Yo! Records makes music to help youth

By Claude Chavis, Jr.
Staff Writer

A local organization is making music to make up for the budget cuts it recently suffered.

Palmer Prevention, Inc., a nonprofit drug prevention organization, lost 75 percent of its funding for the 2005-2006 year, according to Director Tom Norton. In an effort to make up the budget shortfall, Norton is personally running YO! Records studio in Pembroke.

Photo by Claude Chavis Jr. Tom Norton, director of Palmer Prevention, working in the YO! studio.

YO! Records studio was built with grant money from the Lumber River Council of Governments (COG). The studio is used in a program that allows youths to record their own music.

"COG has allowed us to keep the equipment, to still provide services to kids," Norton said.

Norton is currently producing a CD featuring Lumbee artists. The CD has a working title "Pride of The Lumbee." It will contain 10 tracks, including traditional Lumbee songs and some original songs written for the winners of this summer's Lumbee Talent Search.

The songs selected for the CD are intended to preserve the rich local heritage of the Lumbee tribe and raise social consciousness by highlighting local social concerns.

"It's with the idea that we wanted to do something for the tribe, to help the unity of the tribe and bring people from other counties to feel like they're a part of the tribe," Norton said.

The proceeds from sales of the CD will support the Youth Opportunities Program.

"We can come out with a CD and sell it among the tribal members to at least pay the rent," Norton said.

Norton plans to raise a little more money by renting the recording studio to local bands and drum groups. Any local group can rent the YO! Records studio with its computerized systems for $50 an hour to record their own CDs.

Norton emphasized the need for the groups to be ready to record when they show up.

"At $50 an hour, unless you're Aerosmith, you don't want to rent the studio to practice," Norton said.

Norton said the budget cut has greatly affected Palmer Prevention. The agency, which has an office in Pembroke and one in Lumberton, served about 5,000 people last year, Norton said. Last year, however, Norton had a staff of 18. This year, the staff had to be whittled down to 11.

Norton is trying to get back part of Palmer’s funding by appealing the United Way's $5,000 budget cut.

This year's financial difficulty forced Norton to close down one of the organization's programs. The program, Teen Court, was an alternative system for justice for first-time teenage offenders. Now, Norton said, delinquent teens will have no other option besides jail time.

To rent the YO! Records studio, call (910) 522-0421 or e-mail: palmeryorecords!@aol.com.