Tag: Features

Shaw’s BBQ

Where everybody knows your name… and your business

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Mackenzie Free
and Contributed Photos

Mornings at Shaw’s Barbecue in Ashville are a lot like evenings at the “Cheers” bar of 1980s television fame. It’s a place and time “where everybody knows your name.”

Day after day, week after week, the parking lot at Shaw’s is filled with the same cars and pickup trucks. Most of them arrive around 7 a.m., when the place opens. Inside, the tables are filled with the same men in overalls and work shirts, jeans and tees and baseball caps. They are farmers, construction workers, bankers, wrecker service owners and bodyshop repairmen. They are hardworking men and retirees. Sometimes they are politicians, too, when offices are up for grabs.

Southern country staple foods are a big draw at Shaw’s

They eat from Shaw’s menu of traditional Southern vittles like eggs and grits, pancakes, sausage and biscuits, with stout, hot coffee. What they really come for, however, isn’t on the menu. They’re there for the daily dish of tall tales, comedic retorts and a side of answers to the world’s woes.

“Hang around here long, and you’ll get dizzy,” says Ray Stevens, retired owner of a local service station and towing business.

Stevens sits at the same table with the same three men every day: Bobby Welch, owner of B&W Construction; Jim Wilson, retired owner of C.D. Wilson Contracting; and Jeff Corbin of Corbin Services. It is variously called the Wisdom Table, the Table of Knowledge or the Think Tank. An unknown female customer dubbed it The Gauntlet because, as the table nearest the door, a customer has to pass it to get anywhere.

“The amount of wisdom that comes from our table can’t be consumed in one day,” says Welch. “Before I came here, I was seeing a therapist twice a week; now I see one four times a week.”

And so the repartee begins.

“The Wisdom Table holds court, picks the topics of conversation,” says Skip Shaw, owner of Shaw’s Barbecue for almost 40 years. “Leave your feelings at the door when you come in.”

“The biggest thing we do is solve all the problems of the city,” says Dennis Moyer, a retired Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy and former Ashville rural mail carrier. “We tell the city how to run it, but they don’t listen to us.”

Once you get past The Gauntlet, you’ll find Phillip Gleason and Matt Sims eating together at another table. Gleason, a veterinarian, comes to learn about what’s going on in St. Clair County. “I come for the fellowship every day but Wednesday, when I have a meeting elsewhere,” he says. He lives in Steele, and swings by on his way to Argo Animal Clinic. “We learn stuff here before it becomes public.”

Pointing to Carl Smith of Smith Farms, Gleason proclaims, “That’s the Chandler Mountain tomato man.” Pointing to Cody Green, he says, “That’s the Straight Mountain tomato man.” It’s a friendly rivalry, but it helps delineate between the two. Smith grins and responds with, “They call me Mater. I’m here every morning. Shaw’s serves really good food, and I enjoy the company. The topics run A to Z.”

Skip Shaw (right) often works the register

Matt Sims, known as Matt-Matt, lives by the Ashville Stockyards, about a mile away. Someone at the Wisdom Table points out Matt’s big feet. “You know what that means,” one of the guys says. Wink, wink and raucous laughter follow. Dennis Moyer says Matt-Matt, described by Skip Shaw as a jack of all trades, is always fun to be around, always has a smile. “We kid him about his women problem, try to fix him up, but we are always a failure,” he says. “He’s a jovial guy.”

Asked why he tolerates the teasing, Matt-Matt grins broadly and replies, “Cause I learn what’s going on in the county.”

Pete Morrow, retired from ACIPCO, sits at the same table every morning with Dennis Moyer. “The food’s good, but I come to get knowledge from these four,” Morrow says, gesturing toward the Wisdom Table to his right. “I come to learn how to run a business, how to treat people. I came here before Shaw bought it. It was Sharp’s then. Everybody knows everybody here, it’s good food, and on Friday nights they have fried catfish.”

Moyer says he goes because the food there is hot and homemade from scratch, and because his wife won’t get up and cook breakfast. “I usually eat something simple like eggs, but she (the cook) makes good pancakes, biscuits and gravy.”

