Ariel was a group of talented young female musicians/college students from Northampton, Mass. The group was the follow up to The Moppets formed in 1965 by Beverly Rodgers a student at Mt. Holyoke College. Hence, the blog title arielbeverly.blogspot.com - easy to remember :-)
I guess this is
my story and observations which all started when I joined the entertainment promotion business in Manhattan in 1967; I arrived in NYC February 6, 1964, (passport visa below), a day ahead of the Beatles - made some money promoting concerts, and purchased a small hotel next to Bromley ski mountain in Vermont; and a co-skiing friend named Morgan McVickar moved in to help me....and that is an adventure story on its own.
i got sidetracked from this blog - as usual - will return later APRIL/2014
Morgan told me stories about his former girlfriend Beverly and her group The Moppets, which he used to travel with on occasion.
One night we drove to Northampton and watched the group rehearse in their house. The group now had replaced some members and taken the name Ariel. After that, I went to see them perform at a club in Willimantic, Ct., and thus began a long period of involvement with the group as a manager/agent with a non contract verbal agreement
Morgan always bemoaned that I stole his million dollar group..such luck...more like a million dollar headache ...albeit worth every penny. :-)
This is my blog - my opinions - a work in progress and needs editing...with a sense of humour - don't bother with remarks which automatically go to the trash can... if I want your comments I will ask for them.
Gretchen Pfeiffer: My favorite personality in the group. She played the keyboards with a Leslie speaker set up. Her songs included "Go Now" and "Monday, Monday" - she was a good looking tall willowy blonde with a sincere personality. Her regular boyfriend named Peter lived in Northampton, where they eventually married and settled down operating a landscaping business and sculpture shop, which had been her college major, and she went on to teach sculpture at a college in Maine. I talked to her a few months before she died...we met up in New York City and went to see "Swan Lake" at the Met...a ballet she had always wanted to see. Note: Every time I look at Gretchen's photo's from those days, I am always struck by what an attractive and free spirited young lady she really was to be around- I wish I had spent more time getting to know her...more on that later ***
Beverly Rodgers: My next favorite personality. She played a Rickenbacker 12 string guitar, and I thought she sang the most melodic Byrds' song ""I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" with a great stage presence on her 12 string guitar. She was very attractive, had a good sense of humor, and a little on the high-spirited side. Her boyfriends usually were the flavor of the month type; one day she showed up at our rented farmhouse in Wappinger Falls, NY, with a new 'hot' Jaguar XKE, which was from her latest boyfriend - a known dealer in hot cars....bad idea Beverly...and the car disappeared within a few days. She moved to California and became a successful TV producer...got married and settled down in Mill Valley with the birth of her son. According to Gretchen, she is the group's archivist and reunion organizer. Beverly was a student at Mt. Holyoke College, and was the founding force of both The Moppets and Ariel...although neither group had a real leader.
Gretchen and Beverly
Beverly and Gretchen
Helen Hooke: Played violin and lead guitar (forget the trumpet); She was the most musically talented and wrote the only original song at that time for the group, "High Flying Woman." Her guitar solos were outstanding - especially her Grateful Dead breaks. She was a student at Smith College and was in a long term relationship with the bass player, Pamela Brandt. Helen later broke out of the nest and moved on by herself to a job on Wall Street and joined the elite ranks of New York City's studio musicians (violin) where she recorded with groups such as Deborah Harry and Blondie. She formed her own group and label, made a few records, was managed by Bud Praeger, and built her house on Long Island. A very talented and determined young lady...a fellow Scorpio.
Anne Bowen: An energetic drummer/singer and later acoustic rhythm guitar. - short in stature but highly educated and opinionated feminist. Her performance showpiece was Jefferson Airplane's "3/5ths of a Mile in Ten Seconds." After Smith College, she studied at Univ. of Mass. She eventually moved in with an English professor/author from Mt. Holyoke College.
