Son, Come Have A Seat...

It happened this afternoon. Captain Tony Tarracino (92) passed away.

For those of you who have somehow missed coming to know this cultural icon, I would bet that if you have ever been to Key West, Florida you may have downed a drink in the legendary bar, Capt'n Tony's Saloon, (which he owned from 1958-1989)...or maybe even passed him on the street. He enjoyed telling stories to patrons (especially women) until his health failed him during the past year.

Although hospitalized, it seems fitting that the last week of his life was spent celebrating the publication of his book with Brad Manard, "Life Lessons of a Legend" during the annual Meeting of the Minds celebration in Key West. I would encourage you to put this book on your "wish" list...seriously. His story has been recounted in a film titled "The Cuba Crossing," starring Stewart Whitman as Tarracino. Longtime friend, Jimmy Buffett, sang about Tarracino's exploits in the song "Last Mango in Paris," from the 1985 album of the same name.

After running from the Mob in New Jersey this real life buccaneer, and gunrunner during the Cuban revolution, turned Mayor of Key West always felt that there was "still so much to be done".

There is no way I can do justice in this post to the most colorful and interesting life of Capt'n Tony; but what I can say is that in his passing the world has lost one of the last true Pirates in this era of "partisanism", it is unlikely we will see his kind pass this way again.

Sail on Captain Tony, may you have fair skies and following seas on your eternal journey, but as for me...your legend will never die.

From the song "Last Mango in Paris"

I went down to Captain Tony's to get out of the heat
When I heard a voice call out to me, "Son, come have a seat"
I had to search my memory as I looked into those eyes
Our lives change like the weather but a legend never dies

He said, "I ate the last mango in Paris
Took the last plane out of Saigon
Took the first fast boat to China
And "Jimmy, there's still so much to be done."

Ahoy! It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Today is the 13th annual International Talk Like A Pirate Day. As any Parrothead worth her salt knows, pirating is in the blood. So in the spirit of the day, lets pillage and plunder and hoist some fine ale. Arrrgh.

If you'd like to impress your friends and co-workers with your knowledge of pirate stuff, you can find a bucket o' links here that'll keep yo knickers on for hours! You'll find everything from translators, to Pirate Performers, Sea Shanties, and "Real" Pirate History (& more) linked.

Here are some fun facts about this peculiar yet wonderful holiday:

It was invented in 1995 by John Baur ("Ol' Chumbucket") and Mark Summers ("Cap'n Slappy"), who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate.--It was first an inside joke between the founders but it gained exposure when Baur and Summers sent a letter about their invented holiday to syndicated columnist Dave Barry in 2002.--September 19 was chosen because it was the birthday of Summers' ex-wife and consequently would be easy for him to remember. There is a list of the top ten pirate pick-up lines on the Official National Talk Like A Pirate Day website. You can read them here.

Oh, and no "Talk Like A Pirate Day" would be complete without an offering by the Head Pirate (Jimmy Buffett, of course) himself...

Here's "A Pirate Looks At Forty", recorded live at the Bankie Banx’s Dune Preserve, Rendezvous Bay in Anguilla, British West Indies in March 2007.

Yes, It's Been Quite A Summer....

From Baseball, swimming, concerts, 4th of July in Kansas, playing in the hose, and broken bones it was a great summer.

I'll keep it brief, but MJM started the summer playing machine-pitch baseball on a team that ultimately won their Little League Championship. After a heartbreaking loss in the Championship game last season, the guys worked hard all season and prevailed against talented competition in a double header playoff elimination on a very hot Texas day.

In a daring attempt to defy gravity, MJM "did not know he could not fly...and so he did!" He jumped off the platform of a friends' backyard Fort - breaking his foot upon landing. He was most pleased with this "accomplishment", and enjoyed showing off his walking cast.

He’s one of those who knows that life Is just a leap of faith

Spread your arms and hold you breath

And always trust your cape

~Guy Clark

Other summer adventures involved the simple pleasures of playing in the yard. Keeping the plants alive became an adventure in water...er mud management as MJM enjoyed devising his own methods of keeping cool with limited resources.

Water prevailed as a theme, even when attending the Richardson Wildflower Arts & Music Festival where we listened to Jerry Jeff and Django Walker, Ray Wiley Hubbard and Roger Creager, though MJM would probably have preferred to play in the fountain all afternoon.

