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<\/a>Jimmy Buffett<\/p><\/div>\n
I originally had a rather banal blog on some history and suggestions around Labor Day, ready to be posted Monday, when, on Saturday morning, I got a text from my three kids and a call from several friends, wishing me condolences for the passing of Jimmy Buffett.\u00a0 What?!!\u00a0 I\u2019m shocked!!!\u00a0 He died from lymphoma at the age of 76.\u00a0 \u00a0 My love and history of all things Margaritaville<\/strong> are well known.<\/p>\n I was introduced to Jimmy in the early 80s by my dearly departed best friend, Navy pilot, Don Klapperich.<\/strong>\u00a0 After he retired from the Navy, he went to work in Saudi Arabia, teaching the Saudi Air Force how to be fighter pilots.\u00a0 Prior to cell phones and even the internet, the way we communicated with each other over such a distance was through cassette tapes that we would mail to one another (Yes, cassette tape were quite the rage).\u00a0 I was, of course, familiar with some of Jimmy\u2019s earlier popular songs, Come Monday<\/strong><\/em>, Cheeseburger in Paradise<\/em><\/strong> and Margaritaville<\/strong> as well as his hit in 1973 that couldn\u2019t be played on the radio at the time, Why Don\u2019t We Get Drunk and Screw,<\/strong><\/em> but Don had sent me a cassette with a song called, Somewhere Over China<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a particularly great song and not a hit for Jimmy, but for some reason the lyrics resonated with me.\u00a0 Don, had sent me other Buffett songs, but I really didn\u2019t pay much attention until after this song, so I went back and listened more carefully to the lyrics of Jimmy\u2019s songs.\u00a0 They were funny and philosophical and while I was never a \u2018beach bum\u2019, they touched my \u2018wanderlust\u2019 soul.\u00a0 I then didn\u2019t want to wait for Don to send me more Buffett songs from Saudi Arabia, so I started buying all of Buffett\u2019s CDs that I could get my hands on \u2013 new and old.<\/p>\n Parrotheads<\/p><\/div>\n I had become a \u2018Parrothead\u2019<\/strong>, and so got tickets for the next Jimmy Buffett concert when he came to Orange County, <\/strong>for his concert at a large, outdoor venue, Irvine Meadows<\/strong>.\u00a0 I forget who it was that told me that to get the full experience of a Jimmy Buffett concert, get to the concert parking lot early . ..\u00a0 real early.\u00a0 I did.\u00a0 Holy Parrothead!!\u00a0<\/strong> Four hours before the concert, the parking lot was full of people dressed in all kinds of beach, parrot and pirate gear along with flat bed trucks with grass shacks and sand on the back, serving up bottomless margaritas.\u00a0 I\u2019d never seen so many men with cocoanut bras in my life!!!\u00a0 It was truly the best and biggest concert party I had ever attended.\u00a0 The concert was fun-filled with lots of audience participation as everyone was feeling no pain after a four-hour warm-up in the parking lot. \u00a0I saw Jimmy several other times, back in Irvine Meadows, when I took the kids when they were old enough to appreciate the parking lot party, in Las Vegas<\/strong> and even in Michigan<\/strong> where I encouraged my fellow workers there to become Parrotheads.<\/p>\n My Margaritaville flag at half-staff<\/p><\/div>\n Aside from writing most of his hit songs, Jimmy performed a lot of duets with many great country stars like Zak Brown, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, George Strait, Clint Black<\/strong>, as well as his well-known hit with Alan Jackson<\/strong>, It\u2019s Five O\u2019Clock Somewhere<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 But Jimmy was far from a \u2018one trick pony\u2019, he diversified and open his first Margaritaville restaurant and bar in Key West, Florida<\/strong>, which I visited years ago.\u00a0 There are now 23<\/strong> Margaritaville Hotels, restaurants and casinos with locations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Australia and the Caribbean<\/strong>.\u00a0 He also developed a Margaritaville tequila<\/strong> as well as my favorite beer, Landshark<\/strong>; there is a Broadway play ‘Escape to Margaritaville’<\/strong>; he had his own recond company and he was a best-selling author.\u00a0 His networth was north of one billion dollars<\/strong>.<\/p>\n A Pirate Looks at Forty<\/strong><\/em> is another iconic Buffett song, as this<\/em> pirate looks back on 40 years of pure joyful entertainment that Jimmy provided me.\u00a0 My flag with ‘It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere’ banner flies at half-staff this week. .\u00a0 Rest in Peace Jimmy, you created a better world. \u00a0Fins up!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow I originally had a rather banal blog on some history and suggestions around Labor Day, ready to be posted Monday, when, on Saturday morning, I got a text from my three kids and a call from several … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Parrotheads-1-150x150.jpg\")
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