Go!Thursday

By Hayley Kaufman, Globe Staff, 10/12/2000 page D2

Turn signals
Though it's housed in a nondescript cinder-block building off Davis Square's main drag, Gallery Bershad is quietly emerging as one of the area's hippest alternative spaces. Besides launching buzz-generating shows (next up: ''As I See It: Photographs by Greg Gorman,'' a meditation on masculinity by the acclaimed photographer, and ''Naked & Nude,'' a local artists' showcase, both opening Nov. 3, 2000), Bershad has packed its fall schedule with offbeat record release parties, poetry readings, and indie film screenings.

The change in direction has, not surprisingly, coincided with the recent arrival of gallery director Roland Smart, 26, and assistant director Maura Jasper, 35.

''Younger people need to find a place that they fit into, not only when it comes to buying art, but meeting people,'' said Roland Smart, who previously worked at the Starr Gallery in Newton. That's where Jasper comes in. A Worcester native who spent the last several years in Manhattan before moving to Boston, Jasper has been planning events like a woman possessed, bringing the Wharton Tiers Ensemble, Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, and Khan to the gallery last month, and lining up a small-press reading series for next month. She's quite honest about her motivations. ''You know that fear you have about going back where you're from?'' she asks. ''In New York, there were interesting things happening everywhere. I didn't want to feel like I was missing out.'' From the sound of things, she's not - nor are the Bershad patrons. ''Our last opening was like a cross between a night at the Knitting Factory [a New York club] and a crazy loft party,'' Jasper says.

The intrigue continues tonight with a CD release party for the Lothars. The theramin-heavy outfit plays tracks from its new 'Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas.' Trip hopper Dean ''Deknow'' Stiglitz opens. From 7 to 10. Cover $5.
99 Dover St., Davis Square, Somerville, 617-629-9400.