Pamela Brandt: A dedicated bass player, with a penchant for boots, foot stomping, and guitar slapping - also a co-songwriter arranger with Helen. A fervent feminist in a full time relationship with Helen. Her father was Mel Brandt the president of AFTRA which helped settle a couple of contract disputes with club owners. She moved on to become a well known feminist author of books and articles...and 'cooking' in there somewhere.
I found this photo on the internet - thus, began the blog idea...
with the 50th anniversary of my arrival in February, 1964 - a few days ahead of the Beatles - and life has never been the same since - except no more groupies... OHHH so long ago....good memories - among which Ariel often stands out.
Front; Beverly Rodgers
Rear; Helen Hooke, Gretchen Pfeifer, Pamela Brandt, Anne Bowen
Gretchen looks such a classic and striking beauty, and Beverly with her wistful looks who would always twiddle with her left side long hair.
MOPPETS REUNION
EQUIPMENT: The group always had a vintage Bill Handley sound system with two speaker cabinets and an Altec amp with a built in 4 channel mixer. When the good paying gigs came along this was moved up to a Shure Vocal Master 6 channel amp/mixer board with two 5ft vertical column speakers. Microphones were Shure SM 57's.
Amps and speaker cabinets were upgraded from Traynor to Sunn 120 lead guitar - Sunn 130 rhythm guitar - Sunn 140 bass guitar.
Gretchen used electric keyboad with a Leslie cabinet speaker set up. Ann used Zilgin and Paste cymbals.
Shure Vocal Master
Below is an updated photo of Beverly from a 2008 Mill Valley magazine - still a good looking woman...and has a good dentist!
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Above: Beverly in 2008 Mill Valley newsletter - as beautiful as ever.
Sad to say Gretchen died shortly after I talked to her...she met me in NYC and went to the ballet Swan Lake at the Met where I go each summer.
The first club I booked them into was the once very popular (now closed) Five Flys in Manchester Vermont. They received $400 for Saturday night, plus lodging in the owner's cabin across the street from the club.
Later on, they would play this club several times during the ski season, and would stay at my hotel that was about five miles away up the mountain road toward Bromley ski area. The cover charge in those days was $2 and they would draw a crowd of about 200.
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my story - my memories - opinionated as usual for short humor stories...etc...all needs editing..so SHUTUP!
Capt Macs, Syracuse, New York for about one month - played four nights a week with good pay plus all meals and lodging - we all stayed in a house near campus - made many fans - cut my head on a protruding nail when bending under the stage one night to fix amp power - off to Syracuse ER and had a dozen stitches - still have scar and memory today. Beverly crying in the hallway with cramps; early one morning I was awakened by Beverly's crying in the hallway of the house where we were staying in Syracuse. She was in severe pain from female cramps - all I knew then was aspirin - years later I learned that a warm bath and/or sex is the recommended relief for such an agonizing sympton - I am sure that suggestion would not have been acceptable - although Beverly did have a good sense of humor.
Fat City, Wilmington, Vermont; was a large 600 capacity night club near Mt. Snow ski resort. During the winter the club attracted hundreds of skiers for their 'apres ski' festivities. The friendly owners, Kenny and Ronnie, were well known for holding unique entertainment. In late Spring of 1969 I booked the group into the club for a long summer gig before going to New York for showcase event. They became very popular, and did so well, that it carried over into the winter season. This was a memorable year with Ariel, Man-on-the-Moon, and Woodstock.
Notes; - some weekends and holidays big show with two groups and a local promotion newsletter 'Fat City Times' I published and distributed - amps stolen - local carpenter made new cabinets at no cost.- compete with Farqhuar group - I also worked as bartender on weekends - made all door money plus free lodging at Wilmington White House a very large and nearby beautiful guest house owned by Kenny.. I traveled between my hotel each week for this perfect gig. This type of booking is what made Tracks (Dartmouth College) and other groups envious because I could get this type of paying exposure gigs...they never blamed the girls - they blamed me for hustling - in fact, Ned, the drummer, asked me to manage them - sorry, one group of college kids was enough.