And last but not least, let's flash back to where it all began...
The summer began with a marathon party at the Frisco Feeding Frenzy 2, with friends from around the country coming together to celebrate and raise money (~$16,500) for charity due to the inspiration of a man who has made seeing the positive side of life a way of life. Fins up for Jimmy Buffett and all our Parrothead friends...every year.

O The Stories We Can Tell...

So the Jimmy Buffett traveling circus pulled in to Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas last Saturday and over 600 of my closest friends showed up for a hellova tailgate party.
The pictures don’t do it justice…

A Parrothead “Phlocking” is something that must be experienced in person…the sounds, smells and weather; yes, Jimmy brought the weather with him.

You gotta understand, that some people dabble into Buffett music for the “fun” songs then find that it goes a lot deeper…there’s some good stuff in the man’s treasure chest. I’ve found pearls of wisdom in those lyrics that have inspired me through good times and bad; and on the road have found some amazing friends and genuinely good people.

Jimmy, you’ve while you may not sit with us in person, you’ve brought a lot of kindred spirits together and forged what some of us old hippie types would call a “movement”.

It’s a good thing.

This weekend I watched Parrotheads unite to raise $2,300 for breast cancer research…that’s what’s called partying with a purpose folks.

Jimmy's setlist was fabulous for long-time Jimmy fans ... he covered Texas songwriters/friends Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett and Willis Allen Ramsey. He ended the show with North East Texas Women giving a shout out to the NETWomen he met a long time ago ...

I can't say enough about how Jimmy's final encore of Tonight I Just Need My Guitar with him sitting alone in the spotlight is a perfect tribute for long time fans who can remember him before the big shows.

As Jimmy said before the lights went out, thank you for tonight and every night for the past 40 years, it's been an amazing run.

Is there something (else) we'd be doin' if we could?

Not a chance.

And if you ever wonder why we ride this carrousel,

We do it for the stories we can tell.

(Love those Texas Women)

On The Road Again...

Ok..I’ve been negligent. But I’ve been whooping off with friends in Houston where we celebrated the inaugural concert of Jimmy Buffett’s 2007 Bama Breeze summer tour last Saturday night.

Before the actual concert, my husband son & I met about 150 friends for a weekend of eating, drinking, dancing, a live band, and cooler racing? Yes, cooler racing. There was a rooftop pool party, and jello shots in the parking lot (warning…jello shots go down waaay too easy and pack a big punch).

By the time the Head Parrot hit the stage in Minute Maid Park the Parrothead faithful were in a tumultuous uproar. Jimmy didn’t disappoint. He revved the crowd up early with favorites like Fins, Son of A Son of A Sailor, and One Particular Harbor, I was thrilled that he dug into the old treasure chest and played two songs by Texas singer songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey, The Ballad of Spider John and Northeast Texas Women. There were also new favorites, Cinco de Mayo in Memphis, Bama Breeze and Regabilly Hill. The show ended with a lovely harmony of the Beach Boys cover In My Room and finally a Jimmy acoustic solo to a near silent stadium while he sang Tonight I Just Need My Guitar. The man knows how to work a room…no matter the size.

So, like a band of gypsies we'll go down that highway makin' music with our parrothead friends.
We'll be doing it all again Saturday when this travelin' carnival stops in Frisco, TX. Until then...I'll be hanging out at the Bama Breeze.

Captain America, RIP

It's a slap in the face of American Patriotism, pure and simple.

Captain America was assassinated on the Courthouse steps by a sniper’s bullet.

The recent storyline is a foreign writer's attempt to force his personal opinion on the current climate in American Politics (i.e., the death of [personal] Liberty) on us.
(Mark Millar is Scottish born & raised, and currently lives in Glasgow.)

Wha??? Captain America has saved the world from those who would destroy freedom of expression countless times since he arrived on the scene in 1941 (just before the USA officially entered World War II).

Steve Rogers didn’t start out as a hero; he was a wimpy guy that didn’t make the cut, until he participated in a secret experiment to create an elite group of super soldiers. Every kid has insecurities, and the Captain America story let’s kids imagine that even the “square” kids can do something important…all you need is an indestructible shield and can do spirit.

While I haven’t kept up with the current “Civil War” being played out in the Marvel Universe, from what I understand, I don’t like it. Superheroes don’t fight superheroes. They are symbolic metaphors, not the personal platform for individual social commentary…seeing a superhero playing the role of social dissident doesn’t feel right to me. Captain America fights for the ideal of a free and democratic society…the greater good; not the selfish concerns of the one. We must “live together or die alone” and “justice for all”.

