Jammin', Guerilla Style

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY-- David Berkeley arrived on campus shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, unloaded his guitar and 100,000-watt speaker system and started to jam.
He got through only three songs before two police officers rolled up to the scene and told him to scram.
Berkeley, who didn’t have a permit to play, wasn’t deflated -- or surprised.
“All the time,” he replied cheerfully, when I asked him if this had happened before. “On our first day, we were shutdown in Atlantic City. We didn’t even last through the first strum.”
Berkeley, a 29-year-old from Brooklyn whose folksy-rock tunes resemble ballads by Nick Drake or Gary Jules, is one of eight artists on a musical road trip sponsored by Jeep. Each musician tours a region of the country in a new Jeep Compass.
The “Uncharted Tour” kicked off Aug. 24 in Central Park. In the upcoming month, Berkeley will appear in Boston, New York City and other Northeast locations. On Sunday and Monday, you might have caught his shows – these ones legal – at the New York State Fair.
Berkeley said some performances are scheduled, while others are spontaneous.
“Do you know of a good place to play?” he asked me while packing up his gear on Thursday. He wanted to perform again on campus later that day. On Wednesday, he planned to hit up Le Moyne College.
“With these guerilla shows, we pull up to a place and play something quickly,” he said.
“We got it rigged up so we can close up and go.”
To hear Berkeley, visit www.davidberkeley.com. (JM)