Latest / Jersey Arts Podcast / 'Queen of Kids' Music' Laurie Berkner is Back on Home Turf for McCarter Concert

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'Queen of Kids' Music' Laurie Berkner is Back on Home Turf for McCarter Concert · Jersey Arts Podcast

• 0:02
  Maddie Orton: Hi, I'm Maddie Orton, and this is the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 0:06
  Maddie Orton: Lori Berkner has been dubbed the Queen of Kids music by People magazine, and it's not hard to see why.
• 0:12
  Maddie Orton: Berkner's songs have been streamed 1.7 billion times.
• 0:16
  Maddie Orton: She's sold 1.5 million albums and appeared at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Carnegie Hall, and the White House.
• 0:23
  Maddie Orton: You may have even seen her in the recent HBO documentary, Happy and You Know It, which features some of the biggest names of the genre.
• 0:30
  Maddie Orton: Not only that, Lori has written children's books, composed kids' musicals, and is currently working on her 18th album.
• 0:38
  Maddie Orton: A graduate of Rutgers and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, Lori Berkner will be back on Home Turf when her tour stops at McArthur Theater for two performances on Sunday, March 22nd.
• 0:49
  Maddie Orton: We sat down to chat about her upcoming concert, the creative process, how she got started, and her album coming out in June, Walking with the Penguins.
• 0:58
  Maddie Orton: Take a listen.
• 0:59
  Maddie Orton: Thank you for joining me.
• 1:03
  Maddie Orton: I know you're recording and touring, so I really appreciate you taking the time.
• 1:07
  Laurie Berkner: Oh, I'm very happy to be here.
• 1:09
  Maddie Orton: I wanted to start by telling you how I came across your music.
• 1:13
  Maddie Orton: When my older son was around three, we enrolled him in a ballet class.
• 1:18
  Maddie Orton: And the teacher would start every class by playing the goldfish.
• 1:23
  Laurie Berkner: Amazing.
• 1:24
  Maddie Orton: And the kids, these like crazy three-year-olds, including and especially my son, would lock in in a way that I've never seen in my life.
• 1:32
  Maddie Orton: And they would follow every instruction and do every little like song and dance sort of move.
• 1:38
  Maddie Orton: And it was great.
• 1:39
  Maddie Orton: And what I super loved about it was then like clockwork, I would get the song stuck in my head.
• 1:45
  Maddie Orton: And I was happy about it, which I think is like the greatest thing you can say when your kid is listening to music that you also like listening to.
• 1:54
  Maddie Orton: So I can't thank you enough for that.
• 1:56
  Maddie Orton: It's brought us both a lot of joy.
• 1:57
  Laurie Berkner: Oh, well, thank you for sharing that story.
• 2:00
  Laurie Berkner: Because I mean, that feels really good.
• 2:01
  Laurie Berkner: I was about to apologize, but now I'm so happy I don't have to.
• 2:06
  Maddie Orton: Well, I wonder, I was thinking for you as an adult creating music for kids, is there some sort of ethos behind what you want the music to accomplish, or like the litmus test of I like this as an adult, and adults will not be mad at me for this, or kids are gonna love this.
• 2:22
  Maddie Orton: Like, what are you looking to do when you create music?
• 2:25
  Laurie Berkner: Well, some of those things are different from each other, right?
• 2:27
  Laurie Berkner: Like, I definitely want kids to love it, whether or not I know if they're going to love, I don't know if they're going to love it or not.
• 2:36
  Laurie Berkner: I sometimes I'll try things or I'll have an idea that I think they'll probably really like it.
• 2:42
  Laurie Berkner: But I really like to give you an example of a song that a lot of people know if they know my music, is uh We Are the Dinosaurs.
• 2:51
  Laurie Berkner: So that was one of my earliest songs.
• 2:53
  Laurie Berkner: And I remember writing that song, and the kids were really into it.
• 2:58
  Laurie Berkner: Uh I have a whole story if we ever get into that, but it was was one of the first songs I ever wrote.
• 3:02
  Laurie Berkner: So I I just remember after playing it for a couple of years, thinking to myself, is this a dumb song?
• 3:11
  Laurie Berkner: Like, what is happening in this song?
• 3:16
  Laurie Berkner: Like, I don't why and a dumb song, by the way.
• 3:21
  Maddie Orton: I mean, the thing is, but I'm comforted to know that all artists have that moment of like, oh my God.
