Friends of Novella

Recording session for "Lady Ride"

2010-05-18T12:37:00.002-05:00

We found a couple photos from the Houston recording sessions for "Lady Ride", circa 1973.

This photo was taken at KYOK radio in Houston.

WREG-TV: Should Condoms Be Given to Inmates?

2008-12-17T10:17:00.005-06:00

By Danya Bacchus, WREG-TV [Link]

FAST FACTS:

- Inmate Charged With Rape And Assault of Fellow Inmate
- Case Could Renew Push For Condoms In Prison
- Activist Says Yes, County Officials Against The Idea

(Memphis 12/16/2008) Shelby County Corrections inmate Lorenzo Shelton is already behind bars. Now, he faces new charges: Rape and aggravated assault of another inmate. Novella Arnold is familiar with stories like this one but the one she tells has a different ending.

"Tears started to come down and he said I was raped in jail and I was given this virus but I was afraid and ashamed to tell it," said Arnold.

Arnold's foster daughter contracted HIV from man raped in prison over 20 years ago. Today, she is fighting to have condoms passed out to inmates. But it's not going to be an easy task. Shelby County Sheriff Mark Lutrell and County Division of Corrections Director Andrew Taber say there's no county policy that allows sex behind bars for inmates. They don't want condoms to send mixed message to inmates.

"They can't tell me they're not doing that in jail. Nobody is watching when you're in your cell block," said Arnold.

Shelby County Health Department officials make sure standards for inmate healthcare are met but admit passing out protection is not one of them. Arnold, who was once a volunteer chaplain for the jail, has seen people die from HIV and AIDs. She believes the issue is simple.

"If just a rubber would save a life then give it."

A note for TV stations

2008-12-16T10:13:00.010-06:00

This note is for TV stations only, who may wish to broadcast Novella's HIV/AIDS PSA spot, "Is My Momma Ever Coming Back?". If you are not a broadcast engineer, click here instead to read about the PSA, see the storyboard, and watch an iPod or Quicktime version. It's also on YouTube.

Engineers: click and read on...

The PSA was originally produced and edited at the studios of WMC-TV in Memphis. If the master tape still exists, it would probably be in their vaults -- but last time we checked, they were unable to locate it. Copies may also exist in the libraries of other stations and cable outlets who had broadcast it at the time.

Fortunately, the WMC engineers had made a courtesy dub on VHS for Novella. I have digitized that copy in DV Type II format using Adobe Premiere on a PC. I think it's reasonably close to broadcast quality, and I know that other stations have used it. If you email me, I can send you that file on a CDR or DVD+R, whichever you prefer. I'm sorry, but I do not have the equipment to give you a DVCPRO or BETA-SP.

If you are in too much of a hurry for postal mail, you can download the file at link below. It's well over 150 megabytes. To conserve this site's bandwidth, please download it only if you really need it for broadcast purposes.

To download the file to a PC, right-click on the link, and click "Save Target As..." (or similar wording, depending on what browser you use).

HTTP download link

Tri-State Defender: AIDS activist retools push for condoms in county jail

2008-12-12T14:57:00.007-06:00

Inmates are having consensual sex and contracting HIV/AIDS

By Wiley Henry, Tri-State Defender [Link]
Friday, December 12, 2008

Novella Smith Arnold is determined to get condoms into the Shelby County Jail and it’s clear that she sees the pathway running through the Shelby County Board of Commissioners.

Arnold, an AIDS activist and former jail chaplain, fears that some inmates are having consensual sex and contracting HIV/AIDS. She said these inmates then may spread the virus into the community after they’ve been released.

Commissioner Henri Brooks, one of the board’s more vocal members, penned a resolution and scheduled Arnold and other AIDS activists to speak during a recent commission meeting. But Arnold wasn’t fully prepared. So Brooks had to defer.

The issue sparked a countywide debate following the meeting. Brooks drew the ire of her detractors and opposition from Sheriff Mark H. Luttrell, who made his rounds to talk radio. If the commissioner wants to discuss the issue, “I’ll be happy to listen to arguments or review any data Brooks will present,” Luttrell said.

Collecting data

The Sheriff’s Department has begun the process of compiling data. Of the 31,645 inmates booked in the county jail this year, 10,495 agreed to be tested for HIV. Two hundred fifteen (or 2.04 percent) tested positive for HIV.

Here’s the breakdown provided by the department: 26 percent of men agreed to be tested; 1.86 percent were infected. Sixty-two percent of women volunteered to be tested; 2.3 percent had the virus

(Medical experts say the HIV antibodies, which indicate the virus is present, can take up to 12 weeks to appear. To get a snapshot of infection rates, HIV tests also would have to be given about three months after an inmate is released or transferred to prisons.)

