The Paupers

The Paupers, 1967
The Paupers, 1967

The Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967 should have been The Paupers’ launch pad to international fame. Only four months earlier, the Canadian folk-rock band had seemed destined for the top when Bob Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman bought their contract and began hyping them as the next biggest thing since The Beatles. A month prior to the festival, the group had showcased its talent at a string of well received shows at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, and had spent two solid weeks working up a suitable set list for the forthcoming festival. As Canadian rock journalist, Nicholas Jennings notes in his excellent book, Before The Goldrush, the opportunity to “blow away the competition looked good when the band was scheduled to follow mellow popsters The Association.”

But from the minute The Paupers launched into their set, everything that could go wrong did, and in the subsequent media frenzy, the group’s performance was all but ignored. Within six months, the group once hyped to surpass The Beatles, had lost not only its most inspirational member but was facing mounting debts.

The disappointment of Monterey must have seemed a million miles away from New York’s Café Au Go Go, where, on a freezing cold evening in March 1967, The Paupers proceeded to demolish the headlining act, Jefferson Airplane, then making its East Coast debut. Performing in front of a media and record industry-packed audience that included The Beatles’ Brian Epstein and Albert Grossman, The Paupers couldn’t have picked a better time to make an impression.

While the band became the first Canadian rock band to snare a high profile American manager and a lucrative American recording contract, The Paupers never received the adulation and fame that they deserved. Along the way however, the group produced some of the finest music to emerge from Canada during the ‘60s, and live were arguably one of the most colourful, dynamic and electrifying groups on the North American stage.

The driving force throughout much of The Paupers’ career was drummer Ronn (Skip) Prokop (b. 13 December 1943, Hamilton, Ontario). An accomplished musician, Prokop had been playing music in his hometown since the age of eight when he picked up the accordion. Deserting music for two years, he took up drums at 13 after joining the Preston Scout House Drum Corps. Such was Prokop’s prowess that, according to an article in the music magazine The Canadian, he ended up becoming an instructor and worked throughout Ontario. Prokop also won the national individual rudimental championships two years in a row and composed a percussion quartet that grabbed another national award.

Boredom crept in and Prokop subsequently took up guitar. In early 1964, he formed a folk trio, The Riverside Three, but this was ditched after six months in favour of playing in a local dance band. He then formed another folk trio, but soon found himself out of work when the local hotel he was playing at discovered he was underage and passed the word around. When The Beatles and Rolling Stones-led British Invasion landed on North American shores, Prokop realised that rock was where “it” was at and moved up to Toronto to start his own band.

In an interview for Canada Music Quarterly, Prokop told journalist Joey Cee that the decision to form The Paupers was driven by his desire to put together a band that used electric 12-string guitars. The Riverside Three had toyed with the idea, but somehow had never got round to realising Prokop’s dream. Perhaps for this reason, the first person that Prokop approached to join his new project was his former cohort, singer/guitarist Bill Marion (real name: Bill Misener).

Paupers 1965, from left: Denny Gerrard, Skip Prokop, Chuck Beal, Bill Marion. Photo courtesy of Bev Davies.
The Paupers 1965, from left: Denny Gerrard, Skip Prokop, Chuck Beal, Bill Marion. Photo courtesy of Bev Davies.

Prokop and Marion immediately got to work looking for suitable players to join their fledging group. Next to join was guitarist Chuck Beal (b. 6 April 1944, Scarborough, Ontario), who was recruited via the Toronto Musicians’ Association’s notice board. Working at Larry Sykes music in Scarborough during the day and playing the bars along Toronto’s Yonge Street strip at night, Beal was intrigued by Prokop’s concept and duly accepted the offer. Equally important, he introduced his friend, Denny Gerrard (b. 28 February 1947, Scarborough, Ontario), a self-taught guitarist, who had apparently purchased his first bass from Beal.

With Beal and Gerrard on board, and initially dubbed The Spats, the group spent two weeks rehearsing material in Beal’s basement, before venturing into Hallmark Recording Studios to lay down three Prokop originals – “Never Send You Flowers”, “Sooner Than Soon” and “Free As A Bird”. “Never Send You Flowers” duly attracted the attention of CHUM disc jockey Duff Roman, who, impressed by the song, offered to manage the band. With Roman calling the shots, “Never Send You Flowers” was released as the group’s debut single in early 1965. The single found its way to Glen Walters aka Big G Walters, a disc jockey at CKEY, and following popular demand, became the station’s top hit.

The Paupers at the Maple Leaf Gardens, April 25, 1965. Photo courtesy of Bev Davies.
The Paupers at the Maple Leaf Gardens, April 25, 1965. Photo courtesy of Bev Davies.

Paupers Red Leaf 45 If I Told My Baby
According to Beal, the sudden interest took the group by surprise. In The Canadian, he remarked: “We had all sorts of bookings coming in…and we only knew three songs. We rehearsed for another four months so we could play a show.” The band’s persistence paid off and on 25 April 1965, The Paupers (as they were now called) made only their third public performance supporting The Rolling Stones at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The decision to change the name had been thrust on the band at an early stage when another outfit in the US was found operating as The Spats. Apparently, the new name emerged on the way down to a local restaurant. “We had 50 cents among us,” Prokop told The Canadian. “Bill said, ‘Why don’t we call ourselves The Paupers’?” The name seemed rather fitting. Despite the Maple Leaf Gardens show, and regular appearances at the under 21 club in the Canadian National Exhibition during the summer, the group was virtually broke.Nevertheless, The Paupers persevered and in the autumn followed up “Never Send You Flowers” with a new single, the blues-inflected “If I Told My Baby”, which like its predecessor was issued on the local Red Leaf label.

Red Leaf Records Promo, 1966, photo courtesy of Bev Davies.
Red Leaf Records Promo, 1966, photo courtesy of Bev Davies.


“As I recall, Red Leaf Records was formed by Duff Roman, Stan Klease (Big Town Boys’ producer), Walt Greelis (founder of RPMmagazine and what became the Juno awards) and probably some other chaps that I never met,” says Beal. “The idea was to have a nationally distributed Canadian record label that was promoted through a network of key radio stations. Canada does not have national radio stations other than the CBC and at that time, music videos were just somebody’s dream. This means that unless a bunch of radio stations across the country jump on the same record at the same time, national exposure for Canadian artists by radio was then and still is impossible. Red Leaf was a good idea but with limited financing, could not live up to the hopes of those involved.

”Not surprisingly then, “If I Told My Baby”, despite its undoubted chart potential, and a great lead vocal by Bill Marion, fell on deaf ears. The Paupers responded with the sultry “For What I Am”, which was issued on Duff Roman’s own label, Roman Records in December 1965. The song’s moody undercurrent hinted at a growing maturity in the fledging Prokop/Marion song-writing partnership, but like its predecessor it failed to chart. Perhaps for this reason, the group opted to issue a cover, “Long Tall Sally” as a follow up, but once again the Canadian record buying public stayed away.

