GHS grad takes music to Saudi Arabia

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GHS grad takes music to Saudi Arabia
May 13, 2010
By ELYSE RUSSO
The Register-Mail
Galesburg.com

GALESBURG —
Even though David Berntson has taken his musical talents to the Middle East and Tulsa, Okla., where he now resides, his passion for blues was cultivated in his hometown.

“My blues roots began in Galesburg through the arts community at Knox (College) and the radio station (WVKC),” said Berntson, a 1973 Galesburg High School graduate.

Berntson has been playing harmonica ever since he picked up his grandfather’s as a high-schooler. But his hobby transformed into performance when he and some other young local harmonica players formed a blues band called the Pine Street Persuaders.

“They decided to have what they called jams every Wednesday night at this house on Pine Street. It was as much a party as it was a musical event,” said Tom Foley, owner of Foley Photo Studio. While not a musician, Foley described himself as the band’s archivist and money collector at the parties to buy more beer. And he’s still a friend of Berntson’s, fondly referring to him as Bernie.

Most recently, Berntson took his harmonica skills to the Middle East with the Little Joe McLerran Quartet as part of the 2010 Rhythm Road Tour, which is funded by the U.S. State Department and Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Tulsa-based quartet, formed just for the tour, was one of 10 bands chosen from a pool of 132 applicants to share American music abroad.

Once chosen, the Little Joe McLerran Quartet — Joe McLerran on guitar, Robbie Mack on bass, Ron McRorey on drums and Berntson on harmonica — traveled to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman during much of April.

Every place they went, the band usually had three gigs a day: a school in the morning, a media outlet in the afternoon and a public performance at night. Berntson said the live performances were often difficult because there are few performance venues in the Middle East.

“Every event seemed to surpass the other in cultural significance,” he said.

Berntson recalled several fond memories performing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The band performed for a large crowd at the King Fahd Cultural Center. They weren’t sure until the last minute that they would even get to do the concert since live music performances are technically illegal in the country, Berntson said.

The Little Joe McLerran Quartet was the first American band — and blues band — to perform at the center.

“We did something very remarkable in Saudi Arabia,” Berntson said. “We did more in a week than some ambassadors do in three years...The longer we were there, the more we realized the significance of it.”

The band also performed at a school in Riyadh called Help Center, which is for students with cognitive disabilities. The students got really into it the band’s brand of blues.

“It was total pandemonium. It was so incredible,” Berntson said. “It just goes to show that music transcends everything.

The Little Joe McLerran Quartet even performed at a women’s engineering school.

“It’s remarkable to think that this guy from Galesburg High School could be over in Saudi Arabia playing music for women engineers,” Foley said.

Now that he’s back in the states, Berntson will be making some music in his hometown for Galesburg Railroad Days, performing June 26 in the Prairie Players’ Beer Garden. Additionally, the Little Joe McLerran Quartet is performing at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in Davenport, Iowa, at 5 p.m. July 3.

When he’s not busy performing, Berntson’s blending music with education for his “Blues in the Schools” program; in 2006, he was the recipient of the “Keeping the Blues Alive in Education” award form the Blues Foundation.

For more about David Berntson, check out his website at http://crossroadslearning.org/index.html or read his blog, Bernesto’s Beat, about the 2010 Rhythm Road tour at http://davidberntson.blogspot.com/.

“It was total pandemonium. It was so incredible,” Berntson said. “It just goes to show that music transcends everything.”

The Little Joe McLerran Quartet even performed at a women’s engineering school.

“It’s remarkable to think that this guy from Galesburg High School could be over in Saudi Arabia playing music for women engineers,” Foley said.

Now that he’s back in the states, Berntson will be making some music in his hometown for Galesburg Railroad Days, performing June 26 in the Prairie Players’ Beer Garden. Additionally, the Little Joe McLerran Quartet is performing at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in Davenport, Iowa, at 5 p.m. July 3.

When he’s not busy performing, Berntson’s blending music with education for his “Blues in the Schools” program; in 2006, he was the recipient of the “Keeping the Blues Alive in Education” award form the Blues Foundation.

For more about David Berntson, check out his website at http://crossroadslearning.org/index.html or read his blog, Bernesto’s Beat, about the 2010 Rhythm Road tour at http://davidbern