Luttrell said the department is aware sexual activity occurs in the jail and it has taken steps to address the issue. “We know there’s a problem with sex in the jail, but we’re enhancing supervision and sanctioning those committing the problem. We’re following closely the protocol by the Shelby County Health Department (if a rape occurs),” he said.

When the issue of condom distribution is placed back on the commissioners’ table, Brooks plans to have her own AIDS experts and research.

“We want to address the whole issue of AIDS in Shelby County. We’re going to get our facts and the experts together first and have a meeting,” she said. “Then we’ll make some changes to the resolution and maybe address the issue at a board meeting sometime in January.”

Friends for Life compiled AIDS data for Shelby County back in 2005.

Between 2001 and 2005, 5,960 African Americans were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Shelby County; whites totaled 1,532 cases. During this span, 1,886 African Americans died compared to 639 white deaths.

“I know what I’m talking about,” Arnold said. “I’ve buried too many fathers (who were incarcerated), mothers and children with AIDS over the years.”

Distributing condoms to inmates isn’t an endorsement of homosexuality, she said. “All we’re asking is to protect these guys when they come home to their women and loved ones.”

Arnold noted rape cases have been reported. Joseph Liberto, who alleged he was sodomized by two inmates in 2000, filed a suit against Shelby County and the Sheriff Department. Another inmate, Darius Little, then 19 years old when he was gang raped, sued in 1996 and won.

“A condom won’t stop a rape,” Arnold said. “But there are a lot of gay folks in jail who will have consensual sex.”

Eliminating Rape

According to the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA), 2,100,146 inmates were incarcerated in federal, state, county and local jails at the end of 2001. Of that number, at least 13 percent were sexually assaulted. In the past 20 years, 1,000,000 inmates were likely victims of rape.

Congress passed PREA to make prison rape a top priority. It also seeks to prevent rapes and punish the assailant.

Luttrell said the number of rape cases at the Downtown lockup is far lower than Arnold’s estimation. “The average stay in jail is about three weeks,” he said.

There are other medical issues just as germane as AIDS, the sheriff said. “There are far more medical issues that we deal with than HIV/AIDS, such as tuberculosis and hypertension.”

Arnold’s passion and determination are fueled, in part, by personal tragedy. Twenty years ago, her foster daughter contracted HIV from a man who was sodomized in jail.

“He also infected four other women. And each one died,” added Arnold, who was volunteering as a chaplain at the time in the Criminal Justice Ministry.

Condoms, she said, would protect the women and babies that are born. “We’re trying to protect the unborn child. I don’t like burying babies. It’s a painful feeling when you lose a loved one to AIDS.”

Arnold also cited other AIDS cases while conducting her prison ministry. “When 14 inmates in a single pod begged me to get them tested in the late ‘90s, I called the health department. I was told that I had to be a health department employee. So (mayor) Jim Rout paid me $1.”

Of the 14 inmates that were tested, 13 were infected, Arnold said. “I ministered to them. And when they died, I buried them. I have ministered to and buried so many inmates over the years.”

Luttrell said he is adamantly opposed to doling out condoms. He said inmates should be restricted from having sex anyway.

Commercial Appeal: Activist urges AIDS tests, condoms in Shelby County Jail

2008-10-02T15:24:00.006-05:00

Reaction mixed on warning of 'epidemic'
Memphis Commercial Appeal [Link]
By Alex Doniach, Thursday, October 2, 2008

HIV and AIDS among inmates in the Shelby County Jail is an "epidemic," activist Novella Smith Arnold told members of the County Commission on Wednesday.

Her solution? Hand out condoms to inmates and require testing.

"AIDS is still alive and well," Arnold told the commission's law enforcement committee. "It's still coming out of the jail to the black community, and our black women are suffering from this virus, and they're dying. ... I want you all to please put condoms in the jail."

Arnold, an "advocate for the poor and downtrodden" and former candidate for the commission and Memphis City Council, said condoms would protect those who engage in consensual sex, and their loved ones when they get out of jail. It's an idea that has sparked debate around the country.

Statistics from the Sheriff's Office show that, out of the inmates who volunteered to get tested since January, just over 2 percent tested positive. That compares with about three-fourths of 1 percent of the U.S. population, health officials say.

However, only about a third of those booked in 2008 were tested. Testing is not mandatory because the sheriff's office says the booking process is already very stressful to some.

"It's not exactly pandemic, but they (the inmates) do bring it," said Harvey Kennedy, Sheriff Mark Luttrell's chief administrative officer.

Reaction to the condom proposal was mixed among commissioners, law enforcement and health officials.