"Sooner Than Soon" was used as a b-side to both "Never Send You Flowers" on Red Leaf and "Long Tall Sally" on Roman.
“Sooner Than Soon” was used as a b-side to both “Never Send You Flowers” on Red Leaf and “Long Tall Sally” on Roman.
Nevertheless, The Paupers had begun to pick up more steady work, most notably at the El Patio in Toronto’s hip Yorkville district. It was here that the group’s luck changed courtesy of Bernie Finklestein (later singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn’s longstanding manager).

Finkelstein was an interesting character who first dabbled with managing a band while at school. Over the next few years he drifted from job to job – there are rumours that he slept in hot dog stands and laundromats, and at one point got by working as a caretaker in a local theatre. Somehow he ended up at the El Patio, making expresso coffees during the evenings, and cleaning the premises during the day. It was during an afternoon shift that he first caught The Paupers, who at the time were rehearsing for their debut weeklong engagement. Finkelstein was suitably impressed. Not one for mincing his words, he boldly told the group that the best acts around were those writing original material and immediately offered his services as a manager.

Up to this point, the group had been handling most of its affairs; apart from producing the band, Roman had little input other than acting as its publisher. However, as Prokop recalled to Ritchie Yorke in his book Axes, Chops & Hot Licks, “there had been a lot of hassles and uptightness”, and when Finkelstein arrived “with a lot of flashy ideas”, the group decided to dispense with Roman’s services.

Finkelstein’s fast-talking finesse soon got results when Arc Records offered to record the band that summer. The label, it seems, may even have got as far as putting a recording on tape. According to the Toronto Telegram’s After Four section on Thursday, 14 July, The Paupers were due to perform at the North Toronto Memorial Arena the following Tuesday where fans would get the opportunity to hear the group’s latest recording – “Heart Walking Blues”.

Whether any such recording actually made it on to the market is not entirely clear. No-one in the band seems to recall anything about this particular recording and bearing in mind that The Paupers’ were about to undergo a major upheaval in their line up, it is likely that the recording was quickly ditched with very few, if any, copies being pressed.

The Paupers, late 1967. Left to right: Denny Gerrard, Chuck Beal, Skip Prokop and Adam Mitchell
The Paupers, late 1967. Left to right: Denny Gerrard, Chuck Beal, Skip Prokop and Adam Mitchell

Notice in Billboard, March 25, 1967
Notice in Billboard, March 25, 1967
Five days after the North Toronto Memorial Arena show, The Paupers played a one-off date at the El Patio shortly after which Marion, who had become increasingly unhappy about his role, handed in his notice. The group’s lead singer cited “hassles regarding his song-writing” as his reason for leaving. Prokop adds that Marion also had a real desire to sing R&B, and was unable to find an outlet for this in The Paupers.

Marion subsequently embarked on a brief solo career, recording a lone single, “Flower Girl” for the Nimbus label in 1967. He then hooked up with The Last Words for a few months before forming the music production company, Cranberry Roadhouse Productions. In 1969, he reverted to his former name, Bill Misener and became a staff producer and manager for RCA’s Sun Bar Productions, later writing for and producing the Quebec group, The Morse Code Transmission. Resuming a solo career in the early ‘70s, he recorded a string of albums for the Grit, CTL and Polydor labels, and enjoyed a sizeable national hit in January 1972 with the single “Little O’l Rock ‘N’ Roll Band”. He subsequently became a successful jingle writer and sang on TV commercials.

Marion’s departure scuttled the Arc deal, but Finkelstein simply walked across the road to the Mousehole folk club and asked singer/songwriter and guitarist Adam Mitchell (b. 24 November 1944, Glasgow, Scotland) to join. The young Scotsman, who’d moved to Toronto at the age of 12, would prove to be the catalyst in raising The Paupers’ profile. Not only did he forge a prolific song-writing partnership with Prokop, but he was also blessed with a distinctive voice.

Candid live shot of Denny Gerrard on bass and Chuck Beal on tambourine. Photo courtesy of Mr. Segment.
Candid live shot of Denny Gerrard on bass and Chuck Beal on tambourine. Photo courtesy of Mr. Segment.
Growing up in Bolton, Ontario, Mitchell initially played drums but at the age of 17 switched to guitar with the advent of the folk boom. He briefly played in two folk groups, including the CommonFolk, before working solo in local venues like the Riverboat and the Mousehole. Mitchell had caught the band earlier in the year and was impressed. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought they were really out of sight,” he told The Canadian. “I talked to Skip and we became close friends”. The afternoon Marion walked out, Mitchell was with the band the same day, rehearsing. (In an interesting side note, Mitchell was attending the University of Toronto during this period and majoring in French, but subsequently left before completing his arts degree.)

With Mitchell on board, The Paupers embarked on mammoth rehearsals at the Hawk’s Nest, practising for no less than 13 hours a day! Following Ronnie Hawkins’ example with The Hawks (later The Band), Prokop adopted a taskmaster role and “cracked the whip” during rehearsals while Finkelstein charged band members for infractions. The strict regime had an immediate effect as The Paupers quickly developed a tight stage act. “When we came out,” says Prokop, “the group was completely changed. We had a lot of funky, good-time material.”

Debuting at the Broom and Stone in Scarborough (most likely on 14 August), The Paupers were an instant success, and the following month landed an important slot at the highly publicised 14-hour pop show, sponsored by CHUM radio, and held at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens alongside 14 top local bands.

Over the next few months, the group became one of the biggest draws in Yorkville village, performing at notable venues like the Night Owl, the Hawk’s Nest and Boris’ Red Gas Room. By this stage, the band had developed a captivating stage show, which according to Nicholas Jennings, was “built around earth-shaking drums, a wailing guitar and Denny Gerrard’s mind-boggling bass.”

Gerrard was indeed fast becoming a local legend. Donning his trade-mark Sluggo cap, the inspirational musician would later be voted best bass player two years in a row by US critic Ralph Gleason in Playboy magazine’s annual jazz poll. Beal’s guitar playing was also enthralling, as Nicholas Jennings notes, “it was like an early version of U2’s Edge, full of repeating, tape-looped notes and weird effects.” Overnight, The Paupers had become big fish in a small pond. The more lucrative American market beckoned.

Canadian Teen, courtesy of Ivan Amirault
Canadian Teen, courtesy of Ivan Amirault

L.A. Times, July 1967
L.A. Times, July 1967
Fortunately, the band didn’t have long to wait for such an opportunity. Opening for The Lovin’ Spoonful at Maple Leaf Gardens on 11 December, Finkelstein ran in to Harvey Glatt, promoter and owner of Ottawa’s Le Hibou coffeehouse, who suggested that he should approach MGM Records in New York.

