In the mid and late-70’s, I did a ton of sessions in Chicago with Steve Goodman. Stevie told me this story about Jimmy Buffett.
In ’69 or ’70, before any of them had recording deals, Jimmy is playing at the Earl of Old Town. After his set he tells Stevie that he has nowhere to stay.
So Steve invites Jimmy to crash on his and his girlfriend Nancy, soon to be his wife’s couch. Then in the morning Jimmy asks Steve for a ride to the Greyhound station so he could get to his next gig in Madison.
At the station Jimmy confides he doesn’t have the cash for the bus ticket, so Stevie buys it.
Starting in the mid-70’s Jimmy covered a Steve Goodman song on most of his first 8 or 10 albums. Including on the Changes.. album that contained “Margarittaville” (his 7th!!).
Back then, songwriters had their own special fraternity.
They knew who was in it.
Hank Neuberger
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Here’s another story from my experience of Irving Azoff’s Front Line Files: In 1983 Irving had the Eagles individually (sans Glenn who went to Elliott Roberts), JD Souther, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Styx, The GoGos, Stevie Nicks (and by extension, Jimmy Iovine), Chicago, Warren Zevon and Jimmy Buffett - apologies to anyone I forgot. As an assistant one of my responsibilities was to to compile the “Artists’ Contact List” for every weekend, telling Irving how he could call any of the artists. Remember it was pre-cell phone.
The list had weekend phone numbers for everyone, including hotel numbers and aliases for those on tour. I can’t tell you how often Jimmy would tell me to write
“Sailing to Bimini, no number available”. Pretty sure he wasn’t always sailing to Bimini.
Fair seas and following winds, my old friend. Much love.
Robin Ruse-Rinehart
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…gave Gil Friesen the title for his Academy Award winning documentary…”Twenty Feet From Stardom”
Jim Guerinot
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I did publicity at Howard Kaufman’s HK Management for many decades. It was Jimmy Buffett’s management firm. There are so many wonderful memories that I kept thinking about today.
Before I moved to LA in the 70’s, I lived in Boston and worked at WEA Records. Steve Goodman was one of their artists. He penned the great song, “Door Number Three,” which I loved and saw him perform numerous times.
I was thrilled when Jimmy Buffett recorded it, and one of my favorite memories is when Jimmy played it at the Greek Theatre years later. Jay Stewart and Carol Merrill from “Let’s Make A Deal” came up on stage and performed it with Jimmy and the band! It was so much fun!
Backstage after the show, our wonderful photographer for the night, Henry Diltz, was busy getting lots of celebrity shots, but I insisted he stay close by because as soon as Jimmy came backstage, I wanted Henry to get a photo of Jimmy, Jay and Carol. And Henry got a fantastic smiling shot of the three of them to capture the evening.
It hangs proudly in my office where I can enjoy it every day, and whenever Jimmy played the song in concert, they would show the photo on the big screen, to the audience’s delight.
I have so many great Jimmy Buffett memories, but that’s one of my favorites. Always brings a smile.
Laurie Gorman
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I first met Jimmy at Corb Donahue’s apartment on Moorpark a few blocks East of Coldwater Canyon. He had just signed with ABC Dunhill and Corb who I believe was the marketing director at the time called me up and said I want you to meet this great new artist we just signed. So I went over to Corb's apartment and when I walked in there was a 12 man life raft blown up in the living room and they were both sitting in it drinking margaritas and smoking weed. That was the first time I met him. I listened to the record and I fell in love with the song "He Went To Paris". RIP
Val Garay
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My wife and I live outside Orlando, and she is a longtime Parrothead, and I’m a happy convert. We knew nothing about Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona Beach until we read The New Yorker article. It sounded great, and that Saturday we drove down I-4 to Daytona and took a tour. Loved it! We put our names on a waitlist, 4000 people for the last 1500 lots.
After 17 months, our name came up and we are in contact to live in Margaritaville, figuratively and actually, in about a year!
Fins Up!
Dave Arbiter
Davenport, FL
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To my ears he was more Hank Williams than Glenn Frey, but kept a foot in both camps.
There’s no way to overstate his popularity in Florida. Patron Saint about sums it up. I saw him at The Orange Bowl in '82. Here’s a 70’s country rock artist who hadn’t had a hit in something like four or five years touring at the height of that first wave of MTV bands (Men At Work, Duran Duran, The Go-Go’s) and packing a football stadium - the same stadium The Police played a few months on Synchronicity and Prince a few months after that on Purple Rain.
