Dean Poling
VALDOSTA — Local entertainer Jim Hall passed away last week after a short battle with cancer.
A memorial service is planned for him this weekend.
Hall, 51, died Thursday at Langdale Hospice House, after battling cancer that had spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs, lymph nodes, renal glands, and bones.
His Stage 4 cancer diagnosis came in June, with a diagnosis that he might have three years. Later, he learned his chances were more like four to five months.
Born James Albert Hall, he became known to generations of locals as Mad Jim Hall. A nickname he picked up many years ago, which he turned into a signature along with the top hat he often wore while singing, playing guitar, deejaying and leading karaoke in numerous South Georgia and North Florida clubs.
Having grown up in Washington, D.C., Hall considered a move to St. Augustine to play music, when, in 1981, he discovered Valdosta.
He played places like the Deli Bar, Hoagie’s, the Mill House, usually just him, a microphone and his guitar. In those early years, he often played for small audiences, occasionally no audience at all.
“In Valdosta, you have a lot of talented musicians,” Hall said in a previous interview. “For the size of this market, Valdosta is blessed with a lot of good musicians and has been for years. When I arrived, you had all of these great musicians; they had all grown up together, went to school together, played together for years. That was tough to break into.”
During the days, for several years, Hall worked in a hardware store. He worked in sheet metal and wiring. For a few years, he worked at a local television station. At nights, he played in local clubs. Several hours a day, he practiced his guitar. He learned songs. He integrated rising computer technology into his shows and to support his act; he created the pre-MySpace Mad Jim’s Place on the Internet to promote his and other local musicians’ shows.
For a while, he carried business cards that read: Jim Hall Entertainer.
In pursuing his music, Jim Hall lived like he wanted to live. To do that, he remained true to an important lesson: Give the audience what it wants.
If a person requested a song, Hall either played it because he already knew it, played part of it, attempted it, or promised to know it within a day or two. It is a promise he consistently kept. He joined a few bands here and there through the years, but a typical Jim Hall show consisted of himself with the audience as his band.
“I’ve always focused on what the audience wanted,” he said. If the audience wants to sing, let them sing. If the audience wants to hear a song, play the song. “A lot of musicians complain about requests for ‘Brown-Eyed Girl,’ but if that’s what the audience wants, you’d better give it to them.”
Hall also briefly produced a local karaoke television show. The first Gulf war inspired him to write the song “Fighting For Freedom.”
In August, nearly 20 bands performed in a benefit concert called a Tribute to Mad Jim Hall.
He is survived by his companion and the love of his life, Debbie Ervin; father and mother, Jim and Beverly Hall; sister, Jill M. Hall; sisters and brothers-in-law, Scott and Jan Cain, Austin and Stacy Shepard, Andy and Kathy Meredith; two nieces, six nephews. He was preceded in death by a brother, Mark Hall.
A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, First United Methodist Church, 220 N. Patterson St., with the Rev. Bob Moon officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Langdale Hospice House or the American Cancer Society.