Captain America saves the world by riding a Nazi rocket to (his apparent doom) in the Atlantic Ocean, ultimately to be rescued by “The Avengers”. Captain America once considered whether being a superhero is worth it (what superhero hasn’t), but ultimately he chooses to keep fighting. Above all Captain America is a Patriot. For him to be gunned down by a mysterious sniper (ala Jack Ruby) symbolizes the loss of the American Dream. I get it, the symbol of freedom lies dying with handcuffs on; but I don’t believe that the American Dream is dying.

If the Captain (aka “America”) is going to bite it, he deserves to go out in a blaze of glory, not some act of street violence. I don’t know about you, but I still believe in America and the fight for Justice, and feel certain that a lot of other folks do, too.

Can Captain America be resurrected? You bet, it is the comics after all..and Marvel is tops in the soap opera department.

Can you tell me where I might find my friend and companion?

Captain will help anyone a friend or a stranger
Now number one without a gun he's bypassed the Lone Ranger
He's a do good who loves apple pie and kisses little babies
He'll guard you against everything from atom bombs to rabies.

Captain America we love you, Captain America you're grand.
~Jimmy Buffett, Captain America,
originally from the album Down to Earth, 1970.

The Astronaut Farmer

"If we don't have our dreams, we have nothing."

It appears that Desdemona isn't the only one building Rocketships.... *big grin*
While Charles Farmer's desire to reach the stars has a different genesis, the goal is the same.

It's what's in the heart that other's often cannot comprehend. Desdemona found that Joe Merchant was the missing link she needed to connect her with the stars.
What/Who is yours?

I think I'll go put on the blue jumpsuit that the Boomtown Boys gave me, and get back to work.

Go "Build Rocketships Now" *wink*

Film Review - The Dream is Alive: 'The Astronaut Farmer'
at Space.com

Said Mark Polish in Warner Brothers’ production notes, “The story was sparked by our interest in space exploration, but beyond that, it’s about a need to dream of adventures, whether it’s Neil Armstrong or Lewis and Clark. I think that, as a society, we’ve stopped dreaming about exploration.”

Farmer’s family, who dreams with and for him, is not unlike NASA’s workforce and its supporters. They understand the dream, even if those around them -- Farmer’s neighbors and the media who flock to his ranch -- do not.

"Somewhere along the line, we stopped believing that we can do anything," says Farmer. So, could be argued, has the nation, if not the world. We went to the Moon in 1969 because we didn’t know we couldn’t do so. Today, politicians and the public are too quick to assume that if a dream seems impossible, then it likely is.

Jimmy Buffett - Here We Are

Since the Jimmy Buffett BAMA BREEZE Summer Tour has just been announced and some dates are starting to leak out, I thought I'd post this Video that was a "hidden video" on Jimmy's latest CD, Take The Weather With You.

Besides it's freezing outside and watching makes me laugh and think of all the fun we have at JB shows when it's WARMER!

Don't Chu-Know you wanna be there.

WWJBD or What is a Parrothead?

Inspired by CruiserMel’s comments on my Barometer Scoop post.



According to Jimmy Buffett: "Timothy B. Schmidt (Eagles bass player) was in the band, and we were playing the Timberwolf Ampitheatre outside of Cincinnati. People had already started wearing Hawaiian shirts to our shows, but we looked out at this Cincinnati crowd, and they were glaringly brilliant to the point where it got our attention immediately. I said "Look at that!" Then Schmidt says to me, "They look like Deadheads in tropical suits. They're like Parrot Heads!" He yelled to me in the middle of a song. So I immediately took the term and threw it over the microphone - the people identified themselves with the term from the get-go."

In that moment (6/22/1984), a cultural phenomenon was born.

The Head Parrot/Pirate, celebrated his 60th birthday on Christmas Day, 2006, and as of this writing finished the Party at the End of the World Summer tour in Tallahassee, Florida on Saturday. Rumors are that he will re-visit the South Pacific this year (where he wrote One Particular Harbor). We are looking forward to a Texas date to reunite with phriends, but we're thinking of going to see him in Raleigh, too. There’s nothing like a phlocking before a JB show if you’ve never seen it (come early, but pace yourself *wink*)



A Parrothead, IMHO, is anyone who enjoys Jimmy Buffett music.
No Passport required, no concert experience necessary. If you enjoy life in the laid back lane, had the urge to run off to St. Somewhere, maybe had too much tequila (or not quite enough) or had your exploits told on the Coconut Internet (not that I’m one to deal in gossip) then you might be a Parrothead. I could go on and on, but I’m overdrawn at the Bank of Bad Habits

Breathe in Breath Out

Ok, I've been AWOL, but it doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking about you or that I haven't been busy!

