Concert Dates, Concert Tour News, Artist Information

Jimmy Buffett’s Iditarod Protege Closes in on Finish Line

The first-ever Jamaican Iditarod musher is closing in on the finish line in Nome, Alaska, and that’s cause for celebration for Caribbean singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Buffett and his Margaritaville restaurant chain have sponsored rookie musher Newton Marshall for the 2010 Iditarod, and the Jamaican athlete is currently in 47th place as he continues to fight to the finish line at this year’s tough snow-packed dogsled race.

Marshall’s rise to Iditarod fame has taken years to come to fruition, as the idea bloomed from Danny Melville, the owner of Chukka Caribbean Adventures in Jamaica, where Marshall works. Melville and Marshall struck a deal in 2006 that would launch Marshall as an Iditarod competitor to put the company on the map, and once Jimmy Buffett picked up on the story of a Jamaican dogsled musher, he quickly signed on as a sponsor. 2010 Iditarod winner Lance Mackey helped train Newton’s dogs for the race, and after a winter spent training in Minnesota, Newton Marshall embarked upon the toughest dogsled race in the world.

Newton Marshall’s incredible story has a similar Jamaican hero-themed throwback to the Cuba Gooding Jr. film Cool Runnings, which chronicled the history-making Olympic Jamaican bobsled team of 1988, but Marshall’s Iditarod journey has a special flair in its Buffett-backed venture.

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Jimmy Buffett Makes South Florida Sports Funnies List

Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel came up with his own “tournament” of sorts in lieu of March Madness bracketeering this week. The journalist chose to pit funny South Florida sports moments against one another in a different sort of March Madness, and (of course) Jimmy Buffett is involved in one of the matchups.

In a completely random “match” of Jerome Brown vs. Jimmy Buffett, Hyde calls for a battle between two events, the first being the time that the late Jerome Brown, a former University of Miami football player, staged a walk-out from the 1987 Fiesta Bowl’s promotional dinner that would have brought together Miami players with their opposing team, Penn State. Brown is up for Hyde’s contention thanks to his rousing speech, which asked, “Did the Japanese go sit down and have a dinner with Pearl Harbor before they bombed them?”

This South Florida funny is being pitted against Jimmy Buffett’s own slew of harsh words on the sports front, which occurred in 2001, when the singer was ejected from a Miami Heat game for using profanity to one of the referees. During the game, Buffett yelled at referee Joe Forte to “make the f———call,” causing Forte go throw Buffett out of the stadium. Heat coach Pat Riley turned to the ref after the call and asked if he knew who he had just ejected – Forte didn’t, and thus the South Florida Sun-Sentinel gives Jimmy Buffett the first-round win for the paper’s own March Madness tournament.

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Jimmy Buffett ‘CMT Crossroads’ Video with Zac Brown Band Sneak Peek!

Jimmy Buffett and Zac Brown Band have teamed up to tape a forthcoming episode of CMT Crossroads, a television special that pits two very different bands together to collaborate for a concert exemplifying both groups’ musical talents with duets and other musical numbers. The Buffett/ZBB Crossroads special was filmed last month and has already become one of the most-anticipated shows of the season for CMT, and another video has recently leaked regarding the March 19 episode.

CMT has posted a video of the upcoming Crossroads performance with Jimmy Buffett and Zac Brown Band, showing a clip of the two outfits collaborating on the Zac Brown Band medley of their own “Free” along with Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.” The Buffett/ZBB “Free/Into the Mystic” medley exemplifies exactly why these two acts were tapped to perform together on the Crossroads special, as both outfits put a tropical-tinged spin on guitar-heavy tunes.

CMT Crossroads: Jimmy Buffett and Zac Brown Band will premiere this Friday, March 19, on CMT, and the rest of the episode will reveal both Buffett and Brown giving each other’s tunes a lift as they bring their tunes together for a one-night-only affair.

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Jimmy Buffett Accomplice Greg ‘Fingers’ Taylor Gets Well-Deserved Recognition

It hasn’t all been smashing success for Jimmy Buffett. The Caribbean singer-songwriter has built an empire around his tropical hits, but he has his famed Coral Reefer Band to thank for part of his booming music career, as well. Buffett rose to fame thanks largely to two backing musicians, keyboardist Michael Utley and harmonica maestro Greg “Fingers” Taylor, and the Clarion-Ledger recently ran a piece about Taylor, painting a picture of him as the crucial asset to Buffett’s touring act that he has been for years.