"The jail needs to get the message that, if you're going to do this, then at least protect yourself," said Commissioner Henri Brooks. "The reality is they are having sex."

Brooks said she'll introduce a resolution calling for condom distribution if the sheriff doesn't adopt a program.

But Kennedy said passing out condoms might send the wrong message. Inmates are closely watched, and he can't recall any incident of sexual assault in recent years.

"To be issuing condoms for prisoners as they come in would be sending a signal to anyone who walks through the door that you are at high risk" for assault, he said.

Consensual sex, however, might occur among inmates who share a cell, Kennedy said.

Yvonne Madlock, director of the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department, said HIV prevalence in jails and prisons tends to be higher because inmates typically engage in riskier behaviors in and out of prison.

But she said rather than pass out condoms, resources for addressing and controlling the spread of HIV are best focused on increased testing and giving HIV-positive people proper care.

Condom distribution was an idea addressed here more than a decade ago with little success, she said.

If jail officials were to distribute condoms, they would be the first in Tennessee to do so. Other city jails distribute condoms, including those in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York.

Mississippi gives out condoms at its prisons.

HIV and the Shelby County Jail

-- Of the 31,645 inmates booked in the Shelby County Jail this year, 10,495 volunteered for HIV testing; 215, or 2.04 percent, tested positive for HIV.

-- For men, 26 percent, or 6,434, of the 25,115 men booked, volunteered to get tested; 1.86 percent tested HIV-positive.

-- For women, 62 percent, or 4,061, of the 6,539 women booked, were tested; 2.3 percent tested HIV-positive.

-- Alex Doniach: 529-5231

Remembering Isaac Hayes

2008-08-16T23:02:00.008-05:00

Staxtacular 2007

February 25, 2007: Isaac, his wife Adjowa, and his 10-month-old son Kwadjo (pronounced “kwo-jo”) put in an appearance at Staxtacular 2007, an annual fundraising gala at Soulsville USA.

Adjowa, Novella, and Kwadjo.

Basketball star Pao Gasol (then with the Memphis Grizzlies) holds Kwadjo for a photo.

Stax-Studded Guitar

September 12, 2007: Isaac autographs the Stax-Studded Guitar, which will be auctioned later for the benefit of Soulsville.

Novella rewards him with a kiss.

Novella, Isaac, and Gale Jones Carson.

The guitar, with the autographs of Isaac Hayes and songwriting partner David Porter near the knobs (left). See if you can recognize the other signatures, all of them associated with Stax Records and Memphis Soul music. For example, can you find two of the Blues Brothers? (Hint: They were also key members of Booker T. and the MGs.)

Blues Ball 2007

September 29, 2007: The 2007 Blues Ball, an annual Memphis charity event, this year held on Blues Street. Novella, Isaac, and Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen.

Songwriting partner David Porter and Isaac Hayes show us the appreciation awards they receieved at the Blues Ball.

Later, Isaac takes the stage to perfrom.

Performing the Theme from Shaft. At this crowd-pleasing point near the end of the song, Isaac faces the band and flashes them finger signals of how many staccato hits he wants. Five, ten, or whatever the count, they always get it right. On the right is Isaac's original wah-wah guitarist, Charles "Skip" Pitts.

Stax 50th Anniversary Concert

June 22, 2007: Isaac at the Memphis Orpheum, rehearsing for the Stax 50th concert that night.

After rehearsing, Isaac stops downstairs for a live interview on XM Radio.

Isaac posing with Novella and XM Radio personalities. The man in the far back was an XM listener who had won a trip to the concert.

All photos by Michael Cromer.

Roy Head

2008-07-27T13:56:00.012-05:00

From his biographical entry on AllMusic.com:

Actually a country and rock vocalist rather than an R&B star, Roy Head nevertheless cut one of the great pieces of up-tempo soul in the mid-'60s. "Treat Her Right" on [Houston's] Back Beat made it to number two on the R&B charts and number two pop, and the fact that Head was white was soft-pedaled in R&B circles while the song made its way up the charts. That performance alone was enough to qualify Head as one of the finest blue-eyed soul singers of the 1960s.

Novella Smith [a.k.a. "Dizzy Lizzy"] and Skipper Lee Frazier were the Deejays who "broke" Head's famous single in 1965 on Houston's black R&B station, KYOK. (In radio lingo, breaking a new record means to introduce it with constant, heavy airplay.) The rest is history.

It was history once again yesterday when Novella and Roy reunited after 40-odd years, first at Shangri-La Records (1916 Madison), and later at his Hi-Tone performance, to close the 2008 Memphis Pops Festival.

Yours truly was there with a camera.

We meet up with Roy and his wife Carolyn, backstage at the Hi-Tone.

Out front, Ardent's Terry Manning is finishing up his set.

