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Fins
To The Left...
Current Events/Frank
Salvato, Managing Editor
as published at
Kevhead.com |
August 5, 2003
- It happens every summer and for some it is called "the
annual rights of summer”. When Jimmy Buffett and The Coral
Reefer Band come to Tinley Park, Illinois and Alpine Valley, Wisconsin
it is essentially the Caribbean coming to the Midwest.
People
from all over the Midwest, weary from the winter past and hoping to leave
the grit and grime of the city while forgetting about their jobs for a while
put on their worst Hawaiian shirts, gaudy costumes and a devil-may-care
attitude and flock, like the Parrotheads that they are to escape the
realities of their daily lives for an evening, and sometimes an afternoon if
they tailgate, to travel, if only in their minds to the Caribbean and a
simpler, easier, more relaxing style of life.
Being a Parrothead, having lived in the islands in the Buffett-esque
lifestyle and a veteran of over 50 concerts around the country I can testify
that the transformation that takes place when you arrive at the concert
venue. CEO’s, construction workers, lawyers, firefighters, doctors, police
officers, you name it, people from just about every walk of life transform
from who they are in their actual lives to the Caribbean counter-part they
wish they could be. Cars, trucks and buses adorned with palm trees, fins and
more than a few pools arrive hours early to set-up tailgate parties. As one
walks among the parked cars listening to music both Buffett and Caribbean,
the sounds of blenders whirring, bottles opening and the smell of
cheeseburgers in paradise fill the air. It is a calm crowd, almost a
celebratory crowd, as complete strangers meet each other for the first time
with the same warmth that they would have seeing an old friend for the first
time in years. Of course, the difference between what you may be thinking is
a "Dead Head” type of crowd and Parrotheads is that
Parrotheads don’t shower in the yards of people who live next to the
venue using bottles of Joy dishwashing liquid for shampoo. There is a unique
sophistication to a Buffett concert crowd that escapes description. Like the
show itself, it needs to be experienced to understand what the allure is.
 Once in the venue the festivities continue. Margarita’s, rum drinks Corona
and other beverages abound as Junkanoo bands and Buffett cover bands fill
the air with a Caribbean feel. And if you are lucky enough to have attained
a Corona Tent pass you can eat and drink free while listening to The Tom
Carey Band, a Caribbean/Blues type band that has become a staple in the
Corona Tent over the years. But even this isn’t anything to what happens
when the lights come down, the curtain drops and "The Man” takes the stage.
With a stage set that literally is equaled by no one, you are
instantaneously transported to the island of your choice. His stage sets are
so virtually realistic that the ocean almost bathes the beach-like stage as
the stars shine, the moon wanes and the palm trees move with the breeze that
seems to reach them from the Gulf Stream itself. As the concert progresses
and the mood changes so does the stage transforming itself from arrival to
departure not unlike the way one’s mood changes when they visit the islands
of the Caribbean.
As
the songs go by, songs that have now become cherished fixtures that emote a
welcome memory for those who understand and that summon a benign response
from those who Parrotheads know don’t have a clue, it stops being
about the songs being heard, although the quality of the live performance is
second to none sans a million dollar Paul McCartney concert
and most definitely better than a Rolling Stones concert (both of
which I have seen several times), and starts being about the experience.
The experience of a Buffett concert is one that can transform. As one walks
through the sea of people who are just genuinely happy it is almost
impossible not to be affected by it. Invariably, you find yourself smiling
and in one of the better moods that you have been in for quite some time.
That is the magic of a Jimmy Buffett concert, its ability to
make you stop worrying about the turmoil of everyday life, the bills, the
job, the court date, the IRS audit, and simply relax. I don’t know anyone
who doesn’t need to lighten up a little bit. It’s like grapefruit and
Juicyfruit, it’s good for the soul.
For
those that believe a Jimmy Buffett concert is three hours of
old songs that people who are living in the past embrace I say you don’t
have a clue what it is all about until you experience it. I didn’t until I
was enlightened all those many years ago. I have only known one person who
didn’t like the experience and she turned out to be a mistress of
Saddam Hussein…go figure.
So, kick back, change your attitude at a different latitude, waste away with
a margarita and a cheeseburger in paradise that is that one particular
harbor and believe that a little love and luck will help you get by…la je
nomai...
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