In praise of Jimmy Buffett

[comemonday]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07094/774898-154.stm

The parrotheads are not the silly ones
Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Let us now praise famous men. In particular, let us praise Jimmy Buffett.

Unlike many who have become famous, the singer of catchy escapist tunes appears not to have made himself into the back end of a horse. On the other hand, his many fans arguably do make spectacles of themselves, as optometrists do at their office parties. In the case of the Jimmy Buffett fans, they have this thing for putting parrots on their heads.

Let me be clear: There is nothing wrong with people putting parrots on their heads, although I do not myself don any type of bird to listen to music. That's because the top of my head increasingly resembles Ayers Rock and no parrot would have anything to grab on to. Maybe I could get a cooperative possum to nestle up there, or perhaps the friendly Irish version, the opossum.

But parrots are the favored species for the Jimmy Buffett fans, who tend to be of a certain age. In fact, they are certain of their age every time they get up in the morning after a margarita-heavy night and their bones creak a bit. (I know the feeling.)

It is likely to be a common feeling after Jimmy Buffett returns to the Pittsburgh area for a concert on June 23 at the Post-Gazette Pavilion. It is a tribute to the singer's popularity that when the tickets went on sale last month, they sold out faster than it takes someone to take offense at a Reg Henry column, which is pretty darn fast.

What makes people puts parrots on their heads and floral shirts on their backs and flock to Jimmy Buffett concerts? Alcoholic beverages are involved, certainly. The melodies are bright and enjoyable, to be sure, but neither are they classic in the sense that Beethoven's Fifth or Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs' Wooly Bully are immortal.

No, Jimmy Buffett's genius is in conveying his audience to a place that we all want to be, a lotus land where the lotus eaters eat cheeseburgers. We call this place Margaritaville and it exists in the imagination somewhere around Key West, the Florida Keys and the Caribbean islands.

What makes this so appealing is that Jimmy Buffett didn't make up this enchanted place. While you can get there by putting a parrot on your head and going to a concert, it also exists in the flesh, sand, rock and vegetation out there amid the big blue expanse of ocean, just waiting for the right tide in our lives to take us.

I know. I was just there. If I had been there longer, I think I might have forgotten what it is to get up in the morning and put on a coat and tie and come into the word factory. I would have just wasted away with a goofy grin.

Unfortunately, I was away only for a week. With my wife and daughter I had the good fortune to take an island-hopping passage on the Amerigo, which is owned by good friends from Sewickley who had their 16-year-old son with them. It is good to have good friends.

Loyal readers -- and I tip my possum to all six of you -- will remember that the Amerigo was the 56-foot sloop in which I crossed the Atlantic in 2002 as part of a six-man crew, braving mountainous seas, shrieking winds and no frothing beer until we got to St. Lucia, where the local brewery put on an extra shift for our arrival.

Amerigo's captain then was a talkative Aussie and now is an Irishman from Belfast, Alan Gallaugher, who stays quietly competent, even when an incompetent hand such as myself is at the wheel.

We started off in St. Maarten, half French and half Dutch, a lovely island that doesn't know whether to make heavy sauces or grow tulips. Then we sailed to Anguilla, part of the British West Indies, where goats and chickens abound. The previous week, Jimmy Buffett had a concert on Anguilla. Parrotheads short of parrots could have put chickens on their heads. After all, a few margaritas into a concert and nobody is an ornithologist.

Finally, we sailed to St. Barts, a beautiful jewel in the French West Indies, a haunt of the Chief Parrot Himself (he has a spiffy new boat in the harbor). Style and opulence were on every side, except at the beach where the French women were so poor they couldn't afford tops to their swimsuits. I even found a great bar -- Le Select -- which serves a cheeseburger in paradise.

What is the moral and purpose of this tale, other than, you know, to make you jealous? It is to observe that the parrotheads are not the silly ones. That dishonor belongs to those of us who stay beached on this shore without any imagination or desire for fun.


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(Reg Henry can be reached at rhenry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1668. )

[citcat]

Yay !!!!!!! Good article !!!!!!!

[comemonday]

Oops... it was already posted-- and I LOOKED first too! You can delete this one!

[GumboPirate]

I should show this to my roommates, who think I'm a lunatic when they look at the summer months of my calendar...they think it's unreasonable that I won't pay $15 to go see the All-American Rejects when they play on campus in two weeks, but have spent **muffle-cough-muffle** dollars on tickets to 5 Jimmy shows this summer...I just tell them they don't know good music (or where the real party is!)

[jackiesic]

very nice and a pleasure to read

[pojo]

That was excellent!

[pamesoo]

He gets it!!

[moeron]

I like it!!!

[moeron]

I like it!!!

[ragtopW]

[trojan_sixtyone]

I should show this to my roommates, who think I'm a lunatic when they look at the summer months of my calendar...they think it's unreasonable that I won't pay $15 to go see the All-American Rejects when they play on campus in two weeks, but have spent **muffle-cough-muffle** dollars on tickets to 5 Jimmy shows this summer...I just tell them they don't know good music (or where the real party is!)

I'm in the same position, pal. College kids just don't know good music these days, do they?

[GumboPirate]

I should show this to my roommates, who think I'm a lunatic when they look at the summer months of my calendar...they think it's unreasonable that I won't pay $15 to go see the All-American Rejects when they play on campus in two weeks, but have spent **muffle-cough-muffle** dollars on tickets to 5 Jimmy shows this summer...I just tell them they don't know good music (or where the real party is!)

I'm in the same position, pal. College kids just don't know good music these days, do they?