Roy was backed by the Bo-Keys.

Of special note, two Memphis artists with a bit of history of their own. Seen on the left in this poicture is Skip Pitts, the wah-wah guitar on Isaac Hayes' oscar-winning Theme From Shaft.

On trumpet, Ben Cauley, one of the original Bar-Kays. He was plucked from the water as the sole survivor of the 1967 Otis Redding plane crash.

Roy brings a fan on stage to help him perform. I don't think this cutie is even half old enough to have heard Dizzy Lizzy spin Roy's hit record!

Roy "treats her [Novella] right," just before performing his most famous hit.

Deejay-nerations: Novella and a DJ from Q107.5.

Airport Emergency Drill

2008-05-09T16:17:00.008-05:00

(For more photos from the disaster exercise held May 6, 2008 at the Memphis International Airport, please click here.)

We reported for duty around 2 pm, along with what seemed like hundreds of other volunteers. We were all moulaged (made up with simulated injuries) and given scenario cards. Novella and mine were similar: We were to be walking wounded, but we were supposed to be disoriented and run around frantically, looking for lost companions, presumably serving as distractions for the emergency workers.

We were fed and bussed over to the airport, where they had set up a simulation of a crash. There were two actual, damaged wings (look closely and you might discern them), but the buses were used for the fuselage. They set off several explosions, the way it's done in movie-making.

Novella and I happened to be wearing our FBI caps (we're graduates of the FBI Citizens Academy), and another participant jokingly asked if we had lost our prisoner. That was a great idea, so we changed our script a little bit. We made such a scene (at one point I threatened to arrest a Memphis police officer) that they downgraded our triage classification from "green" (walking wounded) to "red" (critically wounded) on the spot, so that they could ship us off in the next ambulance.

At Methodist South, where they had set up tents in the parking lot, we were treated wonderfully. Both of us got CAT-scanned, and when it was found that we had no serious internal injuries, they bandaged us up and prescribed pain-medication.

At one point, the hospital chaplain visited me. (I think they considered me a psyche case.) He asked if there was anything he could do, or could he get a message to someone for me. I said, "Contact My Harrison. Tell her that Agent Arnold and Agent Cromer have been in a plane crash, but we're okay. But tell her that we lost the prisoner!"

I wonder if he gave her the message.

Guitar postcard

2007-09-22T11:02:00.001-05:00

Click either of the above images to enlarge the postcard. Click here for a Flash animation using these two images. If you don't have Adobe Flash installed, it will tell you so and ask if you want to install it.

On a mission

2007-09-17T21:31:00.002-05:00

Novella Smith Arnold has been, as Jake and Elwood might say, "on a mission from God."

She's gotten the autographs of eighteen legendary Stax Records artists, producers, and recording engineers on a handsome new Gibson ES-335 guitar. It's in connection with SIMposium 2007, a national conference of CIOs and information technology (IT) leaders being held in Memphis next month.

In honor of founder Jim Stewart, and in celebration of Stax's 50th anniversary, the guitar is being auctioned online to benefit the students of Stax Music Academy studying the use of technology in music production and management. The sponsor is SIM Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Society for Information Management.

The cherry-red Gibson bears the documented autographs of legends in the recording industry: Jim Stewart, Al Bell (owner of Stax in the 1970s), John Fry (founder of Ardent Recording Studios), and "Papa" Willie Mitchell (Hi Records, Al Green's producer). Also mastering engineer Larry Nix; engineer/producer Terry Manning.

Stax artists who have signed the guitar include: Academy Award-winning superstar Isaac Hayes; his former songwriting partner David Porter ("Soul Man"); soul men Steve Cropper and "Duck" Dunn (Booker T. and the MGs, The Blues Brothers); James Alexander and Larry Dodson (The Bar-Kays); keyboardist Lester Snell; guitarist Bobby Manuel; keyboardist Marvell Thomas (son of Rufus); guitarist Charles "Skip" Pitts (wah-wah on "Shaft"); singer-songwriter Don Nix; Stax songwriter and Soulsville founder Deanie Parker.

Click here for the photo story of the guitar signings.
Click here to go to the auction site.
Click here for biographical info on the guitar signers.
Click here for the press release (PDF).
Click here for a Memphis Daily News story.

SIM members and SIMposium 2007 registrants and sponsors can bid. If you are not a SIM member, you can still register for the conference. Check with your company's CIO or IT department to find who in your organization is already attending SIMposium 2007 and could bid on your behalf. If they're not registered, perhaps they ought to do so for the professional benefits. Note: Pre-conference registration (giving you the login ID to bid) closes Monday, October 1; after that you must wait a week and register on-site.