Armed with a four-song demo, Finkelstein flew to the Big Apple early in the new year and to his surprise, MGM agreed to sign the band to its subsidiary, Verve Forecast; a first for a Canadian band. Buoyed by the response, Finkelstein headed over to Greenwich Village and looked up Howard Soloman, the owner of the Café Au Go Go, who offered the band a gig opening for Jefferson Airplane in early March. Finkelstein accepted the booking and headed back to Toronto where The Paupers were riding high with “If I Call You By Some Name”, the group’s debut single with Mitchell. Having peaked at #6 on the CHUM chart on 16 January, the single eventually sold around 35,000 copies.

The stage was set for the group’s debut US appearance at the Café Au Go Go. As those witnessing concur, from the opening bars of “Think I Care”, The Paupers were in their element. By the time they were done, the place was theirs, and critics were not slow in showering the band with praise. Writing in the Village Voice, Richard Goldstein exclaimed: “They have a power and a discipline I’ve never seen before in a performance.”

Following the show, Albert Grossman came back stage to visit the band. As Prokop told The Canadian, “We saw this cat with long, white hair down to his shoulders and Ben Franklin glasses and we didn’t know who he was. About four days later, he approached Bernie and we had a meeting and signed contracts.”

Finkelstein, who had been made a lucrative offer to co-manage the band, subsequently sold his rights to the group for $20,000 and used the money to set up his next project, the experimental folk-rock outfit, Kensington Market. One of Grossman’s first moves as manager meanwhile was to renegotiate the group’s contract with Verve Forecast, which allegedly had been signed for no front money!

Following the success of the New York show, The Paupers released a new single, the bluesy “Simple Deed”, and while it didn’t quite sell as much as its predecessor, still managed to climb to a respectable #23 on the CHUM chart on 27 March.

The group then returned to New York to cut its debut album with producer Rick Shorter. During this time, band members also found time to moonlight on other projects, most notably on Peter, Paul and Mary single “I Dig Rock And Roll”.

With the album in the can, The Paupers flew to San Francisco in early May to play three sets of shows at the Fillmore Auditorium. Opening twice for local acidheads, The Grateful Dead and concluding with a support slot for soul sisters, Martha & The Vandellas, The Paupers’ breezy folk-rock and sunny melodies went over well with the San Francisco audiences.

That same month, Verve Forecast issued a new single, “One Rainy Day”, which apparently sold so poorly that the group pulled it out of the marketplace themselves. Despite the chart failure, the positive reception to the band’s live shows on the West Coast bode well for the up and coming Monterey festival and anticipation was running high.

Notice in Billboard, August 19, 1967
Notice in Billboard, August 19, 1967
“While in California we learned ahead of time that we were to play a fairly short set at the festival,” remembers Beal. “So, we decided to put together a non stop medley of several cuts from our first album, ending with Denny’s bass solo. We got it together and at the sound check everything went well. Actually, several of the promoters and musicians took the time to complement us on our arrangement and performance.”

Introduced by Byrds guitarist David Crosby, who hyped the band to the 30,000-strong crowd, The Paupers duly took to the stage on the evening of 16 June, and immediately ran into problems. According to some sources, Gerrard had dropped some acid before the show, which may account for why his bass playing seemed out of sync with the rest of the group. Technical problems also afflicted the group as Beal’s amp crackled on and off. Ralph Gleason, who had championed Gerrard in Playboy earlier in the year, later said that the band was one of the festival’s real disappointments.

Beal has his own take on events. “The tightness of the band was not only one of our strong points, but turned out to be our undoing at Monterey,” he explains. “That night when things went wrong, rather than stop playing, regroup and chat with the audience till things got fixed, we just damned the torpedoes and kept going full speed ahead. As a result, we wound up sinking our own ship. That performance at Monterey, although we didn’t realise it at the time, was the beginning of the end.”

Despite the setback, The Paupers’ live shows continued to attract positive reviews. Writing about a gig at West Hollywood’s Whisky-A-Go-Go in July, journalist Bill Kerby reported in the L.A Free Press: “It is joyfully unnerving to see a group bound together by other than mutual regard for dope, stardom, pedestrian ideas of musical mediocrity, and vague dreams of overnight billions.”

Following Monterey, the group had been sent on a $40,000 promotional tour covering 40 cities, and taking in venues like the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, the Boston Tea Party and the Café Au Go Go in New York. At the last venue in late September, it was the turn of The Paupers to be upstaged, on this occasion by visiting British dignitaries Cream.

Despite the tight touring schedule, The Paupers still found time to “live it up” on the road. Speaking to Ritchie Yorke, Prokop remembers one particularly memorable incident in Las Vegas. “Denny Gerrard made $3,500 on the poker machines, but the next day he lost it all, and his shirt as well. Really, he arrived back at the hotel one morning with no shirt on.” Apparently, the bass player had walked two miles from a casino because he’d lost all his money!

Left to right: Skip, Adam, Chuck and Denny
Left to right: Skip, Adam, Chuck and Denny

Teenset, December 1967
Teenset, December 1967
Grossman meanwhile was beginning to lose patience – the band was spending a huge amount of money on the road but had no hit records to justify the expenditure. According to the band’s drummer, Grossman seriously considered dropping The Paupers at one stage, but was persuaded to give the band a second chance. Faced with mounting debts, the group went on a money-saving spree, travelling to gigs in Prokop’s station wagon.

If the group’s declining fortunes weren’t enough to worry about, Gerrard’s behaviour was becoming increasingly more erratic as his consumption of psychedelic drugs reached crisis point.


Adam Mitchell remembers a number of amusing incidents during this period, including a rehearsal at the Night Owl club on Avenue Road in Toronto. “We had just been given the first cordless remote for guitar and we had Denny try it on his bass. In the interest of seeing how far away from the amp you could get and still have signal strength, we had Denny walk to the front of the club and then eventually outside. After he’d been outside a while, the signal faded as expected. So did Denny! We went outside and of course there was no sign of him anywhere. We abandoned the rehearsal and spread out in different directions looking for him. As I was heading south on Avenue Road, a rather perplexed fan approached me. ‘Man…I just saw Denny walking down the street playing his bass!’ Never did find him that day or several days after. Such was life with Denny.”

Another incident took place following the group’s performance at the Trauma club in Philadelphia. “Denny never made the plane,” remembers Mitchell. “Several days later I got a call at my place on Hazelton Avenue in Yorkville. ‘Adam, it’s Denny…where am I?’ After having him look out the window and read a few licence plates, we determined he was probably still in Philadelphia. How or when he eventually made it back to Toronto, I don’t remember.”

The Trauma gig also has an interesting side note, says Mitchell. “Two young kids brought a Les Paul for me to autograph, then ran beside the car practically all the way back to the hotel, where they permanently encamped in the lobby. Fast forward to 1988 – Gene Simmons, his girlfriend Shannon Tweed and I had been out for dinner in LA and had to stop off at a film distributors’ conference on the way home so that Shannon could make an appearance. As we entered the room, some guy started yelling, ‘Adam, Adam!’ I had no idea who he was until he introduced himself and told me he was one of those two young kids in Philadelphia. His name was Frank Stallone. The other kid was his brother, Sylvester Stallone.”

