One on One with Will Smith Sr. and Tony Smith – Authors of “The Waymor”
There are some people that would say that everyone has a story in them; that it doesn’t matter who they are or where they came from, everyone has something to say. Sometimes the stories are true to life and sometimes they are a complete work of fiction. Sometimes people want to hear them and sometimes they don’t.
Today, The Examiner sits down with co-authors Will Smith Sr. and Tony Smith to find out about their story; a story that was recently released by Philly Through My Ear Productions entitled, “The Waymor”.
“She’d had enough. She’d been parked several doors down from his house since she left The Waymor: a jazz club where the mesmerizing sounds of Marvin, Lucky, Kenny and Perry – the men behind the music – stirs passion, shake convictions and blows a familiar tune of betrayal and deception.
“Take a few steps down the stairs towards the laughter, smoke-filled room and “feel good” jazz. Meet Shirley, Crystal, Mary and Emily at The Waymor. Find out why friends and desires collide; what really matters in their lives and how far will they go to win at this crazy game we call love. Will they be triumphant, will it end in tragedy; or will they experience way more than they bargained for at The Waymor”
EXAMINER: What was the inspiration for The Waymor?
WS1: The story actually started four years ago when I recorded Tony on an album called, Everybody ought to have one. He was the trumpet player on that album. He and I became friends after the project was finished. He used to come by my home to pick up CD’s, and while he was here, we indulged ourselves in friendly games of pool. It was during those games that we began to have conversations about our respective upbringings; he coming from a family of seven brothers in Delaware, and I being raised as an only child in North Philadelphia. As the pool games became more intense and the conversations became more diversified, we decided to make a movie. We assembled a team of actors, actresses and writers and began shooting scenes. It soon became apparent that although we had a good idea, we didn’t have a story. I reached out to a friend of mine who knew really how to make movies and I asked his advice. He said to me, “Dad, you need to discover the art of theme and character development”. I took his advice, came up with what we thought was a great story and the book, The Waymor was born.
TS: When we shot the scenes for the movie, we were actually doing charity work for Point Breeze Performing Arts Center. These are urban kids that don’t have the opportunity to be exposed to the performing arts. I used to tell Will stories about the people that I used to play with. I told him about the various personalities that I met, and in my mind, the film was originally supposed to be a ten minute clip. Before I knew it we had written an outline for a full length movie. As we started shooting arbitrary scenes, we realized that we didn’t have proper character development. So we halted shooting and focused on getting the script together because what we really had were ideas, but we needed to form a plot. Once we focused on forming a decent storyline, the book The Waymor took shape.
EXAMINER: Does this project have any correlation between any actual events that occurred in your life; or is this strictly a work of fiction?
WS1: Its fiction, but it’s based on real life experiences. What we hope to do through our characters is have them not make the same wrong decision that they made the first time. If someone reads the story and can identify with one of the characters whether through personality of situation, maybe they can take the message and hopefully avoid making mistakes that can directly impact their lives negatively. There are messages hidden throughout the story.
EXAMINER: Who are some of your favorite authors and why?
WS1: I would have to say Dr. Maya Angelou with her wisdom and being right on point. As a matter of fact, I use one of her quotations in the beginning of the book. ‘The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving – with passion and compassion, and humor and style, and generosity and kindness’ I thought this was significant in describing the best parts about life.
TS: I tend to gravitate towards authors who write biographies about jazz artists. One of my favorite works of non-fiction is Dizzy Gillespie’s autobiography, written by Alyn Shipton.
EXAMINER: Do you any jam sessions, and if so, where do you perform?
TS: I’ve performed in Wilmington and Delaware. Some of the clubs are “The Nomad” in Wilmington, “The Top Shelf” at 56th and Market in Philadelphia. I’ve also performed at Elena’s at 49th and Baltimore in Philadelphia as well.
EXAMINER: Who are some of your favorite vocalists? Musicians?
TS: My very first inspiration in music is Louis Armstrong. Hugh Masekela. Clifford Brown who passed at the age of 26 years of age. I like the Temptations, Four Tops…all of the singing groups that could be classified as ‘Old School’. Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday…those are some of my favorites.
WS1: All of the old groups…The Temptations, The Spaniels…any of the Philly groups like the Intrigues. Ray Charles. Sammy Davis. Lena Horne.
EXAMINER: What are some of your greatest accomplishments?
WS1: Let me think on that for a minute. But I would have to say that it would have to be assisting in the integration of black machine operators at Midvale Steel. I was the third black steel operator in this company. Midvale Steel received a contract to make 175 mm gun barrels. They had no machine operators to operate the machine that manufactured this part. I was able to talk two other black workers to come along with me to help operate this particular machine at a time where there were no black operators to do so.
TS: Two accomplishments that I can think of would be playing with Freddie Hubbard at The Grand Opera House. I’ve also played with groups like The Temptations and The Dells. The second would be the release of my first CD.
EXAMINER: Can you tell our readers about any upcoming projects on the horizon for the both of you?
WS1: Of course, we’re still putting together the script for the movie based on our novel, ‘The Waymor’. We’re also working on a follow up to the book that is currently untitled.
TS: I’m currently working on a new CD. The name of the group that I play with is called, “The Tony Smith Quintet’. Some of our previous CD’s are called “Slammin’ at Christina” and “The Big Cat”
With all of that being said, I believe that I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to extend our best wishes here at The Examiner as well as our entire readership. We look forward to any additional projects and as always wish you both much success in your future endeavors.
J.L. Whitehead
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