Society for Information Management / SIM International is an association of senior information technology (IT) executives, prominent academicians, select consultants, and other IT thought leaders built on the foundation of local chapters, who come together at the SIMposium conference each year to share and enhance their intellectual capital for the benefit of members and their organizations.

For more information about the guitar signings and/or to obtain photos for publication, contact the webmaster of this site (link in in the sidebar).

Photo: Four of the guitar signers appear together in this photo of the rehearsal for the Stax 50th Anniversary concert at the Memphis Orpheum, June 22. Left to right: Lester Snell (partially obscured), Skip Pitts, Isaac Hayes, and Bobby Manuel. They're playing the theme from Shaft.

The Story of the Stax-Studded Guitar

2007-09-16T15:37:00.003-05:00

[Download extra large (793 KB)]

This is the story, told in photos and her words, of how Novella got the autographs of 18 Stax Records-era living legends on a new Gibson guitar. Seen above with all the signatures, it is being auctioned for the benefit of students of of Stax Music Academy.

Click here to see the complete photo story.

[Novella:] I've known all of the signers since my days at Stax and some earlier. Asking them for their help is one thing, but actually meeting up with them for an autograph is quite another matter. Some live as far as Nashville or Little Rock. The artists are often on the road.

Jim Stewart
Founder of Stax Records

August 15, 2007. In spite of what I just said, Jim Stewart's rare autograph - the first one on the guitar - was the simplest to get. I just called him up and he graciously invited me and my husband to his home the very next day. He signed in his living room. Jim is quite camera-shy, so we didn't take his photograph.

About the same time, I got a tip that Steve Cropper might be coming to Ardent Studios in Memphis to record. I called the founder, John Fry. Another kind and gracious man, he made arrangements for us to meet Steve Cropper at his studio two days later.

Ardent Recording Studios

August 17, 2007. This is Ardent Studios, on Madison Ave. We were early, and it would be another hour or two before Steve Cropper and his friends arrived. From the waiting room you can glimpse Ardent's awards wall in the front foyer, with an old four-track Scully in the corner. While we were waiting, Stax Museum's archivist, Carol Drake, and their photographer showed up. The Ardent complex has a beautiful interior courtyard, surrounded by a glass-walled hallway.

Lester Snell
Keyboardist

First to arrive was Lester Snell. Lester's been keyboardist for Isaac Hayes since around 1970. We're in an anteroom that used to be John Fry's executive office. The blue painter's tape you see what we used to arrange and organized the signatures.

Larry Nix
Engineer

Larry Nix was the mastering engineer for Stax. His autograph can be seen etched into any Stax vinyl record; look for L.NIX near the label.

Terry Manning
Engineer/producer

Nobody was expecting Terry Manning today. He arrived with his wife (seen chatting with me and Larry in the waiting room). Terry was an engineer/producer for Stax, and is now with Compass Point Studios in Nassau, The Bahamas.

Steve "The Colonel" Cropper
Booker T. and the MGs

Booker T. and the MGs ("Green Onions") was Stax's first supergroup, evolving from the Mar-Keys. Steve Cropper played guitar in both. Later he was in the Blues Brothers Band, made famous by the Aykroyd/Belushi film. Did you know the Blues Brothers' music was mostly from Stax? Steve was the first to play our guitar. He gave it a quick tune-up and strummed a few bars of "Soul Man" for us.

Steve and his friends were at Ardent to do some recording with Guy Sebastion, the first Australian Idol (2003). Here you see Guy is flirting with me. Then I got both Steve and Guy to cuddle with me for a picture.

Donald "Duck" Dunn
Booker T. and the MGs

Duck Dunn's history parallels Steve Cropper's, playing bass for the Mar-Keys, the MGs, and the Blues Brothers.

After Duck signed, Steve was anxious to get into the studio and start work, but we harrassed him some more. Guy Sebastion is having his sketch done by a local artist. He seems to like it.

Steve has gotten settled in, working at the mixing console. The artist shows us some of his paintings of Memphis music celebrities. That's Carla Thomas in the foreground.

We had wanted John Fry's signature, but by then he was pretty busy so we saved him for a return trip. On the way out, I gave receptionist Mike a thanks and a hug for being so patient with us.

"Papa" Willie Mitchell
Record producer

We stopped by Royal Recording to get Willie Mitchell's autograph. He's the Hi Records producer who discovered and developed Al Green. He goes back even further in Memphis music history, having been a trumpet player and bandleader of some note. I won't say how old he is. He was recently honored by the Memphis chapter of the Recording Academy.

Lunch

After a long day, we stopped for a late lunch at a famous soul food establishment, the Gay Hawk.

The story continues...

