How I Lost The Way of The Parrot

As time past, even through my own drunken bliss of my concert experiences, I realized that things were changing. My problem with Jimmy Buffett is that whole "Parrothead Experience" has become as trite and merchandised.

What first attracted me that Buffett shows were mellow, friendly gatherings of folks who liked the style of music that wasn’t mainstream or pre-packaged entertainment. It seems the shows now are more of an excuse for Yuppies and college pukes to hang out in tropical ware and to drink to excess. The whole thing has become a cliché. Plus Jimmy has become one of those guys he used to make fun of, he seems to be more interested in marketing and playing private corporate parties than making music anymore.

Besides the restaurants, shops, and count less best-of albums (concert albums), there is Jimmy Buffett the author. When Tales from Margaritaville was published it was a nice accompaniment to Jimmy’s album Off To See The Lizard. And his second book,Where is Joe Merchant? was an entertaining story but yet if you knew about Buffett it seemed to be a little self-serving. This was extremely apparent in the third book A Parrot Looks At Fifty. This book to me seemed to be Jimmy bragging about his charmed life that he now enjoys. Not that I fault him for making his fortune, just don’t be laughing down from atop the pile of money.

Whether I just grew up to be cynical or Jimmy sold out to the corporations that he once regularly derailed it’s obvious that there are some things that hold true. First, Jimmy hasn’t forgot his roots; he has been feeding of them for about the last 15 years. And second, I still don’t like coconut, never did like Margaritas, and I will change the station when I hear the first few bars of Margaritaville. The most over played bar song!