Mills Entertainment Presents the Laurie Berkner Band 4/9

Children's music superstars and Nick Jr. channel favorites The Laurie Berkner Band are coming to the State Theatre Center for the Arts Saturday, April 9th at 2pm. Tickets ($35) go on-sale Friday, March 11th at 10am at statetheatre.org, 610-252-3132, or the State Theatre Box Office. Regardless of age, everyone needs a ticket.

The Laurie Berkner Band has received tremendous critical acclaim. Time Magazine lauded Laurie as "a kind of sippy-cup Sheryl Crow...Berkner inhabits a kid's curious perspective in her lyrics and pens folk-pop melodies that bear repeated - very repeated - listenings." The Wall Street Journal called Laurie "one of the most popular children's performer's in America ... Her music is distinctive because it speaks to kids without talking down to them, charming youngsters without boring grown-ups."

A former preschool music teacher by day and indie rocker by night, Laurie Berkner started selling her music over ten years ago out of her living room on her own label, Two Tomatoes Records. Laurie was the first artist to ever appear in music videos on Nick Jr., Nickelodeon's 24-hour educational, commercial-free preschool network, and is featured in nearly all of the episodes of the channel's "Jack's Big Music Show."

The whole band invites families to celebrate with them at a special "Birthday Party Concert" at Heinz Hall. Kids can wear a favorite party hat and bring their own birthday cake artwork (visit www.laurieberkner.com to download a picture to color). The Laurie Berkner Band has also teamed up with Soles4Souls (www.soles4souls.org), an organization that provides shoes to people in need in 125 countries. Families can bring new or gently used children's shoes to the venues. The shoe drive is sponsored by children's footwear company Umi.

Laurie recently released a new CD, The Best Of The Laurie Berkner Band (Two Tomatoes Records), which People magazine gave a four-star rating, and Parents magazine declared "[It's] "rockin' our iPod during family road trips!" A new DVD, Let's Hear It For The Laurie Berkner Band! featuring many of the band's Nick Jr. videos, is also available.

Don't Miss a Philadelphia News Story
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...