He says he goes for the camaraderie, too. “It’s a bunch of us old guys, like the old Round Table that used to meet at the drug store (Ashville Drugs). We meet and throw our brains out and come up with a solution. Pete and I sit next to the Table of Knowledge, wheretwo are cattlemen and two are retired bankers. Skip has a herd, too.”

According to Moyer, the regulars talk about things the city is doing. “The big topic now is the subdivision Lyman Lovejoy is developing near the Industrial Park,” he says. “It’s a big subdivision for Ashville. We talk a lot of politics, too. It got very heated when (St. Clair Commission Chairman) Stan Batemon was running. He was hot and heavy there during that time. (Former Alabama Chief Justice) Roy Moore comes in from time to time. We have all kinds of dignitaries stopping by.”

The crowd doesn’t cut politicians any slack, either. They once took a former Ashville mayor to task for taking credit for a civic project that he had little to do with. Then a candidate for re-election, he left in a huff!

John Harrison is another regular who comes for the food. He likes to eat at small, local places rather than large chains. “We settle the world’s problem here,” he says. A semi-retired farmer, he’s only there two to three times a week. “It’s mostly gossip and B.S. around here,” he says. “Skip talks to everybody, he doesn’t miss nobody.”

In fact, Shaw’s daughter, Lori, who sometimes helps out at the restaurant, says that Skip is the main reason most of the regulars are there in the first place. “All these guys come for dad … and stay for the food,” she says.

As if on cue, Skip Shaw sits down beside Mater. Wilson hollers, “Get him to tell you about his lady friend and the $150 bottle of wine.” It’s a running joke that refers to an auction that benefitted Shoal Creek Community Center. They tease Skip mercilessly about the auction, and the price of the wine gets higher with each re-telling.

“It’slike the movie, Groundhog Day, same thing every morning,” Mater says. “They always bring up the story about Skip and that woman.”

Shaw bought the place in 1984, and says he eats his own food. “I’m a product of it,” he says, patting his belly. “A third generation of folks (customers) come to eat here now, lunch and supper. I would not be where I am without my customers.”

He says a fire during the COVID pandemic shut him down temporarily and almost did him in. “It was an electrical fire in the back,” he says. “We were closed for eight months. That was back in 2020-2021. I thought about closing. But the place needed a facelift anyway, so here we are. I’ve been back in business about two years now.”

You won’t find any thin-skinned folks there each morning, Shaw says. “The guys who are here are hardy folk who don’t get their feelings hurt easily.”

There are few women in the early-morning crowd, although they begin to drift in with their dads and husbands around 9 a.m. When Barbara Stevens walks in, Jeff Corbin yields his seat to her at the Wisdom Table. She’s Ray’s wife. Soon, a few more regulars drift in, including Don Sharp and Joe Jinright, both retirees. Jackie Vaughn of Vaughn Body Shop plops down nearby.

Ray Stevens decides to call local real estate mogul Lyman Lovejoy, another regular who, for some reason, hasn’t dropped by yet this particular morning. But he’s there within five minutes of receiving Stevens’s call. “These guys could be lawyers,” Lovejoy says, “because they tell the truth in a lot of different ways.”

Stevens nods toward Lovejoy and says, “His Bible has only a front and back cover, no pages between.” Then Stevens gets taken to task for blocking the fire hydrant in front of Shaw’s with his truck. “No problem,” one of the guys says. “Ashville hydrants are dry anyway.”

Jeff Corbin agrees. “I watched my place burn down one day after the fire department tried three hydrants and couldn’t get water from any of them.”

Jim Wilson says primary cook Amanda Leftwich is the one who keeps the place going, “without a shadow of a doubt.”

“I kid everybody, tell ‘em she runs the place, I just work here,” Skip Shaw says of Leftwich. “She’s the main cog that makes everything turn. I’m fortunate to have her.”

His sister-in-law, Debra Meadows, makes the pies. “We do four – apple, peach, chocolate and coconut,” Shaw says. “Sometimes she adds sweet potato in the fall. We serve sandwiches, plate lunches, beef, chicken, smoked turkey. Our menu is pretty well-rounded, with something for everyone. We have salads, too, and daily vegetables. I’ll smoke meat maybe, but Amanda does most of the cooking. We have three or four women working here every day, and sometimes my daughter, Lori, helps out, too.”