Nope...Jimmy's given us all so many great years of entertainment, and all these durn tootin college students ( ) seem to latch on to the flavors of the months...when all of their emo groups stop touring when the fad is over, I'll have the last laugh...I do hope Jimmy tours long enough to see the end of this punk crap.

[trojan_sixtyone]

I should show this to my roommates, who think I'm a lunatic when they look at the summer months of my calendar...they think it's unreasonable that I won't pay $15 to go see the All-American Rejects when they play on campus in two weeks, but have spent **muffle-cough-muffle** dollars on tickets to 5 Jimmy shows this summer...I just tell them they don't know good music (or where the real party is!)

I'm in the same position, pal. College kids just don't know good music these days, do they?

Nope...Jimmy's given us all so many great years of entertainment, and all these durn tootin college students ( ) seem to latch on to the flavors of the months...when all of their emo groups stop touring when the fad is over, I'll have the last laugh...I do hope Jimmy tours long enough to see the end of this punk crap.

That is a dream can say I'd had for quite some time. They laugh now, but when they get older what do you think they'll be listening to? Panic! at the Disco? Incubus? I friggin doubt it. They'll all be sorry they didn't get their escapism with JB while they could! SUCKERS!

[pbans]

I should show this to my roommates, who think I'm a lunatic when they look at the summer months of my calendar...they think it's unreasonable that I won't pay $15 to go see the All-American Rejects when they play on campus in two weeks, but have spent **muffle-cough-muffle** dollars on tickets to 5 Jimmy shows this summer...I just tell them they don't know good music (or where the real party is!)

I would go see the All American Rejects for $15......for $15 I'd go see just about anybody.....there's room enough for all genres of music, even if your (and certainly mine) preference is JB!
My teenager has 'encouraged' me to go to a lot of different concerts that I wouldn't normally go to.....most of them I've enjoyed to one extent or another.

[GumboPirate]

I should show this to my roommates, who think I'm a lunatic when they look at the summer months of my calendar...they think it's unreasonable that I won't pay $15 to go see the All-American Rejects when they play on campus in two weeks, but have spent **muffle-cough-muffle** dollars on tickets to 5 Jimmy shows this summer...I just tell them they don't know good music (or where the real party is!)

I would go see the All American Rejects for $15......for $15 I'd go see just about anybody.....there's room enough for all genres of music, even if your (and certainly mine) preference is JB!
My teenager has 'encouraged' me to go to a lot of different concerts that I wouldn't normally go to.....most of them I've enjoyed to one extent or another.

I agree that $15 isn't an exorbant amount of money...but there are just some bands I wouldn't go see if they were free...for some reason AAR is one of them. I love all genres of music, as my CD collection would show..it would also reveal JB is the main preference. However, I think the reason I'm so slanted against the All-American Rejects is because all of my roommates think God's gift to the world is punk/emo music...they're narrow-mindedness has turned me off to some bands I may have at least tried to listen to. Moral of the story...LONG LIVE JIMMY!

[trojan_sixtyone]

I should show this to my roommates, who think I'm a lunatic when they look at the summer months of my calendar...they think it's unreasonable that I won't pay $15 to go see the All-American Rejects when they play on campus in two weeks, but have spent **muffle-cough-muffle** dollars on tickets to 5 Jimmy shows this summer...I just tell them they don't know good music (or where the real party is!)

I would go see the All American Rejects for $15......for $15 I'd go see just about anybody.....there's room enough for all genres of music, even if your (and certainly mine) preference is JB!
My teenager has 'encouraged' me to go to a lot of different concerts that I wouldn't normally go to.....most of them I've enjoyed to one extent or another.

I agree that $15 isn't an exorbant amount of money...but there are just some bands I wouldn't go see if they were free...for some reason AAR is one of them. I love all genres of music, as my CD collection would show..it would also reveal JB is the main preference. However, I think the reason I'm so slanted against the All-American Rejects is because all of my roommates think God's gift to the world is punk/emo music...they're narrow-mindedness has turned me off to some bands I may have at least tried to listen to. Moral of the story...LONG LIVE JIMMY!

Here, here!

[Tiki Bar]

[Migration Michelle]

What a great thing!!!!!!!!!

"parrotheads are not the silly ones. That dishonor belongs to those of us who stay beached on this shore without any imagination or desire for fun."

I feel so sorry for those people who stay beached!

Last time I was beached, it was on Anguilla!! Jimmy is great!

[palmettopirate]

Now that's good stuff.

I feel blessed to have lived in a coastal area all my life. In fact I shall be taking in ocean breezes as I eat shrimp and oysters at happy hour today on the upper deck of the Morgan Creek grill. And there's live entertainment to boot. Aaaah.

Don't get me wrong, it's not the same as sailing around the Caribbean and ending up on St. Barths, but it'll do.

[RinglingRingling]

I should show this to my roommates, who think I'm a lunatic when they look at the summer months of my calendar...they think it's unreasonable that I won't pay $15 to go see the All-American Rejects when they play on campus in two weeks, but have spent **muffle-cough-muffle** dollars on tickets to 5 Jimmy shows this summer...I just tell them they don't know good music (or where the real party is!)

I would go see the All American Rejects for $15......for $15 I'd go see just about anybody.....there's room enough for all genres of music, even if your (and certainly mine) preference is JB!
My teenager has 'encouraged' me to go to a lot of different concerts that I wouldn't normally go to.....most of them I've enjoyed to one extent or another.

you just want to slamdance in the mosh pit...