Evening at Lizard Lounge

To Honor Alexis Gewertz Shepard

By Susie Davidson

CORRESPONDENT

On March 31, 1998, singer/songwriter Alexis Gewertz Shepard was hit and killed while biking to work, four days before she was to begin recording her debut CD. This Saturday evening at the Lizard Lounge, 1667 Mass. Ave., at 9 p.m., a bevy of local performers, accompanied by her bandmates Mike Aiello, Jerry O'Hare and John Rapoza, will pay tribute to the memory of their popular musical cohort as they release the posthumous CD they have completed.

Also appearing will be Ken Batts, Jim Bouchard, Dave Dersham, Pacey Foster, Esther Friedman, The Gone Boys, Franc Graham, Sandi Hammond, Karen Harris, Paul Kearnan, Deb Pasternak, Jenny Reynolds, Faith Soloway and Nathan Thompson.

“There are plenty of catch phrases that could try and explain how this record came about,” said lead guitarist and CD co-producer O’Hare. "’In a perfect world you'd be holding the debut CD by Alexis Shepard’" comes to mind, amongst other cliches that truly don't do justice to the talent Alexis had to offer.”

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At Shepard’s memorial service, her mother asked the assembled if there was any way to get her songs recorded. A Dec. 27, 1997 acoustic radio show at Brandeis’ WBRS was quickly considered as a base for this effort.

“We went into Zippah with studio producer Pete Weiss,” said O’Hare, “as soon as we had the tapes in hand, and critically listened to what we could do.” The performance quality varied, and no drum tracks or other embellishments had been laid down. However, said O’Hare, that was a good thing. “Even if the time was off on certain tracks, we weren't stuck with a hastily recorded drum sound. Having only acoustic guitars and minimal bass and backing vocals left a lot of room to enhance the strongest songs.”

The BRS show was engineered by the station’s Sara Ravid, with digital transferrance assistance from colleague Ofer Inbar. The CD features Alexis Gewertz Shepard on lead vocal and rhythm guitar, John Rapoza on bass guitar and backing vocals, Jerry O'Hare on lead guitar and mandolin and Mike Aiello on drums and percussion. Contributors also include Kris Delmhorst on backing vocals and cello, Faith Soloway on backing vocals and Jim Bouchard on bass and slide guitar.

“The rehearsal of March 30 holds fond memories,” said O’Hare, “as we knew we were onto something special. Alexis was definitely in the zone. There was a run through of a song, 'Fixer-Upper,' where her voice hung in the air, and time seemed to stop. There was all this range, power, and underlying tenderness to her voice and songs that was so right, perfect and inspiring.” Shepard’s writing, he said, was honest, sincere, warm and funny all at the same time. “She was someone who could poke fun at herself without being self-deprecating and make you think about what she was saying long after the song ended.

“Sadly, the next day, the world for all of us close to her got turned upside-down.”

“I first met Alexis back in 1987,” recalled singer/songwriter Sandi Hammond, who will be peforming Shepard’s “Not That Time” at the show. “I was a sophomore at Earlham College out in Indiana and she was a freshman.” In fact, Hammond was Shepard’s Hall Counselor. Since both were from Massachusetts, they connected right at Moving Day. “I remember how proud her family was, telling me she had been playing out in coffeehouses around Western Mass.,” Hammond said, “and that she already had a following.”

At the first week of college, Shepard took off in a big way at an open mike. “I'll never forget seeing her sitting there,” said Hammond, “singing, rocking back and forth to the song. The next day the buzz was about her and her beautiful voice.” The two remained friendly and occasionally performed together. Following college, they reconnected through the womens' issues-centered Respond compilation, which is dedicated to her memory. “She, local musician Colleen Sexton and I had talked about booking some three-way shows together that year. She was just about to start recording her first CD.” Hammond went to her last performance, two days before she died. “I was out with friends and dragged as many of them as I could to hear her at the Kendall. That was a Saturday night. The accident was Monday.”

“My biggest regret about Alexis,” said singer/songwriter Esther Friedman, who will be singing the song Sagebrush, a love song that Shepard wrote for her mother and stepfather, “is that I didn't get to know her better when she was still with us. But what I knew of her was a passionate, honest, compassionate, kind, creative, funny, tender, and hugely talented writer and singer who left this world long before it was her time to go.”

“They say only the good die young,” observed Hammond. “When Alexis was killed, I surely wondered if that is true. She was just so sweet, and so talented, and had a lot of writing and singing and living ahead of her.”

A celebration of the life and music of Alexis Gewertz Shepard will take place this Saturday, Dec. 14 at 9 p.m. at the Lizard Lounge, 1667 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. For information, please call 617-547-0759.