By early 1968, the group had lost patience with Gerrard’s behaviour and reluctantly asked him to leave. However, as Beal admitted to Nicholas Jennings, the group was a lesser force without their inspired bass player. “Denny did for the bass what Hendrix was doing for the guitar. Nobody had seen anything like this.” Mitchell agrees. “He was absolutely brilliant as a player. His bass solo, I believe was the most electrifying thing in music I’ve ever seen.”

Brad Campbell (far left) joins The Paupers.
Brad Campbell (far left) joins The Paupers.

Brad Campbell with The Last Words (back right)
Brad Campbell with The Last Words (back right)
Gerrard’s replacement, Brad Campbell, was recruited from local band, The Last Words, who interestingly had recently appeared on the same bill as The Paupers at York University on 12 January. (The show, incidentally, also featured The Magic Circus, who also contained a number of future Paupers members). The Last Words had released three singles between late 1965 and early 1967, but only one, “I Symbolise You” issued on Columbia, had seriously troubled the charts, and no doubt Campbell was delighted to be offered the job. At the same time, The Paupers expanded the line-up by bringing in keyboard player Peter Sterbach, formerly a member of The BTB 4 (Big Town Boys 4).


Amid all this activity, the band’s debut album Magic People, which had been released back in June just prior to the Monterey festival, had slowly crept up the Billboard charts and finally peaked at a rather disappointing #178. Despite the poor placing, the album has some strong moments, most notably in its kaleidoscopic drum-driving title track. Other highlights include the infectious folk-rocker “You and Me”, the haunting “My Love Hides Your View” and the angst-ridden “Think I Care”, generally considered to be The Paupers’ definitive song. The track was lifted as a single in early 1968, but flopped.

While The Paupers failed to make any headway in the charts, they continued to live up to their reputation as a live act. On 24 February, the group returned to Toronto and played a memorable set at the Canadian National Exhibition supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Soft Machine.

Nevertheless, the pressures of travelling on a tight budget were beginning to take its toll, with each man reduced to living off $2. First to crack was newcomer Peter Sterbach who dropped out sometime in early 1968. Skip Prokop, who also entertained thoughts of leaving the band during this period, apparently changed his mind when the label agreed to do a second album.

Taking time off the road, the group stopped in Nashville to record three tracks – “All About Me”, “Words I Say” and “See Yourself” but according to Beal the sessions did not go well and the recordings were shelved. Despite the failure to complete any tracks towards a new album, Beal says the Nashville trip did have its perks. “For me the highlights included meeting Tex Ritter, listening to Flatt and Scruggs record, watching one of the Jordinaires get so rapped up in a game of ping pong, he forgot that he left his car with the engine running and it ran out of gas, and above all having Floyd Cramer play on our session. It was nuts, we just called his answering service and within 15 minutes, he was there.”


Travelling to New York in early May, the group’s new producer Elliot Mazer hooked The Paupers up with keyboard player Al Kooper, who had recently been ousted from his group, Blood, Sweat & Tears. Turning his creative energies to The Paupers, Kooper’s contributions complement the group’s performances brilliantly and the resulting album, Ellis Island, recorded at Columbia Studios over several months, remains a hidden gem of late ’60s rock.

Lacking the consistency of the group’s debut outing, the record’s strength lies in its individual tracks. These range from extended hard-rock workouts like “South Down Road” and “Numbers” (featuring Brad Campbell on lead vocal), to more reflective pieces such as Prokop’s “Oh That She Might”, with a rare vocal outing from the drummer. Adam Mitchell emerges as the dominant writing force and his “Cairo Hotel”, apparently written about a hotel in Washington DC where most of the tenants were down and outs, is particularly poignant.

Another noticeable difference on the album, compared to his predecessor, is the group’s experimentation with exotic sounds – one particular track, “Ask Her Again”, features Prokop on the koto, a Japanese stringed instrument (a present given to the drummer by Peter, Paul & Mary after a Japanese tour).

The Paupers, late 1968. Left to right: Chuck Beal, Denny Gerrard, Adam Mitchell, Roz Parks and John Ord. Photo courtesy of Jonn Ord.
The Paupers, late 1968. Left to right: Chuck Beal, Denny Gerrard, Adam Mitchell, Roz Parks and John Ord. Photo courtesy of Jonn Ord.


With the album in the can, the band realised that it needed to reproduce Kooper’s keyboard parts in a live format, and duly recruited former Fraser Loveman Group member Jonn (aka John) Ord (b. 3 April 1945, London, England) during late July. As Ord recalls, “I had a little trio called The Nuclear Tricycle that was playing in a bar on Yonge Street. It was a summer job for me and I was at university. Skip heard about me and came in to see me. I went out to Brad Campbell’s house in Oakville to meet the band and they played me the album. I was able to play off the keyboard parts pretty fast and they thought it would be a good fit.”

The quintet quickly reconvened to Ord’s parents’ farm in Fenwick, in the Niagara peninsula. Rehearsing intensively for a week in a nearby farmhouse, the new Paupers line-up soon launched in to a small tour. The band’s debut show at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit on 2-4 August proved memorable, not least because the club still had bullet holes in it from the race riots earlier in the year.

During this period, some of the band members flew to New York between dates to do studio work. Ord, who was involved in the session work alongside Campbell and Prokop remembers working with Richie Havens on his album Richard P Havens, 1983, and also providing support for a female singer called Leonda. The sessions, as Ord points out, appear to have soured relations between band members and ultimately may have sown the seeds that led to the group’s collapse the following month. “I found out that the band was in a state of conflict and frustration, perhaps partially because some musicians were recording and the others were stuck on the road. In the end, the band broke up and everyone went home to Toronto.”

Things had come to ahead when Prokop announced his decision to leave the band after The Paupers’ engagement at the Electric Circus in New York, which ran from 29 August to 1 September. Although he would subsequently form his own outfit, the big band Lighthouse, Prokop nearly joined Janis Joplin’s new group, soon to become better known as The Kozmic Blues Band, but declined her offer.

The offer had been made during the Richie Havens sessions as Ord recalls. “Janis dropped into the sessions and we had some jams with her. Our mutual manager Albert Grossman was looking for musicians for her new band from among his own musicians. Harvey Brooks from The Electric Flag came in with her at one point and he was also looking for musicians for her.”

Prokop confirms that a number of tracks, including a version of “Hey Joe”, and some Aretha Franklin covers were recorded in the studio with Joplin and have yet to see the light of day. Joplin’s insistence on retaining Sam Andrews from Big Brother & The Holding Company for her new band project however, ultimately led Prokop to back out. Following an appearance on Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield’s Live Adventures album and supporting Mama Cass at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Prokop pieced together Lighthouse.

Brad Campbell meanwhile landed on his feet. After briefly gigging with the Pozo Seco Singers, he took up the offer from Janis Joplin. He would remain with the troubled singer until her untimely death, appearing in both The Kozmic Blues Band, and its successor, the Canadian-dominated Full Tilt Boogie Band. According to Pete Frame, he would often work under the pseudonym Keith Cherry. Campbell currently lives in Milton, Ontario and plays with a reformed Last Words.

