1981: First time...After pitching 3 innings in a mid-week game, I went to the training room for ice, and filled up 2 ice chests that were loaded with beer...after the game, went to the show, with many of our opponents that day.
1984: Buffett was stripped down, just him and a piano player. He asked if anyone knew how to play "Cowboy in the Jungle", because it didn't sound right with one guitar...A guy a couple years older than me that I grew up with jumped up and ran to the stage, and Jimmy handed him a 12 string...he killed it.
1987-ish: At the boat races in Tri Cities, he was playing in PDX. We had 15 people that were going to go, and when the time came to leave, most were too drunk and lost interest. 3 of us got in my GTI and took off. Outside Gresham, got a flat, and as 2 of us were changing it, the third pulled out my golf clubs and started hitting balls into the Columbia...as we finished, the cops pulled up. They didn't search the car (thank God). Went to a bar, and ended up tipping our waitress with one of the many extra tickets we had. She grabbed a couple others, they quit on the spot and came with us. Made it back in time for heat 1A on Sunday...
1994: On a baseball trip to Phoenix, 2 coaching friends picked me up from the hotel, and we walked through a hole in the fence at an old air field in Mesa...the only time I ever left a team on the road...
1996: Went to see JB at the Gorge, in a motor home with 12 others. If he asked me to write the set list, this was it...
2018: Saw him in Seattle, stayed up drinking and caught a town car to the airport at 4 AM to fly to Europe.
In college, Thursday night happy hour (10 PM), the juke box on repeat with "Why Don't we get Drunk and Screw"...
TL/DR, I probably haven't listened to him in 2-3 years (and haven't willingly listened to Margaritaville in 20)...lots of memories...
It's not a terrible analogy. It's one with which you disagree.
Never understood the Buffet cult either. Same as the Dead.
Like @IrishDawg22 digging fat chicks. Just not my thing. Doesn't make it wrong.
From someone not on the cult side but with a healthy appreciation of both, I understand what you mean. Neither Jerry nor Jimmy had world-class vocals but there was just something about them along with their representation of appreciating the simple things in life. It helped that, as electronica and other tech came along and grew more prevalent, their music still wasn't overproduced and retained a feeling closer to the 60's and 70's.
I love being able to identify with the lyrics of the songs and know what they were feeling when they wrote the songs, such as Buffett's "A Pirate Looks At Forty" and the Dead's "Hell In A Bucket" for a few examples.
I never saw Buffett live but was lucky to see Jerry and the Dead at Memorial Stadium in late May of 1995, just a few months before Jerry passed away.
It is as much about culture and style as music, for me. Both artists in question appear to have done their defining work in 1977. It's not that they are virtuosos (Jerry close, if not actually one, "noodling" aside), or powerful, grand singing voices. It is a vibe, and that connects people. Jimmy wrote songs that people relate to, everyday people who just want a little slice of beach. For all intents and purposes, Buffett has always spoken about how lucky he was, and having a gift for making the mundane relatable.
Jimmy was a tremendous writer and story-teller...Dylan has mentioned him as a favorite. He had great foresight and feel, saw how people responded, and became a billionaire from it. He was an average guitar player with a below average voice, and he knew it, and was a brilliant and savvy businessman.
I saw him six times, and never saw a bad show, or a show where people weren't having fun, or that he wasn't having fun.
His lyrics are what roped me in. I'm not talking about Margaritaville, or Cheeseburger, but about He Went to Paris, The Captain and the Kid, Come Monday, Livingston Saturday Night...the old stuff, when people wore jeans and cowboy boots to see him, and not grass skirts and leis. I'm not a Parrot head, nor am I trying to change minds here. To each his own...
I don't get why people would drop a mortgage payment to see Taylor Swift...
Comments
Dead Pool Tournament?
Hollywood bracket:
Deniro, Pacino, Hackman, Eastwood, Willis (probably early 70s still but has some dementia thing going on), Duvall.
Sunset Records bracket:
Willie, the remaining Stones, Dylan, David Allen Coe, Kris Kristofersen
You could probably throw in brackets for both politics and sports as well.
1981: First time...After pitching 3 innings in a mid-week game, I went to the training room for ice, and filled up 2 ice chests that were loaded with beer...after the game, went to the show, with many of our opponents that day.
1984: Buffett was stripped down, just him and a piano player. He asked if anyone knew how to play "Cowboy in the Jungle", because it didn't sound right with one guitar...A guy a couple years older than me that I grew up with jumped up and ran to the stage, and Jimmy handed him a 12 string...he killed it.
1987-ish: At the boat races in Tri Cities, he was playing in PDX. We had 15 people that were going to go, and when the time came to leave, most were too drunk and lost interest. 3 of us got in my GTI and took off. Outside Gresham, got a flat, and as 2 of us were changing it, the third pulled out my golf clubs and started hitting balls into the Columbia...as we finished, the cops pulled up. They didn't search the car (thank God). Went to a bar, and ended up tipping our waitress with one of the many extra tickets we had. She grabbed a couple others, they quit on the spot and came with us. Made it back in time for heat 1A on Sunday...
1994: On a baseball trip to Phoenix, 2 coaching friends picked me up from the hotel, and we walked through a hole in the fence at an old air field in Mesa...the only time I ever left a team on the road...
1996: Went to see JB at the Gorge, in a motor home with 12 others. If he asked me to write the set list, this was it...
2018: Saw him in Seattle, stayed up drinking and caught a town car to the airport at 4 AM to fly to Europe.
In college, Thursday night happy hour (10 PM), the juke box on repeat with "Why Don't we get Drunk and Screw"...
TL/DR, I probably haven't listened to him in 2-3 years (and haven't willingly listened to Margaritaville in 20)...lots of memories...
Never understood the Buffet cult either. Same as the Dead.
Like @IrishDawg22 digging fat chicks. Just not my thing. Doesn't make it wrong.
I love being able to identify with the lyrics of the songs and know what they were feeling when they wrote the songs, such as Buffett's "A Pirate Looks At Forty" and the Dead's "Hell In A Bucket" for a few examples.
I never saw Buffett live but was lucky to see Jerry and the Dead at Memorial Stadium in late May of 1995, just a few months before Jerry passed away.
Jimmy was a tremendous writer and story-teller...Dylan has mentioned him as a favorite. He had great foresight and feel, saw how people responded, and became a billionaire from it. He was an average guitar player with a below average voice, and he knew it, and was a brilliant and savvy businessman.
I saw him six times, and never saw a bad show, or a show where people weren't having fun, or that he wasn't having fun.
His lyrics are what roped me in. I'm not talking about Margaritaville, or Cheeseburger, but about He Went to Paris, The Captain and the Kid, Come Monday, Livingston Saturday Night...the old stuff, when people wore jeans and cowboy boots to see him, and not grass skirts and leis. I'm not a Parrot head, nor am I trying to change minds here. To each his own...
I don't get why people would drop a mortgage payment to see Taylor Swift...
Then you also have
Buffet - drinking
Dead - LSD
There you go.