Leftwich has been working for Shaw for 12 years. “My customers are very good to me,” she says. “You know that old saying, ‘Don’t believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see,’” she remarks. “It applies here.”

“What you say here WILL be held against you,” says Skip Shaw, emphasizing the word, “will.” “We have selective memories: We select everything and remember all of it!”

Features

Lyrics for Life

Horse Pens’ Songwriter Festival inspiring music on the mountain

Story by Roxann Edsall
Photos by Richard Rybka

There is no doubt that music is a powerful tool, touching our heart strings and transporting us through time and space. The words to certain songs speak to our hearts when, oftentimes, nothing else will. Alabama-raised songwriter Mutt Cooper explains, “I always hope the words connect to the audience and that we’re all in the same emotional space at the same time.”

Cooper, who now lives in Georgia, started playing the guitar and writing music when he was just 10 years old. He now works as an occupational therapist, specializing in traumatic brain injury.

A navy veteran himself, he works with veterans at Martin Army Hospital in Fort Benning. He uses his songwriting skills to address the pain and emotional scars of the wounded, whether they’re military, children or just ordinary people navigating daily life. His song, Tom, has received a lot of attention from Vietnam veterans groups because of its powerful, relatable lyrics.

He wrote the song about his cousin, who served in Vietnam. The cousin, Tom, came back from Vietnam a changed man, a change so profound that he had to live with Cooper’s family and spent most days playing guitar to help him process the pain. “He died in Vietnam, but he didn’t know. He’s got a lot of scars that don’t show,” the haunting lyrics say.

The lyrics to another of Cooper’s songs address the simpler, but broader, issue of aging. The words to I Knew Him When are easily relatable to anyone who has noticed a wrinkle or a grey hair as birthdays come and go.

Staring in the mirror, it’s easy for me to see.
The same young man who lives inside of me.
Well, it makes no sense, and how can it be?
There’s an old man in the mirror looking back at me.

Cooper recently spent a weekend with more than a dozen other songwriters at the Horse Pens 40 Songwriter Festival on Chandler Mountain. The festival’s organizer, Paul Ensign of C&P Entertainment, has been providing the venue and stage to showcase the talents of local, regional and national touring songwriters for four years. “These guys and gals get up on stage, not just to sing, but to give you the emotion behind the words, the experience that helped to write the song,” explains Ensign.

Texas-based songwriter Thom Shepherd, also a festival participant, agrees. “Everybody’s here to really listen to the lyrics and hear the stories behind the songs.” He and his wife, fellow songwriter, Coley McCabe, have both won awards through the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and have been named Duo of the Year by the Trop Rock Music Association for the past four years. She has played at the Grand Ole Opry four times.

The two met when they were working with different Nashville publishers housed in the same office building. They were married by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas in 2015. They tour regularly and enjoy going to songfests to meet new writers and to reconnect with others. They even hold their own songwriter’s festival in Texas called Lonestar Luau. (Editor’s note: You can check them out at Lonestarluau.com.)

“Write for yourself,” says Shepherd. “That’s what a publisher told me years ago. I’d moved to Nashville to perform. Everyone said you’ve got to be able to write, so that’s when I started working on that. I struggled at first, but then I was counseled to write for myself, about things that have had meaning to me. That’s the place that hit songs come from. That’s when I started thinking about things like my love of cars.”

His love of old cars is what made him reminisce about seeing his first car again after selling it to an old friend. He went back to visit the man and saw the car, sat in the driver’s seat and opened the glove compartment. “That’s when I started to imagine. What if this car had been owned by someone else and what if that someone had left a note in the glove compartment,” says Shepherd excitedly. “And what if that owner had been a young man going off to war who left the note to the new owner in case he didn’t come back? And what if the car was a Corvette?”

With that story in mind, he collaborated with songwriter Wood Newton and wrote the 2001 hit single, Riding with Private Malone. The song was recorded by American Country Music artist David Ball. “You always hope one of your songs will touch people’s lives, and this one has,” says Shepherd. “I hear from people who say this was a particular soldier’s song, and he didn’t make it back. It reminds them of that soldier. Others tell me this song is the reason they joined the military.”