With Prokop and Campbell out of the picture but with debts of $40,000, the remaining members decided to carry on. “I recall advocating that we reform The Paupers in Toronto as the band was well known and we could probably do well with a change of members,” says Ord. The Paupers quickly recruited local drummer Roz Parks (b. 15 April 1945, Picton, Ontario) from The Creeps and Magic Circus fame and perhaps more importantly, in terms of credibility, brought original bass player Denny Gerrard back in to the fold. Though Gerrard had spent most of 1968 recovering from his drug exploits, he had recently returned to studio and live work with Toronto’s highly rated blues combo, McKenna Mendelson and was in fighting form.

The group soon returned to the local club scene, debuting at the Night Owl on 26-27 October. Journalist Ritchie Yorke writing that November in the local RPM magazine, reviewed the show and captured perfectly the new line-up’s potential. “They emerged as a tight, cohesive musical unit, devoid of pseudo-hippiness and brimming over with confidence.”

True the group may have found a new confidence, but this was soon shattered by Gerrard’s inability to keep on the straight and narrow. As Ord recalls, “we did well for a while getting quite a bit of work and playing a lot. Then Denny started to lose it again…missing rehearsals and eventually not showing up for an important concert. The other band members said they had been through this already and that nothing worked. Roz and I were very fond of Denny and tried everything to make things work, but in the end we had to fire him and found a new bass player.”

As Jonn Ord notes, Gerrard’s departure proved a catalyst for Mitchell’s own exit from the group in April 1969. “Adam became discouraged and decided to leave also, so we replaced him with James Houston who had worked with Roz in The Magic Circus.”

Adam Mitchell subsequently embarked on a brief solo career, before moving into production work for the likes of McKenna Mendelson Mainline and McKendree Spring (who covered his song “Cairo Hotel”). In 1970, he became Linda Ronstadt’s musical director, the fruits of which turned up on Silk Purse. Mitchell also emerged as a successful songwriter, and during the ‘70s and ‘80s saw his compositions covered by John Waite, Olivia Newton-John, Art Garfunkel and Kiss to name a few. A long-awaited solo album, Red Head In Trouble, finally appeared in 1979. Mitchell currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and Santa Monica, California and continues to produce, write and perform in the US and Canada.

The Paupers ploughed on with new members James Houston (b. 25 May 1946, Belfast, Northern Ireland) and Mel O’Brien (who had previously played with The Proverbs, The Five D and The Five Shy) but, despite some notable shows at the Night Owl during August 1969, soon ran out of steam as Beal recalls.

“James was a member of The Creeps and a friend of Roz Parks. He was a pretty good singer/songwriter… The bass player was Mel O’Brien [who] was really talented but a bit of a loose canon. We did a bunch of local dates with Mel but it was clear that the band was going nowhere real fast. We knew we needed a record deal and booked some time into the RCA studios in Toronto to do some demos of Jaime’s tunes. Mel didn’t show up for the session and that was it for him. After that none of us had the energy or the desire to start over again so, we packed it in. A sorry end to what was once a pretty good band.”

From the ashes of the group, James Houston (who now goes by the name John Peel) formed his own group, Houston, which issued a lone single “Sally Bumper” and eponymous album for Tuesday Records during 1970.

Jonn Ord, whose band backed Chuck Berry at Toronto’s Electric Circus in the summer of 1969, later acquired a music degree from York University and currently plays in Ontario’s Georgian Bay area.

Roz Parks meanwhile worked with Edward Bear and Tranquillity Base (where he was joined by Houston) among others before changing his name to Ron. A few years ago, he issued his debut solo album Golden Rocket.

While The Paupers’ potential was never fully realised, the degree of talent within the band can be gleaned from the band’s best work, and the subsequent achievements of group’s members, Brad Campbell, Adam Mitchell and Skip Prokop.

Following a successful career with Lighthouse, Prokop leant his talents to a diverse range of projects, including working with street kids, running an advertising agency and doing jingles. Like Mitchell, he also issued a solo album, All Growed Up, in 1979 and in recent years has played in a reformed Lighthouse. Living in London, Ontario, he is currently writing his autobiography.

Denny Gerrard continued to make sporadic appearances on record throughout the late ‘60s and ’70s, most notably on Jericho’s superb eponymous album for Bearsville Records in 1971, and in his work with Rick James’s pre-Motown bands, Heaven and Earth and Great White Cane. Still revered by his contemporaries, Gerrard remains a local legend. In 1997, after years of inactivity, he made a rare appearance on record, playing with Mike McKenna’s blues band Slidewinder.

Chuck Beal briefly worked as a music producer, promoter and manager for Canadian bands. Later he worked at the Canadian National Institute For The Blind, producing the talking books series and also did some writing and research for CBC radio in Toronto. He is currently a computer consultant and has his own website.

Looking back, Mitchell is philosophical about the band’s premature demise. “As incredible as the band truly was, we were victims of just plain bad luck,” he says. “Bad luck, not only that Denny did too many drugs at Monterey and Chuck had a bad guitar chord. But perhaps more importantly, bad luck that we had the wrong record producer, the wrong studio and the wrong label. We were young, the business was new and we didn’t know any better.”

Magic People and Ellis Island are now available for the first time on CD from Pacemaker Records. Each release includes bonus tracks.