The Clarion-Ledger quoted longtime Buffett producer Norbert Putnam as saying that Buffett wouldn’t be the massively popular artist he is today without the help of Utley and Taylor, claiming, “If I had lost either of them, I don’t think Buffett’s records would have been nearly as successful. Fingers’ harp became identifiable with Buffett’s music. And Fingers used to get the live shows started for Jimmy. The curtain would go up and there would be Fingers Taylor and the Coral Reefers. Fingers would get the crowd all wound up, and then introduce Jimmy.”

While Taylor isn’t a regular act on Jimmy Buffett’s summer tours anymore, he still makes the occasional appearance at live shows with Buffett and the Coral Reefers. The harmonica extraordinaire helped create the empire now known as the Coral Reefer Band, and his legacy will live on in the Margaritaville hall of fame.

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Jimmy Buffett Lends His Coral Reefers to Nashville Performance

On April 30, 2010, just one day before Jimmy Buffett takes his Under the Big Top Tour into Music City, his crop of Coral Reefers will precede him on the big stage in Nashville. Members of Buffett’s backing Coral Reefer Band will join fellow Coral Reefer Peter Mayer in promotion of Mayer’s new solo album Goodbye Hello, performing onstage at the Rutledge Live Music Venue in Nashville to play songs off his new release, which features new takes on Beatles classics.

Among the list of Coral Reefers expected to make cameos at the April 30 concert are Robert Greenidge (steel pan), Doyle Grisham (pedal steel), Jim Mayer (bass), Roger Guth (drums), Chris Walters (keyboard) and Maggie Estes (violin). Coral Reefer guest and Jimmy Buffett pal Ilo Ferreira will also kick things off for Peter Mayer at this spring’s Nashville show, performing as the night’s opener and promoting his new album Ilo.
Parrotheads can get a little Buffett warm-up in with the April 30 Peter Mayer concert before the madness ensues the next night, when Buffett takes the stage at Nashville’s famed Sommet Center on May 1. Stay tuned to see if Jimmy Buffett will make a cameo at the Peter Mayer show on April 30 in Music City!

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Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Book Club Keeps Parrotheads Entertained in the Winter Months

Jimmy Buffett’s gotta have a book to read while lounging on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean during his (rare) downtime, and thanks to his very own Margaritaville Book Club there’s always some recommended reading for the Parrothead-in-chief and his dedicated followers. Buffett’s Margaritaville Book Club has rotating book suggestions for club members to read each month, and here are some of Buffett’s current picks to get Parrotheads through the winter.

Longitude, Dana Sobel
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
On the Makaloa Mat, Jack London
Journey without a Map, Gardner McKay
Cosmic Banditos, A.C. Weisbecker
Zara’s Tales: Perilous Escapades in Equatorial Africa, Peter Beard
The Book of Genesis Illustrated, R. Crumb
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

Have a reading suggestion for the Margaritaville Book Club? Join Jimmy Buffett’s literary club and suggest your favorite book as an option for next month’s highlights! Most of the reading material for the book club has an island or adventure-themed storyline, but any suggestion is welcome for the Margaritaville Book Club. Get to reading, Parrotheads, and use literary adventures to keep that cabin fever in check as the Under the Big Top Tour will soon be invading your town!

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Jimmy Buffett-Backed Musher Newton Marshall Continues Iditarod Journey

Newton Marshall, a Jimmy Buffett-praised Jamaican musher making history in this year’s Iditarod, is moving on, continuing to pass through another checkpoint and remaining in 53rd place today as he travels to the next stop at McGrath. Passing through Nikolai yesterday, Marshall has completed Mile 218 of the race, averaging 8.4 miles per hour with his 16-dog team.