TONY MARTS, SOMERS POINT, NJ' - A very large and famous Southern New Jersey nightclub a few miles from Atlantic City.Tony always complained Ariel played "Music from Mars" - but still paid us $2500 for the week. The other groups were always impressed that the group played songs from Jeffeson airplane, Grateful Dead etc., however Tony restricted Ariel to three 20 minute sets per night...Mama's and Papa's, Beatles etc. The club had three stages and alternated three bands for non-stop music. We all had lodging in the three apartments upstairs to the club. Before their first tour with Bob Dylan, "The Band" played there, and Levon Helm still plays there over the years. A hippie band "pot smoking" night club called "The Bayshore" was across the street and open very late and our favorite hangout.
This was the summer of 1969 that two college girls were kidnapped and stabbed to death on the parkway after leaving the Somers Point diner early one morning, and the crime has never been solved. The state police set up an information booth across from the club.
YOUR FATHER'S MOUSTACHE, Boston, Mass. A very popular college crowd pub. The band actually purchased new outfits for this gig. I sought of remember red cocktail outfits...short lived idea until showcase in New York. Performed five 40 minute sets per nights for six nights for $2,500. This was Helen's farewell to the trumpet gig. We always paid local AFofM local union dues and only had one trouble with mafia club in Mass ..when we arrived they had cancelled our union contracted gig and hired The Shirelles. We sat outside the club until the local union agent showed up...later, it was Pamela's father who helped us get paid some of our expenses through the union....this was when we decided to spend the time at Fat City and get ready for a New York showcase gig.
VILLAGE GATE: The lower level of this famous jazz club on Bleeker Street in Manhattan had a large stage and seating for about 200 people...perfect for a New York showcase special event. The manager/secretary for the club was Sid Bernstein's wife. She helped me pick the night for Ariel's one hour show at 8pm to which all the record company executives and anyone else I thought to be important was invited. I used a promotion mailing piece that was a Western Union telegram format mailed to everyone I could think of...it worked well. Nearly every record company A&R department showed up, and most important was Kip Cohen the manager of the Fillmore East.Along with all the entertainment people, including Sid Bernstein, we had an audience of nearly 150 people. I did the sound and lights. The group had cream colored outfits made for showcase, and they looked great. Everything sounded and looked first class. I met most of the record company A&R people. Sid Bernstein drank Seven-Up. This show led to many follow up visits to record company studios and offices. Most important was the booking we got for one show at the Fillmore East. The group actually broke through to the New York music scene.
FILLMORE EAST: The rock 'n roll mecca run by legendary Bill Graham. Ariel got to play a 45 minute set on a Tuesday night at about 9pm. Once again, I invited all the record company executives, and most showed up. The most enthusiastic was Harvey Cowen from MGM/Verve...the most interesting was George Butler from Blue Note Record Company, a subsidiary of United Artists.
Memorium: Gretchen died. Manny's closed. Sid Bernstein died.
Beverly had met with Sid Bernstein during The Moppet days (closest they came to being the 'female' Beatles :-) and their photo held a prominent place in his memory and on the wall at Manny's music store.
Manny's music store in Manhattan with Henry on West 48th Street - The Moppets photo on wall store closed for good June 2009. Henry's children run virtual wall and site online at: click on this site
mannysvirtualwall.com to add videos/photos.
Other items to add and edit
Tracks (Russell, Ned, etc) a group from Dartmouth that used to play at the same clubs, and they really got along well with Ariel. Played together at the Rusty Nail in Stowe, and the Aerodrome in Albany.
My side benefits - no money - but a few secret female groupies shared with Morgan back at my hotel in Vermont.
Travel in my Chrysler Imperial sedan and their Ford Econoline ..and moving the damn equipment in and out of clubs - esp Gretchen's Leslie. All in all, a great time and adventure - with the usual ups and downs.
Why didn't they become a successful recording group a. no original songs d. no distinctive sound
c. feminist majority too divisive d. beverly and gretchen went on to other professions outside music.
After Fillmore East gig, I met with numerous leading record company A&R execs...here is the list and outcomes as I remember
MGM VERVE - Harvey Cowen head A&R exec in their studio several weeks until he got fired when Mike Curb took over during the 70's shuffle/takeover era. Harvey would have signed the group as he had signed groups such as Lou Reed, Nico and Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa, etc...not afraid to take chances and he liked his crown royal whiskey in the studio each night..along with method acting school techniques..