Vince Welsh
President
Teacher Education Institute, Inc.
Sanford, FL 32771
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Completely devastated. He was my musical hero. I discovered him late. Around 1993. Oh sure I was familiar with the hit, but my boss came to me one day and, knowing how much I liked music (I was a radio personality at the time) he lent me his most treasured possession, which was Songs You Know By Heart. One weekend and a beer or two, I was hooked. Had most of the lyrics memorized a week later. I'd sing along in the kitchen as I prepared dinner for my wife and kids. The kids had never heard me sing full songs with such enthusiasm. I was all in. I bought A Pirate Looks at Fifty, a great read. I joined the fan club. Never went to a concert though. A big regret. And as the years wore on, and life beat me up, it was his music that kept me centered. I'll be forever grateful for that.
Keith Michaels
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Bob, thanks for sharing your memories of Jimmy Buffett and capturing who he was. I got to open for him in a Florida coffeehouse when he was still playing solo acoustic and was relatively unknown. I was just another college kid banging out Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell covers on a cheap 12-string and he already had some great originals, but he was as friendly to me as could be. I guess it helped that I was from Miami and could talk some about sailing and scuba diving, but what a nice man he was. We've lost yet another memory maker.
John Paris
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As an Alabama boy myself, his music was omnipresent from my grade school years and first trips to our Gulf Coast beaches, and into my early professional gigs of performing myself in Pensacola, Mobile, and Ft. Walton Beach. I’ll never forget my parents driving me and my three siblings down to Dauphin Island in ‘78 and hearing “Cheeseburger In Paradise” in heavy rotation on multiple radio stations.
His music was never really an influence on mine, but I completely understand it and respect the love his fans have for him and the lifestyle he manifested.
DAMON JOHNSON
(Brother Cane / Lynyrd Skynyrd)
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Saw him open for someone, I forget who, at the bottom line in nyc in 75? Blew the headliner away, big fan ever since…..fins up!
Bruce Lorenz
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I always thought this was funny…. Jimmy was doing a show in his (and my) hometown, Mobile Alabama. Saenger Theater. In the 70s. Someone shouted out a request for him to sing “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw”. He responded in a secretive way “ Shhhh! I can’t do that one! My Mother’s here!”
Patti Martin
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As always, thanks for the memories and eulogy. I first saw Jimmy in a club in Raleigh in 1974 with 150 people. I was in college at Duke managing the concerts. I thought I was going to see just another bar band, but what bar band plays all original songs? He built a following from the ground up, one of the hardest working artists in the business.
I always thought of his songs as either written while drunk or written while hungover. My favorites are the sad songs, like “He Went to Paris”. He may have been the equal of Tom Petty as a writer and no one was his equal as a businessman.
Best regards, Bahnson Stanley
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Beautiful write up, Bob. I’m sure your inbox is blowing up, so sorry to add one more. This news hit me particularly hard. I discovered Jimmy’s music in 1989 when a good friend I worked with at Metal Blade Records (of all places) gave me the Songs You Know By Heart CD. It was a revelation and I never looked back. Through countless shows and thousands of listening hours, his songs became the soundtrack to our family’s life and adventures together. His presence in the world will be missed beyond what words can say. Fins up!
Niels Schroeter
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Thank you for the Buffett tribute. His version of “Stars Fell on Alabama” makes me wish he would’ve recorded an album of standards, a-la Willie Nelson’s Stardust.
My all-time favorite quote is found in Buffett’s autobiography - “I just followed my instincts and kept my sense of humor.” Sail on sailor - you were one of a kind.
Brent Thompson
Birmingham, AL
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Jimmy had Little Feat open up some shed shows---
It was just about showtime, yet I could count the amount of people seated in the pavilion.
The thousands of others were elsewhere, milling around the grounds, socializing and whatever.
It was a sold-out show on a beautiful summer evening.
Little Feat walks out...
And so does Jimmy Buffett.
He walks up to the mic...
And in so many words says:
"Hey, all you out there, this is Jimmy Buffett.
Now I want you to get your ass in a seat.
These guys on stage with me are called Little Feat....
They are a great band and I want you all to see them play".
