New England Music Scrapbook
The Pandoras

Kathy Kinsella: rhythm guitar (top); Michelle Marquis: lead guitar (left)
Elysee Thierry: bass (right); Nancy DiMuro: drums (bottom)

The time: 1967, give or take a year. The place: The University of Maine gymnasium at Orono, Maine.¹ The occasion: A dance. The band: The Pandoras. In those days, wherever you went and whoever you heard, you would find a bunch of rock fans--mostly guys--standing by the stage instead of dancing. As usual, I arrived early. The crush of the crowd, trying to get closer to these attractive musicians, pushed those of us in front forward. One of the vocalists was singing pretty much into my face. It was hot and sweaty, and the audience was packed in tight. It also sounded really good.

As I recall, the Pandoras performed at the University of Maine a couple times.² They played their own instruments--quite unusual for a women's vocal group in those days; and they sang really well. Their show was very professional. What I remember most is their covers of the hits of the day, such as "Kind of a Drag" by the Buckinghams.

Guitarists Diane Keehner ("Pinky" Keehner) and Kathy Kinsella founded the Pandoras at Simmons College in 1964. Later, Sally Levy came in on drums. The group gave its first show, in connection with disk jockey Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg, at the Surf Ballroom in Nantasket, and its second took place at MIT's Krieger Auditorium. "There weren't many venues for non-male bands at the time," said Kathy Kinsella. "Most everywhere we played--especially in the early years--people just stood around the bandstand gawking because they'd never seen a women's band."³

(l. to r.) Elysee Thierry, Kathy Kinsella
Nancy DiMuro, Michelle Marquis

LIKE MOST BANDS, the Pandoras went through several personnel changes. Sally Levy was first to leave; and she was replaced by drummer Nancy DiMuro, who was but a junior in high school at the time. About a year later, Pinky Keehner got married and left behind the life of rock 'n' roll. The band then expanded to include guitarist Michelle Marquis and bassist Elysee Thierry, thus completing the lineup that I first heard.

The Pandoras opened for some of that era's hot acts, including the Kingsmen (the eternal "Louie Louie") and Gary Lewis and the Playboys ("This Diamond Ring," "Green Grass," "Just My Style," and more). The Pandoras' travels took them out to Las Vegas and down into the Caribbean.⁴ They played teen fairs at Boston Garden (forerunner and still the correct name of what some Bostonians call the Fleet Center), and they were the first rock band to play the Harvard Club. Peter Bonfils was the Pandoras' manager, and the band was represented, too, by David LaCamera of Lordly and Dame.

The Pandoras' career was flying high, when Elysee Thierry left to serve as a stand-in for Faye Dunaway, during the filming of The Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen.

BACK IN JUNE 1963, Del Shannon released a cover of "From Me to You," which reached a chart position of 77 in the United States. The Beatles' own recording peaked in America at 116 in August. In July, Introducing the Beatles was issued on the predominantly African-American Vee-Jay Records. It did not chart in the U.S. So, it took Del Shannon and a certain amount of promotion on the part of Brian Epstein to kindle Beatlemania in America. Once it caught fire, though, it influenced Kathy Kinsella and Pinky Keehner to found the Pandoras.

At the same time--"With no prior experience and a total lack of talent," said the modest Kelly Gifford, "I instantly decided I had to have a guitar. I laboriously taught myself the chords and riffs, straight from the records, and had in the back of my mind the intention of one day joining a group." Bruce Bradley, a hometown acquaintance of Gifford's, was a disk jockey at Boston's WBZ radio. "I made a nuisance of myself, hanging out at the station, and eventually taking on the job of helping with a penpal project."⁵ She also heard, or at least saw, the Beatles at the old Boston Garden in 1964 and at Suffolk Downs in 1966.

"So I was swept away from my usual, humdrum summer to a whirlwind shot at fame. First was what I remember as 'Pandora School.' We went to New Hampshire--I think it was Michelle's family--where there was a quiet summer house on a lake. That's where I had the crash course in how to be part of the band."⁷ "At Pandora camp in New Hampshire I had to learn all the guitar work and songs from their sets, harmonies, etc. I was never a lead singer. But it was a dream-like time for me, going from no one to someone just like that. The others were really nice and thankfully patient...." "[W]e spent a lot of time in Maine and New Hampshire, not too much around Boston. I think we may have done the Surf at Nantasket once. First thing was I bought a new guitar and amp ... a red Gibson, quite wonderful..." "Almost immediately, we went to New York to the recording studio to wrap up the single, 'Don't Bother.' It was pretty much in the can, as they say, but I think I did join in on the harmony bits just a little. Besides, I had to hear and learn it since we'd be playing it. Then we started the gigs."⁸

Top: Michelle Marquis, Kelly Gifford
Middle: Nancy DiMuro
Bottom: Kathy Kinsella

"[W]e began with a week in a little club outside Boston, very quiet and with a comedian opening. But it gave me a chance to get the hang of it. ... [W]e played all over the place. Old Orchard and Bangor, Central Park, the New Hampshire State Fair (that was memorable, we had a trailer next to the guy with the trained seals who always smelled fishy, and we followed the ice skating act where the girl was lowered to the little rink sitting on a silver crescent moon and then ice-danced to 'Fixing a Hole' ... we were there for a week. We visited lots of radio stations for interviews and pitches."⁹ Among the songs Gifford remembers the Pandoras singing are "Gimme Some Lovin'," "Midnight Hour," "Monday Monday," "Hold On," "Respect," "Hang on Sloopy," "Can't Help Falling in Love with You," and "Happy Together."