• 3:27
  Laurie Berkner: No, but literally, some parents would say to me, like, you have to sing that song.
• 3:32
  Laurie Berkner: My kid loves it.
• 3:32
  Laurie Berkner: I love it.
• 3:33
  Laurie Berkner: And I remember thinking, like, you don't, you don't love that song.
• 3:36
  Laurie Berkner: I know you don't love like, but I mean, she really, like, they really did.
• 3:40
  Laurie Berkner: And and and it wasn't that I didn't like it.
• 3:43
  Laurie Berkner: It was just that I felt like I couldn't have any perspective on it, you know?
• 3:48
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, I'm singing about, I don't, did march dinosaurs march?
• 3:53
  Laurie Berkner: I don't know.
• 3:53
  Laurie Berkner: Like, you know, and I would just like made up words that I thought were sort of funny and you know, and I enjoyed that.
• 3:59
  Laurie Berkner: I loved doing that.
• 4:00
  Laurie Berkner: But uh, it was it, it's just sometimes it's very hard for me to understand why people like literally will pay money to come and see me sing these songs.
• 4:14
  Maddie Orton: Do you think when you're writing this song?
• 4:16
  Maddie Orton: I mean, we should talk in a second about the creation of that song because I think it is a very cool story.
• 4:22
  Maddie Orton: But when you're writing it, I mean, there must be something where you're like, this is an interesting hook, or like there are some songs that I think are maybe more palatable than other songs for adults.
• 4:32
  Maddie Orton: And I think your music is really fun.
• 4:34
  Maddie Orton: When you're creating it, is part of the idea.
• 4:36
  Maddie Orton: Like, I kind of I could groove to this song.
• 4:38
  Maddie Orton: I enjoy this song.
• 4:39
  Laurie Berkner: Yeah.
• 4:40
  Laurie Berkner: Well, I definitely have to write songs that I'm willing to sing thousands of times.
• 4:45
  Laurie Berkner: Yes, right.
• 4:46
  Laurie Berkner: Like that, that's that's actually one of the the like lit, that's the litmus test.
• 4:51
  Laurie Berkner: That's like the baseline.
• 4:52
  Laurie Berkner: If I'm not willing to sing this song over and over again, it cannot be released.
• 4:58
  Laurie Berkner: I'm excited.
• 5:00
  Laurie Berkner: Because just in case anybody really likes it, even if I don't, then I have a problem, right?
• 5:05
  Laurie Berkner: So um I definitely think about like, I mean, I I mean, I meant I mean that seriously, but what happens, what actually happens is that when I'm in the studio, like I have already gone through a whole process of, oh, this is a funny like rhyme, or oh, this is a fun idea for a song.
• 5:27
  Laurie Berkner: I'm gonna write a song about it.
• 5:28
  Laurie Berkner: So I start with this really positive feeling usually, and then um I start writing the song, and then I'm like, God, I can't write this song.
• 5:37
  Laurie Berkner: It's terrible.
• 5:37
  Laurie Berkner: I don't even know what I'm doing.
• 5:39
  Laurie Berkner: No kid is ever gonna like this.
• 5:40
  Laurie Berkner: The parents will hate me anyway.
• 5:42
  Laurie Berkner: It's you know, it's so derivative.
• 5:43
  Laurie Berkner: It's so like I have a million things, and then I'm like, okay, I'm done with that part of the writing process.
• 5:49
  Laurie Berkner: And then I share it with usually with people that I work with, or I find some kids to sing it too.
• 5:55
  Laurie Berkner: I'll sometimes go into um like daycare settings and stuff and try songs out.
• 6:00
  Laurie Berkner: Oh my gosh, what a lovely test audience.
• 6:02
  Maddie Orton: That's fantastic.
• 6:03
  Laurie Berkner: Well, they're all like, we're smack.
• 6:06
  Laurie Berkner: Um, but but so at so at some point I've I share it and then it's like I hear it for the first time outside of myself.
• 6:15
  Laurie Berkner: And that's very helpful because I can see the reactions, I get a sense more of like, oh, this part is working, or this feels natural to sing it this way, or oh, someone started moving at, you know, move their hands when I said move your hands, or didn't when I, you know, and like so I get a lot of feedback that way.