The Story of the Stax-Studded Guitar, Part 2

2007-09-16T02:00:00.007-05:00

(This is a continuation of the story, told in photos and her words, of how Novella got the autographs of 18 Stax Records-era living legends on a new Gibson guitar. To begin with Part 1, click here.)

Click here to see the complete photo story.

James Alexander
Larry Dodson
The Bar-Kays

August 23. The Bar-Kays came to my house to sign. Most of the original band were lost with Otis Redding in a plane crash in 1967. Bass player James Alexander missed the flight. He and and the sole survivor, Ben Cauley, rebuilt the band. Larry Dodson (right) joined as lead singer in 1970. They just released their 30th CD.

Don Nix
Singer-songwriter

August 27. My husband went back to Ardent for two more autographs. Don Nix has had a long career as sax player for the Mar-Keys, songwriter, musician, and author. He signed, and gave us a copy of his latest CD, "I Don't Want No Trouble" (2006).

John Fry
Founder of Ardent Studios

While there, Mike also got John Fry's autograph. Ardent celebrated its own 40th birthday last year. It should always be remembered that Ardent's history is interwined with Stax's. When Stax got too busy for its own studio, a lot of the recording work went to Ardent, including landmark albums like Hot Buttered Soul.

Deanie Parker
Founder of Soulsville

August 29.We found Deanie Parker in her offices at Soulsville, the parent organization over the Stax Museum, Music Academy, and Charter School.

Bobby Manuel
Guitarist

August 31. A return trip to Ardent for two more signatures. Bobby Manuel was originally a Stax engineer, but became one of the most often-used session guitarists. Check the back of your Stax albums, and see if he isn't there. Today, he became the second person to play this guitar.

Marvell Thomas
Keyboardist

Not as famous as his sister Carla or father Rufus, Marvell Thomas, like Bobby, is session musician who is a Stax institution. Check your albums again. (And boy, can Marvell tell you stories.)

Charles "Skip" Pitts
Guitarist

September 5. After some crossed signals, we finally met up a long-time Isaac Hayes guitarist, Skip Pitts, who's also played for Rufus Thomas, Soul Children, and others. He's perhaps best known as the "wah-wah guitar" on Theme from Shaft.

Al Bell
Owner of Stax Records (1970s)

September 8.Jim's Stewart's right hand business guy from 1965. More than once, Al Bell was instrumental in bringing Stax back from ashes to even greater glory. He helped Jim buy the company back from Gulf+Western and CBS, ending up owner until the end in 1975.

Al lives in Little Rock, so it was a matter of catching him on a trip to Memphis. That's his beautiful wife and my longtime friend, Lydia.

Isaac Hayes
Superstar

September 12. At long last Isaac! He'd just come back from a trip to Atlanta, and was at Studio Center on Union Ave., recording spots for Memphis Light Gas and Water (MLGW). With him was MLGW communications director Gale Jones Carson (seen in the last photo). We pulled him out of the studio and sat him down in the waiting room to sign. I stole a kiss.

David Porter
Songwriter

With Isaac signing, we had to have David Porter, his songwriting partner from way back. After leaving the studio I called David. He was out in his car. Cellphone to cellphone, we triangulated down to a parking lot near Mt. Moriah Road and Park Avenue. He signed the guitar on the back of my PT Cruiser.

The Hayes/Porter team wrote 200 songs for Stax artists and groups, including "Soul Man," which was a Sam & Dave hit long before it was the Blue Brothers anthem.

Novella Smith

With the guitar finally complete, now I can sign it.

[Download extra large (644 KB)]

Click here for more on mission of this guitar.

HIV/AIDS

2007-09-01T12:50:00.001-05:00

Candice Ludlow at WKNO-FM is doing a series on the Memphis area HIV/AIDS pandemic, an issue that's near and dear to Novella's heart. Novella and Candice had a long phone chat the other evening and now they're great friends. I wish I had a picture I could post of Novella's new friend. Instead here is overview with links to the six-part series on WKNO-FM:

HIV/AIDS: It's Closer Than You Think

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of African-American women. WKNO-FM's Candice Ludlow investigates this pandemic and how some Memphians are trying to halt the spread of the disease in the Mid-South in a 6-part series airing Tuesdays on Morning Edition.
Week 1: HIV Slams Mid-South (8/07/07)
Week 2: HIV Prevention In Jails and Prisons (8/14/07)
Week 3: Into the Streets with Project Hope (8/21/07)
Week 4: Breaking Down Barriers to Prevention (8/28/07)
Week 5: Project Styling: Innovative HIV Prevention (9/11/07)
Week 6: Living With HIV/AIDS Today
<9/11/07)

I'll update the links as the series progresses.Novella got involved with this issue 10 years ago, when she was a prison chaplain. The story of how she got thrown out of the jail for speaking out about it is told in this Commercial Appeal article from 1997. Shortly after that, Novella was inspired to create a public service announcement (Commercial Appeal, May 8, 1997). You can watch Novella's PSA here. For dialup surfers, the storyboard and script is here. Comcast still runs this PSA from time to time.

