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Update: A video of Jimmy talking about the Oil Spill in the Gulf is available at WLOX.com
From The Tampa Tribune: “Jimmy Buffett pressing ahead with Pensacola Beach hotel”
He’s survived hurricanes, an airplane crash and being shot at in Jamaica, so Jimmy Buffett isn’t about to let a little oil stop him from opening his first hotel here in a couple of weeks.
With the national media descending upon Pensacola Beach to show images of tar balls by the thousands washing up on the white sands, Buffett dropped by with Gov. Charlie Crist to share another message.
“I thought I could lend a hand and tell people that the sky is not falling,” the singer-songwriter said this morning. “I’m always an optimist. Handle a crisis and go on.”
The biggest oil spill ever in the United States is presenting a world of trouble for Gulf Coast states, including Florida. Hotels are getting more cancellations and those who make their living on the water are facing hard times.
But Buffett insisted that the uncertainty over how bad the Gulf of Mexico gusher will get in Florida won’t affect his first foray into the hotel business. His Margaritaville Beach Hotel is set to open July 1 on the site of a Holiday Inn wiped out by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
“We’re going to be open for business come hell or high water,” said Buffett, his words almost sounding like a song. “We go through hardships in life. People in the Panhandle are a tough people. We go clean it up and we get on with our lives.”
His appearance with the governor created quite the scene. People stopped him – Buffett, not Crist – for an autograph and to pose for pictures. Several thanked Buffett for what he’s doing on the Emerald Coast with his hotel.
“God bless him for being here,” Crist said.
Buffett said he planned to be in town for a job fair today at the hotel, where earlier 1,000 people showed up to apply for 40 positions. He joked about not knowing how many rooms the place has, saying he’s only been involved in the project for the past six weeks and hasn’t had time to count them all. He said he was trying to make sure the hotel had all the cool things, such as a Ping-Pong table.
June 5th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Jimmy . God Bless you.
June 5th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Missing a t yo
June 5th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
We heard from our good friends that live next to the new Margaritaville Beach Hotel, they told us that Jimmy Buffett has ordered his favorite Key Lime Pies from “Kutchie’s Key West Kutcharitaville Cafe’s to serve too all of his guests at his “Big Grand Opening” on July the First. They also said that “Mr. Buffett” has plans to serve “Kutchie’s World Famous Key Lime Pie” in the Hotel’s Restaurant. That sounds like a great idea, “Kutchie’ Pelaez’s” Key Lime Pies are “Awesome”. I guess, the next thing that we’ll hear is that, “Jimmy Buffett” will start selling “Kutchie’s Goody Goodys”, “The World’s Greatest Cheese Burgers”. Who Knows, ya can’t believe just anything ya hear these days, nothing surprises me anymore. Who ever though that we would be having this Huge Oil Spill going on in our Great Country and President Obama flying down there all the time. It must be keeping Google, Yahoo, Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, MSNBC and BP very busy. Coach John Wooden played this one right, the Legend is now in Heaven, no oil spills there. I guess it keeps the media off of Sarah Palin’s back for a while. Sometimes I wonder what “Dinnis Hopper’s” thoughts might have been about all this? I’ll watch Bill O’Reilly and Glen Beck next week to see what they have to say about this. Just when we need “The Golden Girls” to make some sense of all this mess, look what just happened, Betty White is left to keep the light on. Does this poor economy or the Democrats or Republicans even give a Damn? Is Jimmy Buffett trying to get as rich as Warren Buffett? Does anything other than the Bible make any sense? I guess not. Good luck Mr. Buffett with your new beach hotel, you’ll need it. And your decision to serve Kutchie’s Key Lime Pies is a very Wise One.
LeAnn McDonald
June 6th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Some irony here. Environmentalist Buffett’s mega casino and resort may be impacted by the greed of an oil corporation. Could this be greed on a collision course? Where is Mullett Fingers from Hoot when you need him? I’m guessing that kid would prefer to dump Jimmy’s mega resort for the “goober” tourists as well as close down the oil companies drilling operations
Hey JB, Save the Manatee or build another lame resort? Did you even watch your movie Hoot.
June 6th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Kind of makes you wonder Dave doesn`t it?All I know is don`t question anything Jimmy does on Buffettnews because if you do you will get slammed.People here aren`t objective.I could add Jimmy doesn`t give a Hoot what you or I think but that would be blasphemous to the people here.Actually Jimmy probably does care what we think ,When I say we I mean in the Collective sense because we buy into his Mythical Margaritaville Beach Bumb Persona.We buy concert tickets and his stuff,T Shirts,Beer,Tequila,and all his other stuff most of it made in China.Because you and me and Crawfish question what Jimmy is about we get crapped on.On 60 Minutes CBS Jimmy said directly to his fans Get a Life it`s all make believe.Jimmy you could do so much more for the world at large with your influence and wealth than your doing.