• 6:37
  Laurie Berkner: And then once and once it's finally gotten to a place where I'm like happy generally with it, I go into the studio and then it might take on an entirely other life because I'll if I have the band play on it, like they may come up with rhythmic parts or melodic parts that I did not uh think of.
• 6:58
  Laurie Berkner: And so then it'll have a different feel, or it might be something I just do on my own and then it stays more similar to what I was originally thinking.
• 7:08
  Laurie Berkner: But when I finally listen to it at the end when I'm mixing, like if I don't feel like if I'm not smiling and happy, or or whatever, maybe it's a sad song, but like if I'm not having the feeling I am hoping that somebody will have listening to it, like it doesn't make it onto an album or get released, or I just basically keep working on it at that point, I think.
• 7:31
  Laurie Berkner: And sometimes, so I have one song now that became really popular called Chipmunk at the Gas Pump, which is also so fun.
• 7:38
  Laurie Berkner: And by the way, how you know you're a Jersey girl because nobody else in the country actually has their gas pumped for them by somebody else.
• 7:48
  Laurie Berkner: That is so true.
• 7:50
  Laurie Berkner: Um, so and in fact, it came out of the fact that I that was a career goal for me.
• 7:57
  Laurie Berkner: Like I thought it would be really fun to work at a gas station when I was a kid because I was like, you're outside all day, you get to talk to people, you're always walking around.
• 8:06
  Laurie Berkner: Like it just seemed like a fun service job.
• 8:09
  Laurie Berkner: Yeah, I could see that.
• 8:10
  Laurie Berkner: Which I was being interviewed actually at the time that I came up with that song that and that came out in the interview, and then a kid called in and said, I want you to write a song about a chipmunk.
• 8:20
  Laurie Berkner: And I was doing this thing where I was like, Oh, I'll I will improv a song right now.
• 8:24
  Laurie Berkner: And so the host, who is um absolutely Mindy on Sirius XM, Mindy Thomas, she was like, I think you should so I talk about a chipmunk.
• 8:35
  Laurie Berkner: Well, what about a chipmunk who works at a gas station and is too short to reach the gas pump?
• 8:40
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, I I can sing that song for you right now.
• 8:44
  Laurie Berkner: Jump, jump, pump it up.
• 8:46
  Laurie Berkner: Chipmunk at the gas pump.
• 8:48
  Maddie Orton: I was listening to the song and I was like, you know what?
• 8:51
  Maddie Orton: I could I could see listening to this at the gym and like hoping nobody's really gonna know what's in my earbuds.
• 8:56
  Maddie Orton: But like I could see that being like, that's a good pop-pop song, literally.
• 9:01
  Laurie Berkner: Yeah, well, I'm glad because it is.
• 9:02
  Laurie Berkner: It's pump it up, right?
• 9:04
  Laurie Berkner: So the whole I started on that story because when I first wrote that song, I wrote these whole like descriptive verses that have have some words in them that I wouldn't usually put in a kid's song.
• 9:16
  Laurie Berkner: Like he was a very good worker who was fiercely independent.
• 9:20
  Laurie Berkner: He made a fine living as a gas station attendant, you know, and I was like, I love this rhyme.
• 9:25
  Laurie Berkner: Should I put this in a song for three-year-olds?
• 9:28
  Laurie Berkner: I don't know if they'll understand anything I'm saying.
• 9:30
  Laurie Berkner: And then I left it and I walked away from it.
• 9:33
  Laurie Berkner: I would listen to the song after we had mixed it, and there was like all this synth stuff in it and stuff, and I was like, and crazy horn lines and stuff.
• 9:41
  Laurie Berkner: And I thought, what preschooler is gonna get into like this is doesn't make any this is not what did I write?
• 9:48
  Laurie Berkner: And I just like left it for months, and everyone who worked with me was like, that's a banger.
• 9:54
  Laurie Berkner: That's gonna be really I was like, no, no, for you, but not for a kid.
• 9:57
  Laurie Berkner: Like a little kid isn't gonna like it.
• 9:58
  Laurie Berkner: And then I I didn't listen to it for months, and I went back and listened to it, and I was like, Oh yeah, they'll probably like this.
• 10:05
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, I think it's great.
• 10:06
  Maddie Orton: Well, I don't have the audience at home, I'll let you know.
• 10:08
  Laurie Berkner: Great, great.
