Celebrity lends his famous voice to library

Marion --

By STEPHANIE PORTER-NICHOLS/Staff

The latest recording by the B-52s’ legendary lead singer Fred Schneider lacks the beat and lightheartedness of Love Shack or Rock Lobster, taking a serious turn that might surprise fans. Yet, the message’s passion will certainly make fans of advocates for the Smyth-Bland Regional Library.
Schneider’s willingness to put his famous voice on the air in support of this library doesn’t surprise a man who first heard it when he was still a student at Marion Senior High School.
Today, Allen Shepherd is touring with the B-52s and working on other projects with Schneider, all while performing with his band, The Mastergators.
It was Shepherd who asked Schneider to record a public service announcement to bring attention to the library’s financial struggles, following major funding cuts that, according to Public Service Librarian Dora Dewell, have forced the elimination of part-time staff, limited new additions to the collection and stopped technology expansion despite a growing demand for it.
The reductions and increased wait times for service worry Dewell, especially “when you work there and you see so many people come in without jobs” and know that they depend on the library for Internet access for job searches and e-mail, computers to prepare résumés and letters, entertainment and more.
The PSA, which she has already been sending to area radio stations, is a bright spot. “The fact that it will draw attention to our library and others is fantastic,” she said. Dewell has a soft spot for Shepherd, whom she met as a student. “He’s really pushed this through with tight schedules. I was really impressed that he would take the time.” She describes seeing him come into the library as a joy.
The 20-year veteran of the library may not know how much she and other staffers mean to him, though.
The adult Shepherd still remembers himself as a youngster who was book smart and artistic and felt overshadowed by jocks. He found sanctuary and friends at the Marion library.
He remembers Dewell helping him research a band. He also recalls Brenda Umbarger helping him get the resources he needed to complete his admission application to the Fashion Institute of New York.
He was accepted and moved to New York City. Shepherd was assigned to the institute’s overflow housing, which was in the Chelsea Hotel, one-time home to many writers, musicians, artists and actors, including the likes of Bob Dylan, Arthur C. Clark, Dylan Thomas and Leonardo DiCaprio.
So began Shepherd’s journey into the world of celebrity. “I started to go to every concert and meet people.”
Two years ago he met Schneider.
“Allen used to come to our shows,” Schneider recalled. “He was in a band I really liked. He’s a nut. I’m a nut. We hit it off. We’ve been friends ever since,” the longtime entertainer said.
Shepherd said Schneider contacted him about producing a video together. Before he knew it, Shepherd was also starring in “Who Threw That Ham At Me,” a playful disco video that retells an urban legend about a woman accidentally dropping a ham she shoplifted and to cover her tracks, yells “Who threw that ham at me?”
Featuring the music of Schneider’s other group, The Superions, the video took off, said Shepherd, especially when the day after it was released celebrity chef Paula Deen was accidentally hit in the head by a ham when she was passing out food at a charity event.
Despite laughing as he recounted that tale, Shepherd admires Schneider and his bands. “They definitely have a cosmic lightheartedness,” he said.
Shepherd, however, was quite serious about the value of libraries and most especially the Smyth-Bland Regional Library, calling it home to “a wealth of information that can take you from Troutdale to New York and Hollywood.” For all the libraries he’s visited in big cities, this one, he says, is among the best.
Though as a young man Shepherd was eager to head to the big city, today he’s often ready to come home. “I come back to Southwest Virginia every chance I get. Sometimes the skyscrapers have to be replaced by mountains.”
These mountains, he said, are the only place now where he can write music and where he feels motivated to practice.
He draws inspiration from the many talented musicians who live and work in the region, people he describes as “hidden musical geniuses” who go to work every day and “keep their cool.”
When he was young, Shepherd said, “The trees used to seem like bars [of a prison]. Now they look like trees.”