Respect Yourself

2007-07-27T23:26:00.001-05:00

Al Bell, Executive Vice President and co-owner (with Jim Stewart) of Stax Records from 1970 to 1975, and Bev Johnson of WDIA Memphis, just after the sneak-preview screening last night of the upcoming PBS documentary, Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story, here in Memphis. This powerful and affecting film about the great Stax adventure, driven by an incredible score, will be aired Wednesday, August 1, at 8 pm Central (9 pm Eastern) on PBS stations nationally (WKNO locally).

Three old friends

2007-07-22T22:34:00.001-05:00

March 7, 2004.
Old friend #1: Joey Williams, stained glass entrepreneur.
Old friend #2: Joey's Harley.

Old friend #3: The late, great Blue Monkey saloon, in downtown Memphis, Tennessee.

Atlanta, c. 1972

2007-07-22T15:42:00.001-05:00

Songwriter Bettye Crutcher, singer Billy Eckstine, Novella, and Lydia Isbell, wife of Al Bell (co-owner of Stax from 1970-1975). Photo taken around 1972.

Corrected: It turns out the photo was taken not in Houston's Shamrock Hilton, but in Atlanta, on Lydia's birthday. But that's Billy Eckstine for sure, and I'll keep the 1985 New York Times story below about the hotel's demise.

HOUSTON HOTEL SALE SIGNIFIES FADING OF OIL WEALTH
New York Times, December 29, 1985
by Robert Reinhold

Older Houstonians still talk about the dazzling night of March 17, 1949, when Glenn McCarthy, the wealthy wildcatter, threw a blowout party to open his new Shamrock Hotel.

He brought in a trainload of celebrities from Hollywood to christen the hotel, 18 stories of superlatives: the world's largest bath towels, a swimming pool big enough to ski in, a 1,000-car garage with four brands of gasoline and a refrigerated garbage room ''to retard the development of odors.''

It was a hotel that Texans, flush with new oil money and not averse to displaying it, could be proud of. Over the years the hulking tan brick hotel with its roof of emerald-green tiles came to symbolize the brash and daring style that made Houston great, rich and, to some, a bit crude. Countless oil deals were struck there, and many a fortune made or lost over a handshake, or sometimes a punch, in its bottle club.

The other day the current owner, the Hilton Hotels Corporation, announced that it would close the landmark hotel because it was unable to compete in Houston's lagging economy. The announcement marked more than the end of a hotel.

For the Shamrock Hilton, as it is now called, was sold - almost given away, in truth - to the Texas Medical Center, a loose federation of 32 hospitals and medical colleges that adjoins the 22.6-acre tract.

Symbol of Houston's Change

The Shamrock is valued at $46 million, but the Texas Medical Center paid $14.9 million. The remaining $31.1 million was a gift from Hilton, presumably for tax benefits.

The sale is a symbol of changing economic realities in Houston, of a painful passage into uncharted waters for America's fourth largest and, in many respects, most unusual city.

The battered petroleum industry, long the source of Houston's wealth and distinctive identity, is receding, and Houston's leaders are turning to the city's thriving medical institutions, among other things, to provide the gushers of the future.

The medical center, an administrative structure that provides services to the member institutions and maintains common property, is one of the few Houston enterprises that is expanding. It now covers more than 500 acres, and includes such prominent institutions as the Baylor College of Medicine, the M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Methodist Hospital and the Texas Heart Institute.

Center Has 47,000 Employees

The medical center, bursting at the seams with 47,000 employees and 11,000 students, has yet to disclose its plans for the property. It is generally assumed that the hotel will be razed.

When it opened, the Shamrock's site was the southern fringe of Houston. Mr. McCarthy, who celebrated his 78th birthday Christmas day and who still sometimes lunches at the hotel, is said to have spent $21 million on it. No expense was spared. Every room had air-conditioning and television, rare amenities in those days.

The Shamrock had a staff of 1,200, headed by a manager imported from the Waldorf-Astoria. The 5,000-square-foot lobby still exudes the flavor of those days, with its paneling of Bolivian mahogany and its Art Deco trim. Mr. McCarthy ordered almost everything done in shades of green, in honor of his ancestral Ireland.

Some cynics said that for Mr. McCarthy, the son of a laborer who became a millionaire the Texas way, by striking oil, the hotel was a bid for social acceptance. In the words of a Life magazine account, ''He is barred from several Texas clubs which have found that he works, drinks and brawls with equal vigor.''

