Last Call:
Registration for MOTM 2023: “Second Wind Kicking In” Closes at 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time on Friday September 15. Register here.
Message from PHIP President
With the recent passing of Jimmy Buffett, we in Parrot Head Nation are living through grief, even as we ask ourselves and each other the question “what’s next?” While the grief is natural and inescapable and difficult, the answer to the question is easy because Jimmy himself answered it: “Keep the party going.”
When Jimmy and Parrot Heads talk about a “party,” it means more to us than to most. Yes, we will have fun, dance, sing and have drinks with umbrellas. But our party comes with many purposes. We Parrot Heads have created, in the words of Jimmy’s wife Jane, “the world’s most joyful community.” It is built on love, kindness, generosity, charity and smiles, and its soundtrack is the music of Jimmy Buffett and the many musicians inspired by him.
And in this season, our party will also be about honoring the man whose own kindness and joy and generosity made it all possible. And we will cry and laugh together and support each other as members of Jimmy’s “big, boisterous family.”
This year’s Meeting of the Minds takes on new and deeper meaning with Jimmy’s passing. For the first time, we gather in the place of Jimmy’s birth and childhood after a quarter century of meeting in his Key West stomping grounds. For the first time in many years, there will be no mystery and no rumors about a surprise appearance. And yet ironically, it will be a gathering at which Jimmy’s presence and spirit will be felt more than ever in the sights and the sounds of the event and especially in the hearts of those in attendance.
It is important to gather in grief and celebration of life, to reflect and reminisce together, and to share a healing hug or two or three thousand. We invite you, whether you have been just once or twice or never before, to join Parrot Heads from around the world in Gulf Shores next month. It’s a new location, but it will feel like home. After all, you’ll be with family.
Wednesday, October 25 will be the epicenter of the week’s salute to Jimmy, including a 6pm tribute show on the Landshark Stage at The Hangout. Stay tuned to the Triton App and online for more details and show announcements.
MOTM Fun Run To Benefit Local Breast Cancer Patients at Providence Patients at The Breast Center at Providence Hospital are the beneficiaries of PHIP’s “Skippin & Sippin” Fun Run on Saturday, October 28. Here’s the link for more info and sign-up for the event and after party at Lulu’s.
Your awesome hosts and staff at The Hangout await your arrival with great food, great music and drink specials! Here’s the music schedule below. For a schedule that includes the satellite venues and other activities, click here and then click “Schedules” from the Menu Bar.
The beloved singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett passed away at his home in Sag Harbor, Long Island on Friday September 1, 2023 surrounded by family and friends. Buffett, 76, had been fighting Merkel Cell Skin Cancer for four years. He continued to perform during treatment, playing his last show, a surprise appearance in Rhode Island, in early July.
With a recording career that spanned more than fifty years and included hits such as “Margaritaville,” “Come Monday,” and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” Buffett was one of the most successful performers in popular music. He filled arenas with fans who called themselves “Parrot Heads,” and popularized a signature blend of folk, country and Caribbean music with lyrics that often reflected Buffett’s world travels. A pilot and a sailor, Buffett wrote songs about his plane being shot at by Jamaican police (“Jamaica Mistaica”), getting lost in the Sahara Desert (“Buffet Hotel”) and smugglers he had known around the Florida Gulf Coast (“A Pirate Looks at 40”).
Although he was best known for upbeat party songs (others include “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” and “Fins”) Buffett first achieved notoriety for thoughtful ballads that showed the influence of Texas songwriters such as Jerry Jeff Walker and Canadian Gordon Lightfoot.
Bob Dylan praised lesser-known Buffett compositions “He Went to Paris” and “Death of an Unpopular Poet” – songs that reflected the observational, storytelling skills Buffett developed in his early career as a journalist for Billboard magazine.
Buffett had a second career as a successful author. He was one of a handful of writers who had number one best-sellers on both the fiction and non-fiction lists of the New York Times Book Review.
He had a third career as an entrepreneur, building a diversified lifestyle brand business, including Margaritaville hotels, restaurants, and retirement communities, along with sidelines such as Land Shark beer. Buffett’s branding and business acumen made him one of the most financially successful musicians of all time.
James William Buffett was born on Christmas, 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi and grew up in Alabama. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1969. He credited early years playing and singing in the streets and bars of New Orleans with shaping his dedication to connecting with his audience and giving the customers a good show. Buffett had little patience with performers who took themselves too seriously. He liked to say that the job of singing for a living was descended from the profession of court jester.
Buffett is survived by his wife of 46 years, Jane (Slagsvol) Buffett, his daughters Savannah Jane (Joshua) and Sarah Delaney, his son Cameron Marley (Lara), his grandson Marley Ray and devoted pack of dogs Lola, Kingston, Pepper, Rosie, Ajax and Kody. Also survived by his Montana sister, Laurie Buffett McGuane (Tom), their children Heather Hume, Anne Buffett McGuane, Maggie McGuane and Thomas McGuane IV; his Alabama sister, Lucy Buffett and daughters Mara Delaney Buffett O’Dwyer and Melanie Leigh Buffett; and many more wonderful cousins, nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Jimmy Buffett’s Foundation Singing for Change, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute or MD Anderson Cancer Center.
