Barry Clark: Guitar & Vocals
Not much is known about Barry Clark before the year of 1973. That was the year that, due to budget cuts, they emptied the institution. But he had served his time, and obeyed the doctors, and according to the few records that remain, was sponsored by a very well adjusted family in Scar, West Virginia.
But as is typical in many cases such as his, he did have some relapses. Ironically, it is thought that the subsequent sessions of electroshock therapy were responsible for igniting the hypo-satiricosis section of his brain, buried deep within the frontal lobe (at least what was left of it after all the operations and experiments) and thus launching his career in entertainment.
Barry's first guitar was two Chinette paper plates glued together and anchored by a paint stir stick. With the addition of three rubber bands some years later, he was well on his way to learning his trade. By 1979, he had written his first song, I Left My Brain in West Virginia.
In 1982, Barry had his first paid gig, playing background music by the outhouses behind the Post Office during the Labor Day parade. For his pains, he received a commemorative styrofoam coffee cup and a cigarette (to this day, he still occasionally smokes that first cigarette). But he had reached a crossroad. He could either set out his commemorative Labor Day parade coffee cup for tips while he played at that crossroad, or he could head out to the show business capitol of the world; Branson, Missouri.
By 1987, Barry was in Branson. He later wrote about those tumultuous days in his song You Can't Leave Home Again later re-penned, under the advice of his left thumb, as You Can't Go Home Again.
From Branson to Reno to Boomtown to Vegas, Barry was on the circuit. And slowly but surely, he was falling in love with the Great American West, and eulogized the region in his early solo release Nevada.
In 1990, Barry finally settled in Portland, OR, and was instrumental in forming the hit band Big Dumb Animals. It was a dream fulfilled, and as is the case with most fulfilled dreams, it was a brutal letdown. It took several years for Barry to win the respect of his fellow band members, who had been led to believe that he was a roadie.
Barry still fondly reminisces the past; his days in the small town, on the road, and locked in a padded cell. While ever looking to the future with energy and purpose, he was able finally to write his most personal, autobiographical song ever, Blowhard. It can be found on his upcoming solo album, Stop Poking Me With That Stick, I'm Running With Scissors!