Date: Fri 25-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-9

Quick Words:

Buffett-Summer-School-Concert

Full Text:

Concert Review-

Don't Chu-Know: Parrot Heads

Love Buffett's Summer School

By Shannon Hicks

HARTFORD - The only thing that can be said about Parrot Heads is that they are

always an interesting lot. After all, these are the people who would go into

hock to build bars in the back of their pick-up trucks, rig sails or giant

fins to the top of their vehicles, "dress like survivors of a mai tai factory

explosion" and dance around fields and parking lots for hours, cooking

cheeseburgers and maybe eating some fruit cakes, long before music starts

onstage... all for the sake of seeing their hero - Jimmy Buffett - in concert

for a few hours.

Parrot Heads understand each other and the silly things that go on in parking

lots hours before a Buffett gets underway. People who mistakenly find their

way into the midst of Parrot Head Madness may not always understand it,

however. Try to imagine the Hartford police officer's reaction when he was

called to the parking lot of BJ's Warehouse last Sunday afternoon, when store

managers asked him to evict the people who were sitting in the parking lot in

lawn chairs, with crepe paper and balloons everywhere, bedecked in bathing

suits and sipping margaritas. Or the thoughts that were going through the

heads of the organizers of a swap meet also underway Sunday afternoon, in the

parking area sandwiched between the Meadows parking lots. Parrot Heads to the

left, Parrot Heads to the right...

It had been five years since Jimmy Buffett had performed in Connecticut, but

last Sunday the King of Parrot Heads and all things summer returned with his

Domino College Tour `95, bringing with him the Coral Reefer Band (and an

amazing new talent on the Margaritaville Records label, Marshall Chapman, who

won herself some fans with her opening set) and his latest bag of tricks.

This summer's tour is in support of Buffett's 26th studio release, Barometer

Soup , released less than a month ago. New album or not, however, Buffett

continues to sell out every stop of his annual summer tours, and Connecticut

fans continued the tradition. Sunday's sellout was the first show to play to

full-house capacity at the Meadows Music Theatre during its first season in

operation.

Buffett took the stage Sunday night, emerging from between the pages of an

oversized Domino College Yearbook, wearing what has long been concert attire

for the world's richest Peter Pan: summer shirt, shorts, bare feet. For the

next two hours, he once again held his audience in the palm of his hand,

introducing "teachers" from Domino College (this year's tour is based on an

old Buffett tune of the same name) and spinning the yarns of stories his fans

love to hear: the songs Parrot Heads know word-for-word.

From his perch on stage, Buffett performed everything from days of old -

"Gypsies in the Palace," "A Pirate Looks at 40," "Come Monday," "Brown-Eyed

Girl," "Fins" (with Buffett donning an outrageous fin hat of his own), "One

Particular Harbor," and of course, "Margaritaville" - with the newer material

off Barometer Soup , including "Lage Nom Ai" and "Don't Chu-Know," which

followed "Volcano," another old song that Buffett admitted nearly mirrored

each other in syncopation.

For this tour, Gibson Guitars is sponsoring a contest at each of the 18 shows

of the tour. Before each concert begins, guitarists are invited to give a

demonstration of their talent in the lobby area (or in the case of the

Meadows, the outside grounds of the vendor area) for the chance to perform

onstage with Buffett during his classic, "Cheeseburger in Paradise." Winners

also receive an autographed Gibson guitar, and maybe even get to keep the

cheeseburger hat that comes from the shelves of one of Buffett's two

Margaritaville/Coconut Telegraph stores that's worn onstage when playing

"Cheeseburger."

Jimmy Buffett has had one "hit" in his life - most people don't even know

about "Come Monday," his semi-"hit" - and yet, with fans like the Parrot Heads

who turn up at every stop of his tour to keep him going, Buffett doesn't need

any awards to validate his penchant for fun. His fans, as he has said before,

are award enough.

It is impossible to explain to non-understanders the appeal of a man who sings

about living on islands, with palm trees and white sands, escaping from the

mainland to enjoy to peacefulness of the sea. Parrot Heads hear and

understand, and that's all that matters to them: the pursuit of a few hours of

happiness, and Jimmy Buffett. Sunday night at the Meadows, Connecticut fans

welcomed Buffett back to the state, Parrot Head-style.