Advertised gigs

April 25 1965 – Maple Leaf Gardens with Rolling Stones, Jon and Lee & The Checkmates and others
July 29 1965 – “Red Cross Blood Donor Clinic”, Varsity Arena, Toronto with Jon and Lee & The Checkmates, The Big Town Boys and J B & The Playboys
August 26 1965 – Canadian National Exhibition, under 21 club, Toronto with David Clayton-Thomas & The Shays
December 3-4 1965 – El Patio, Toronto
December 11 1965 – Gogue Inn, Toronto
January 28 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with Dunc & The Deacons, The Lively Set with Dean Curtis
February 4 1966 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario
February 18 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with Jack Hardin & The Silhouettes and The Lively Set
February 24-25 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
March 11 1966 – North Toronto Memorial Arena, Toronto (March 24 advert for new singer)
April 1 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with The Twilights and Dean Curtis & The Lively Set
April 8-9 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
April 15-16 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
April 22 1966 – North Toronto Memorial Arena, Toronto
June 10 1966 – North Toronto Memorial Arena, Toronto
June 20-25 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
July 7-10 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
July 10 1966 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario
July 19 1966 – North Toronto Memorial Arena, Toronto with The Shays and Dee & The Yeomen
July 24 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
August 14 1966 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario with Little Caesar & The Consults and The Knaves
August 24 1966 – Don Mills Curling, Don Mills, Ontario with The Spasstiks, The Del-Tones and The Fugitives
August 31 1966 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario with The Marksmen
September 9 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
September 24 1966 – Maple Leaf Gardens with Luke & The Apostles, The Ugly Ducklings, The Tripp, The Last Words, Bobby Kris & The Imperials, The Stitch In Tyme, The Spasstiks, R K & The Associates, Little Caesar & The Consuls, The Big Town Boys and others
October 2 1966 – Club Kingsway, Toronto with Wilson Pickett and Dee & Lee & The Roulettes
October 10-14 1966 – The Night Owl, Toronto
October 15 1966 – Club 888, Toronto with A Passing Fancy
October 27 1966 – The Night Owl, Toronto
October 29-30 1966 – The Night Owl, Toronto
November 5 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with Associates, The Wyldfyre and others
November 11 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
November 12 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto
November 18-20 1966 – Red Gas Room, Toronto
November 27 1966 – Red Gas Room, Toronto
December 3-4 1966 – Red Gas Room, Toronto
December 10 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto with Dee & The Yeomen, The Manx, The Evil
December 11 1966 – Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto with The Lovin’ Spoonful and The Children
December 23 1966- Club 888 Toronto
December 24-27 1966 – Boris’, Toronto with Luke & The Apostles
December 29-1 January 1967 – Boris’, Toronto with Luke & The Apostles
January 22 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room, Toronto
February 10 1967 – West Hill Collegiate, Toronto
February 12 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room, Toronto with Luke & The Apostles
February 21-March 5 – Café Au Go Go, New York with Jefferson Airplane and Richie Havens (replaced by B B King)
March 11 1967 – Boris’, Toronto with Simon Caine & The Catch (next two may not have happened)
March 12 1967 – Boris’, Toronto with The Ugly Ducklings
March 17 1967 – Wexford Collegiate, Scarborough, Ontario
March 18 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room, Toronto
April 28-30 1967-Cafe A Go Go, NY
May 5-6 1967 – Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco with Grateful Dead
May 12-14 1967 – Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco with Grateful Dead
May 19-20 1967 – Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco with Martha & The Vandellas
June 16 1967 – Monterey International Pop Festival, Monterey, California
July 14 1967 – Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood with The Youngbloods
July 14-19 1967– Whisky Au Go-Go Los Angeles
July 1967 – Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood with Johnny Rivers.
July 28-29 1967 – Boston Tea Party, Boston with Bagatelle
August 1967 – MGM sends them on a 9 city tour of parties for press and deejays starting in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Detroit.
August 20-26 1967 – Garden of Stars, Montreal with The Munks
August 30 – September 3 1967 – Ambassador Theater, Washington, DC
September 15-17 1967 – The Flick, Toronto
September 18 1967 – Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto
September 28-October 1 1967 – Café Au Go Go, New York with Cream (cut short due to faulty equipment)
October 20 1967 – Hunter’s College, New York with Jefferson Airplane
November 3-5 1967 – Grande Ballroom, Detroit with MC5
December 8 1967 – Aurora Community Arena, Aurora, Ontario
December 27-30 1967 – The Flick, Toronto
January 12 1968 – York University, Toronto with The Last Words and The Magic Circus
January 27 1968 – North Toronto Memorial Hall, Toronto
February 24 1968 – CNE Coliseum, Toronto with The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Soft Machine
February 29-March 3 1968 – The Flick, Toronto
March 12-24 1968 – Electric Circus, New York
April 1968 – Ottawa Coliseum with Colleen Peterson, The Eye of Dawn and The Five D
April 2-4 1968 – Kinetic Playground, Chicago
April 17 1968 – Westbury Music Fair, Westbury, New York with Neil Diamond and The Lemon Pipers
May 21-22 1968 – The Night Owl, Toronto
June 15 1968 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario with The Dynamics
June 29-30 1968 – The Night Owl, Toronto with The Rockshow of The Yeomen
August 2-4 1968 – Grande Ballroom, Detroit
August 29-September 1 1968 – Electric Circus, New York
October 26-27 1968 – The Night Owl, Toronto with The Rockshow of The Yeomen
October 30 – November 3 1968 – The Night Owl, Toronto with The Rockshow of The Yeomen
November 9-10 1968 – The Night Owl, Toronto
November 16-17 1968 – The Night Owl, Toronto
November 23 1968 – Neil McNeil’s High School, Toronto
December 26-27 1968 – El Patio, Toronto
December 29 1968 – January 1 1969 – El Patio, Toronto
June 29 1969 – The Cove, Gravenshurst, Ontario with The Night People
July 2 1969 – Kingsmen Centre, Oshawa, Ontario
August 7-8 1969 – The Night Owl, Toronto
August 11-15 1969 – The Night Owl, Toronto

Many thanks to Skip Prokop, Adam Mitchell, Chuck Beal, Jonn Ord, Denny Gerrard, Ron Parks, James Houston, Brad Campbell, Bill Munson, Stan Endersby, Nicholas Jennings, Martin Melhuish, Joey Cee, Ritchie Yorke, Peter Goddard and Philip Kamin, Carny Corbett, Bev Davies and Mike Paxman. The Toronto Telegram’s After Four section on Thursdays has also been really handy as a resource for live dates. Thanks to Marc Skobac for additional dates, and to Ivan Amirault for scans from RPM magazine.

Copyright © Nick Warburton, 2003. Updated 2009. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, without prior permission from the author.

Email: Warchive@aol.com

Visit: www.nickwarburton.com

RPM, January 31, 1966
RPM, January 31, 1966
Verve-Folkways promotional photo, reproduced in RPM Starline Photo Album, November 21, 1966
Verve-Folkways promotional photo, reproduced in RPM Starline Photo Album, November 21, 1966
RPM, December 7, 1966
RPM, December 7, 1966
RPM, March 25, 1967
RPM, March 25, 1967
RPM, October 2, 1967
RPM, October 2, 1967

41 thoughts on “The Paupers”

  1. The Canadian reissue label PACEMAKER ENTERTAINMENT has just reissued both “Magic People” and “Ellis Island” on CD for the first time. Each CD contains a number of bonus tracks and the quality is excellent. They can be found at http://www.pacemaker.cd.

  2. Nick,

    If you look carefully on the left side of the photo with the band ( apparently ) signing autographs or something, you’ll notice a billboard for The Rolling Stones gig, evidently around that period?

    It must have been frustrating to have flirted this close to success only to have it all whisked away really over nothing. Sadly the only performers we recall from Monterey Pop Festival were ones that smashed or burned their guitars?

    In reading “According to the Rolling Stones” ( 2003 ) it’s really striking that they were often only (1) flat tire or shorted mic cord from joining the many fine musicians you document here! Obviously there will never be another band to dominate so completely as they have ( for a multitude of reasons ) but that is by no means to imply we shouldn’t acknowledge the sacrifices and contributions of these folks noted here any less. Many thanks for a great resource!

