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From Margaritaville: Jimmy takes time out from planning the set list for his upcoming concerts to join his friend Miles to take you on a tour around the new Margaritaville Online game!

Margaritaville® Online™ is officially LIVE! Invite your friends to grab a frozen concoction and live the tropical island dream online. Play laid-back mini games, explore lush islands, and party with your friends. It’s not just a game… it’s a lifestyle!

Margaritaville Online is an everyday escape to a virtual tropical paradise inspired by the lifestyle of author and singer-songwriter, Jimmy Buffett. Friends party and play in the islands in a stunningly immersive 3D world filled with margaritas, music and adventure. Live the island dream as you build your beach oasis and search for adventure in your own private tropical paradise. Leave your cares behind as you serve up frozen concoctions to your friends from your very own island beach bar. Explore lush islands, white sandy beaches and azure blue seas in search of forgotten treasure aboard your very own boat. Play games, swap fish stories and share your tropical adventures with all your Facebook friends and fellow islanders.

Play the game now on Facebook, also available for iPad and iPhone.

A tribute to Ralph MacDonald was held on Monday January 16th in Stamford CT. From the Stamford Advocate: “Stamford artist remembered”

Family and friends of the late Ralph MacDonald gathered at Stamford’s Palace Theatre on Monday night to honor the Grammy Award-winning percussionist and composer with an evening of personal remembrances and musical performances. MacDonald, a longtime Stamford resident, died Dec. 18 of lung cancer. He was 67. Many of the artists MacDonald worked with over the years took to the stage to perform his music, including Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band, Stamford’s Dennis Collins, and Valerie Simpson, Roberta Flack and Bobbi Humphrey. As a producer, performer and songwriter, MacDonald earned multiple Grammys, including for “Calypso Breakdown” and “`Just The Two of Us.” Along with songwriter William Salter, he wrote “Where is The Love,” which earned Flack and Donny Hathaway a Grammy.

Also a short clip from Ralph’s funeral

The launch date for the new Margaritaville Online Game has changed. It was originally scheduled for release on January 18th, and it has been pushed a week to January 25th due to iPad and iPhone store releases from Apple. The game will receive premium placement on the Facebook games dashboard page.

From Margaritaville.com: Jimmy was at the wildcard game on January 7th to see the New Orleans defeat the Detroit Lions, and took in some football from the sidelines. Check out his video commentary from the Who Dat Nation!

From American Songwiter: Matt Hoggatt took first place in the American Songwriter Lyric Contest with the song “Dear Jimmy Buffett”.

“Dear Jimmy Buffett” is an open letter of sorts – how did you come to write it?

I live in the town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where Jimmy Buffet grew up, so we share the same stomping ground. He was one of the first songwriters I started studying and listening to as a kid. Oftentimes the songs I was writing were compared to his work, and I thought it would be funny to be playing in a bar one day and have him walk in and hear me singing about him. Later in life, I thought about writing him a letter and telling him all the things I was thinking, but if I turned that letter into a song, it would be 30 minutes long. I had to whittle it down to three minutes, and that’s where “Dear Jimmy Buffett” came from.

From Louisville.com: “Jimmy Buffett to play KFC Yum! Center on March 3”

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will perform at the KFC! Yum Center Sat., March 3. Tickets for the jinglefest go on sale next Friday (January 13th). Buffett, of course, is best known for his chain of high-priced restaurants your parents go to when they’re going wild on vacation.

From the Washington Post: “Jiffy Lube Live lifts tailgating ban”

Jiffy Lube Live, the 25,000-capacity concert venue in Bristow said Wednesday that it is lifting the tailgate ban it enacted last year, a decision that irritated concert-goers who ventured to see performances from Jimmy Buffett, Lil Wayne, Stevie Nicks, Kid Rock and others in 2011.

Jiffy Lube Live, which is owned and operated by concert promotion colossus Live Nation, says that the decision was inspired by their patrons’ unhappiness over the ban.

“Fan feedback is critical to help improve our operations and create the best possible concert experience for our fans,” Matt Rogers, the venue’s general manager, said in an email. “The decision was made after listening to our fans and doing our due diligence.”

“With the new policy and guidelines, we want nothing more than to work with our fans to create a safe and friendly “pre-concert” environment,” he said.

So here are the rules. Grills will now be allowed. Tents and canopies will still be forbidden. Driving aisles must be kept clear of chairs and tables. And members of the Prince William County police, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and Jiffy Lube Live staff will continue to enforce a ban on open alcohol containers in the parking lot. Underage drinking will also be targeted aggressively, Rogers said.

A couple more shows have been confirmed at Margaritaville.com:

Tuesday, February 28th
Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center – Tallahassee, FL
Tickets go on sale January 13th!

Friday, March 30th
1-800 Ask Gary Amphitheatre – Tampa, FL
Tickets go on sale January 14th!

From TicketMaster:
Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band
BJCC Arena
Birmingham, AL
Sat, Feb 25, 2012 07:00 PM

Onsale to General Public
Start: Sat, 01/14/12 10:00 AM CST
US $36.00 – US $126.00

A new show in North Little Rock Arkansas in March has been confirmed by TicketMaster:
Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band
Verizon Arena (formerly Alltel Arena)
North Little Rock, AR
Thu, Mar 1, 2012 08:00 PM

Onsale to General Public via TicketMaster
Start: Sat, 01/14/12 10:00 AM CST

More information is avaiable at Inarkansas.com

Jimmy Buffett performed at Baz Bar on St Barts on Monday December 26th. He played “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (Rolling Stones cover) and a St Barts version of “Volcano” with the Tomas Doncker Band.