'Most Dazzling Exhibition'

The opening-night guests included Ginger Rogers, Walter Brennan, Andy Devine, Pat O'Brien, Hedda Hopper, Errol Flynn and Don (Red) Berry, who waas a cowboy actor shown in a Life photograph as he ''gallantly sips from slippers'' of an oil heiress. According to contemporary accounts, the noise and crush of guests, invited and uninvited, was such that Dorothy Lamour, trying to broadcast her radio show live, was cut off by the network and fled in tears.

It was, in Life's words: ''the most dazzling exhibition of evening dresses and big names ever seen in Texas. Everyone had to concede it was quite a party and quite a hotel.''

The next few years were just as tumultuous. A private bottle club, the Cork Club, became a center for oil dealing. One who remembers those days is Steve Chazanow, who has sold jewelry from his shop in the lobby for 36 years. ''The Shamrock brought together most of the oil people, and million-dollar deals were made over handshakes,'' he said. ''The Cork Club was the only place you could go into, mind your own business, and get the stuffing kicked out of you.''

True to form for a rough-and-tumble wildcatter, Mr. McCarthy, lost his fortune and his hotel. After the Equitable Life Assurance Society foreclosed, Hilton acquired the Shamrock in 1954.

Still, it remained a fixture, where Houstonians could dance to the music of big bands in the Emerald Room. For the last 10 years the Shamrock has been the site of the annual Western Heritage Sale, where prize bulls and horses are auctioned from the stage of the grand ballroom before crowds of wealthy ranchers and oilmen in tuxedos and cowboy boots.

But these are hard times for hotels in Houston. The slump in the petroleum industry and the loss of Mexican clientele because of the collapse of the peso have left the city vastly oversupplied with hotel rooms. Only the other day the downtown Sheraton Houston declared bankruptcy.

The Shamrock, still the second largest hotel in Houston with 735 rooms and 245 suites, was not prospering. It had become frayed around the edges and, in the judgment of Hilton, was not worth remodeling.

Black Radio Hall of Fame

2007-07-21T20:05:00.001-05:00

On August 23, 1991, Novella (a.k.a. KYOK's "Dizzie Lizzie") was inducted into the Black Radio Hall of Fame. Pictured here with Novella are fellow inductees James Brown, Radio One entrepreneur Cathy Hughes (holding award), and Jack "The Rapper" Gibson, who is considered the Father of Black Radio. Gibson is also the founder of NARA.

Same event, different photo. Jack "The Rapper" Gibson, Novella, James Brown, and Cathy Hughes. Novella and James can be seen to be holding their awards. The identity of the man in sunglasses is unknown. Security?

NARA Convention, circa 1964

2007-07-21T18:27:00.001-05:00

Gregory Peck at a NARA (National Association of Radio Announcers, Inc., later to become NATRA) convention, probably in 1964. Left to right: Ken Knight, Gregory Peck, "Sir Walter", (unknown), and Novella.

Gregory Peck was the keynote speaker. Since this photo pre-dates the photo with the Supremes, I will guess that this is around 1964, just after Peck had given an Academy-award winning performance, starring in To Kill a Mockingbird (1963). Novella remembers him telling her, "I want you in my next movie!"

The original print of this photo was loaned to a media outlet in Houston, and never given back. This early-technology photocopy, unfortunately, is all that remains.

Living Legend Award

2007-07-21T13:21:00.001-05:00

Novella received the Jack Gibson Living Legend Award (National Black Programmers Coalition) on November 20,1999. Left to right: Larry Dodson (Bar-Kays), Norman West and J. Blackfoot (Soul Children), Novella, and another radio legend, Skipper Lee Frazier.

KYOK radiothon

2007-07-21T12:52:00.001-05:00

"Bugaloo" George Frazier, KYOK (Houston) DJ, announcing a radiothon benefit for the Eliza Johnson Home for the Aged, circa 1970. That's Novella's daughter Monique Smith giving direction.

Dionne

2007-07-21T11:27:00.001-05:00

Dionne Warwick.

Surprise! Caught-Cha!

2007-07-21T10:50:00.001-05:00

Lou Rawls (1933-2006).

Merry Christmas from KYOK

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Santa's helper Novella, with holiday greetings from KYOK in Houston, Texas. In those days the format was R&B with a dose of spirituals. Today, the station broadcasts on a different frequency in an urban gospel format.

Jerry Butler

2007-07-21T10:04:00.001-05:00

A youthful Jerry Butler of the Impressions ("For Your Precious Love").

Jackie Wilson

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Jackie Wilson (1934-1984), 1960s soul and R&B singer ("Lonely Teardrops").