Wow. What started as your casual Jimmy Buffett reflection hit me kinda hard at the end. I was just telling our 24 year old daughter about how the job I had and the career I built at her age doesn't even exist anymore. I always get that melancholy feeling when I'm down at LaSalle & Jackson, thinking about the thousands of us who seethed around the south Loop Monday thru Friday and how empty and forlorn the CBOT building looks now. I hear Buffett wrote a book called "A Pirate Looks At 50". I think I'm going to read that next.
Well said Mr Carter! I have so many Buffett memories of my own and all of them wonderful. I'm a little older than you and as a musician I was a little dismissive of his schtick, but some friends of mine hijacked me to one of his shows at Poplar Creek and it became an annual outing for my crew! What a fun time! You could do 3 or 4 columns on Steve Goodman and John Prine alone but suffice to say Jimmy new great talent when he heard it! Pirate at 40 has always resonated and now even more so. RIP Mr Buffett! Thanks for all the joy and living life as well as you have!
My parents, siblings, and friends never listened to Buffett. I didn’t really listen to him except for what popped up on the radio. When I got to Marquette University, there were some loyal, devoted fans. Senior year, I had a roommate, Mike Rahaley, who was from Vero Beach, Florida. You better believe he was all about Jimmy Buffett! I warmed up to the songs that aren’t played on the radio too much as well as the hits.
Jeff, the time period you traversed in your comments and your observation about occupations made quite an impression on me.
Thanks for a great article and, yes, RIP Mr. Buffett.
You can take the boy out of Florida, but you can't take Florida out of the boy.
Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band proved it again Saturday night by musically transporting a packed Poplar Creek Music Theater to the land of sun and saltwater. The vacation couldn't have been more fun.
The crowd swayed to such laid-back tunes as "A Pirate Looks at 40," "Wonder Why You Ever Go Home" and "Chanson pour Les Petits Enfants" and sang along with the timely "Volcano" and "Why Don't We Get Drunk…"
THE PARTY kicked into high gear with Buffett's heavy energy numbers like "Sail Away," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," and show-opener "Fins."
Buffett's army of fans, particularly those in the front of the pavilion, hollered and boogied in place. They might have boogied out of place, except for a line of white-shirted, tense-faced young men whose job it was to check blankets and ticket stubs and to make sure nobody got too much into the spirit of things.
Heavy security indicated Poplar Creek might have been expecting a stage stampede, but it didn't happen. A few "siddown" tiffs broke out on the lawn, but otherwise the fans were an exuberant but peaceful bunch.
Buffett provided a well-chosen program of his past hits and threw out a few new ones that were pleasant, but not remarkable. "Growing Older but not Up." for example, sounded a lot like "Changes in Attitudes," with similar platitudes ("I’d rather die while I'm living than live when I'm dead.") Still, a lot of Buffett songs have to grow on you. Maybe this is one.
BUFFETT AND the band seemed to feed on the crowd's enthusiasm. If these musicians are tired of those old songs, they don't show it. The keyboards were particularly strong, swinging from honky-tonk to a steel-band flavor.
It's hard to put a tag on Buffett's music. It's not country, though its roots are there. It's sort of a Caribbean rockabilly with a touch of the blues. As Buffett said Saturday: "It's none of that disco s- and it's not new wave. What else can I tell you?" Whatever it is, it's fun.
Livingston Taylor, sound-alike brother of James, provided a pleasant, mellow lead-in. The down-home style of the North Carolina-born Taylor isn't quite what the crowd had in mind Saturday, but it was enjoyable enough.
The only negative aspect of the whole evening was that the beer lines still were too slow.
Grew to like Jimmy Buffet, after having written him off as a lazy old hippy. I recalculated, making it look effortless isn't lazy, it is a great talent.
Couple of trips to Key West made the lifestyle very clear. Jimmy commercialized it and brought a lot of cheerful attitude with him. May he Rest in Peace.
Great piece, Jeff. I think every Chicago concert goer has a gruesome mud at Poplar Creek story.
I'm a year older than you and while I liked the single, Margaritaville, nothing prepared me for a year later when I went to a small Jesuit college in Mobile, where Buffett was like the Beatles in Liverpool.
I think you'll enjoy this article that was in the South Alabama paper this morning. (I'm in South Florida)
Buffett was a Democrat, but he domiciled his LLC in Florida, where they also have great estate taxes. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12473775/Jimmy-Buffett-died-secret-skin-cancer-battle-friend-tells-singer-lived-life-sun-diagnosed-four-years-ago.html
Wow. What started as your casual Jimmy Buffett reflection hit me kinda hard at the end. I was just telling our 24 year old daughter about how the job I had and the career I built at her age doesn't even exist anymore. I always get that melancholy feeling when I'm down at LaSalle & Jackson, thinking about the thousands of us who seethed around the south Loop Monday thru Friday and how empty and forlorn the CBOT building looks now. I hear Buffett wrote a book called "A Pirate Looks At 50". I think I'm going to read that next.