    Matt D

  3. This site has this information:

    http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Whisky-A-Go-Go%20History.htm

    July 14-19, 1967 The Paupers, Youngbloods
    The Paupers were a popular but erratic Toronto band with great promise which they never lived up to. Nick Warburton says that a member of the Paupers remembers playing one weekend with the Youngbloods and the next with Johnny Rivers.

    The Youngbloods were a quartet from Cambridge, MA. Their first album had been released on RCA in February, although lead singer Jesse Colin Young had had two solo albums before that. The Youngbloods enjoyed the West Coast so much on this summer tour they relocated to Marin County in September, 1967.

    Marc Skobac found an LA Times article that indicated the Paupers were playing from at least the 14th to the 19th (Friday through Wednesday), but its not clear whether there were more dates, nor how many dates the Youngbloods appeared with them.

    July 21-22, 1967 Johnny Rivers, The Paupers
    A mid-July advertisement has Johnny Rivers and The Sunshine Company are both listed in ads as ‘coming soon,’ implying late July shows. Based on the comment from the Paupers I am assuming that The Paupers also played this weekend.

    July 23-30, 1967 Johnny Rivers, The Paupers, 5th Dimension
    Mark Skobac found an LA Times Review (from July 24) for Johnny Rivers and The Fifth Dimension, and the review says the bill will play through the 30th. So it appears that Rivers played through two weekends, with The Paupers opening initially, and the 5th Dimension playing for the second week. This is hard to be certain about—Johnny Rivers, the 5th Dimension and The Paupers all seemed to have played (and possibly the Sunshine Company also) these two weekends, but the exact configuration is uncertain.

  4. These guys were like something that flew in from another planet to an impressionable small town 14 year old in 1967 when they played at our high school in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. After being blown away by the never-before-seen triple drummer performance, space age looking amp stacks, unique 12 string wall of sound nothing could have prepared me for Denny Gerard’s bass solo. That intense vision of him with sweat pouring off his face as he whipped off his cap while his fingers flew at unbelievable speed over his beatup, pickguardless Jazz bass has stuck with me for a lifetime. Although I am a guitarist his performance is one of the inspirations that keeps me from hanging up the axe after 40 years of performing. Everytime I pick up a bass I relive that vision. I have only witnessed one other live performance in my lifetime where the musician was so at one with his instrument. I had long missed my two albums that were lost decades ago so I was overjoyed recently to find them finally released on CD. I have been glued to Magic People all week. I am a huge fan all over again.
    I didn’t see the Saint John gig on the list and I assume there were probably other smaller gigs not listed. Does anyone know that date?

  5. Bill Gilliland at Arc Recording Studios (Arc Sound) had offered the band free studio time in an attempt to woo the group over to his label (Arc Records). At the time, the label was largely known for no air play recordings of bad covers by unknown artists. Quite frankly, I thought Arc was the worst label in Canada back then.

    Why I left the Paupers … I don’t recall the exact date, but Skip asked me to come up to Arc for a meeting. About what, he didn’t say. On arrival I was shown into the boardroom. I remember it like it was yesterday. Skip, Dennis, Chuck and Gilliland were all seated around a huge conferance table. There was one empty seat left for me. On the table in front of each seat sat a pile of typed documents.. Then and only then, was I informed by Skip that we were signing a record deal with Arc. I was incredulous and not a little hurt. I said, “I can’t do this”, left the building, got into my car and went home. I was replaced as lead singer/rhythm guitarist in a matter of days.

    Bill Marion

  6. RE: Paupers re-released albums -Interesting comment you made on the Paupers performance because they had the very same effect on me when I saw them in Yorkville in 1967. They were just mind blowing. I would love to get a recording of Denny Gerrard’s bass solo. To quote somebody else-there was never a band like them before and there never has been a band like them since. The list just seems to have local gigs on it, interesting though.

  7. When I saw The Paupers at the Grande on 11/5/67, I became a FAN for life. I still listen to their wonderful music off the CD DIG DEEP, their 2 albums on one CD. I tell people about them all the time. This is a brilliant Paupers page, I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you!!

  8. I remember seeing the Paupers at Scarlett Heights Collegiate in Weston (Etobicoke). These guys were just incredible. Never seen anything like it before or since. Anybody recall the exact date.

  9. I went to school with Denny Gerrard and would love to get a recording of his bass solo. Last heard him play at the Irish House, Sibbals Point about 27 years ago. He was still awesome.

    1. Judi, did you go to WCCI as Denny Chuck and I also attended the purple & gold
      I wonder if Fitzgerald is still wandering the halls haha
      Rgds
      Don Gosselin

      1. Sorry, just saw this after so many years. No, I went to Noter Dame. Denny & I went to Our Lady of Fatima. He was a good friend would love to know how he is.

  10. Saw the Paupers in two shows at the Electric Circus in NYC’s East Village. The last one was on 30 August 1968. Ran out and got both albums. I was very impressed. Years later I read somewhere that I might have been at their last show because they broke up shortly thereafter.

  11. I saw them about a million times at the el patio and elsewhere, and they are still one of my very favourite bands of all time. With Bill Marion, they were the best I’ve ever known. I miss that sound to this day. I still listen to Magic People and Ellis Island albums regularly . They have affected my life for almost 50 years now.

  12. Hey Just listened to some of (magic people) after forty odd years.I was entranced and angry. Entranced by young local talented guys on the way to international fame because of their unique presentation of their own written music. Mad because of the perfect storm of bad fates dealt them at Monterey. Bad acid,electrical…sabotage? No just bad timing. Not Denny’s or anybodys fault. Went to see them at El Patio in Yorkville but wasn,t allowed in. Yelled -great show- at Adam-he nodded but that was it. Noticed Bob Mcadorey of CKEY outside but he didn,t help Lol. Would love to talk sometime. Would you have Skips e-mail? Actually going to Yorkville tomorrow have a cold one and maybe reminisce. Glad to have this opportunity to connect with someone like yourself. Thanks

    1. The Paupers have always been my most favourite band ever, since 1965 with Bill Marion (Meisner). I used to go to the El Patio every night for 3 years in the sixties. I have Magic People and Ellis Island on cassettes and CD,s, and very recently had to buy Magic People again due to wearage. I still listen regularly, and would love to speak to Skip again. We did know each other back then, and he married my high school classmate Marsh Keen. Her sister Debbie and I were all good friends then. I would love to see them all again. Years later, Chuck Beal would take me to gigs in small town Ontario as the last remaining original Pauper.

  13. I saw The Paupers at El Patio as well and they blow me away, being a bass player, they were the tightest band I ever heard. They played Beatle tunes better. I wish they would get back together it would be awesome.

    1. I practically lived at the El Patio just to see The Paupers every time they played. I got to know them all, and even introduced Skip to his longtime wife Marsha Keene. They were and still are my favourite band of all time. I still play their albums at home and in the car regularly. I liked them best with Bill Meisner(Marion) as lead singer and rhythm guitar player. I went to see him play often as a solo artist after he left The Paupers.

