Jimmy get's his Doo.

(Photos courtesy of Buffettnews.com)

I've been a parrothead and Jimmy Buffett fan since I saw him in 1978 (see Oct. 14, 2005 blog). It has been said that an artist that lasts a long time, does his best work at the beginning and the end of his/her career. Well Jimmy is proving that again, with all his recent accolades. At almost 60 now, Jimmy has gone from driving a city of Mobile, Alabama work truck, with a clothes hanger keeping the hood from popping up, to being almost as rich as his namesake Uncle "Warren" (no relation to know of). What started this path, was up until 3 or 4 years ago, his 2 1/2 hits (Come Monday, Margaritaville + Cheeseburger in Paradise). Now he just looks crooked and it spits out millions of parrot caged lining dollars! Jimmy just recieived a new award, entering the Nashville Song Writer's Hall of Fame. He used to say something like this, "I've never won any awards for what I've written, but to be here with you (fans) is reward enough!" Well no more of that chum! (I meant in the literal fishfood sense)

He just put out an album "Take the Weather with You" (a great, mellow Crowded House song) and I think this is his best album since Off to See the Lizard! Yes, it is mellow, but that's my bag baby! I imagine listening to his song, Duke's on Sunday, watching 10 foot waves, and eating seafood on a rocky Hawaiian coast. Jimmy has another song, that brought back Sunday afternoons, listening to my Mama sing along with her old LP standards, Whoop De Doo, warms my ticker. So I suggest you all get on board, listen to it, and if you get the chance check out Jimmy's Havana Daydreamin' or A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean or Livin' and Dying in 3/4 Time! To me they are classic Buffett. If you want to know more, post me a note here and I'll direct you to the music that's carried me for about 30 years. Phins up!

Note to Jimmy: "We Went to Paris..... and had to turn around real quicklike!" RunRummer

Green for Red

(photo courtesy of nba.com)

This year I've had some memorable icons pass in my life. As a child from Upton, Massachusetts, I listened to and watched Boston Celtics games. The Celtics of course were successful way before I was born but I thought because they won all the time, that was the way it was supposed to be. Yesterday was another proofing that my expectations and reality are two different things. The mastermind of the Celtics dynasty passed at 89 years old. Arnold "Red" Auerbach was a New England icon. Red helped the Boston organization to a record 16 NBA titles. Whoa is me though, since my oldest son's birth, they haven't won any. 1986 was the last title, and the Celtics haven't been the same, or even close to a championship team, since then. As Red's influence will continue in the world of basketball, I can't help but feel that without Boston Garden, the leaky parquet floor, the baseline trappings, the lights going off during games, the fog during a basketball game, we've lost a lot as Celtic fans. Today I wear green in honor of the Red that demonstrated success, in a man that didn't care that Bill Russell was black, in a man that until recently had won more basketball games than any other coach, and in a man that puffed on a big, fat stogey and looked great doing it! We all long for success in our lives, Red was one of us who will carry that success for all time! Thanks RED!