more!

International fan? With the app, you can now listen to LBB music in places where it was never available before! 

Download it by going to the Android Marketplace on your mobile device and searching for "Laurie Berkner", "Laurie Berkner Band", or "LaurieBBand"

 

StumbleUpon!

Do you know about StumbleUpon?

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Quick ideas for a rainy day

Spending the day indoors on a rainy day, especially for VERY young children, can be tough!

Here are a few around-the-house activities you can whip up in a jiff to brighten your day.

1) Make a basketball hoop

Using cups, trash cans, baskets, lampshapes, or any other bin-like items, make a basketball game.  You can even set yourself up with multiple baskets, and have items that correspond with them be the "ball". 

Here are some examples:

    Trash can basket and crumpled paper ball

    Hamper basket and folded sock ball

    Cup basket and ice cube ball

    Pen cup basket and crayon ball

2) Make a tower out of things around the house

Try stacking plastic cups as high as you can go! Make different shapes and then, of course, knock 'em down!

Other items you can use:

    Differently-sized boxes

    Take out containers

    CD/DVD cases

    Books

3) Make a mural

Tape pieces of paper together to make a large canvas, and hand out crayons, fingerpaint, glitter glue, stickers, etc!  Decide on a theme and let everyone make their own section, or do a free-for-all.  This is a fun thing to hang at birthday parties. 

4) Do a taste test

Put all kinds of foods in little containers, have your testers close their eyes, and let them try to figure out what food they are eating.  If anyone is stumped, give fun clues, like "this food is red and sometimes has black seeds in it" or "this food is good at the beach"  You can also try this with different beverages!

5) Make a scavenger hunt

Decide on a great prize (keep it a secret from the players), and make a trail of clues around the house.  The clues can be pictures of places for non-readers, or older kids can help the younger ones.  Extra points for funny clues and hiding places, like inside your shoes!

   What do YOU do on a rainy day?

News!

We've had a busy few weeks!  Here's a few updates:

1) We received this beautiful award in the mail today from SheKnows.com.  We won the Parents Choice Award in the Audio section for "Tunes for Toddlers and Preschoolers"!  We are very excited to display this pretty award in our office

2) We also recently received our certificate from NAPPA for The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band in the "Childrens Products" Category.

3) Susie showed us how she has the top 3 scores in her Pinball game app on her blackberry.  That's the top three scores in the WORLD... Pretty impressive, Susie!!!

4) The Laurie Berkner Band app for Android phones, the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch was submitted today!  It should be ready to download (for FREE) in a few weeks (fingers crossed!).  We'll give more information about it as we get closer, but we CAN tell you that it will include streaming songs, exclusive offers, pre-sale codes, show dates, videos, photos, and lots more!

5) We finally got our awesome felt birthday party hats (with LBB logos) in the mail!  We will be selling these at concerts and online shortly! 

We're also busy getting ready for Thanksgiving.  What are YOU gonna eat on Thanksgiving day?

 

 (I'm Gonna Eat) On Thanksgiving Day

 

Austin!

The band just returned from our show in Austin, Texas this past Sunday.

Many of the band members and crew had never been to Texas before, and we were VERY impressed with the amazing town, the fantastic people, and the music that seemed to seep out of every road, ally, and restaurant we passed by.

Laurie was particularly impressed by the huge and beautifully painted guitars in the airport - we saw the same type of guitars in the Los Angeles airport - does anyone know what the project is that created these?

    

We ate lots of barbeque, met some very nice people, and learned that Austin is one of the smartest cities in the United States (taking the average IQ of it's citizens)!  How cool!

The show was SO much fun - we loved the enthusiasm of the crowd (a rambunctious dance pit formed right in front of the stage with some excellent dancers) and the beautiful Paramount Theater.

It was a great weekend - we can't wait to go back!

For photos from the show, check out our Facebook page.

Business and Beginnings

Every so often, we receive an e-mail from a mom, or a children’s musician who is just starting out, or a recent college grad who is asking about how Laurie turned her love of kids and music into a career.  We wanted to take a little time to explain how she got started, the business behind the band, and some of the highlights of the structure.

This is an abridged version of how Laurie got started:

Laurie began recording children’s music when she was working as a music specialist in the late 90’s.  Many of her students’ parents requested a recording of the songs she sang in class so they could share them at home. 

