July 2003 GULP

Buffett Shows Us the Way to the Tiki Bar

With the help of animated Tiki Gods, a buffed fire-eater, wispy hula dancers and a chorus of 40,000, Buffett performed his annual sun dance at Alpine Valley amongst a backdrop of ominous clouds and a sea of tropical shirts, or not! So Buffett is doing a duet with Alan Jackson, who may be one of the biggest stars in contemporary country music. No doubt, he rarely sees what was witnessed at Alpine by the Parrot Head nation. Imagine the contrast between his usual cowboy hat crowd and Jimmy's bird's eye view from the stage toward a sea of colorful attire, bouncing beach balls and cell phones. Just another summer Saturday night for Jimmy Buffett. By takeoff Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday morning for most of us Parrot Heads, the rain gear was packed. By 1pm, Saturday afternoon, when the first tracks of pick'em Buffett CD's hit the parking lot, any thoughts of inclement weather had dissipated like so much sobriety. The parking lot tail-gating was in session, again! And, as Jimmy so astutely surmises, some of us got high....as much on the fellowship and excitement as any concoction in the prominent 12 - 48 oz containers!

With him in his denim shorts and shoeless attire and us in our colorful collective clothing collage, the night started with tropical drums and ended with an extended encore seemingly because Buffett was having as much fun as we were! Many songs from recent releases were the wind in our entertainment sails and then he threw in the previously unreleased "The Natives are Restless Tonight", a humorous sing-a-long accompanied with karaoke-style lyrics on the big screen ("Oom Baba, Oom Baba, Oom Baba, Hey Hey"). When he strummed the opening lines to Son of a Son of a Sailor, it may have been cause to wonder if it was his tribute to his father but we were probably too engrossed by the tall-ship travelogue which showed Jimmy at the helm enjoying his storied past-time. Of course, the hit of the show was John Hiatt's "The Tiki Bar is Open", which by examining the premises post show, it most certainly was!

Buffett launched this year's Tiki Time Tour to celebrate, in his words, "that precious little piece of Americana."

Here's the set list:

1. Drum Intro
2. Great Heart
3. Coconut Telegraph
4. Saxophones
5. Grapefruit Juicyfruit
6. Son Of A Son Of A Sailor
7. Ma�ana
8. Come Monday
9. Knees Of My Heart
10. Natives Are Restless Tonight
11. Margaritaville
12. Honey Do
13. Cheeseburger In Paradise
14. One Particular Harbour
15. Thank God The Tiki Bar Is Open
16. Everybody's Talkin
17. Why Don't We Get Drunk
18. Mental Floss
19. It's My Job
20. Pencil Thin Mustache
21. Changes in Latitudes
22. Pirate Looks At 40
23. She's Got You
24. Boomerang Love
25. Mexico
26. Fins
27. Volcano

28. It's Five O'Clock Somewhere / band intros
29. Southern Cross

30. Sea Cruise
31. Defying Gravity

PHOTOS OF ST MINNESOMEPLACE PARROT HEADS AT ALPINE