June 6th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Lindsay,
Thanks for your comments: They will be censored soon, as will mine. Buffett really isn’t relevant any longer anyhow, except maybe to drunken frat rats and “goober tourists”. He is an old man that has sold out and is now part of the Yuppie/Baby Boomer problem. However, what we still have is what he started. The love of travel and meeting cool folks around the world, especially in the tropics. Have a cerveza and plan your next trip. All the greed merchants like Buffett still can’t stop us from seeing the cool places. Just stay out of Margaritaville and head for the Far Side of the World just leave Jimmy behind.
June 7th, 2010 at 5:47 am
Yawn!!! Lindsay you could be the most pathetic person on earth. You need to get a life, perhaps in a communist country where they tell everyone what to do with their money. I will repeat this is America, which means you are free to be an idiot and JB is free to spend his money how he sees fit. No one is forcing anyone to see his shows, buy his merchandise, etc. Jimmy gives more to charity than most of the artists out there, my guess is many times the amount you draw from welfare. See Jimmy does a lot that you anti-capitalists don’t understand. What does this country need right now? Jobs, get jobs. That is what makes the world go round. So what happens we you open a hotel, resort, restaurant? People get jobs and the economy gets better. In your world he would just give it all to some charity or to a bird with oil on it and that somehow is better than creating jobs.
What I don’t understand is why you continue to visit this site and peddle your non-sense. You don’t question what JB is about you tell him what he should or shouldn’t do, big difference. Most of us have had our beefs with one thing or another he has done over the year’s but we don’t sit here and incessantly whine about every disaster that happens on the earth and somehow decide he should fix it. Go get on Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, all of these libs in Hollywood that make 20 million bucks a picture, just go. We get it, you don’t like JB, you think you know better how to spend his money than he does. I don’t respond this way to you b/c I am not objective, far from it I respond this way in hopes you will either learn some objectivity or you will simply crawl under the rock from which you came and go away. This is not the forum for this.
June 7th, 2010 at 7:16 am
Hey Rusty,
Some of what you say I’m with you on, there is nothing wrong with making a buck. But calling people “libs” here is silly: Buffett is a Democrat. What I’m talking about is blatant inconsistency. He hated the hotel development on Tank island, has been astrong enviro for years and made a kids movie busting on developments (nice soundtrack by the way). I don’t know what your issue is with Lindsay as I have never been on this site before but when I read in the paper he built this monster just had to post.
Good luck getting over your obvious hatred of those you disagree with.
June 7th, 2010 at 7:55 am
Jimmy is “for profit” everybody knows that
June 7th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Dave,
Don’t hate anyone. The lib reference was to Hollywood, are you going to break news here and tell me they aren’t? Yes JB is a Democrat but he is also a capitalist, which clearly Lindsay is not. If you had been around here you would know that. Every time something happens in the world, from Haiti, to Nashville, now to this oil slick, Lindsay(not sure if guy or girl with that name or it’s behavior)
chimes in that Jimmy needs to do this, he should do more, blah blah blah. It gets old and I along with most people on this site are sick of hearing it. There is never a solution offered, never a comment about thanks JB for donating to this cause, it is always “why don’t you do more?” When I say always, I mean always.
You make a valid point about his opposition to the certain developments, I think this one is different in that it is a rebuild of property destroyed by a hurricane, it was going up whether he did it or not. Now you can argue that he still should not participate if he is going to be true to his environmental ways, I would argue he is being true to his capitalist ways and by owning the property he can control what happens to that piece of the environment in ways he could not if someone else owned it.
You sort of lose steam with your “obvious hatred of those you disagree” comment. Nothing could be further from the truth. I like a good discussion, with an exchange of ideas. It is just hard to tolerate the same person over and over, every disaster after every disaster having to find some way to tell JB how to spend his money. As he has said on many occasions, he is “spending our money foolishly”. We have all spent our money freely on his stuff and it is his to do as he pleases, fortunately he gives lots of it and his time away, just not enough for Lindsay. Who btw, never talks about how he/she spent her weekends volunteering helping in any of these places that have had disasters or locally with Habitat or his/her church, etc. So you see that is my beef. He/she is a fricking hypocrite and doesn’t walk the talk. It gets tiresome being lectured by someone who is part of the problem and not part of the solution.
So Dave, welcome to the site. Hope you stick around, it is a great resource and there are some very cool people on this site. There are also a couple of village idiots but I guess that is life.
Cheers and have a great week!!
