by Anonymous

"Farquahr" 1970





















The Fabulous Farquahr was comprised of brothers Frank, Dennis and Bob McGowan, who were all Mariners, as well as Doug Lapham, Jim Ricker (bass) and Dick Liso (drummer) who were not Mariners. Individually, they were known as Barnswallow Farquahr, Hummingbird Farquahr, Flamingo Farquahr (Bobby), Condor Farquahr (jim), and Little Dicky Bird (Dick). (missing one bird) Their music has been described as a mix of Irish folk music, bluegrass, psychedelic rock and comedy. According to Mariner John Ciaglia (Woodpecker Farquahr), who joined in 1981 and played with them for eighteen years until their last gig in 1999, the comedy routines were all done by Bobby and were mostly gay routines. Evidently they were a big hit in Provincetown. Along with Ciaglia, Mariner Craig Stopka joined for one year.

The Fabulous Farquahr have the distinction of being the official band for Hubert Humphrey’s presidential bid during the 60’s.

They released two albums early on, “The Fabulous Farquahr” (1968), and “Farquahr” (1970). During the eighties they released a couple of other albums, which I have not been able to track down.