• 10:10
  Laurie Berkner: And they all jump, like everybody jumps from that, which is like that's the part that makes it fun, even if they don't understand what it means to be fiercely independent.
• 10:20
  Maddie Orton: But they will from that.
• 10:20
  Laurie Berkner: Although they do, but they what?
• 10:22
  Maddie Orton: They will from this.
• 10:23
  Maddie Orton: That's how you learn, you know?
• 10:25
  Laurie Berkner: Absolutely.
• 10:25
  Laurie Berkner: No, of course.
• 10:26
  Laurie Berkner: And I don't, it's not that I never put words in that I think kids won't know, because I do think that that it's really important for them to be discovering things.
• 10:34
  Laurie Berkner: But um, I just wanted it to also, I wanted the story to make sense.
• 10:39
  Laurie Berkner: Yeah, sure.
• 10:39
  Laurie Berkner: You know, and I didn't want them to I didn't want to lose them.
• 10:43
  Laurie Berkner: No, I think it's great.
• 10:44
  Laurie Berkner: Chipmunk's name was Harry, and he wore a fancy tie.
• 10:48
  Laurie Berkner: His sneakers both had glitter, and his socks was both knee high.
• 10:51
  Laurie Berkner: He had a snazzy chipmunk stripe that ran right down his back, and every pocket held a tiny acorn he could grab.
• 10:58
  Laurie Berkner: Jump jump, pop it up, chipmunk at the gas, puff, jump, jump, pop it up, chipmunk at the gas, puff.
• 11:07
  Maddie Orton: You alluded to the walking with the dinosaurs story, which I know, but if for anybody who doesn't know, I think is a really cool explanation of your entree into creating children's music.
• 11:18
  Maddie Orton: Because you originally were working more in the what would you call it, like alt-rock, indie rock space?
• 11:26
  Laurie Berkner: I was, well, at the time when I got my first job as a music teacher for preschoolers, I was just playing in cafes by myself.
• 11:35
  Laurie Berkner: Um, and I I was can't remember if I had my band then or not.
• 11:39
  Laurie Berkner: I was just doing a lot of songs, like songwriting for adults and playing in cafes and dive bars and stuff, basically.
• 11:48
  Laurie Berkner: But I was also a preschool music teacher.
• 11:50
  Laurie Berkner: So I was writing songs like for the kids that I taught.
• 11:54
  Laurie Berkner: And that was how We Are the Dinosaurs started because I'd been doing that job for a few years, a couple of years out of college at that point.
• 12:03
  Laurie Berkner: And um I was really not very successful.
• 12:07
  Laurie Berkner: Like I just the the teachers couldn't really leave me alone with the kids because I couldn't manage the classroom.
• 12:15
  Laurie Berkner: And literally, I would just go home and cry every day because I just felt like these, I don't know how to talk to these kids.
• 12:23
  Laurie Berkner: I feel like they speak an entirely different language than me.
• 12:26
  Laurie Berkner: And like every time I think I'm bringing in something fun, they're like, that's baby stuff, you know, or they would be like, uh, or just like not pay any attention, or it just it would, it was really so much harder than I thought it was gonna be.
• 12:42
  Laurie Berkner: So eventually my boss, who was the principal, said, you know, you could go and observe our prior music teacher who was here for 10 years and she had studied Dalcrosiurhythmics, which is a kind of system of teaching music that that incorporates movement.
• 13:02
  Laurie Berkner: And she was like, She's she was brilliant, and maybe she could help you.
• 13:07
  Laurie Berkner: I mean, the principal had a lot of faith in me, I will say.
• 13:11
  Laurie Berkner: She like hired me to do her kids' birthday party.
• 13:14
  Laurie Berkner: It was the first birthday party ever did.
• 13:15
  Laurie Berkner: Oh, are you are you insane?
• 13:17
  Maddie Orton: Like your boss's kid's birthday party.
• 13:20
  Laurie Berkner: It but it was great.
• 13:21
  Laurie Berkner: She was like, You're gonna be great.
• 13:23
  Laurie Berkner: This it'll be great.
• 13:24
  Laurie Berkner: Don't worry.
• 13:25
  Laurie Berkner: Like, she was so generous, really, really generous.
• 13:27
  Laurie Berkner: So I went and I I observed this woman, her name was is, I think, Ruth Alperson.
• 13:33
  Laurie Berkner: And she like taught mommy and me classes up in Scarsdale.