Well said Mr Carter! I have so many Buffett memories of my own and all of them wonderful. I'm a little older than you and as a musician I was a little dismissive of his schtick, but some friends of mine hijacked me to one of his shows at Poplar Creek and it became an annual outing for my crew! What a fun time! You could do 3 or 4 columns on Steve Goodman and John Prine alone but suffice to say Jimmy new great talent when he heard it! Pirate at 40 has always resonated and now even more so. RIP Mr Buffett! Thanks for all the joy and living life as well as you have!
Excellent commentary!
Did I ever tell you about the time dad and I had dinner with Jimmy Buffet, in France, the night before the 60th anniversary of the day?
No. He had to be in awe of your father (everyone was)
A good day to listen to Prine's "when i get to heaven"
Spent the better part of the first year of my oldest son's life pacing the nursery listing to Don't Stop The Carnival.
ha, that's funny and a good recommendation!
My parents, siblings, and friends never listened to Buffett. I didn’t really listen to him except for what popped up on the radio. When I got to Marquette University, there were some loyal, devoted fans. Senior year, I had a roommate, Mike Rahaley, who was from Vero Beach, Florida. You better believe he was all about Jimmy Buffett! I warmed up to the songs that aren’t played on the radio too much as well as the hits.
Jeff, the time period you traversed in your comments and your observation about occupations made quite an impression on me.
Thanks for a great article and, yes, RIP Mr. Buffett.
“Floridian Buffett a musical feast”
Review of Concert at Poplar Creek
Saturday, July 5, 1980
by Helen Bryant, Herald staff writer
Arlington Heights Daily Herald
Suburban Chicago
Monday, July 7, 1980
You can take the boy out of Florida, but you can't take Florida out of the boy.
Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band proved it again Saturday night by musically transporting a packed Poplar Creek Music Theater to the land of sun and saltwater. The vacation couldn't have been more fun.
The crowd swayed to such laid-back tunes as "A Pirate Looks at 40," "Wonder Why You Ever Go Home" and "Chanson pour Les Petits Enfants" and sang along with the timely "Volcano" and "Why Don't We Get Drunk…"
THE PARTY kicked into high gear with Buffett's heavy energy numbers like "Sail Away," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," and show-opener "Fins."
Buffett's army of fans, particularly those in the front of the pavilion, hollered and boogied in place. They might have boogied out of place, except for a line of white-shirted, tense-faced young men whose job it was to check blankets and ticket stubs and to make sure nobody got too much into the spirit of things.
Heavy security indicated Poplar Creek might have been expecting a stage stampede, but it didn't happen. A few "siddown" tiffs broke out on the lawn, but otherwise the fans were an exuberant but peaceful bunch.
Buffett provided a well-chosen program of his past hits and threw out a few new ones that were pleasant, but not remarkable. "Growing Older but not Up." for example, sounded a lot like "Changes in Attitudes," with similar platitudes ("I’d rather die while I'm living than live when I'm dead.") Still, a lot of Buffett songs have to grow on you. Maybe this is one.
BUFFETT AND the band seemed to feed on the crowd's enthusiasm. If these musicians are tired of those old songs, they don't show it. The keyboards were particularly strong, swinging from honky-tonk to a steel-band flavor.
It's hard to put a tag on Buffett's music. It's not country, though its roots are there. It's sort of a Caribbean rockabilly with a touch of the blues. As Buffett said Saturday: "It's none of that disco s- and it's not new wave. What else can I tell you?" Whatever it is, it's fun.
Livingston Taylor, sound-alike brother of James, provided a pleasant, mellow lead-in. The down-home style of the North Carolina-born Taylor isn't quite what the crowd had in mind Saturday, but it was enjoyable enough.
The only negative aspect of the whole evening was that the beer lines still were too slow.
I missed that one....was marching in Colorado Springs that summer
Grew to like Jimmy Buffet, after having written him off as a lazy old hippy. I recalculated, making it look effortless isn't lazy, it is a great talent.
Couple of trips to Key West made the lifestyle very clear. Jimmy commercialized it and brought a lot of cheerful attitude with him. May he Rest in Peace.
This obituary REALLY hurts. Fair winds and following seas, Jimmy.
I agree....somehow this one is different.
Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Refer Band set list, May 6, 2023, Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego
“Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes”
“Fins”
“Pencil Thin Mustache”
“Son of a Son of a Sailor”
“Boat Drinks”
“It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”
“School Boy Heart”
“Volcano”
“Come Monday”
“Growing Older But Not Up”
“One Particular Harbour”
“Little Martha”
“Cheeseburger in Paradise”
“He Went to Paris”
“Last Mango in Pari”s
“A Pirate Looks at Forty”
“Back Where I Come From”
“Margaritaville”
“Southern Cross”
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=330238302789654 Cool share by an old friend of mine
Great piece, Jeff. I think every Chicago concert goer has a gruesome mud at Poplar Creek story.
I'm a year older than you and while I liked the single, Margaritaville, nothing prepared me for a year later when I went to a small Jesuit college in Mobile, where Buffett was like the Beatles in Liverpool.
I think you'll enjoy this article that was in the South Alabama paper this morning. (I'm in South Florida)
https://www.al.com/news/2023/09/goodman-a-tribute-to-jimmy-buffett-legendary-sports-fan.html
P.S. A friend at the CBOT lived at 3430 N LSD in the early 80's and John Goodman's mom was the building manager!
Love it.
Hope you and your family are ok. Hope you are away from the floods.