Four shows particularly stood out in Kelly Gifford's memory. "We went to Belmar, New Jersey ... and played a little beach-side club, and that was the place where I felt we did our absolute best to date. That was late summer, and the main act was the Dixie Cups. At one point, we spontaneously went into 'Going to the Chapel'.... We did a rock show at Boston Garden. That was a thrill for me having seen the Beatles there, but even more so because it was a huge deal, jam packed. There were all sorts of local bands ... I think the Ramrods who we'd met before, and also big-time names--the McCoys, B J Thomas, the Platters (who were phenomenal) and hosted by Danny Thomas. I had never been around famous acts before. We got to use the huge Vox amps that were set up for someone else--I think the Ramrods, and it was electric in every sense of the word." "In December, we drove all the way up to Caribou, Maine. Our record was number 1 in Maine, do you believe it? Anyway, it was freezing and we were the head of their holiday parade, riding in an open convertible on streets of solid ice. Then we did a big show in some gym there with some excellent bands. You never forget Caribou in December, I think."¹⁰

"The last, and biggest, show we did was in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was either late January or early February of '68. It was also the last show, period. We were booked as the opening act for Simon & Garfunkle. I was really thrilled because I was a huge fan. Then at the last minute for whatever reason S & G cancelled out. They replaced them with some unknown, named Neil Diamond. At the time, he was just beginning his solo career, after having written so many hits for other people, and he was testing the crowds for practice. Neil and his band, made up of the studio musicians who were the Monkees for a long time (musically) and the four of us all stayed at the one acceptable hotel in the town, the Holiday Inn. It snowed a lot. We hung out together and ate in the hotel restaurant, and played guitars a bit to pass the time. The show was in a beautiful old Victorian theater, very elegant and packed to the rafters. We did our bit first, then a very nervous Neil went out and did an outstanding show. ... He was just a nice, quiet guy who mostly read or played chess with one of his band mates, and showed us all pictures of his baby son who was just a few months old."¹¹

"[I]t was a fabulous time," recalled Kathy Kinsella, "and if we had been truly talented at songwriting, we'd still be out there."¹²

-- Alan Lewis, September 3, 2002

Are you now or have you ever been a Pandora? Michèle Gifford Walker did a wonderful job of filling us in on the Kelly lineup of the band; and I was really anxious to post her reminiscences, even though it skews this profile very heavily toward the group's last eight months. Sorry. Perhaps you could help us flesh out the Pandoras' story from 1964 to 1967. We would love to hear from you. -- Alan Lewis

1. IN THOSE DAYS, we heard everyone from Louis Armstrong to Tom Rush to Ravi Shankar in that gym. It was a wonderful time.

2. The late Mickey O'Halloran kindly supplied details about the Pandoras, which I have incorporated into this profile, in an e-mail message dated 8/20/2000. Kelly Gifford has provided much additional material about the band's last lineup. ("I can't believe there is anyone out there remotely interested in the Pandoras 30 years ago. I guess strange things happen." -- E-mail message, Kelly Gifford to Alan Lewis, 8/10/2002) We hope to be in contact with other members of the Pandoras, so we can gather information about the earlier days.

Special thanks from the New England Music Scrapbook folks to Brian Rigby, in old England, for making a major revision of this page possible.

"[The Euphorias Id] befriended members of the Pandoras, an all girl group from Boston, who often opened for the Remains." -- Booklet that accompanies the various artists compilation, New England Teen Scene (CD, El Diablo, 1994), Euphorias Id entry. Contact: www.arfarfrecords.com

3. Evidently Kathy Kinsella told this to John Harp of the Women of Rock Encyclopedia Project.

Rock concerts have been so common for the past few decades that it's easy to forget it wasn't always like that; but in the mid-1960s, rock shows were mostly dances. While the all-female Pandoras may have been something of a curiosity, there were plenty of people standing around, ringing the stage, at performances by other bands. Some of us didn't dance--some of us still don't--and many rock fans who wanted to hear the music live simply stood around. Anyway, trust me on this ... the Pandoras were a lot prettier than most of their photographs show. A lot prettier. So, in front of the stage was the place to be.

4. Mickey O wrote, "Thierry went on (1971-72) to Berkshire, with pre-New England Hirsh Gardner." The members of Berkshire were Gardner, Thierry, Steve Grimm, and Peter Stahl. In addition to Hirsh Gardner, members of New England included John Fannon, Gary Shea, and Jimmy Waldo.

5. E-mail message, Kelly Gifford to Alan Lewis, 8/9/2002.

It's a long story, but Gifford's work on this penpal project in the mid-1960s started a chain of events that put her in contact with the New England Music Scrapbook and resulted in this page being revised in August 2002.

6. E-mail message, Kelly Gifford to Alan Lewis, 8/9/2002.

Kelly Gifford joined the Pandoras in July 1967.

7. E-mail message, Kelly Gifford to Alan Lewis, 8/9/2002.

8. E-mail message, Kelly Gifford to Alan Lewis, 8/10/2002.

9. E-mail message, Kelly Gifford to Alan Lewis, 8/10/2002.

10. E-mail message, Kelly Gifford to Alan Lewis, 8/10/2002.

11. E-mail message, Kelly Gifford to Alan Lewis, 8/10/2002.

By this time, Neil Diamond had made several hit records under his own name; but it sounds as though he was just getting started taking his music out on the road.

12. "The Pandoras--Boston All-Girl Band 1964," http://www.aurealm.com/pan60s.htm, accessed 8/29/2002. Great site and well worth visiting.

Discography

Color illustrations courtesy of John Harp of the Women of Rock Encyclopedia Project. Used with permission. For his Pandoras page, please visit www.aurealm.com/pan60s.htm. The black & white picture at the top of the page was scanned from a photocopy in our archive; and, I must say, it came out okay.

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