Barry Louis Polisar
Mifflinburg, PA; April 10, 2013: Grammy and Emmy Award Winning Children’s Musician, Barry Louis Polisar, to Appear During MayFest
The Elias Center for the Performing Arts will be proudly showcasing the many talents of Barry Louis Polisar on Saturday, May 18, at 1:30 pm during Mifflinburg’s MayFest.
Polisar has been writing children’s music and books since 1975 and has won the Parents’ Choice Award five times. He has written songs for Sesame Street and the Weekly Reader and is a regular performer on The Learning Channel in addition to having had a two time Emmy winning television show called Field Trip. He has performed at the White House, the Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Recently musicians from around the world who grew up listening to Barry’s songs got together and recorded a 2 CD tribute album entitled We’re Not Kidding featuring 60 of Barry’s songs. He shared in a Grammy for the opening song that he wrote for the movie soundtrack Juno entitled All I Want Is You.
A large part of Barry’s work involves visiting schools and libraries in all kinds of neighborhoods. He was given a Special Library Recognition Award for his “ability to communicate with and excite children to read”. His web site is a free resource for teachers, parents and kids of all ages including “Read” posters and his Free to Read. According to Mr. Polisar, “Some kids cannot afford to buy books so by putting them on my website and in the International Children’s Digital Library, they become available to everyone – throughout the world”.
He gained some early notoriety while still in college after writing a song about a mean teacher during an encounter with one while he was performing in a school. At that point, he realized he could write about everyday experiences. “I could write about my younger brothers and sister, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunt and cousins. I would be over at my family’s house for dinner and my mom would try to get my younger brother to eat his food by comparing his plate with mine.
“Look,’ she would say, “Barry ate all his vegetables, why can’t you be that way?’. I remembered being compared to the older boy that lived next door and went home and wrote another song –He Eats Asparagus, Why Can’t You Be that Way?”. Polisar uses his own family and friends to find the humor in everyday life and then write about it in ways that speak directly to children.
Tickets for Barry Louis Polisar’s concert are available at www.brownpapertickets.com or at www.mifflinburgpa.com. Tickets are $11 each and sales are limited to a maximum of 150 due to the size of the venue. The Elias Center for the Performing Arts is a rehabilitated church built in 1806. It is located at the corner of 5th Street and Quarry Road in Mifflinburg. For more information about MayFest, the WineFest or Mr. Polisar, please visit our website as shown above or call 966-1666 or email mhra@dejazzd.com.