David Kaynor 1948-2021
My good friend and traveling buddy from the old days, David
Kaynor, passed away a couple of years ago. He was 73. I
don't know how to describe him to anyone who doesn't already
know about him. He was a dance caller, fiddle player, dance
organizer, tunesmith, dance composer, and all-around rabble
rouser. All wrapped up in a crusty-old-New-Englander persona.
In the early 80s David started a twice-monthly dance in
Greenfield, Mass. By the end of the decade it had become
known as a "destination dance" which attracted people from
all over. From 1989 through 1993 I played with David, Mary
Cay Brass, and Stuart Kinney at David's dance at least once
a month, and we travelled together as the "Greenfield Dance
Band."
In the 90's there was concern in the dance community that
they might lose access to the dance hall, which was owned by
a local "grange" organization. So David and some of the
others joined the grange and took leadership positions. The
grange organization became part of the dance community and
to this day the Guiding Star Grange Hall hosts all kinds of
dances. You can go to a dance there every weekend and some
week nights.
It all points back to David's vision for the dance as not
just something you do every weekend, but as a way to bring
people together and create a community. He frequently traveled
alone to call dances and work with local musicians, to the
consternation of us Cinderellas left at home. He felt that
doing so fostered the communities better than having some
"pros from Dover" parachute in and play for a dance before
heading off to the next town. I get that now in a way that
I did not in those days, when what I really wanted was to
drive around playing for dances. But with David it wasn't
about the dance, it was about the community that was having
the dance.
Here's a quote from the grange's web site:
Meanwhile, in the fall of 1980, local contra dance
caller and musician David Kaynor began renting the
hall for Friday night contradances. In those early
years, on nights when so pitifully few dancers tossed
their $2.00 into the fiddle case that the band didnt
make the rent, Grange member Clarence Turner would
wave a hand and say, "Make it up later." By the
mid-1980s, Clarence Turner's later had come to pass.
Now contra dance music fills the hall every Friday
and Saturday night, and often other times as well.
The dances in this hall, known for consistently good
music, good dancing, a relaxed spirit, and a great
floor, have become a destination for as varied a group
as you could find anywhere in semi-rural New England.
Doctors dance with carpenters, social workers with
barristas, shy engineers with friendly students,
teenagers with grandparents, their own or somebody
else's. In an era when social isolation is once again
a concern, the Guiding Star Grange Hall is a space
where friendships can flourish in real time.
It should be noted that on nights when the fiddle case was
over-flowing David would overpay the rent. By the time I
started playing there, those nights were the norm. It was
very important to David that he should share his success with
the grange.
I fell into David's orbit at a music camp where he and his
cousins (working as The Fourgone Conclusions) were on the
staff. The next time I saw him I was planning a business
trip to Boston. I asked if I could have a visit and go to
his Friday night dance while I was in the area. Of course I
could. I did, and I sat in at David's dance. We all wound
up at David's house afterward, where we played tunes into
the wee hours. I think there was another dance somewhere on
Saturday night.
By the end of my weekend visit with David and his friends,
we were planning my return trip to the area so we could play
for some more dances together. That marked the beginning of
the series of events that led to my move to New Hampshire
about three years later.
It is no exaggeration to say that that evening at the Guiding
Star Grange in Greenfield changed the course of my life. I
think there are a lot of people who could make the same claim
about their experiences with David Kaynor. I can name a few.
I'm trying to think of my favorite David moment. I keep coming
back to this one time at Greenfield. He told a really dumb
joke and it was received with richly deserved groans. Then
he said, "Gee, it was funny in Swedish." Someone challenged
him to prove it so he told the same joke, but in Swedish,
and everybody roared. Comedy gold.
David was an inviter. He made people feel welcome and included.
There was always a place on his stage for people who wanted
to learn how to play for the dances. He didn't promise everyone
a microphone but he made sure they had elbow room on the
stage. He will be missed.
David's obituary in the local paper.
Country Dance and Song Society Lifetime Contribution Award here
Read David's remarks there, and keep in mind that he typed them
with his eyeballs - he was immobilized by ALS. It didn't
keep him from being a loquacious, if crusty, old New Englander.
David Kaynor solo fiddling
David Kaynor with Becky Tracy and Lissa Schneckenburger
with a little of David being David in the first couple of minutes.
Suggested reading:
My 1st Time at Greenfield