by Dave
Hoekstra
Chicago Sun-Times
August 25, 2004
In a season that has been a hurricane of trouble for shed shows, Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band are one of the hottest tickets around. Lollapalooza blew off its entire tour. No one wanted to super-size Fleetwood Mac, so their Tweeter Center appearance was canceled. Norah Jones had big-shed ambitions. You'll find her next month at the Chicago Theatre.
But Buffett quickly sold out his Thursday and Saturday shows at the Tweeter Center, just as 30,000 Parrotheads packed a sold-out Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wis., earlier this summer.
Buffett is enjoying a renaissance due to the escapist roots of today's country music stars. Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson grew up impoverished in rural America listening to blues and old-time country. But today's country stars, such as Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson and Martina McBride, grew up in suburban America, listening to well ... Jimmy Buffett singing about "Margaritaville" and cheeseburgers in paradise. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if McBride dropped into one of Buffett's shows this weekend.
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JIMMY BUFFETT AND THE CORAL REEFER BAND I first saw Jimmy Buffett open for Bonnie Raitt in 1983 at the old Poplar Creek Music Theater in Hoffman Estates. At least I think I was there. I've probably seen him 40 times since in venues as strange as the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans and Bayfront Park in Miami, Fla. Regardless of venue, these are the top 10 Buffett crowd pleasers: 1. "Margaritaville" Dave Hoekstra |
Meanwhile, Buffett is having the time of his life, which he's always done anyway. His "License to Chill" CD was his first No. 1 album. As he told the Alpine Valley crowd, "I'm 57 and still kicking ass!"
Here are the top 10 reasons why:
1. His concert is produced like a Broadway show. Buffett spares no expense in lighting, keen pacing and wacky vaudeville humor. That stuff is timeless and explains why his audiences range in age from 13 to 63. He, in fact, co-wrote the musical "Don't Stop the Carnival" with Herman Wouk that played Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse and the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.
2. He hires a great band. High brows ignore the fact Buffett's veteran bandmates include Michael Utley (formerly with Jim Dickinson and the Dixie Flyers and musical director for the critically acclaimed "Roy Orbison: Black & White Night" special), Muscle Shoals veteran Mac McAnally, percussionist Ralph MacDonald (who spent 10 years on the road with Harry Belafonte and who wrote soul classics like "Where Is the Love" and "Just The Two Of Us") and Trinidad master steel drummer Robert Greenidge (J.J. Cale, John Lennon).
3. Who doesn't like tiki bars?
4. Global cooling.
5. In an increasingly temperamental pop culture, new artists have less staying power. Labels don't have time and money for artist development. This plays into the hands of established stars like Buffett. Clip and save to see what Josh Groban is up to 20 years from now.
6. He has a truly unique sound. If you get past the party atmosphere of a Buffett concert (which is very difficult), check out how Buffett blends country music with traditional calypso. Belafonte was an early influence. This spacious texture creates ample room for Doyle Grisham's steel guitar to trade solos with congas and steel drums. When Nashville was a ghost town in 1984 and 1985, Buffett recorded two fine country albums ("Riddles in the Sand" and "Last Mango in Paris") under the production of the legendary Jimmy Bowen (who discovered and signed Garth Brooks). Bowen, by the way, came out of retirement last week to produce a new Capitol Records album by his old pal Merle Haggard.
7. Jimmy Buffett is his real name. He could have gone the Sting route and called himself Mango.
8. Buffett discovered Key West, Fla., in 1972, a minute before everyone else. The southernmost city in the continental United States is all about escapism. Buffett became Key West's Minstrel of Tourism. (He raised $1 million for Friends of Florida to save the 407-acre Key West salt marshes, the island's only remaining section of undeveloped land.)
9. Good karma. On Oct. 2, 1984, Buffett pinch-hit for his friend Steve Goodman to sing the national anthem at the first game of the National League playoffs at Wrigley Field. Goodman, an avid Cubs fan, had died Sept. 20 of complications from leukemia. The Cubs beat San Diego 13-0 on a sun-drenched day. This remains my favorite Wrigley Field moment.
10. A master of cross-marketing: When Buffett's book A Pirate Looks At Fifty went straight to No. 1 on the New York Times best seller list, Buffett was only the sixth author in history to have reached No. 1 on the New York Times fiction and nonfiction lists. The others are Key West muse Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, William Styron, Irving Wallace and Dr. Seuss. A devout Parrothead can go to a Buffett concert, read Buffett books, buy Buffett CDs, shop at Buffett's stores (there are now nine Margaritaville stores, including one in the Montego Bay, Jamaica, airport, where you tumble into one just as you get off the plane), eat at Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise and listen to Buffett's radio station 24/7 (Radiomagaritaville.com). That's a whole lotta coconut in your telegraph.
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