Posted on 07/22/2004 6:55:32 AM PDT by presidio9
Pour another margarita for Jimmy Buffett. The famously laid-back singer, best known for his 1977 hit "Margaritaville," just landed the first No. 1 album in his 30-year career.
"Licence to Chill" sold 238,597 copies in its first week at the stores, putting it atop the Billboard Top 200 Album chart.
That's more than triple the opening-week figure of Buffett's last studio CD, 2002's "Far Side of the World." Buffett's previous highest position was No. 4 in 1996 with "Banana Wind." But that album only sold half what the new one managed in its first week.
Buffett and his fans, who call themselves Parrotheads, got a little extra help to make this happen.
A stage worth's of major country music stars appear with Buffett on "Chill." Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Toby Keith, George Strait and Martina McBride all sing duets with him.
Buffett is no stranger to the upper reaches of the Billboard charts. Of the 10 albums he has issued in the last decade, seven have made the top 10.
That's especially notable because Buffett has released most of these records on his own imprints, first Margaritaville, then Mailboat Records. The new album got an extra marketing push from a major label, RCA.
Like the Grateful Dead or Phish, Buffett has retained a huge audience through live summer tours that double as virutal be-ins for middle-aged party animals.
These movable Mardi Gras have pumped the Parrotheads up into a cultural phenomenon.
They also have allowed Buffett to market more than just concerts: He has live clubs, in Key West and New Orleans, as well as a clothing line.
His eternal beach bum character has proved a strong and durable enough commercial hook to make Buffett a fixture on Fortune's annual highest-earning entertainers list.
True enough, but I'll bet that Buffett has moved beyond adolescence. He's a pretty darn shrewd businessman in addition to a talented performer. Look at what he's parlayed a few hit songs into...restaurants, bars, record labels. He's his own industry. And at least he looks like he's still having fun while doing it.
He played down here in Columbia a couple of months ago, some people that went to the show said it was pretty good.
}:-)4
I'm not a Buffett fan, so I should have kept my mouth shut. Somehow, his schtik just never appealed to me. The closest I ever got to that sort of thing was Commander Cody, who did kind of a country rock equivalent of what Buffett does ("Truckin', f***in', everyone's doing it now"). To each his own. :-)
The Barefoot Man down in the Caymans is a regional icon.
His politics includes giving money to Wesley Clark and Bob Graham. Ugh.
Hmmm, OK but you are going to have to submit very compelling evidence for me to believe your theory.
And so we can be very clear on the matter "compelling evidence" would have to be in the form of death or dismemberment resulting in the shunning of your philosophy.
It's basically a Christian philosophy that says there's more to life than getting drunk and smoking pot. I don't want to sound too moralistic because I've done plenty of both, but I think you eventually have to move on and grow up.
That is, until your kids move out.
Hmmm Assumptions... Who said adolescence is about those things?
Maybe your experience with adolescence was keggers and a beer bong with the boys but mine was traveling and learning an growing (both mentally and physically.)
Yea, I had a beer or two and even tried pot once but for me it was adventure; seeing what was over the horizon and experiencing everything I could.
You can have your adulthood and if you are insinuating I am not Christian enough because I shun growing old of the mind, so be it.
However, I guarantee I am one happy fella and lived a hell of a life. Few regrets and lots of great memories.
How about the chancellor. I heard he was a fan.
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