Laurie started Two Tomatoes Records with her longtime friend Sarah Milstein back in 1997.  For several years, Laurie ran the company by working out of her apartment, personally filling each album order she received, and sending them out herself. 

In 1999, Laurie hired two of the first people who worked for her - her publicist, Sarah Geist Rosen, followed by her assistant, Jonathan Hilton (who later became her booking agent).  Shortly thereafter, The LBB was featured on The Today Show.  Laurie and Brian’s small one-bedroom apartment quickly became overrun by CD’s, so Laurie decided to move her business to another apartment office space.

Today, Two Tomatoes Records is still a small business, which is run out of a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City.  There are three people who work regularly in the office (Shannon, Corinne, and Katie). Publicist Sarah Geist Rosen and Manager/Booking Agent John Waldman work remotely from Illinois and Colorado, respectively.  The office has weekly conference calls so that everyone is in the loop.  Everything that happens in the company is very hands-on -  the office team and Laurie all work very closely together on projects.

The touring company for the Laurie Berkner Band, Two Tomatoes Touring, travels every 3-4 weeks with the 4 members of the band, 2 sound engineers, the 3 members of the Records staff (who all wear different hats when we tour!)  We also occasionally travel with a lighting designer, merchandise helpers, and a backstage assistant. 

The LBB has been very fortunate to have a great business relationship with Nickelodeon, which has featured Laurie’s music and videos on Nick Jr. for the past few years.  Two Tomatoes also partners with another record label, Razor and Tie, which distributes all of the LBB's albums.  Laurie is proud that she has been able to work with these great companies while retaining her creative freedom.

Laurie works hard to be sure Two Tomatoes Records is ethically run and extremely environmentally conscious.  We have partnered with other environmentally responsible companies, such as Umi Shoes and Honest Tea, which has allowed us to further our charity reach as well as offer fun freebies at our shows.

Laurie wears so many hats as part of this adventure: small business owner, musician, songwriter, author, band leader, arranger, creator, and (most importantly): mom!  Juggling these roles can be difficult, but it’s been totally worth it!

Record and CD Clock - DIY!

What You'll Need (it's only 5 things!):

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Trail Mixes

Need a simple snack that doubles as a musical instrument?  Trail Mix is the answer!

Trail mix is easy to make, totally customizable, makes a great shaker (just put it in a takeout container!), and the best part? Everyone in the family, no matter how small, can help make it!

We asked our Facebook page for some suggestions, and here's a handful of the tasty answers:

Elaine McNeal: Melvin Any simple trail mix is always good. :) Mix together cereals, nuts, candies, pretzels, whatever everyone likes.

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Marcie Ochoa: Jacob's Popcorn: Your favorite popcorn, craisins and some plain cinnamon (no sugar added)- mix and enjoy. super easy and super yummy (and pretty healthy:-) )

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Melissa Jeter Ramirez: Reindeer poo!!! Crispix cereal or rice chex, honeycombs, pretzels, mixed nuts, peanuts....mix it all up. Melt almond bark(dark or white) and pour all over. Mix up again. Cools in less than 10mins. EAT and ENJOY!!!

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Betsy Arndt: Sophie's Snack mix- scoop of pretzels (any shape & size or a varitey), scoop of goldfish, scoop of chex cereal, scoop of nuts if not allergic. Thow it all in a bag and let your child shake, shake, shake to mix it up. :) You can also add animal crackers, cheeze its, pretzel goldfish, raisins, or any thing your heart desires. :)

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Jennifer Liss Diffley Honey graham cereal, mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips...s'mores mix!

New DVD Filming

The band just got back from Los Angeles, after an action-packed weekend of filming for the new Laurie Berkner Band DVD that will be released in 2011.  Laurie has written a bunch of new songs that the band has recorded for the new DVD!

There will also be lots of fun new surprises - more information about them to come :)

Here are some photos from this weekend.  We hope you enjoy them - we're really excited about this project!

 

The band, in the middle of filming. That green screen is going to come to life in the videos!

Adam, hanging out backstage between shots

Bobby getting camera-ready

Susie getting her hair done!  We were so happy to work with such an amazing crew 

The band taking direction before a shot

Hanging out on the set (or are they in Pillowland?)

The band in their sleeping bags - what a work day!