I went to see Little Feat...
But left with ardent admiration for the headliner that night.
Marty Bender Sobolewski
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I met Jimmy Buffett in Nantucket in the early 90’s. He was having dinner with Dennis Conner the Americas Cup skipper and for whatever reason common sense left me and I went to their table to say hello. Jimmy politely but firmly told me that I was disturbing their meal.
I was beyond embarrassed and apologized a million times. I went and sat at the bar feeling very foolish. A while later someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Jimmy. He said that I looked so pathetic that he had to come over to let me know that my transgression was forgiven. He hung out for a little while and took pictures with me and my girlfriend. What an absolute legend of a man. RIP Jimmy.
Kevin Bennett
Sales Director West
Cycling Sports Group
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I saw Jimmy five times between 1979 and 2017. Football stadiums, baseball parks, and amphitheaters. Still, my favorite show was his gig at Harrah’s in Tahoe during a ski trip. In intimate show with just guitar, piano, and percussion. “How many of you showed up because you thought it said ‘Buffet’ on the marquee?” he asked the audience. A consummate performer. Alway self deprecating. RIP.
Steven Leventhal
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That’s a great remembrance. I can’t help but think of one of his lesser “classic” albums. You didn’t mention it. One Particular Harbor. One stanza from the title track stands out to me:
"Most mysterious calling harbour
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hair's full gray
And I finally disappear"
Fair seas, Jimmy. Someday we’ll all
raft up at that one particular harbor, So far but so near…
Mike Murphy
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So it's like this. Buffet was a go-jillionaire because he could make melodies every bit as good as McCartney. My folks played Buffet, Jennings, and Nelson at all their smoke filled, dance hall, poker parties they held while I might have been trying to sleep, just down the hall, in our 3 bed, 2 bath LA suburb house in the 70s.
I never met the guy. But his art was a fu-king enormous part of my pre-10-s, through my mid 20s.
Long after my own introduction to Buffet at home, a friend's parents bought a sailboat, and berthed it in Marina Del Rey. We were just out of high school, and we would go sail outside of the marina, listening to Buffet, and Everclear (Santa Monica). I haven't a whole lot of sympathy for billionaires dying before 80, as my dad, as well as yours, died at 70. But I will always appreciate Buffet's art, as much I do the art of Van Gough and Monet, et. al., and the impact it had on my life.
So I hope Jimmy rests in peace.
Chris Flesher
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Hi Bob,
Since we were in Jackson, MS and since at least one of the jocks at WZZQ-FM knew Jimmy and Fingers Taylor from their time at the U of Southern Mississippi, we played almost every song A White Sport Coat and Pink Crustacean and Living and Dying in 3/4 Time from the day they came out. (Fingers Taylor had additional fame from his work with Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers out of Memphis; the ill-fated High Steppin’ and Fancy Dancin’ album was in heavy rotation.)
The Great Filling Station Holdup and Peanut Butter Conspiracy (alleged to have been about an event at a convenience store in Hattiesburg, MS where USM resides) were listener favorites. He Went to Paris and Death of an Unpopular Poet were also requested with regularity. In fact, checking the track listing, I know we played every song on Sport Coat except for Why Don’t We Get Drunk. And we would have played that except that was at a time when the FCC might actually do something to the license holder if a station played a song with the famous lyric.
We were already playing Willis Alan Ramsey’s Ballad of Spider John but we were happy to get Jimmy’s cover version on Living and Dying in 3/4 Time. The Wino and I Know and Pencil Thin Mustache were in regular rotation for a long time.
We played several cuts from each of the next several albums and when he blew up with Margaritaville and Cheeseburger, we played them so much I got tired of ‘em. Nothing wrong with the songs but after the first few hundred listens….
I remember your podcast with Jimmy and Mac. That was a good one.
RIP Jimmy Buffett!
Best, Bill Fitzhugh
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Thanks for your wonderful tribute to Jimmy Buffett. My very first concert was seeing Jimmy in Snowmass in August of ‘77 when I was 10 years old. I was there with my Dad and brother and will never forget it. I only knew ‘Margaritaville’ but that was enough. Jimmy and his band showed me the wonder of seeing music played live by talented people who were having fun. And even at 10 I could see that Jimmy was having a ball! I miss those days and have been seeking the joy we had that night ever since. I keep seeing shows to catch that magic. Besides family, what’s better?