I've been putting up the Christmas decorations, organizing for my daughter's wedding (in two weeks), shopping for Christmas, wrapping packages, taking my son to his Karate and Spanish lessons and generally pulling my hair out.

As I type this I am listening to a performance by Peter Mayer that was recorded this afternoon and is being broadcast on Sirius 31/Radio Margaritaville. Listening to Peter's Stars & Promises is truly a Christmas gift.

Peter is a very gifted musician and special person. We were fortunate to see him as he and his ensemble passed through Ft. Worth recently.

Maybe I won't pull my hair out after all.

The Cosmic Muffin

Well here I am on the blogosphere, thanks primarily to CruiserMel and LezLee.

I'm a veteran of message boards and am accustomed to the faster pace of that format, but I'll post here from time to time for my own amusement and therapy.
So in the infamous words of Kinky Friedman, "Why the Hell Not".

So lets launch this Ship.

I'll begin by telling you a the history of my screen name:

It all started with the spoken lyrics to Jimmy Buffett's Fruitcakes (1994) song:
"You know I was talking to my friend Desdemona the other day she runs this space station and bake shop down near Boomtown. She told
me that human beings are flawed individuals. The cosmic bakers
took us out of the oven a little too early. And that's the
reason we're as crazy as we are and I believe it."
Being a Licensed Professional Counselor, these words resonated with me, as it has been my experience that many of us truly are "half-baked". 😂

Later, Jimmy released a (1996) song (Desdemona's Building a Rocket Ship) that 'lyricizes' Desdemona's adventures from Jimmy's (1992) book "Where is Joe Merchant?"


Now for the real history behind Desdemona's Rocket Ship: The Continuing Saga of Desdemona's "Cosmic Muffin" -- or How To Convert Howard Hughes's Airplane Into A Floating Jimmy Buffet Namesake.

The Boeing 307 Stratoliner: Only ten such aircraft were produced in the late 1930's. In addition to being one of the first four-engine airliners, it was also the first airliner to feature a pressurized cabin.

The Eccentric Howard Hughes Jr.: Hughes acquired his own Boeing 307 Stratoliner in 1939. The interior was converted into an executive office layout. Actress Rita Hayworth added her own woman's touch to the aircraft's décor. In 1949, Howard Hughes sold his "office on wings" to Houston oil man Glenn McCarthy.

Through the years the aircraft was clobbered by Hurricane Cleo in 1964, neglected and corroded in the tropical air of south Florida. Attempts at restoration to flight were unsuccessful, but in 1974 it was converted into a motoring yacht. Further extensive restoration was completed in 1981 by David Drimmer.

Enter Florida Folk Hero Jimmy Buffett: In his many travels, Tropical Troubadour and Florida Folk Hero Jimmy Buffett had noticed Drimmer's 'plane-boat". He was so struck by the uniqueness of this vessel that he paid it homage in his 1992 novel, "Where Is Joe Merchant?".

In this novel, Florida Keys sea boat pilot Frank Bama and his former girl friend Trevor Kane begin to search for Kane's brother, rock musician Joe Merchant, who allegedly committed suicide by throwing himself off of a cruise ship in the Black Sea. Not so! One of Merchant's former band members, Desdemona, claimed otherwise.

Desdemona "lived" on Drimmer's plane-boat on the island of Boomtown on the windward coast of Hispanola. But this was more than just a "plane-boat". You see, Desdemona was being channeled by aliens from the Plaides (or "Seven Sisters") to construct a spaceship to take her to the Plaides, and the "plane-boat" which she named "Cosmic Muffin" was to be that rocket ship! In honor of Desdemona's rocket ship to be, the boys from the Boomtown boatyard presented her with a blue jump suit that said "Build Spaceships Now".

As a token of his appreciation for Buffett's description of his plane-boat in this novel, Drimmer renamed the craft to "Cosmic Muffin", a name it retains to this day.

(Thanks to William Moriaty and Planeboats.com for the history of the "Cosmic Muffin".)

Even science has taken notice, as evidenced by this post Quasars in “Desdemona’s Building a Rocket Ship”

So there it is...
(actually, Desdemona is also a character in a little play that Shakespeare wrote 😉)