No. 19 Vol. 7
www.mypaperonline.com
July 2021
Former Denville Musician Plays 80 Nashville Venues in 24 Hours
J
By Steve Sears ames Hatem’s manager knew and saw it: the Jersey spunk. “My manager came up to me and he said, ‘I think you’re the only guy that’s crazy enough to try to do this.’ He didn’t even tell me what it was, you know; he thought of the idea.” His manager laid out the terms. “I was the only one that was going to be playing for 800 minutes out of this day, and it was really an endurance exercise.” Still, Hatem gave him a definitive, “Yes.” The 30-year-old Hatem, a former Denville native now transplanted in Nashville, Tennessee, in April carried his acoustic guitar and played 80 venues in the music-strong city in 24 hours, all to support the entertainment and service industries. And he may even get his name in the Guinness Book of World Records. The previous best was 65 venues. The prestigious organization was still reviewing Hatem’s feat at the time of this article’s writing. “We’ve sent everything to Guinness,” he says excitedly. “We have over 30 hours of footage, we had the witness statements - there needed to be two witnesses at each show. So we had 160 witness statements.” Hatem was required to play 10 minutes at each venue. Profits received were split down the middle between two non-profits. “What we wanted to do is raise money for the venues through the Music Venue Alliance of Nashville (MVAN). So, we partnered up to get as much money to these venues as possible, to help them in any way to keep the lights on, and the other half of our money that we raised went to United States Bartenders Guild’s Nashville location, because a lot of bartenders there were out of work. We wanted to support the venues and the people that are on the property.” Hatem, who has a Associate’s degree in Classical Guitar from County College of Morris and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Belmont University, raised $3,500 for his endeavor. A future documentary is in the plans which will be shown at theaters in “Music City,” and the purchased ticket for the documentary can be used to attend a James Hatem full band set show. “Then we’re going to open the donation link up again because then our awareness would be brought to it again,” Hatem says, “trying to raise even more money next year for the venues, because of just how much they lost during this time.” In order to both plan and accomplish what he did, Hatem agrees: the “Jersey” still in him gave him the strength to move forward. “I love where I came from,” he says. “Always. There’s something special about New Jersey. I went to a city that just had a little bit more, I guess, opportunities for me,
Margaret A.“Peggy” Lefsky Broker/Sales Associate
973-727-0795 Cell 973-263-0400 Office PegLefsky@aol.com but I will always be a Jersey guy. I think being from Jersey, you learn how to be tough at an early age. You kind of had to muscle through jokes. You really get thick skin and you really get an attitude of like, ‘You know, I’m going to do this whether you want me to or not, whether you think I can or not.’ It’s kind of that Jersey spunk, that Jersey attitude.” The planning started in November 2020 and went all the way up to the 9th of April. “The planning for the venues and the traffic and the driving - I was working with a team of about 10 people, and it really was a full team effort to set up, getting to the venues, setting out like the tracking and the routing to get to the venues, to making sure that the pathway was clear, that the area was checked out. It was from November to April - the day of April 9 when we did it we were still planning, still trying to get it figured out.” He got it done. “It was it was one of those things where I didn’t believe that it was actually the last one,” he says of his final gig in the 24 hours. “It was such a long day by that point. My first gig was at 5:45 a.m. on Friday, and I went straight through until 2 a.m. on Saturday.” He was amazed his voice held up, but he still feels the event ramifications in another spot. “Even right now, on my fingers, I’m seeing the remains of some of the blisters. Yeah, just the dead skin, and it’s pretty wild.” Hatem, a 2010 graduate of Morris Knolls High School who is a huge fan of Billy Joel, has some nice things coming up. “I do have some recordings, and we’re very excited to be releasing them hopefully by the end of this year. Definitely 2022 is going to be a very busy year with music.” For more information about James Hatem and his music, visit www.jameshatem.com.
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