Take care and fins up!
Charlie Howard
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Jimmy’s death has hit me particularly hard, even though I was never a huge fan of Margaritaville and all that jazz. But I knew Jimmy was a good soul and all the stories spilling out now confirm it.
My wife’s uncle was a long time restauranteur on Nantucket. He owned the Club Car for 40 years along with the Ropewalk, which is where he met Jimmy Buffett after he crashed his seaplane in the harbor outside the restaurant. Uncle Joey swam out and saved his life. Joe, like Jimmy, did not crave attention for his good deeds. And while I think the story has been told, the details my family knows were quite a bit more harrowing than is generally known. but the greatest part of the story is it was merely the introduction of a lifelong friendship.
Our uncle was a tremendous flyfisherman, and he and Jimmy fished often, traveling, and having adventures between—or while—Jimmy toured. (We have a shoebox full of Joey’s backstage passes to all these amazing concerts, his name written in sharpie.) But most of the stories we heard over the years were their fish tales as members of the ‘flyfisherman of the apocalypse, a very selec (several famous) bit unassuming group of close friends.
Uncle Joey passed a few years ago, and while I never met Jimmy Buffett, I’ve heard from people close to him that Jimmy considered Joey his best friend. I know that they are bonefishing together right now up in Heaven.
Rick Pascocello
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Hi Bob,
Love your Jimmy piece as it captures the essence of the genius.
I was blessed to hang with Jimmy for many years in Jamaica and in the US.
I met Jim backstage at the Greek theater and gave him a song that I had written for him. I never heard back, but when I saw him about a year later on Jamaica, he remembered and said you’re the guy who wrote that song I’m on Jamaica Time!!
He told me that he used to be an altar boy, so he and I together wrote a song called Altered Boy, which is what he had become all those years later!! It’s on his Far Side of the World album.
He asked me to help him launch his Radio Margaritaville on Sirius. So I toured with him for a whole year, experiencing the magic every night, and interviewing him on the radio between sets.
I was supposed to be on his plane with him in Jamaica when the police shot it down, but I had to return to the US the day before!!
We could’ve lost Jimmy and Bono, but heaven was not ready for those two troublemakers yet !!
When I asked Jimmy about it, he said “Listen I used to ship weed, so this is just my karma coming back to get me!” Instead of being bitter, he wrote the song Jamaican Mistaka, and encouraged all of his fans to come to Jamaica to his five Margaritavilles !!
And the plane with all the bullet holes is at Margaritaville at Universal in Orlando.
He was one of the worlds greatest performers, a wicked writer, humanitarian and f*cking amazing human being. All of us in his orbit were truly blessed. We should all be lucky enough in our lifetime to live even one day in the mythical pleasure vortex that he created. He helped us to see the world a little more clearly.
Native Wayne Jobson
Los Angeles
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Hey Bob,
I don’t think I have ever written in (which is hard to believe as I have been reading your work for decades) but I thought this one was worth it:
I’ve been reading the many tributes and stories about Jimmy Buffett — from Brandi Carlile to Paul McCartney — and while he was certainly a friend to many musicians, his generosity extended to strangers - like me - as well. My Jimmy Buffett story is all about our mutual love of two different places: New Orleans, with its rich, funky music and Sag Harbor, NY and its deep nautical history and great sailing vibes.
It starts for me at Tulane where I was a student, working as the Promotion Director for the college radio station WTUL. The History degree I received was nothing compared to the music knowledge I gained in New Orleans, including an introduction to the music of the legendary Neville Brothers. Eight years after graduating I was working as a 27-year-old New York-based local radio promotions guy for A&M Records (RIP Mr. Moss.) where our NY based A&R guy Patrick Clifford signed the Neville Brothers and Aaron Neville to the label. Patrick hired Daniel Lanois to produce the "YELLOW MOON" record and they create a CLASSIC album!
I was determined to help make sure the world heard it and I promised Patrick I would not stop until it did!
open.spotify.com/album/5mk6XIaqIFbESIcfqh8GEF?si=z1W1jMaqSqi-la8iT7LETA
Our radio promotion team got the record added on a bunch of rock leaning stations in the country, but the biggest one at the time was WNEW in New York City. The music director: Lorraine Caruso recognized it was a great record but encouraged me to create something special to get the station excited about playing the record early (as normally big NY stations waited until records charted in the national top 10 or 20.)