• 13:39
  Laurie Berkner: And I went and sat in on a class, and actually, I don't know if there were any adults in the class.
• 13:44
  Laurie Berkner: It look what I remember, this is what I remember.
• 13:47
  Laurie Berkner: Ruth is sitting behind a piano, doot do do do do do do do do do do playing, not getting up ever.
• 13:53
  Laurie Berkner: Circle of three-year-olds doing every single thing that she asks them to do, as if like there was some sort of psychic connection between her and these kids.
• 14:06
  Laurie Berkner: And like, won't you please stand up?
• 14:08
  Laurie Berkner: And they would all go bloop and stand up.
• 14:10
  Laurie Berkner: Wow, won't you please sit down?
• 14:12
  Laurie Berkner: And they would all sit down.
• 14:13
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, What?
• 14:14
  Laurie Berkner: Like, what drugs did you give these children?
• 14:18
  Laurie Berkner: So afterwards, I went up to her and I was like, What how?
• 14:23
  Laurie Berkner: No, how did you do that?
• 14:25
  Laurie Berkner: I everything I say, they pay no attention to me.
• 14:29
  Laurie Berkner: She's like, That's your problem.
• 14:30
  Laurie Berkner: Stop talking.
• 14:32
  Laurie Berkner: Put it all into the music.
• 14:34
  Laurie Berkner: If you put it in the music, they will pay attention.
• 14:37
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, Really?
• 14:39
  Laurie Berkner: I mean, I didn't really believe her, but I went back hours and hours in the library, listening to records, trying to learn songs, teaching them to myself, and then sitting down and playing them for them and having them be completely rejected.
• 14:53
  Laurie Berkner: And I just remember this one day, I just said, okay, I don't even know what to do with you guys.
• 14:59
  Laurie Berkner: Like, what do you want to sing about?
• 15:02
  Laurie Berkner: And and literally one child yelled, dinosaurs.
• 15:08
  Laurie Berkner: And then the entire room erupted.
• 15:10
  Laurie Berkner: They were like, Yeah, dinosaurs.
• 15:12
  Laurie Berkner: And I thought, oh, okay, let's be dinosaurs.
• 15:15
  Laurie Berkner: Everyone, stand up, stand up.
• 15:17
  Laurie Berkner: We're all gonna be dinosaurs.
• 15:18
  Laurie Berkner: Okay, follow me.
• 15:19
  Laurie Berkner: Um, start marching.
• 15:22
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, minor key, minor key, ants marching.
• 15:25
  Laurie Berkner: We're gonna march.
• 15:26
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, He are the dinosaurs marching.
• 15:31
  Laurie Berkner: Something like that.
• 15:32
  Laurie Berkner: I don't even remember what I did the first day.
• 15:33
  Laurie Berkner: And then, which was great for like um, I don't know, 10 to 15 seconds before they started literally attacking each other with their dinosaur claws.
• 15:42
  Laurie Berkner: Oh, yeah.
• 15:43
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, oh God, what did she say?
• 15:45
  Laurie Berkner: Put it in the music, put it in the music.
• 15:47
  Laurie Berkner: We are uh we're marching, marching.
• 15:49
  Laurie Berkner: Stop and eat your food when you're in the on the ground.
• 15:53
  Laurie Berkner: And they were like, okay, and they all just like dropped to the floor and started pretending to eat their food.
• 15:58
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, oh, this is really cool.
• 16:02
  Maddie Orton: Wow.
• 16:03
  Laurie Berkner: So then I said, Okay, now we're marching again.
• 16:05
  Laurie Berkner: We are the dinosaurs marching and follow me.
• 16:08
  Laurie Berkner: And then they started to like, I don't know what else they were scratching and yelling.
• 16:12
  Laurie Berkner: And I was like, stop and take a rest over in our nest.
• 16:18
  Maddie Orton: Oh my god.
• 16:19
  Laurie Berkner: So and then I was like, okay, and don't you can't roar.
• 16:21
  Laurie Berkner: I know dinosaurs there, everybody thinks dinosaurs roar, but we can't roar until the we're saving it for the end.
• 16:27
  Laurie Berkner: So they all they slit, they pret I pretended to fall asleep.
• 16:32
  Laurie Berkner: I don't remember, like, and I think originally when I do shows now, I fall asleep on stage and all the kids wake me up in that moment.