Conditions were severe yesterday as Marshall traveled to Nikolai from Rainy Pass, but the first Jamaican and Caribbean National to attempt the race is still hanging in there with the toughest Iditarod competitors around the world. Speaking with CNN before the race began, Marshall spoke of the freezing cold conditions he’d encounter in the Iditarod, saying, “Obviously, I don’t really like the cold, you know, but I like running dogs. As long as I’m warm, I’m happy with the dogs, and the dogs like to see when you’re happy.” Summing up his journey, Marshall said, “Expect the unexpected. This is the big one, you know. The toughest race on Earth.”

So far, Marshall is still very much in the race, beating out 12 mushers and keeping above the six who have already dropped out. The next stop for Marshall after McGrath is Takotna, so stay tuned to see how he fares in the upcoming days.

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Did Jimmy Buffett Discover Jake Shimabukuro on YouTube?

If Jake Shimabukuro isn’t a familiar name to Parrotheads, his musical tunes surely can be recognized as part of Buffett’s touring regime. Shimabukuro is the resident ukulele maestro in the rotating Coral Reefer Band and often makes cameos at Buffett performances and on albums, and he’s gaining worldwide recognition for his musical skills as a solo artist, as well.

Shimabukuro was featured in an article by the San Jose Mercury News this week, where journalist Jim Harrington called him “the Hendrix of the ukulele” - and he’s certainly right. Jake Shimabukuro, a 33-year-old musician and native Hawaiian, has been jamming away at the ukulele, his preferred musical instrument, for several years now, and he has one certain vessel (other than Buffett, of course) to thank for his big break: YouTube.

Shimabukuro told the Mercury News he was discovered after a video of him playing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at Central Park was put on YouTube, saying, “One of the biggest things that happened for me was YouTube… From that video alone, I started getting all these emails and people contacting me to play this place and at that place. To this day, I don’t know how that got up on YouTube, but I’m so glad it did.”

The exposure has led Shimabukuro to an incredible music career, and while it’s yet unsaid how Buffett hooked up with Shimabukuro, perhaps YouTube linked the two kindred spirits together.

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Buffett Sponsors Jamaican Iditarod Team

Jamaica native Newton Marshall is currently partaking in the 1,100 mile Iditarod sled-dog race that began this week in Anchorage, Alaska, and he’s got plenty of support backing his dog-sled team – starting with Jimmy Buffett. Buffett’s Margaritaville franchise is the main sponsor behind Marshall’s team, and the Jamaican is transcending stereotypes as he has become the first black musher to participate in the Iditarod.

Marshall’s foray into dog-sled racing comes a little more than 20 years after the Jamaican bobsled team made the 1988 Winter Olympics and sparked the feature film Cool Runnings, but Marshall told CNN he has bigger plans for the Iditarod. “Bobsledding is nothing, mon, and they didn’t make the Olympics this year,” he said, “so hopefully we can do something.”

Newton Marshall is garnering worldwide support as he races for Jamaican pride, and Jimmy Buffet commented on the musher’s adventure this week, telling the USA Today, “He’s absolutely a hero to kids in Jamaica… I thought from the beginning it was just very cool what he was doing. I thought it was so far out there, but it made people smile when they heard about it.”

Marshall’s 16-dog team is currently in 51st place in the Iditarod out of 71 teams.

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Jimmy Buffett Plays in Haiti to Boost Morale

When there’s a song in Jimmy Buffett’s heart, a surprised audience somewhere will reap the benefits of a free live show. So was the case over the weekend, when Buffett made an appearance in damage-stricken Haiti. Buffett has a Caribbean soul he can barely control, and he put it to good use last weekend, when he put smiles on the faces of the Joint Task Force Haiti at the U.S. Embassy.

Singing his classic feel-good sing-along song “Cheeseburger in Paradise” to members of the Joint Task Force Haiti and U.S. Public Health Service, Buffett made his presence known by audience members in Haiti at an impromptu performance. Buffett has long been a supporter and fan of Haiti, and he’s still making a push to help bring aid and attention to the Port-au-Prince area of the nation, which was hit hard with a devastating earthquake in mid-January. Buffett went on record asking for donations to be made to the Red Cross following the earthquake, and he’s now contributing his own star power and wealth to citizens of the devastated nation. Buffett is just one of several superstars to have stepped foot in Haiti since the disaster, and other heavyweights have included Angelina Jolie and John Travolta, among others.

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