RB
June 7th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Rusty,
Looks like I stepped into the middle of something with a history so will chill. I have to agree though, better Buffett than Trump. Oh well, everyone has issues but still like the music and some of the books. Don’t care much for the merchandise or the bars and restaurants as I prefer more of a Captain Tony’s to a Sloppy Joe’s, at least as I remember them in Key West a long time ago. Anyhow, nice chatting but I’m really not much for these internet discussion things so I’m outta here. Have a good one.
June 8th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
CENSORSHIP
June 8th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
He has become such a sellout.
June 10th, 2010 at 8:04 am
It use to be fun at one time.
As long as he tours, people will flock to him and spend their money.
If you guys really want a good laugh, check out the Meeting of the Minds in Key West.
They do a lot of good for different organizations throughout the year.
But man when they get together in November, they just look sad
June 11th, 2010 at 11:20 am
thanks for posting the video. maybe now that JB has explained what he is doing and funding that will be acceptable to all the cynics.
June 13th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Nope. Look what Drew Brees and the Saints did for NO and what they are planning for the coast. Putting their money and muscle to the cause. Not just a fly in for the cameras. Real work. You won’t see bubba get his hands dirty.
June 13th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
And what exactly did you do loser?
June 15th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Oh inteligent retort there Rusty.
The point the poster was trying to make was, it is easy to just write a check.
Celebs get the airtime and the ink, while there are so many that give of their labor to solve the problems.
June 16th, 2010 at 5:53 am
Actually the poster was responding to the previous post that stated “now that JB has explained what he was doing” maybe this would get the cynics of his back. My response was to the first word, Nope, as in him explaining what he was doing was still not good enough for My Name b/c he didn’t actually get his hands dirty.
It seems people are quick to want to criticize JB for whatever he does, it wasn’t fast enough, it wasn’t enough money, he didn’t get his hands dirty, etc. So unless you are also My Name, guess we don’t really know what point the poster was trying to make. Pretty clear on my point though, if everyone that spent their time complaining about what JB does and does not do would actually take that time and help with some of the problems out there the world would be a better place. If you think it is “easy to write a check” then how about we see you shell out a couple of hundred thousand or whatever JB spent on these boats so you can show us how easy it is? Or perhaps you can make us a long list of all the celebs that wrote checks in the 6-7 figure range to help out with this problem. Perhaps then you will have some perspective.
June 17th, 2010 at 8:59 am
Keep on slurping JB’s toejam there Rusty. JB has turned into one of those folks he used to rail against. Just cause he writes checks from his pin money, doesn’t make him really charitable. Tax write off is more like it.
June 17th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
So I am clear on your shallow mind, crawfish. The money that rich people give to charity doesn’t really count b/c they actually keep some and don’t give it all away.
What you idiots don’t understand is I am not defending JB, I am defending capitalism, our country and the freedoms we have. Tell me how many poor people you have ever gotten a job from? Money is what makes the world go round. Who the F are you or any of you whiners to question how much he gives or anyone else for that matter? See the deal is we live(at least for the moment) in a free country and people are free to do with their money what they wish. You are free to go to JB’s shows, buy all of his stuff and allow him to live this lifestyle. At that point it is his money and he is free to do with it what he wishes. He didn’t steal it from anyone, no one was forced against their will to spend it on his stuff, etc. You are also free not to spend any money on his music, food, margaritas, etc.
So you have every right to be a moron, there is not, to quote someone a “dumbass vaccine” so you can continue to live your shallow pitiful life worried about how JB or anyone else with it spends their dough. In the meantime the money that JB or anyone else for that matter that is donated goes to good use. People get real help from this money, it improves their lives. The tax code allows for a deduction. Now if you made enough money to understand what a tax deduction is you would understand you have to give away a dollar to get 36 cents back, so it really isn’t a profit deal. I realize this may be over your head as you actually have to pay taxes to get a tax break so you probably don’t understand what I am saying.
So the question is does the money from a rich person do more or less good than a donation from a poor person? Does the person receiving the benefit really give a damn about how much money the person that gave it has left or do they simply appreciate the help.
I am done on this and any other topic. If I get some cool photos from a show or something like that I will post, otherwise I am out. The mindset of some of you is depressing and reminds me why our country is in the toilet.
I will stand by my statement, those of you that do nothing but complain should step up and volunteer for something. Habitat, local charities, go to the gulf and help, whatever but do something. There are 2 types of people in this world and only 2. Those that are part of the problem or those that are part of the solution, I am pretty clear where I stand.
Where do you stand?
Peace and love to all!!
I am forever out!
RB
June 18th, 2010 at 6:52 am
Having a bad day Rusty?
My point was, anyone with money can throw it at a problem.
I want to see old lazy ass JB get out there and do some physical work like the Saints did in NO and they are going to do on the Gulf.
This is all about the publicity. What he is “donating” is a drop in the bucket to what he has. I am not saying give it all away; he can keep it all.
JB do some real work for once in your life!