• 16:39
  Laurie Berkner: But when I think when I did it with them, they all fell as they all went, they stop and took a rest over in our nest, stop and take our rest, and then you'll hear us say, and I waited, and they just laid there, and I was like, Prom, we are the you know, and then that it's so quiet, you know, that contrast.
• 17:01
  Laurie Berkner: They were like, Oh, now we can march again.
• 17:03
  Laurie Berkner: And then I was like, Don't roar, we're not roaring yet, we're not roaring yet.
• 17:06
  Laurie Berkner: And then at the end, and then we ready?
• 17:09
  Laurie Berkner: Roar! So that was like the make the bit like the the build-up to that was just so satisfying because we are the dinosaurs.
• 17:19
  Maddie Orton: And I was like, okay, and now we come sit down, and they did, and it happens once at the end, and then it's that's so brilliant.
• 17:29
  Laurie Berkner: While we're waiting for the elevator, woo, woo! Might come sooner, might come later.
• 17:35
  Laurie Berkner: Woo! When it does, we'll step inside and go for a ride.
• 17:41
  Maddie Orton: Press the button to it.
• 17:43
  Maddie Orton: Keeping in mind that there were not a ton of people doing what you were doing when you started.
• 17:51
  Maddie Orton: And now, I think I have the stats in front of me.
• 17:53
  Maddie Orton: 1.7 billion streams, uh, billion with a B.
• 17:58
  Maddie Orton: And four-time platinum artists, I mean Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, AC's Thanksgiving Parade, the White House.
• 18:07
  Maddie Orton: Could you have anticipated this when you started?
• 18:10
  Maddie Orton: Like, did you realize that this was even a possibility?
• 18:13
  Maddie Orton: And obviously, you're right, like the internet and YouTube and Spotify has changed the game for sure, but like you've been able to make such a career in this space that is so unique and cool.
• 18:25
  Laurie Berkner: Thank you.
• 18:26
  Laurie Berkner: Yeah.
• 18:26
  Laurie Berkner: I feel very lucky.
• 18:28
  Laurie Berkner: I mean, I I do have moments where I'm like, oh, I mean, I really want to keep doing what I'm doing, but if I had to stop for some reason, like health or what, I mean, it would suck.
• 18:38
  Laurie Berkner: No, no question.
• 18:39
  Laurie Berkner: But I also feel like I've done a lot and I would feel really happy with that, I think.
• 18:44
  Laurie Berkner: I no, I did not expect.
• 18:46
  Laurie Berkner: I mean, I started writing those songs really because I didn't know what else to do in in the classroom and I wanted to keep that job, which paid well per hour, and it was not a lot of hours.
• 18:59
  Laurie Berkner: I was only a year out of like when I started, I had only graduated a year before I started that job.
• 19:06
  Laurie Berkner: And I started getting positions in other schools, and I started sort of building up this career.
• 19:12
  Laurie Berkner: Basically, I was like, Oh, I'm a I'm a preschool music specialist and I have 25 classes a week.
• 19:17
  Laurie Berkner: And then people would say, Well, my kid really loves you.
• 19:20
  Laurie Berkner: Will you do some stuff in the summer in our building?
• 19:22
  Laurie Berkner: And, you know, so it just like it really grew quickly.
• 19:25
  Laurie Berkner: But when I first wrote all those songs, it it was to be able to do that.
• 19:30
  Laurie Berkner: And I only recorded them because there were parents who were like, What is this song?
• 19:37
  Laurie Berkner: Like, what are these songs?
• 19:38
  Laurie Berkner: My kids coming home singing songs that I don't know.
• 19:41
  Laurie Berkner: They're not, you know, it's not wheels on the bus or old McDonald or whatever.
• 19:45
  Laurie Berkner: And I, so I thought, oh, I guess I better record them.
• 19:49
  Laurie Berkner: And one of the places I worked, um, which was the West Side Y on the upper west, upper west side, um, I the person who ran the mommy and me program there was like, I will lend you money to make you need to make a cassette, which is what we made in the day.
• 20:05
  Laurie Berkner: And she was like, You need to make it.
• 20:08
  Laurie Berkner: I was like, Well, I don't have money to go into a studio.
• 20:11
  Laurie Berkner: Like, I I mean, you don't pay me enough for that.
• 20:14
  Laurie Berkner: So she was like, Okay, figure out how much money it would cost you to do it.