  14. Their sound will live forever. Sadly a bit before my time of trekking downtown from Scarboro so we were introduced to them by Andy Frost
    who we still listen to every Sunday. In fact he played ‘Think I Care’ just
    last weekend-love that one! Whole lotta talent contributed to their
    success and to make it to Monterey – pretty impressive.
    Keep Rockin.

  15. To me they were my favorite all time rock band, I listen to the Magic People album every so often. I went down to the El Patio just to hear Denny Gerrard getting into his Doctor Feelgood bass solo, man he was amazing for 10 minutes, he played flawlessly. I think The Paupers were moving to fast to soon, that was their downfall.

  16. Nice to read all the great comments about the Paupers here. Skip and I are currently writing his biography. Lots of Paupers stories from him, Adam, Chuck and Bernie Finkelstein coming. Will keep everyone informed as publication draws near.

  17. Interesting remarks by long time fans.
    There were many good laughs and many down times in the beginning.
    I know because I was the only roadie for the paupers from the beginning and it was fortunate that my Dad had a box trailer that i could tow on my MG sports car to gigs everywhere with all the equipment exposed to the elements
    I find it funny that many comments by the guys were quite different then what actually occurred but what the hell that’s the music biz and memories get fuzzy as we get older.
    I will say this they were a really good band and I spent every hour with them as they practiced a lot and could reproduce the sounds they made on records live. That was a hell of an accomplishment
    Regards
    Don Gosselin

  18. Saw The Paupers several times while a teenager in Kingston, Ont.
    July 22, 1966 (opening for The Lovin’ Spoonful) I actually have a couple of amateur black and white photos take of the band at this gig.
    April 16, 1967 – They appeared on the last episode of CBC’s “Sunday” program. I vaguely remember lots of psychedelic camera work.
    Feb 16, 1968 KCVI in Kingston (warmup act: The Paper Dream)
    Feb 24, 1968 CNE Coliseum, opening for Hendrix
    July 6, 1968 Harold Harvey Recreation Centre, Kingston
    Dec 14, 1968 – Frontenac High School, Kingston
    Dec 30, 1968 – Cafe El Patio (Brad Campbell on bass)
    May 31, 1969 – Frontenac High School, Kingston

  19. Really appreciate the Paupers.. Saw them opening Jefferson Airplane at the Cafe Au Go Go in March 1967, and they just owned the stage. Denny’s bass solo and all that jungle drumming…what can you say? Reviewed Ellis Island for Jazz and Pop, and though don’t know how many of you have Sirius and it is short notice, but Monday night December 17 in my Monday Moment of Mind Expansion slot at 9 PM eastern on the Underground Garage Channel 21, I’m going to spotlight the band…. Great relistening to the albums… Lenny Kaye

  20. I knew chuck beal back in the early 70,s when he was managing a few bands back in toronto these two sweet blindness and bananas were very close friends actually i was with the lead singer of bananas for over 7 yrs i am trying to find chuck beals computor consulting web site i have been trying to track down the members and chuck himself been a very long time every body goes their seperate ways eventually i would appreciate any information at all tried facebook no luck

  21. Anyone know the whereabouts of Denny Gerrard. I recall a story of my childhood from the 1950’s where my brother saved Denny from drowning in an old abandoned well where the Dairy Queen sits at the corner of Pharmacy and St.Clair in Scarberia.

    1. Denny is my loved cousin and when he went sideways with psychedelics way back when, my Dad Roy (his Uncle and bro to his mom Kay) moved him into our home in Malton ON not once but twice to help with his recovery and healing (one time for 6-months!) – Denny slept in my room and used to wake up at times about 3-3:30 am and gently lean his bass against the wall (that provided a sort of quiet amplified sound in those early hours) to practice. He was amazing and influenced the manner in which i play guitar greatly. He would have me simply play simple chords and anything else that i had wrote and simply dazzle the heck out of the family after meals or gatherings. When he was recovering i would drive him downtown to practice at Mike McKennas place when they were forming McKenna Mendelson Mainline and such. He struggled with drugs all the time (and at times lived off and on the streets of Toronto) but was super clean when around my Dad (he showed after disappearing for many years at my Dads funeral back in 1990……we get tidbits of info now and then but clearly he suffers mental issues). Love him dearly.

    2. Hi Gordy,
      The last I heard of Denny Gerrard’s where bout’s, is he’s living in Barrie somewhere, does not want anything to do with music, I’m sorry to say.
      Denny, if you are around we would love to hear from you.

      Rick

  22. the lp magic people has been reissued in japan on the oldays label . it has a paper sleeve, no bonus tracks is in stereo and has amazing sound. a must. that lp is a true masterpiece. of note the mono lp has a harmonica intro to one rainy day that is not on the stereo.

  23. In late 1967 and early 1968 there was a club in Philadelphia called The Trauma, where I as a young 15 year old wanna be hippy was fortunate enough to see The Paupers with Mandrake Memorial opening…my best guess is that it was between September of 67 and March of 68. I only managed to get there a few times…money, curfew, etc, but they were life changing experiences…still love both bands…

    1. hi joe , I am from phila(suburds) and know the trauma well. that would of been a killer show. along with the magic people lp and that first mandrake memorial lp they are in top favorites of 1967. verve just wasn’t the label for them . no denny= no paupers.

  24. I must have only been 15 when I saw The Paupers (only once) at the El Patio in Yorkville. I think they served espresso. Why I never saw then again I can’t understand. I guess I was tagging along with some older friends that night and wasn’t used to seeing bands. But I was totally blown away. The magic of The Paupers has stayed with me throughout the years. I’ve seen The Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and many more acts – but if I were allowed to go back to see one performance of my past I’d be watching The Paupers.

  25. Great write up on The Paupers! One of my fav Toronto bands. I grew up in Toronto so I got to see them numerous times. The most memorable was with Jimi Hendrix.

    I remember going into a CD store and finding Dig Deep! I wanted to jump for joy! My LP’s were in pretty sad shape by then. A number of years later when Magic People and Ellis Island were re-released I hastily bought them. Great great memories of a fabulous band!

  26. Dec. 11, 1966, opening for spoonful, front row [even picked up spoonful’s setlist card afterwards, long lost] denny gerrard, right in front of me. bass solo. i’d just bought a hofner ‘beatle bass’ that past summer. this changed everything…vivid dreams/nightmares. fabulous…me just turned 16

  27. Many, many memories ignited by this wonderful article. ‘Magic People’ was in high rotation at my house when I was young. Best wishes and thanks to all members of the band for their wonderful music.

    1. For you Pauper fans about Denny Gerrard he died years ago of cancer in Toronto, he is sadly missed. I have a few photos of him.

      1. And you sure. I & Chuck Lomer have been looking for him for years.
        Many, many years ago someone posted a fake obituary about Denny, then I saw him playing in Sutton, ON & was shocked. We kept In touch after that for many years but I moved & got married in 1987 so lost track of him. Did you see an obituary?

  28. If you want to hear Denny Gerrard playing bass, he is on Mike McKenna and Slidewinder album from back in 1997!

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