With an MGM contract and another year of putting ego's aside, writing, rehearsal and recording, plus a few hundred thousand dollars in promotion money, and a strong producer/arranger they could have overcome the obstacles and would have been a very upbeat fun-loving female group with a blended sound of Beatles, Byrds, Mamas & Papas California sound. Gretchen's smile and posture in the moppets photo at top reflected what should have been the image portrayed along with her classic look - and Beverly's good looks and high spirits - these should have been at the forefront and highlighted. The only good thing I got out of this MGM adventure was a management contract with Dave van Ronk and a recording contract for him with Jerry Schoenbaum at Polydor Records.
CAPITAL RECORDS Eddie Lambert senior A&R exec whose brother Dennis was very interested in writing for them - Dennis was a top songwriter with many hits.
Traveled to Pam's house in Montclair, NJ, and set up the equipment in the basement rehearsal area - Eddie and his brother carried in the equipment - not a good idea and not even funny - as Eddie told me later - his brother would not work with them because it was not all about feminism with most of them ...it was 'only' about feminism...that was the turn off for them
ATLANTIC RECORDS: Mark Meyerson was their top A&R exec - Ariel spent a day in their studio - he loved Ike and Tina Turner's 'River Deep Mountain High'.....and was impressed with Ariel's version...but with no original songs he could not find one of his producers willing to work with them. Several years later one of Atlantic's top recording artists Felix Cavileri 'The Young Rascals' would produce The Deadly Nightshade's first album for RCA/Phantom Records.
BLUE NOTE: Ferranti and Teischer producer George Butler - could not figure out what music style to fit - again no original songs to work with.
Charlie Calello a well known and respected NYC producer arranger - he liked the group - but no money to keep him around and interested.
*** In 1978, when I was managing Jerry Jeff Walker, we did an outdoor music festival with Commander Cody, in Northampton, Mass. I stayed in a suite at the large hotel there, and Gretchen stopped by. We had a few drinks and talked. Then, at about midnight, she took me back to her house on the Connectitcut River. I know she missed the travel, performing and entertainment business, and meeting different people.
The Deadly Nightshade
thedeadlynightshade.net
The group's web site above has complete history details
After Ariel disbanded, Anne, Helen, and Pamela, formed a female trio they named "The Deadly Nightshade." I became president of a major entertainment company, and produced shows around the country and took over management of various entertainers including Billy Preston, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dave Van Ronk, McKendree Spring, Michael Mainieri, etc. One night the group invited me to a performance they were giving at WABAI radio station in Manhattan - by coincidence this was where Jerry Jeff Walker first did a live concert of his major hit song "Mr. BoJangles." The group was quite impressive with a collection of original songs. Thus, I began another unwritten management/agent agreement to promote and book them. I also traveled with them to various shows and was the "sound man" along with being agent, road manager, etc. By this time in my career, I had developed a good reputation with agents, club owners, concert promoters, and record company executives throughout the USA. Obtaining work for the group was thus made easier than with Ariel. The group also had developed a very strong fan base of its own.
Therein ends that tale - the group's web site has complete information.
my personal short notes to round out and edit: based in northampton - wbai radio station - large feminist following - ms magazine - clubs and festivals across usa - now convention in ac - bitter end, billy joel tour, sesame street etc- nyc following - record contract - original songs - helen violin - studio musicans nyc scene - charted single - mr.big doll.
now convention atlantic city;
bitter end nyc
billy joel tour - denis arfa left sutton artists booking agency to form billy joel's 'home run" agency
phanton/rca records richard bud's a/r director ardent believer convinced bud to sign group with excellent contract terms..felix producer.kept own publishing with no cross collateral etc - top leading lawyers for contract-celebrated in restaurant where our waitress was martha my old girlfriend from my miami concert days...and still see her going to to ballet etc in nyc. small world she is also friend of ned from tracks onfb.