• 20:20
  Laurie Berkner: Come back to me with like a proposal and we'll figure this out and I will I'll make it happen.
• 20:25
  Laurie Berkner: So I found like a friend of a friend who had a basement studio in Hoboken.
• 20:31
  Laurie Berkner: I figured out with him, I was like, okay, how can we do this over a weekend or something?
• 20:35
  Laurie Berkner: And like, how much would it cost?
• 20:37
  Laurie Berkner: And he was like, I'll do the whole thing for $2,000.
• 20:39
  Laurie Berkner: And then I got some friends to play on it that they and I was like, when I make it big, I'll pay you, which by the way, I did, but I didn't at the time.
• 20:49
  Laurie Berkner: And um, and I drew like the cover myself and I figured out how much it would cost and I had them made.
• 20:57
  Laurie Berkner: And I somehow I've I spent maybe it cost a little, maybe it's $1,500 to make it and then $500 to actually manufacture them.
• 21:04
  Laurie Berkner: But somehow I only spent $2,000 to make $500 cassettes.
• 21:09
  Laurie Berkner: So I said, I'm gonna sell them for $5.
• 21:11
  Laurie Berkner: And that means I'll make $2,500.
• 21:14
  Laurie Berkner: Can I keep the extra $500 and give you the $2,000 back?
• 21:18
  Laurie Berkner: And she was like, sure, if you can sell them.
• 21:21
  Laurie Berkner: I sold them in like two months.
• 21:23
  Laurie Berkner: They were gone, you know?
• 21:25
  Laurie Berkner: And I thought, okay, I guess I should make some more.
• 21:28
  Laurie Berkner: And that was when I started feeling like, what, how, what, what's happening here?
• 21:33
  Laurie Berkner: Am I like, what do I need to do?
• 21:35
  Laurie Berkner: How do I keep track of sales tax and like what what am I and what is this?
• 21:39
  Laurie Berkner: And I called a friend who was like a freelance writer and she was like, You need to start a record label because that's what you're doing.
• 21:46
  Laurie Berkner: And if you don't do that, you're gonna get screwed by the government and like you have to figure out like what you're you have to figure this out.
• 21:53
  Laurie Berkner: So I I started to figure it out, and I still have that record label.
• 21:57
  Laurie Berkner: It's called Tomatoes Records.
• 21:58
  Maddie Orton: Yeah.
• 21:59
  Maddie Orton: That's so strange.
• 21:59
  Maddie Orton: That's a good friend, too.
• 22:07
  Laurie Berkner: Waddle bottle heel heel waddle bottle.
• 22:09
  Laurie Berkner: Waddle bottle heel heel waddle bottle heel.
• 22:12
  Maddie Orton: You have a show coming up back on your home turf in Princeton at McArthur Theater.
• 22:18
  Maddie Orton: Will you be doing some of the Walking with the Penguins songs there at that concert?
• 22:22
  Laurie Berkner: Yeah, I actually some of them have already become like I have to do them at all the shows.
• 22:27
  Laurie Berkner: My bunny, My Bunny Goes Hop, Walking with the Penguins, Everyone's Demanding Bananas.
• 22:33
  Laurie Berkner: I just we just released Big Baby Go Boom, which I I I had no idea if anybody would like.
• 22:39
  Laurie Berkner: And then like after the first show I played it at, I have meet and greets after the shows where people get VIP tickets and then I talk them after the show.
• 22:48
  Laurie Berkner: And like three people were like, oh, we listened to that four times on our way to the show.
• 22:54
  Laurie Berkner: So I think that I think there'll be there are a lot of ones in there that um I think kids are gonna like wash it.
• 23:01
  Laurie Berkner: It's about washing cars and trains and truck.
• 23:04
  Laurie Berkner: Like, how can you go wrong?
• 23:05
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, for sure.
• 23:06
  Maddie Orton: Um, and you do a sensory-friendly performance as well, right?
• 23:09
  Laurie Berkner: Yeah, that's such a great thing about playing at McArthur, which well, first thing that's fun about it is that I grew up in Princeton.
• 23:16
  Laurie Berkner: So it's like sort of beautiful and also a little weird to go back there and play um in the place where I remember going to see the roaches and um, I don't know, Philip Glasses, some some something by hand.
• 23:30
  Laurie Berkner: You know, I would just like remember going there and like that was the cool place to go see music, and now I get to play there.
