Friday, October 29, 2010 at 1:24AM Last night's "Monster Boogie" webcast from Laurie Berkner, not very scary at all. "Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down" was not a reenactment of ancient Roman games. Watch it here or check out the preview below.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 4:36AM This Laurie Berkner song -- "Moon Moon Moon" -- has always been one of my favorites of hers -- I sing it quite a bit with Little Boy Blue. (But I don't believe in lemon pies and don't get that far.) The video (which I first saw on the We Are the Laurie Berkner Band DVD released many moon moon moons ago) is nothing special but does feature hand motions that would work really well with preschoolers.
The Laurie Berkner Band - "Moon Moon Moon" [YouTube]
Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 8:21AM OK. Let's get it out of the way -- the cutest/oddest thing about Nick's Mega Music Fest are these backstage/VIP passes. I can't decide if they're exclusionary because, y'know, not everybody gets to go backstage, or inclusionary because, y'know, everybody can make one.
In any case, the previously-recorded Mega Music Fest will make its broadcast premiere Labor Day -- Monday, September 6 at 8 PM ET/PT on Nickelodeon.
There were a lot of press clips of the performance available for posting, but unfortunately they're mostly just 30 seconds in length... so here's 30 seconds of the Laurie Berkner Band playing "My Family."
For those of you looking for a little more Laurie time in advance of the show, she'll be part of an online "Mega Music Party" at ParenstConnect on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 11 AM ET.
But there was one clip definitely worth watching even at 30 seconds in length...
Really, the best clip available from the show is actually this self-contained promo featuring Questlove from the Roots and Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba!, which made me chuckle...
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 1:17PM 
Why such a tiny review for such a big superstar as Laurie Berkner? Because it's a greatest hits disk, the future of which is somewhat in doubt in the mp3 era. After all, if your family are superfans, you'll get it just for the three new-to-CD tracks, including rerecordings of "Pig on Her Head" and "Moon Moon Moon," both previously seen on video, and the new track "Open Your Heart." (There's a deluxe edition as well, featuring four videos, including a previously-unreleased one for "Mouse in My Toolbox," which is similar in scope to Berkner's other Nick videos. You superfans will probably want that version.) The rest of you? You might just download the extra tracks from the album you don't have (there are no more than four from any particular album).
But that obscures just how important a songwriter and performer Berkner is for the pre-K set. As a whole, it's a solidly constructed disk, with no major omissions -- I personally would've included more tracks from her debut Whaddaya Think of That?, but all the big tracks are here. And over the roughly 15 years or so Berkner's been performing for kids she's compiled a catalog of songs that would be the envy of just about any kids' musician. "We Are the Dinosaurs" is a stone-cold kids' classic, for example, one that works equally well performed live by a band and performed by your preschooler's teacher. "Moon Moon Moon" is the only lullaby written in the past hundred years that I actually sing to my kids. And "Victor Vito" is cheesy, dorky, and stuck in your brain for the next week now that I've mentioned it. And so on.
While other artists slowly slide up to the 4-to-8-year-old age range, Berkner's continued to make music -- darn good music -- for preschoolers. So while I'm not sure many regular readers actually need The Best of The Laure Berkner Band! given the relative lack of new songs, as a collection of some of the best original music for preschoolers of the past twenty years, it's highly recommended.
(Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the regular edition of the album for possible review.)
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 9:30AM 
Excellent, even. That's a festival lineup for you: Laurie Berkner Band, Dan Zanes and Friends, and They Might Be Giants. Not to mention The Sippy Cups. (Unless, of course, the "Dane Zanes & Friends" text isn't a joke and it's just a Dan Zanes tribute band.)
What lineup? It's for the Life Is Good Festival 2010, a charitable event to be held Sept. 11 and 12, 2010 in suburban Boston. Here's the kids lineup. Man, if that's the kids lineup, I shudder to think what the adult stages would be. (U2, Bruce Springsteen, and Beyonce?) No details yet on ticket prices, schedule, etc.
