The economy is tanking, housing prices are down, the market is dropping daily, all is terrible. Everywhere you go people are depressed and upset, that’s everywhere but one place, that was Shoreline Amptheater in Mountain View last night.
You have to envy Jimmy Buffet, here’s a guy that admits he’s not a great musician, but he has a catalog of songs that people know by heart, he’s developed a following, called “Parrotheads”, these are people who dress up in grass skirts, coconut bras, parrot costumes and every other costume. These folks come knowing the songs better than the musicians on stage. The only problem is that Buffet changes the words to his signature songs to acknowledge the city he’s playing in or the crowd that he’s performing for.
Wouldn’t we all like to have a job where you come to work wearing board shorts, t-shirt and flip flops? Better yet, before you enter your office, you kick off your flip flops, and work barefoot. Buffet seems to genuinely enjoy his time on stage; he seems amused by all that goes on in the audience while he’s on stage. He and his band mates appear to sharing a joke. I always feel that the band would be playing together and having a great time, even if there wasn’t an audience there.
The audience ranges in age from 5 to 75, and no one gets upset, as we all stand up on the lawn for three hours, listening to the performance. There is singing, dancing, drinking, partying and no problems. I saw a party going on, using a colostomy bag as a beer bong, and passing it around to the group.
One of Buffet’s lines is that we grow older, but we never grow up, and that seems to be the general consensus in the crowd. We were all rocking out, dredging up our memories as we heard each song, and loving every minute of the concert.
Buffet isn’t a great musician, but he is an old fashioned American Troubadour. Buffet’s songs are musical poems telling the stories of his life. Before he starts a song, he tells a story that gives you the background of the song’s genesis.
As I said, with things as dark and dingy as they’ve been lately, it was a release that just made us all feel great for a little while. Of course, there was also beer and other enhancements that helped to make the evening special, but I give Jimmy 99% of the credit for the great outlook I woke up with this morning, but of course by the time I’d watched the morning news, the feeling was starting to wear off. Maybe I’ll play hooky this weekend, and head to the Las Vegas show for a booster shot. In the meantime, I’m buying a guitar, learning to play, and write music. It’s never too late. Join me?
GOOD LUCK
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