Avuncular, cardigan-wearing tenor Jim Noste would no doubt
have loved to have been the Val Doonican of New Jersey, if only he knew who
that was.
Born in Newark, after serving his country in World War II, in
1948 James C. Noste founded the business that would consume the rest of his
life. A graduate of Montclaire State University, he began trading in home improvement
supplies in 1948, before opening the doors on his store in 1953. Jim would
spend almost half a century ‘at the helm of one of New Jersey’s most successful
and reliable Home Improvement Center’ (according to the sleeve notes of his
second LP Jim Noste in “Songs For You” Album Two), remaining the boss (“Mr
Home”, as his desk nameplate proudly boasted) until his death in March 1997. Although
much of Jim’s day was spent running the Island Home Center, he also made time
for others; in the early years of the business he continued to teach business studies
part-time at the Somerville High School, and in his later years he was a volunteer
at the Cornell Hall Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Cranford and at other
nursing homes in the area.
Selling everything from windows and doors to power tools and
furniture Noste’s business, the Island Home Center, was so named because it was
situated on an island in the middle of Route 22. But home improvement was not enough
for our Jim: fancying himself a bit of a song stylist, sometime towards the end
of the 70s or early 80s he booked time at Shelby Singleton’s Studio in Nashville,
Tennessee (not the Sun studio in Memphis, as you may read elsewhere: Singleton bought Sun from Sam Philips and moved the whole business to Nashville sometime before Jim went there) to record a bunch of jazz standards and popular songs, with the idea
of giving albums away to his regular customers. His Sun sessions yielded material
enough for his debut LP Jim Noste in “Songs For You”. At some point not
too long afterwards he took part in a second session, this time at Powerplay
Studios, to record his second opus, Jim Noste in “Songs For You” Album Two.
That particular album was mastered at New Jersey’s Trutone Records and featured
mostly local talent, including Dave la Rue, bass player with rock band Dixie
Dregs.
Very much a family concern, after Jim’s death the business
was taken over by his son, James J Noste: sadly, after more than half a century
of serving the local community the Island Home Center is now closed for good. He
was survived by his wife, Lee, their three children, and his two (or possibly
three) fantastic albums.
Here’s Jim senior with a couple of examples of his art, one
from each album. From , Jim Noste in “Songs For You” it’s We’ve Only Just
Begun and, from Jim Noste in “Songs For You” Album Two, the
opening track Blue Heaven Medley.
Enjoy!
Download Begun HERE
Download Heaven HERE
There are actually at least four Jim Noste albums. I found "Songs For You", Vol. 3 and Vol. 4 ("Mostly Italian") on cassette. They were produced by Disc Makers in philadelphia in 1994 and 1995, respectively. They were made on Chrome tape!
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