I pitched the idea of an album release party, but what is special about another album release party. I was at a loss but determined to help break this record. That weekend as we starting to set up the album release for the beginning of 1989, I was spending the weekend at my mom’s little house in Sag Harbor, NY. I was sitting outside the house on the hood of my car reading the paper and I hear two guys talking on my quiet street.
I look up.. wait..what…it's Jimmy Buffett and the CBS TV 60-Minutes broadcaster Ed Bradley walking past my mom’s house!
At first, I was confused as Jimmy “Margaritaville” Buffett was a Key West kind of guy. What’s he doing in Sag Harbor where I grew up? I jump off the car, newspaper in hand and introduce myself to them.
Jimmy tells me he just rented our friend Dave's tiny home a few doors down from ours and right next to our local radio station WLNG… “Home of the Golden Oldies.”
I tell Ed Bradley that I had seen him jump up for the Neville Brothers final song at the New Orleans Jazz Fest (which I have not missed one of them in the last 42 years) a few months back. He sang the classic R&B song “60 Minute Man” with the band. We talked about his love for the band and I mentioned the upcoming “Yellow Moon” record release and our promotional campaign. I shared my conundrum about getting the needed radio airplay to break the record and spread it out from the world’s biggest radio market; New York City.
Without missing a beat, Jimmy says, “Ed you should host the Neville’s listening party at the Paley Center and I’ll come if I’m not on tour.” Ed looks at Jimmy and then back to me and says back “that’s a great idea Jimmy, let’s do it.” I take out a pen from my dad’s glove box and write down Ed’s assistants’ number on the newspaper and off they go exploring my neighborhood and his future residence.
Not believing my luck that I just happened to be sitting outside my house when these legends in music and broadcasting walked by, I called and spoke to Ed’s assistant on Monday and she gave me a few dates that Ed and the beautiful Paley Center Theatre were available to host.
Lorraine loved this idea and we created the event a WNEW fan and staff exclusive.
Jimmy unfortunately was on tour that spring, where he spent much of his life, spreading joy but the event came off brilliantly with Ed Bradley as the master of ceremonies! WNEW added the Neville’s record which made many radio stations all over America follow suit.
I am SO proud that A&M Records signed a band like The Neville Brothers and even prouder that we got them a gold record for “Yellow Moon, which is still viewed as a classic!
Twenty years later in 2008, I ran into Jimmy backstage in the Newport Folk Fest artist catering area and we sat and talked about our shared love of Sag Harbor, sailing and for the Neville Brothers and New Orleans music culture. Jimmy said he had sailed into Sag Harbor and loved the historic little Whaling village vibe. He, like me could never get it out of his head (I have visited there every summer of my life) and he decided to spend his summers there.
He later bought a much larger home on the water which he passed away in on Friday.
His last in person radio interview was on that local neighborhood radio station WLNG where strangely enough I got my first gig at 8 years old, putting away albums and doing voice overs for a local radio bank commercial.
I was paid in free records and I radio never out of my head. I guess I should not be so surprised that radio was the path that got into the music business a decade plus later.
During Jimmy’s last radio interview this summer he debuted his newest song “My Gummy Just Kicked In.”
The song title was inspired by a dinner conversation he had at his Sag Harbor home with Paul McCartney and his wife Nancy.
Below is a some of that interview from July 9th.
www.facebook.com/WLNGRadio/videos/3553304388262413/
Jimmy, thanks for finding Sag Harbor and walking past my house with the 60 Minute Man that crisp fall Long Island Day in1988 and helping the Neville’s "Yellow Moon" record get the proper launch it deserved!
Jonathan McHugh
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Wonderful piece on Jimmy Buffett, Bob. The man went through life at full speed, funny as hell. I do not think I knew a more competent or curious person….he could pilot a seaplane, a jet, sail a yacht by the stars, surf, write, sing, point out the stars in the sky, learn new languages in his 60s and 70s. Who does that? Few people could pack action in more in a single day.
He put nothing but joy out there and the last thing he wanted was for people to feel down and sad for him. That’s why no one really knew. He left happy and at peace. Jimmy packed in a lot of lifetimes into his 76 years. RIP, pal.
Loved your personal take..
All the best, Tom Freston
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