• 23:37
  Laurie Berkner: But they're also very cool there because they high like when they send me the offer, they always ask for a band show and a sensory-friendly show.
• 23:46
  Laurie Berkner: And um, so a lot of times doing a sensory-friendly show really comes from the venue being willing to open their doors in that way and to talk to the ushers and really make sure that everybody understands what the rules are and what the rules aren't, you know, so that there's a lot of freedom for kids to walk around, make noise, do whatever they want, which people do that in my shows anyway, but it's just a it's a lower key, like a lower energy version of that.
• 24:20
  Laurie Berkner: Um, I do it solo.
• 24:22
  Laurie Berkner: I will have a woman named Michelle Esh who used to work in my office, but she's actually she's a dancer.
• 24:30
  Laurie Berkner: And so now she sometimes tour manages and and often will dance with me on stage.
• 24:35
  Laurie Berkner: And she's just a complete joy to watch.
• 24:39
  Laurie Berkner: Um, which so that makes that sort of lifts the visual element of me playing a s a show solo when I don't have the band.
• 24:47
  Laurie Berkner: And without it being, you know, a lot of lights in your face or, you know, big costumes and stuff like that's not really part of my shows at all.
• 24:59
  Laurie Berkner: It's just like we wear sparkles and I do the songs, and there's a lot to do in each song.
• 25:06
  Laurie Berkner: So she acts them out basically.
• 25:08
  Laurie Berkner: Anything that I can't do while I'm because I'm playing guitar, uh, like she does it next to me.
• 25:13
  Laurie Berkner: And then the kids have someone that um is modeling what's going on for them.
• 25:18
  Laurie Berkner: And the sensory-friendly shows are so wonderful because I there are a lot of kids who this is their first show ever.
• 25:24
  Laurie Berkner: And that parents are a little nervous about how they'll react.
• 25:30
  Laurie Berkner: Some kids really can't deal with the loud sounds.
• 25:34
  Laurie Berkner: And so when I do, like I do, I have one song where I say to everybody, um, if you're having fun today, make some noise so I know.
• 25:44
  Laurie Berkner: Like, I wouldn't do that in a sensory-friendly show.
• 25:47
  Laurie Berkner: The clapping itself can be a lot for a lot of kids who have sensory issues.
• 25:52
  Laurie Berkner: We keep the lights, you know, pretty simple and the sound is a little lower.
• 25:57
  Laurie Berkner: And so it's just the the whole thing.
• 25:59
  Laurie Berkner: They have like fidget toys for the kids.
• 26:02
  Laurie Berkner: They can run around the room.
• 26:03
  Laurie Berkner: If if you know, if if you have a a child or a young adult who like makes noises that usually in like a more traditional theater setting wouldn't be okay.
• 26:15
  Laurie Berkner: It's like totally fine if they need to stand up for the whole show, like all that stuff.
• 26:19
  Laurie Berkner: It's really great.
• 26:20
  Laurie Berkner: Yeah.
• 26:21
  Maddie Orton: Oh, that sounds terrific.
• 26:22
  Maddie Orton: Well, congratulations on all of your success, and it's so nice to have you back in Princeton for your show.
• 26:27
  Maddie Orton: Thank you.
• 26:28
  Maddie Orton: Yes, thank you.
• 26:30
  Maddie Orton: Thanks to Lori Berkner for joining me.
• 26:33
  Maddie Orton: The Lori Berkner band will play McCarter Theater in Princeton on Sunday, March 22nd.
• 26:39
  Maddie Orton: For more information on the show, visit McArthur org.
• 26:42
  Maddie Orton: If you liked this episode, be sure to give us a review, subscribe, and tell your friends.
• 26:46
  Maddie Orton: A transcript of this podcast, as well as links to related content and more about the arts in New Jersey, can be found on jerseyarts.com.
• 26:54
  Maddie Orton: The Jersey Arts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986.
• 27:00
  Maddie Orton: The show is co-founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
• 27:06
  Maddie Orton: This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by yours truly, Maddie Orton.
• 27:10
  Maddie Orton: Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Cerna Diaz.
• 27:14
  Maddie Orton: Special thanks to Lori Berkner and McArthur.
• 27:16
  Maddie Orton: I'm Maddie Orton for the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 27:19
  Maddie Orton: Thanks for listening.