Bringing Margaritaville To The Shell
By Chad Pata
|
On a mission to ‘reboot America,’ Jimmy Buffett promises a rollicking good time at his concert, and Waikiki restaurant
Leave it to the legionnaire of leisure, Jimmy Buffett, to look the pending world collapse in the eye, grab his six string and write a drinking song about it.
“I think it is more necessary than ever to have a sense of humor about everything to get through this stuff,” says Buffett, who feels it is his job to “reboot America.”
“Historically people tend to gravitate toward entertainment when times are bad, a little escapism. It is just that now, as opposed to wanting to come (to his shows), they need to come. I appreciate that. It’s kind of like when you are playing in the rain, people who show up on a horrible weather day get a better show because you respect that of people. When people show up during hard times, I feel the same way about delivering a show.”
Buffett returns to the Islands for a series of shows this week as he tries to help us shake off the malaise of dropping tourist dollars and vanishing 401(k)s. In his more than 40 years in the business, he has made a dream of sailing away from all your problems a favorite escape for Americans all over this country.
What started out as an amicable drunk strumming away on a barstool in Key West has turned into an entire industry. His brand now stretches the spectrum from clothes to booze to restaurants, with everything he touches seemingly turning into solid gold.
Despite never having a No. 1 hit, his legend just continues to grow. His legions of followers, known as Parrotheads, come to every sold-out gig armed with blowup sharks, beach balls and oversized shakers of salt (as a nod to a line in his song Margaritaville, where he bemoans the shaker he has lost).
Reports vary on his net worth, but the man who wrote of how a pirate looks at 40 is now estimated to be looking at about $40 million a year in income (that he reassures his fans he is spending foolishly) and his Vegas incarnation of Margaritaville at the Flamingo was one of the nation’s biggest earners, bringing in $43 million last year alone.
But for the self-proclaimed pirate, the financial considerations have little to do with why he is who he is.
“If you took the money out of the equation, I would still be doing this,” says Buffett. “To be honest, I never thought it would last this long or that I would still be alive at this point. Back in those rocking ‘70s and ‘80s, who’d a thought? I didn’t start out to be an industry, but I have seen too many people be successful for a short time then lose everything, and I certainly was not going to be one of those.”
Earlier this month that success grew further as the Honolulu version of Margaritaville opened quietly in the space that for so many years belonged to Don Ho in the Outrigger Beachcomber Hotel. The 21,000-square-foot space has been converted from the closed showroom of a local legend into an open-air, lava-flowing fantasy of an American icon.
“When Don was in the club, he was a dear friend and I was always a big fan,” says Buffett. “When he got sick, we were talking with the Outrigger people, and Don was onboard, and we were going to include him in the whole process. I was like, what a great opportunity, the tiki torch is passed!”
A picture of Ho still adorns the stage at Margaritaville, and he will be on hand, if only in spirit, for the grand opening party scheduled to happen between Buffett’s Maui show on Feb. 24 and at the Shell on the 28th.
|
“The Margaritaville opening, that’s like playing a party, that’s not a show,” says Buffett, who expects that local friends such as Henry Kapono and Jake Shimabukuro will pop in to play with him. “The shows are all going to be fun, but I got this sneaky feeling that the opening of Margaritaville, that is going to be good.”
The restaurant also features, along with its four bars and a waterfall, the brand new Honolulu Surf Museum. The collection came from famed Santa Barbara collector Jim O’Mahoney, whom Buffett had contacted about purchasing his Apocalypse Now board, one of two actual boards used in the famous scene where Robert Duval uttered the immortal words, “Charlie don’t surf!”
As fate would have it, O’Mahoney was closing down his California museum and looking to move the memorabilia. It included a tremendous amount of Hawaiian collectibles including a Bing Crosby ukulele, a Duke Kahanamoku ukulele and a Gidget surfboard. They now can be found in the new museum opened just off the pool at the Beachcomber.
Buffett is not just a collector of boards - during his fortnight in the Islands expect to see him out in front at Waikiki at his favorite surf spot, Queen’s.
“You know I am coming out for a little work and a little play, try to keep it evenly matched up,” says Buffett before finishing with his signature laugh. “But I think I am overloading in the surfing side rather than working side!”
As a lover of islands and ocean, Buffett’s attraction to our state is only natural, but he feels there is more than the salty air that draws him here.
“It’s absolutely a different vibe in Hawaii. For me, it goes back to when I first came over, must have been 25 years ago,” recalls Buffett. “I’d always wanted to go. I think it’s because there is this distant Polynesian strain of Buffetts over there that have been traveling around the Pacific for a while, so I think I might have some family connection over there.”
Long-lost Buffetts or not, the Islands fit perfectly with his laid-back style. He will arrive at the show not by the industry-standard limousine, but by the Island-standard slippahs.
“When you walk to the gig at the Shell through Waikiki and under Diamond Head, it just means a lot,” says Buffett. “At the Shell when we play, we put big speakers up as soon as the show sells out - which it does all the time, thank God - ‘cause we know there are a lot of people outside picnicking on the grass and listening to the music, and that is fine with me. We go beyond the Shell and I am happy with it. I want everybody to hear it.”
At 62, Buffett keeps plugging along with a new tour called Summerzcool beginning in April. But doesn’t he ever think of taking his own advice and sailing off into the sunset?
“Would you ever get off a great, long wave before you had to?” asks Buffett. “I’m riding this wave till someone knocks me off or cuts me off!”
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS Comments (0) |
Most Recent Comment(s):
