By Jae-Ha Kim
Tribune Media Services
September 21, 2010
The tweens have Justin Bieber. The toddlers have Laurie Berkner. A former preschool teacher who taught music to kids by day and rocked out with her bands Lois Lane and Red Onion by night, Berkner writes smart music that gets kids to think as well as dance. A staple on the Nick Jr. cable channel, the 41-year-old performer’s latest DVD “Let’s Hear It for the Laurie Berkner Band” features some of her most popular music videos and hits stores on Sept. 28. Her greatest hits CD “The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band” was released this summer. Berkner resides in New York City with her husband and their daughter.
Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?
A. Kauai. I went there on my honeymoon and I have wonderful memories of it. I love that it has so many different climates. The mountains were beautiful. We stayed in a bungalow, not a hotel, which I loved, and it was so nice — it was up on stilts and there were roosters running around and I just have such lovely memories of that time. Also we went to Hanalei Bay, which is supposedly the site of Hanalee from the “Puff, the Magic Dragon” song and it was actually very magical.
Q. Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A. We go a lot to the Mohonk Mountain House (www.mohonk.com) in New Paltz, N.Y., and it’s really nice to go there as a family. The meals are good — and included — and in the winter there is ice-skating and snowshoeing and skiing and making snowmen. Also for our 10th anniversary last year we went to Bermuda. That was a great weekend trip that we went on without our daughter Lucy.
Q. What are your favorite hotels?
A. The Four Seasons (www.fourseasons.com) in Los Angeles, Tuckers Point (www.tuckerspoint.com) in Bermuda, the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel and Spa (www.renaissancehollywood.com) in Hollywood and the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa (www.kauai.hyatt.com) in Hawaii. We didn’t stay there but during our honeymoon on Kauai we visited Poipu, and spent the whole day at their spa. It was incredible. There was a giant rain shower outside, massages were half outside — everything was outside!
Q. What are your favorite restaurants?
A. Candle Cafe (www.candlecafe.com) in New York City is upscale vegan. We go there a lot on date nights. Angelica Kitchen (www.angelicakitchen.com) in New York City is organic vegan. The last time I was at the Blue Hill Cafe (www.bluehillfarm.com) in New York, I was served something called lardo along with two kinds of butter to spread on the bread. After I stopped laughing at the name, I started to swoon because of how delicious it was. Cafe Gratitude (www.cafegratitude.com) in San Francisco is a raw food restaurant. I love it because the waiters come over and thank you and all their food is named things like “I Am Fulfilled Large Cafe Salad” and “I Am Thriving Hot Soup of the Day.” I bought a bowl there that I use at home all the time. When I finish eating and look down into the bottom of it I see “I am grateful for…”! I also like Locanda Vini e Olii (www.locandavinieolii.com) — an Italian restaurant in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. They opened the restaurant in an old preserved pharmacy. The food is also fabulous. There’s a restaurant in New York City called Bar Bao (barbaonyc.com) that has amazing Vietnamese food.
Q. When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A. Devachan hair products and a bathing suit — because I’m always hoping I’ll get to swim. When I’m on tour, I bring my own Ume plum vinegar and organic green tea. I always end up bringing my computer — and whichever book or magazine I’m in the middle of — because I might finally have a chance to do some reading. And dark chocolate. I don’t go anywhere without it.
Q. What are your five favorite cities?
A. Toronto, New York, Paris, Banff (in Alberta, Canada) and Bobo-Dioulasso (in West Africa). They are the friendliest people ever!
Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A. Almost anywhere in Central or South America, Bali, Venice, Israel, Japan and New Zealand.
Q. What is your best vacation memory?
A. Driving across the country with my husband, Brian, early on in our relationship. We watched a full moon rise in gorgeous Arches National Park in Utah, went skinny-dipping in the early morning in New Mexico and went hiking in the flatirons in Boulder. A funny memory from that trip was that everywhere we went we kept hearing Elvis’ version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.” We would hear it on the radio, in the bathroom at a McDonald’s where we made a rest stop, even coming from a boom box on one of the banks of the Colorado River, as we went slowly rafting by. After that trip we decided it was our song and we sang it to each other some years later as part of out wedding ceremony.
© 2010 JAE-HA KIM
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
