[ WEEKEND ]
Buffett’s
having funYoung fans are joining
his older Parrotheads
When Jimmy Buffett says, with almost childlike glee his infectious good ol' boy twang, "Man, I have a great job," you can tell it's something he's known for a long time. It's like knowing every day is more fun than the one before, and tomorrow will even be better.
"Life seems very fresh to me," says the singer who will perform shows in Honolulu and Maui this week.
Who would disagree? Buffett, who didn't have a major hit for more than two decades until this year's duet with country singer Alan Jackson, continues to fill arenas with his devoted 50-year-old-plus Parrotheads, but also a growing crop of twentysomethings.
"If I were just playing to audiences (who are around) 57-years-old, I wouldn't be having as much fun," says Buffett, himself a happy 57. "For whatever reasons, and I can't explain it, the nature of our show represents a nightout and away from the craziness of people's lives and the world. Our show has caught on to a wide range of people and seems to be necessary in these times. Heck, I have guitars older than a lot of our fans!
Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band have regenerated their '70s and '80s popularity and it's what keeps them excited. Hawaii holds a special place with Buffett, who has ended several tours here.
His last concert here, about 18 months ago, found him singing solo on the beach in front of Duke's Canoe Club at the Outrigger Waikiki. In June, he vacationed on Maui with his family.
"I love Hawaii for a lot of obvious and some not so obvious reasons," Buffett says in a telephone interview from San Francisco. "It's so beautiful, the people really do show the aloha spirit, and I feel at home.
"I've played a lot of concerts there and always feel good about it. (Promoter) Uncle Tom (Moffatt) and I go back a long, long way and he's a good, trusted friend."
After Buffett's last Blaisdell Arena concert here a few years ago, he drove to the North Shore, where he had never been before, to surf and look at the spots he had heard about.
At Sunset Beach, a young, local man stopped his bicycle to talk with Buffett the visitor, not the superstar, whom he did not recognize.
"Eh brah, beautiful here, isn't it?" Kimo said to Buffett, who was wearing shorts, T-shirt, cap and sunglasses. "Where you from?"
"Florida," Buffett says, smiling.
"Florida!" the man yelled. "What you doing down there? I don't know what your job is or what kine house you live or how much money you make, but I tell you one t'ing, no be the last person to leave Florida. Come to the North Shore and you have a much better life. Get out of Florida while you can, brah."
"Thanks man, I'll think about it."
Buffett still laughs recalling that incident.
"It was just an exchange between two people ... both just guys," he says. "No pretense or BS. I feel that every time I visit Hawaii."
IT'S BEEN more than a decade since Buffett last performed at the Waikiki Shell.
Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band
7 p.m. Wednesday at the Waikiki Shell. Tickets $35 and $75. Call 591-2211.7 p.m. Jan. 30 at the A&B Amphitheater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Tickets $45, $65 and $75. Call 808-242-7469.
"I love it because it's so Hawaii," he said. "Diamond Head looms above, the tradewinds blow, people sit on the grass, the light of Waikiki flickers. It's a perfect Parrothead setting."
Buffett will dedicate part of his concerts here to one of his childhood heroes, and later friend, Gardiner McKay, star of the '50s TV show "Adventures in Paradise," who died here in November, 2001.
"A lot of the inspiration for my songs and my ocean adventures were because of Gardiner," Buffett says.
Though his tour schedule the last few years have diminished a bit, 2003 was still a busy time. This fall, he will release his third book "A Salty Piece of Land." Last year, Buffett released two live concert CDs from his tour in September, recorded in Auburn, Wash., and Las Vegas." Recordings of his shows in Boston and Cincinnati have just been released and are available through Buffett's Mailboat Records site.
Last April, "Meet Me In Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection" was released. The two-disc set includes a mix of well-known Buffett tracks, live recordings, alternate takes and covers, as well as two new songs. The Buffett DVD "MiniMatinee 1" was released in November, and features six performances from the 2002 tour, including a duet with Jackson of their hit "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."
And, to top it all off, he's putting the final touches on a new "country flavored" album, "License to Chill."
"WE HAD always been planning to record concert albums, but were looking for the best way to do it," said Buffett, a self-confessed fan of ITunes. "I like the whole concept, and told Steve Jobs about what we wanted to do on tour.
"With our Margaritaville radio station, we have lots of ways to make it work commercially."
So Buffett collected the necessary recording gear and Apple sent him a couple of their top-end G5s computer processors. He and the band were shocked at the results.
"It took minimal work, and with my guys and the technology, we could take the boominess out ... so you could use the ambient mikes and make it sound pretty darn good," he said. "Now the quality was there."
Buffett says the live CDs "sold a hell of a lot" -- 30,000 of the Las Vegas concert and 25,000 of Seattle -- not only because of the quality, but now everyone could have personal copies of the event they attended.
Buffett will make a live CD from the Honolulu and Maui concerts, along with a possible DVD, available on the Margaritaville site later this year.
"This is the last of the Tiki Tour and I think the Hawaii show is something every Parrothead will want," he said.
Buffett's other projects include his Margaritaville restaurants, including the most recent one in Las Vegas, and plans to open another in Waikiki. He'll look at possible sites when here.
Then there's the upcoming country album.
"If you listen to country music, you know they've been borrowing from me for 10 years," Buffett said. "I like what's happening in country music today. It's listenable stuff."
"License to Chill," which was recorded at Buffett's Shrimp Boat Sound Studios in Key West, Fla., features Bill Withers, Toby Keith, Nanci Griffith and others.
"Remember, I came out of Nashville," he said. "I lived in Nashville, was first signed in Nashville and I still have a lot of friends there. Hell, I had three failed country careers in Nashville. "I've had a wonderful love-hate relationship with Nashville, and now I'm in a love stage."
That's due to his hit with Jackson. "That it became a hit was right out of left field," he said. "Not in my wildest dreams did I think it was going to be such a big hit or that I would win an award."
"It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" became Buffett's first No. 1 country single, and the duo won the Country Music Association's Vocal Event of the Year Award in November and picked up a Grammy nomination in the Best Country Collaboration with Vocals category.
"I was glad to help Alan with his struggling career," Buffett jokes about his popular partner.
AT ONE TIME in his career, Buffett believed awards and accolades was what he needed to be a credible singer-songwriter. But after putting in some three decades in the business, maturing with age, and a touch of callousness about the downside of being in the spotlight, it seems to have turned the musician in another direction for goals.
"The thing now is, it's not about me," he said. "We were always taken for granted and not considered very serious in the 'serious' world of rock and roll. That did hurt a bit."
Buffett now hopes to have his sidemen-songwriters like Mac McAnally and Michael Utley get "the credibility they deserve."
"I want this (country) album to do well, so people know just how good these guys are," he said.
Buffett says with not a trace of irony in his voice that he sees no end to writing, singing and performing.
"If I sing flat, I'll quit. If I can't remember the words, I'll quit before I use a teleprompter," he says.
He's excited about the possibility of future shows in Tahiti, Australia, Japan and China.
"Why not China?," he says . "A real Hawaiian shirt in China is just how cool? There have got to be a few Parrotheads there."
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