When John Clark first walked into the Advocate offices to promote a reunion gig for his high school band, I thought the idea was quaint. A homegrown Valley local returning to reunite with his teenage mates after 40 years was a gem of a story that was just too good to not cover for a writer who's played in a number of bands himself. Still, when I did a little digging into John's past, I certainly didn't expect to be schooled in a rich, broad history of Valley rock 'n' roll dating back through the '80s and '70s and even further.
The Mourning Fair, which originally featured Clark on guitar and fellow Haydenville natives David Adair on bass and Chris Watlington on drums, was formed at Williamsburg High School in 1969. Songs were composed, gigs at dances and grange halls performed, and a mutual love for music nurtured that would pervade all the members' lives for the next four decades. A year later, Clark graduated and moved away, and the others drifted apart in another year or two.
John Clark went on to pursue many other musical projects, including a band called The Elevators, whose debut album was released on the Arista label in 1980. The Elevators had evolved from a "boogie band" Clark played in with Princeton, New Jersey natives Zonder Kennedy and Tommy Myers called the Bailey Brothers Band. As the group evolved, they became more of a pop outfit and changed their name to Cash, adding Jerry Ellis and FAT veteran William "Benji" Benjamin. Sometime around 1979, the band's manager Pat Irwin noticed in Billboard magazine that another band with the name Cash had recently been signed, and so The Elevators were officially renamed.
Chris Watlington gravitated south—way south—to the Caribbean, where he played with some island-flavored bands while captaining charter boats for a good decade or more; David Adair was the only Mourning Fair member to remain in the area and play with local acts like the McCloud Brothers' blues band. Since then, Clark has done a seven-year stint in France and found himself involved with other musical acts, including the Fierce Tibetan Gods (with, notably, former Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes and others) and Japanese multi-platinum sensation Mai Kuraki.
Clark and Adaire were unexpectedly reunited at a family member's wake last winter in Westhampton, and, having ascertained that Watlington was also in the area, decided to get together and jam just for kicks. The results were perhaps better than expected, and they decided to have a reunion in the town where it all began, which, Clark comments, is "amazingly unchanged" since the trio formed four decades ago.
In researching Clark's history and that of The Elevators, I stumbled across all manner of fascinating Valley rock history (much thanks to Alan Lewis and the fascinating New England Music Scrapbook (NEMS) at www.geocities.com/nemsbook/home.htm). There were cross-references to people like Ed Vadas, Ray Mason, FAT, The Deadly Nightshade, Fanny and Barbara Keith—mostly musicians in the neighborhood of 20 years my senior, and many of whom I've met. As my research turned into reverie, I found myself picturing all these folks in their 20s and 30s, back when rock 'n' roll was still a relatively new thing and the media was far from the totally over-saturated, over-stimulating 500-channel vortex of on-demand mediocrity that it has, alas, become. In the 1970s, people went to their local record stores and bought actual vinyl records—big, beautiful things that were as much visual art in their own right as vessels for music.
The reunion of The Mourning Fair, as a story, was like a breath of fresh air. No one emailed me, Facebooked me or sent me a link to MySpace—no one even called—Clark just walked in with some low-tech printed photos and we formed a rapport. The simple, organic evolution of that moment into this story is worth every word I hacked out on my keyboard, and no doubt every note The Mourning Fair will exude this coming Saturday.
Catch The Mourning Fair's 40th reunion Saturday, May 23, 8:30 p.m. at McFadden's Pub, 109 Main St. (Route 9), Haydenville, (413) 268-0223.
