JUDAS PRIEST - Nostradamus Fanatic Meets Band In Cleveland!
July 16, 2009, 14 years ago
John Petkovic from Cleveland.com is reporting:
Jim "Nostradamus" Bartek never could have predicted this.
The 49-year-old Maple Heights resident has parlayed about 1,000 hours of headbanging into 15 minutes of fame.
Bartek, you see, has listened to the same album at least once a day for 391 consecutive days.
His future was determined June 17, 2008. That's when JUDAS PRIEST - released Nostradamus, an album dedicated to the 16th-century seer who is credited with prophesying cataclysmic events.
"I listened to it twice that day," Bartek said. "Which is a lot when you consider it's an hour and 45 minutes long."
Not when you consider how many times he has listened since -- at least once, sometimes twice, even three times a day. The streak gained momentum on day 30, when Bartek mentioned it to Bill Peters, a heavy-metal DJ on WJCU FM/88.7.
"Heavy metallers are a little out there," Peters said. "But listening to the same album every day? Even crazier, a double album?"Peters started having Bartek on his show to update listeners on the streak.
"People were like, 'Whoa, who is this guy?' " Peters said.
Bartek is a cause celebre among metalheads.
"He's been written about all over the world," Peters said. "He's kind of getting famous."But behind the music, Bartek is a regular guy. He works in a parts room of a truck shop. He lives with his dog. And he likes to fish.
That's not to say fame hasn't affected him.
"The guys at work call me Nostradamus and keep asking me, 'When is this gonna end?' " said Bartek, who refrains from offering a prophecy. "But they've been very supportive through it all."When Bartek's boxer, Clarence, "hears me putting it on, he curls up on the same spot on the couch and listens with me," Bartek said. "That's what's so great about 'Nostradamus'; you can listen over and over again and always hear something new."
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