Coley McCabe wrote Don’t Open That Door as a response to the loss of her sister, Tracy. The song was later recorded by country star Loretta Lynn. “I wrote it after Tracy passed, never meaning for it to be recorded,” says McCabe. “But it was pitched to Loretta, and she recorded it. I ran into her a few years later and told her I’d written it. It was shortly after her husband had passed. She sang the chorus to me with a tear in her eye. It was sweet!”

Strong family ties also fuel the fire for fellow songwriter Christina Crystal. She has just turned 30 and has been writing songs for 16 years. At the songwriter’s festival, she explained to the audience the background behind several songs she and her husband, songwriter/producer Nick Biebricher, have written and produced, including the very personal Ultra Sound, a ballad about the experience of expecting the birth of their son.

Another of Crystal’s favorites is a playful lyric that she wrote and performed called, Dolly, Would You Pardon Me, a fun, upbeat song with a nod to vocal great Dolly Parton. The song was nominated for best country song of the year in 2019 at the Independent Music Awards.

“Hit songs begin with words that make people feel something,” says Shepherd. Pure joy and fun are a hallmark in his huge hit summertime party song, Redneck Yacht Club. Written by Shepherd and recorded in 2005 by country music’s Craig Morgan, the lyrics are an invitation to “Meet us out at party cove. Come on in, the water’s fine. Just idle on over an’ toss us a line.”

If you’re out on this lake this summer, you’re sure to hear it. The power of music is fueled by powerful lyrics.

Features

Friday night hero

Honoring Pell City High School Coach Pete Rich

“Success is based upon a spiritual quality, a power to inspire others.”
— Vince Lombardi

Story by Roxann Edsall
Photos by Richard Rybka

Coach Pete Rich is one successful man. He must be; he has a stadium named after him.

The reason for that honor, though, is somewhat of an anomaly. His namesake stadium is home to the Pell City High School Panthers. He never lead his Pell City football team to the most wins of any coach. He did not even serve as head coach the longest. His fame is less about statistics and more about relationships.

His biggest victories are still being realized in the lives of the young men he inspired in his 34 years of coaching high school football. And those former football players, many whom are now retired from successful careers, say Coach Rich was a powerful force in shaping them into the people they are today.

Pell City High School jerseys, jackets and other memorabilia

On a Saturday afternoon, more than 50 former players and coaches gather at the Municipal Building. They’ve come from as far away as California and New Mexico to honor their former coach and mentor on his 88^th birthday. Just as they did in the lock room decades ago, the men form a huddle and Coach begins their time together by leading them in prayer.

One of those in the huddle was Alabama State Senator Lance Bell, who played nose guard from 1987 to 1989. Senator Bell read a resolution from the Alabama Legislature honoring Coach Rich for his many years of service to the people of Pell City and the astate of Alabama.

“Coach Rich was like a second father to me. He taught us about discipline and about life,” the senator remembers. He recalled a time that he suffered a significant injury to his knee during a game. “The call from Coach,” he said, “was the first phone call I received checking on me.”

“He was a father figure for all of us,” adds former tight end Leslie Smith. “He is bigger than life. I mean, the man still lifts weights at 88 years old!” Coach Rich has had that weight room at his home since he started coaching Pell City football in 1969. And it has always been open to any of his players.

“Coach truly saved my life,” chimes in Bobby Watson, tight end and linebacker from 1975 to 1978. “He got me into weightlifting when I was 18 years old,” he tells. “That habit saved me later in life, when, in 2014, I suffered a bilateral quad rupture. I was told I’d never walk again.” Watson credits Coach Rich with teaching him the value of strength training through weightlifting. Weightlifting, rehab exercises and sheer determination, he says, helped him to regain his mobility. Not only is he walking again, he is now a strength coach and weight strength coordinator for the Trussville YMCA.

