Native rockers offer services to benefit Beau Farley

HUNTINGTON -- Forget being a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll, Huntington natives and Nashville songwriters Kara Clark and Rick Blair are more than a little bit country and a whole lot rock 'n' roll.

The two rockers, who are chasing that proverbial neon rainbow in Music City -- Nashville, Tenn. -- are back home Saturday for a gig at Skybox Sports Bar, the old Laredo's, located on 5th Street Hill.

Clark and keyboardist David Walker will play two sets with the first one at 8 p.m.

Blair and fellow Nashville songwriter and guitarist Greg Jones will play songs from Blair's new CD between Clark's sets.

The music is just one part of a weekend-long benefit for Beau Farley, a long-time friend of Blair's.

Farley has been diagnosed with brain cancer, and area folks are rallying around him and the family this weekend.

Today, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., there is a spaghetti dinner at the Redmen Bingo Hall on Adams Avenue. It's $5 donation to eat in or take out.

Saturday, the Cabell County FOP Lodge 122 Poker Run will benefit Farley, who has been at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota since May 6 for his second brain surgery. While in surgery, he had a stroke which incapacitated his left side.

Currently in radiation treatment and chemotherapy, Farley is also receiving physical therapy. The family plans to return to Huntington in mid-July.

Blair, who began working for Farley at his hot dog stand when he was 13, said he would do anything for him.

"I'm coming up just for Beau Farley," said Blair, who has cut several CDs since moving to Nashville in 1996. "This started out as one thing and has morphed into a huge benefit. Let me tell you something, Beau is one of the coolest guys on the planet, and I would do anything for him. He's the first person, if the shoe was on the other foot, that would step in to help."

Blair, who built big followings at Stat's Sports Bar in Barboursville and around the Tri-State playing some with fellow Nashville buddy Rick Huckaby, said he's been grooving on life in Music City and taking his time to write his second all originals CD.

"The old saying is that you get a lifetime to write your first record and six months to write the second," Blair said. "I was lucky enough to own my own label, so I've had six or seven years, and it's been a lot more depth for me. It's definitely pushed a little more of the rock 'n' roll edge."

Blair, who just happened to run into fellow Huntington East High School graduate Kara Clark at a Monday night songwriter's night in Nashville at the famous Bluebird Cafe, said he's excited to see what happens for her.

Like many who knew her growing up, Blair didn't even know she sang.

Clark, a thirtysomething who graduated from Marshall University and who has been an emergency medical technician since 1990, came to music late but has been making up for lost time the past few years.

Amazingly, Clark moved to Nashville in 2001 to do music but had never been in a band and barely played guitar.

"I had never been to Nashville, and I didn't sing. I went to Marshall, got married and was living my life," said Clark, whose grandfather played with Hank Williams Sr. "Then, in my late 20s, I wanted to sing some songs, bought a guitar and taught myself some chords ... packed up and came down. It was like the Twilight Zone. I was booking gigs and had never played in a band. It seems to have worked. We've created somewhat of a buzz, and it seems to, like, really have gotten serious in the last year."

Clark, who lists Hank III and Uncle Tupelo as musical influences, delivers a raw rock energy with country lyrics and has the MySpace hits to prove her prowess -- a respectable 306,000 MySpace plays with such original rockers as "Sinnin."

Recently signed with management, Clark hopes to be in the studio this fall and on the radio by spring.

In the meantime, she's ready to come back home for the first time as a singer.

"I've never come back home to play," Clark said. "I have like 2,500 MySpace fans from the Tri-State, and I didn't even realize how much they've gotten behind the whole local thing. We had talked about coming home and doing a show, and this was just a natural with the poker run for Beau and the FOP pig roast. They've just combined it all into one big huge party."

Go online at www.myspace.com/karaclarkmusic and www.myspace.com/rickblairnashville to hear their music.