Sammy Brown, played defensive end during the ’74-’75 season and again the next year. He gets emotional talking about Coach. “He was always open to listen. I could go to his house and sit outside with him and when I left, it felt like a huge burden was lifted. He cared so much about others.” When Brown later had a wife and children of his own, he said Coach would often come to his home after his own family Christmas and share in the Brown family celebration.

A hometown boy, Pete Rich grew up in the Avondale Mill Village, played football for Pell City High School, and worked at the mill during the summers. He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1957 and immediately started coaching football, baseball and basketball at Jones Valley High School.

He started coaching at Sylacauga High School in 1961, where he stayed for eight years. He returned to Pell City as head coach in 1969. After five years as head coach, Rich stepped down from head coach to spend more time directly with his players as defensive coordinator. Rich retired from coaching in 1991, having served on the coaching staff at Pell City High School for 22 years.

In total, he coached for more than three decades. In that time and since then, he has touched the lives of countless people, who consider him a friend and mentor.

His former players are devoted to him and, when you meet him, it’s easy to see why. When he’s involved in a conversation, he is committed to it. He does treat people as if they are the most special person in that moment. His sense of humor is part of his charm. He’ll often start a story off with “I ought not tell this …” and then chuckle as he tells it.

Coach admits to working his boys hard, but it was second nature to him. “I made sure my kids worked hard. It was just the way I was raised,” he says. “My mama always made sure I worked hard as a kid. I remember coming home from school one day and mama said to get ready because I was about to be picked up to go out and help plow the fields.”

Although he had plenty of opportunities to advance in the world of coaching, he was committed to his community and remained with Pell City High School.

He and his wife, Gwen, raised their two children, Lori (Billingsley) and Brian, in Pell City. “We always had people around the house, either visiting my dad or using the weight room,” says Brian. “It was like Grand Central Station, but it was good. Both Mom and Dad are great. I feel like I won the parent lottery with them!” Brian did play some football and basketball, but tennis turned out to be his best sport.

Former player Jerry Posey was not quite as lucky in his childhood experiences. His dad suffered from alcoholism and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Coach Rich, he says, was one of the first positive influences in his life. “I was from the housing project, and he was from the mill village,” said Posey. “He treated everyone the same. He was an unbelievable influence for me.”

As the lights come on and fans file into Pete Rich Stadium for Pell City home games this fall, just maybe some will think of the lessons Coach Rich taught. “Nobody’s more special than anybody else,” he said. “I’ve just always tried to make sure everybody felt equally special.”

That’s a win any way you look at it.

Features

Just Ride!

Cycling through St. Clair backroads well worth the trek

Story by Roxann Edsall
Submitted Photos

“Ride as much or as little, as long or as short as you feel. But ride.”

— Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist and five-time Tour de France winner

The popularity of biking, both traditional and E-biking, skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic as the need for social distancing peaked. Outdoor gear companies like Gadsden Outfitters report a leveling off of sales this year to a modest increase, more typical of pre-pandemic growth.

The newest trend gaining speed is gravel cycling. Sales of these gravel cycling bikes rose 109% from 2019 to 2021, according to New York Times. This sport is a bit of a mashup of both road biking and mountain biking. Despite its name, gravel cycling really encompasses riding on any surface that is not a paved road.

The bikes for gravel cycling feature the low gearing of mountain bikes with the lightweight frames of road bikes. The tires of a gravel bike are also narrower than those of a mountain bike.

The sport is popular with beginners because it is less technical than mountain biking and because gravel bikes are so versatile, they can be ridden almost anywhere.

“We’ve been looking at how to include the gravel rider in our events,” says Lloyd Maisonville, president of the Birmingham Bicycle Club. “It’s really up and coming as its own style of cycling. Many of our members have to travel a distance to do gravel events.”

Cyclists, whether their preference is gravel cycling, mountain biking or street riding, often list the adrenaline rush and beauty of the outdoors as motivators in their sport. And that ride often takes them on countryside treks through north St. Clair County to places like Ashville, Horse Pens 40, Chandler Mountain and St. Clair Springs.

Whatever the motivation, though, there is no doubt that cycling is a great low-impact aerobic activity. It’s also perfect both for those who want to be alone with nature and those who want to participate in cycling events with groups.

Nathan and Alex Tucker recently spent the day cycling at Oak Mountain State Park. The father/son duo list the trails there as some of their favorite in the state for biking.

“Oak Mountain has so many different trails. You’re always trying to do your best and get better and faster,” says Nathan. Alex agrees, adding that the variety of trails is good for all skill levels and different styles of riding.

There are many other options for cycling enthusiasts that include the Chief Ladiga Trail, Coldwater Mountain and Fort McClellan Multi-Use Trail, all in Anniston. In the Gadsden area, cyclists may want to visit the trails at Noccalula Falls Park. Other options include Red Mountain Park and Tannehill State Park.

This month, there are several events. The Eagle Rock Easter Classic is April 8 in Rainbow City and benefits Eagle Rock Boys’ Ranch. There is an event April 16 at Chief Ladiga Trail in Anniston. Bo Bikes Bama is April 22 in Auburn and benefits the Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund.

Get in touch with your local bike club for local rides. One such club is the Birmingham Bicycle Club (Bhambikeclub.org).

“We love hosting rides in St. Clair County,” says the BBC’s president. “The roads and scenery are safe and beautiful, and the drivers are very courteous. We can ride freely and safely, more so than on an inner-city type ride.”

The club’s century ride, the BBC 100, is one of the longest running bicycle events in the state. The ride is Sept. 9 and starts at Ashville High School. There are four routes, ranging from 25 miles to 100 miles, designed to appeal to the variety of riders and skill levels.

In its 50^th year of existence, the BBC has recovered from a pandemic membership dip, up to nearly 300 members and growing. Part of their revenue from ride fees goes to helping local communities and into educational efforts to promote cycling.

Editor’s Note: For more information on the club, go to: bhambikeclub.org

Features

Life in Pictures

Larry Krantz reflects on storied career as photographer, video editor, teacher

Story by Paul South
Photos by Graham Hadley
Submitted Photos

Captivating photography – the elegant art of light and shadow – is also about timing. The same could be said of Lawrence Krantz’s fourscore plus one years on earth.

The Logan Martin Lake resident’s life may be the most compelling you’ve never heard of, taking him from his Atlanta hometown to Hollywood and into the eye of the righteous hurricane of the Civil Rights movement. It took him to the lightning-fast advancement of technology at Apple and making photos and films with phones.

Harry Belafonte in a concert for the SCLC

He rubbed shoulders with icons – the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and legendary filmmaker Roger Corman. He snapped photos in the golden age of magazines for Life and Playboy, trained at Life and National Geographic and worked as a photojournalist for news agencies like the Associated Press and Black Star.

He chronicled national grief, photographing King’s 1968 funeral and influenced pop culture behind the scenes, as a film editor for a then-unknown chef, Alton Brown, on the upstart Food Network show, Good Eats.

Krantz, now 81, crossed paths with Henry Fonda on the MGM lot, came to know Richard Roundtree and worked on films like Sharky’s Machine and Blood of The Dragon.

When it comes to capturing light and shadow, Krantz, it seems, has seen it all.

“I’m just a guy who’s had some good opportunities,” he says. “And you know, I made something with it.”

Indeed, he did.

It all started with a box camera, a 13th birthday gift from an uncle and a chance encounter with a filmmaker at Isadore Krantz’s hardware store. As a kid, young Lawrence kept his ear tuned to the police radio. When a nearby house fire or other newsworthy event broke, the teen raced to the scene, snapping photos for The Atlanta Journal. Soon, with the Journal’s help, the teen was doing “ride alongs” with Atlanta police. He also shot local dances with his best friend.

“I was doing everything I could to make dollars so I could buy equipment,” he says. “My roots were photography, but I graduated to movies and television,” Krantz says.

Coretta Scott King, with Ralph D. Abernathy, at press conference, Atlanta, April 7, 1968

While working in his dad’s hardware store in the early 1960s, he met the photo and magazine journalist and novelist William Diehl, eventually becoming his apprentice. The two worked together for the next two decades.

Diehl authored nine novels, including Sharky’s Machine and Primal Fear, both made into films. Krantz worked with Diehl and Burt Reynolds, the star and director of Sharky’s Machine. In fact, Krantz inspired a character called “Nosh” – Yiddish for “Eat” – in Sharky’s Machine. “Anybody that knows me knows I like to eat,” Krantz said.

“I worked on independent movies and became an editor for Bill,” Krantz recalled. “I loved it.”

But while he shared the MGM lot with Elvis and Fonda, craning his neck to look for Fonda’s Woody station wagon in its parking space, it was not glitz and glamor.

“We were there to work,” Krantz recalls. “At lunchtime, there were people who would stop by to see Bill and meet him. He garnered the notoriety.”

Still, for Krantz, it was a heady time. The pair often ate in the MGM commissary, rubbing shoulders with veteran actor James Hong, known today to a new generation of viewers for his roles in Seinfeld and The Big Bang Theory, as well as the director Roger Corman, who influenced noted directors Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, the late Peter Bogdanovich, Quentin Tarantino and Ron Howard.

Of Corman, Krantz says, “We knew Roger. He had this knack for making low-budget movies that made a lot of money. He was about making money.”

We would buy footage from events like speedboat races but hire different actors for close-up scenes. With the help of James Hong, Diehl bought a martial arts film from Hong Kong, looking to cash in the on martial arts madness of the 1970s.

“That’s what Bill wanted to do,” Krantz recalls. “He wanted to ride on the coattails of Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon.”

The result was a Diehl film called, Return of the Dragon, an overdubbed film without Bruce Lee, but with a low budget and big box office. Call the film a mix of Shane meets martial arts.

“Bill made a lot of money on that,” Krantz says.

Diehl and Krantz first worked together in Atlanta, in the early days of Atlanta magazine, where they collaborated with the late Southern novelist and Auburn alumna, Anne Rivers Siddons.

“They were great times,” Krantz says.

The pair’s pre-Hollywood work in the 1960s took a different path. Krantz accompanied his mentor to south Georgia for the United States Information Agency, where they photographed young civil rights workers being trained to face the crackle and spark, verbal and physical abuse they would face in the segregated South.

“It changed my life,” Krantz says.

“Bill and Dr. King took a liking to each other, and Bill volunteered our services to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. That included all of us.”

Krantz dined twice at the King home in Atlanta. And he would walk with the famous and the everyday to King’s earthly resting place.

It was a small slice of Krantz’s remarkable career. But it was nonetheless important. The memories of “Whites Only” water fountains are burned in his memory.

“Growing up in Atlanta, it was very segregated like Birmingham. (The work) changed me.”

He remembers one meal, when he asked King why he tried so hard to achieve racial equality, when eventually it was going to happen.

“He said, ‘Larry, I would like to see it in my time and not in my grandchildren’s time.’ That I remember.”

Krantz has lived to see King’s dream move toward reality. “I feel very fortunate to have seen that,” he says.

Krantz and Diehl took different paths for a period, but the two would reunite in Atlanta for independent film work. He made award winning commercials at Jayan Productions with nationally known director Jimmy Collins. Later, Krantz would work for the Food Network, Turner Classic Movies and other television shows. After a four-year PBS show, Krantz joined Apple for more than a decade in the early days of digital photography and filmmaking. He still feels the excitement.

Now, even in retirement with his wife, Mary Esther, Krantz is at work, doing film editing for Dovetail Landing, a veteran residential community dedicated to transitioning veterans in Alabama located in Lincoln and for the new Museum of Pell City.

“I feel like I’ve been reawakened from my slumber. It’s exciting.” For Museum of Pell City, Krantz is helping edit interviews for its Living History program. He not only wants to celebrate the town’s past, but the present and future, training schoolchildren to become filmmakers with their seemingly ever-present Smartphone. For Krantz, there’s always another story to tell.

And of his life in light, shadow and time, “We were learning as we were going. I didn’t learn from school. I learned being in the trenches, on the job. And everything we did had to work. I was excited by that. I’ve had a great career,” he said.

“Life gives you opportunities, and when you get them, you have to go with them.”

Features

Moody growth soaring

Inviting, small-town feel a big draw

Story by Linda Long
Photos by David Smith, Discover Staff and submitted

In the shadow of Birmingham’s metropolitan region is what had been seen as just another small Alabama town – a crossroads people passed through to get somewhere else.

Those days are quickly fleeting with Moody soaring to Number 1 on the growth charts while managing to hold on to its small-town appeal.

It is warm, inviting and a quiet escape from the frantic busyness of city life, and its population underscores that notion with its replacement of Pell City (albeit by a few residents) as St. Clair County’s largest city.

On an early morning in March, the quiet is punctuated with the raucous sound of a jackhammer. Across the way, a dump truck lumbers along to the beeping of that monotonous warning signal. The buzz of a power saw joins the chorus. Noise to some, perhaps, but to Moody Mayor Joe Lee it’s the sound of music.

“We’re actually the largest municipality in St. Clair County now,” said Lee. “According to the latest census, we beat out Pell City. We beat them by just a few, but we are the largest.”

If the Mayor sounds proud, it’s with good reason. His city is experiencing a surge in industrial, commercial and residential growth, unlike any other in the town’s history. Ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings, grand openings are all signs of the times.

It’s hard to keep up with some days, said Lee, adding that Moody’s unprecedented growth spurt can be summed up in a single word – location.

“We have easy access to I-20. Turn right and you go to Birmingham and all the activities there. Go left, and you head toward Pell City, the Honda plant and the Talladega Speedway. We’re also convenient for folks to live here to go outside the city to work.”

Couple the city’s location with the city’s ownership of large and small commercial properties having interstate and major highway visibility and/or access, and it’s a winning combination for prospective business and residents.

One such property under development is a 60,00-square-foot family entertainment center off I-20. The center boasts a trampoline park, an arcade and a 16-lane bowling alley. Fall of 2024 is the projected opening date.

The entertainment center sits on acreage where “we think it will help us promote the rest of the property where it’s built, here at the crossroads. The area is built for outparcels

Two coffee shops are new in town. 7 Brews, a national chain, opened on March 6 and is located on the Moody Parkway, featuring only drive through service. Moody Chamber of Commerce Director Andrea Machen has observed that so far, business there has been “very good.”

Also debuting on the coffee scene is Starbucks, set to open on June 6. It will feature its traditional drive-through and in-house service. Appropriately enough Dunkin’ Donuts has opened nearby.

Making old new again, the mayor said, “We’ve also back-filled a 25-year-old shopping with the Fresh Value grocery store. It’s the old shopping center, where Fred’s used to be here at the crossroads. We expect more development. There are many possibilities in that shopping center. The developer is already looking at one potential investment.”

While business development is going gangbusters, residential development is not far behind.

According to Lee, 425 new homes have been built in recent years. Presently, seven subdivisions are under construction, and 137 lots are left for development.

“People are looking at Moody all the time to open new residential subdivisions,” said Lee. “So, that market will continue.

Also under construction “even as we speak,” said Lee, “is a new 18,000 square foot Moody police station.” It will house Moody’s 30-member police force.

The city has taken on several ambitious infrastructure projects, including a $7 million sewer system, which will double its present capacity. “We had to have it to take care of the growth,” said Lee.

Plans also call for four major road improvements, including $2.2 million in improvements at County Road 10 and US 411. This project will provide turn lanes and traffic signals to upgrade Moody’s main crossroads.

Other projects will upgrade the intersections at Highway 411 and Kerr Road and Washington and Verbena. “These upgrades will improve traffic flow into the city. We’ve got to do that,” Lee said.

Perhaps the crown jewel in all this expansion is Kelly Creek Commerce Park – the only facility of its kind in St. Clair County, the mayor said. Undeniably, the park is big – 172 acres with 1.4 million square feet of building space. According to Lee, “the site is ready to lease.”

When completed the new commercial park is expected to bring with it 600 new jobs.

Those are the kind of stats Machen likes to hear. “Those 600 new jobs are what will keep our people right here in Moody and St. Clair County, so they don’t have to go outside to work. There may be some job transfers so people can be close to home and close to their kids.”

While there are no tenants yet for the park, Machen said, the ribbon has just been cut, and “we are working to fill it right now.”

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