Gulf & Western

Yeah.  This guy.

So I was talking to Daniel the other day, and I said, “I’m going to do the most unhip thing I’ve done in ages.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to see Jimmy Buffet in concert.”

Daniel thought about that for a while, and he said, “I think Buffet’s been in the business so long that he’s lapped himself.  He’s cool again.”

“Like Tony Bennett?”

“Exactly.”

So there I was in a huge outdoor crowd with guys in grass skirts, coconut bras, and parrots on their heads.  And the thing was, it was cold.  It had been raining all afternoon, and while the air wasn’t particularly chilly, there was a wind that was pretty cutting.

The event had sold out so quickly that the only seats I could afford weren’t seats at all, but a stretch of wet grass at the back of the Isleta Bowl (or whatever that venue is now called).  I rented a folding chair, because I figured if I spent the whole concert on the wet grass, either I’d slip and hurt myself, or I’d get pneumonia.

I had my Duluth Trading Company jacket, but the parts not covered by the jacket got cold, and clearly I needed something warming.  Which was a double Hendricks-and-tonic, a bargain at $15, that kept me warm for the whole event.  The only problem was finding my way back to my seat in the huge crowd, until I remembered I was next to the guy who had a row of blinking margarita glasses on his head, and you could see that a half mile away.

As for the concert, it was just what you’d want in a Jimmy Buffet concert, him with a big twelve-piece band that included Mac McAnally, who is up for his ninth consecutive Best Musician Award from the Country Music Association.  McAnally got a few songs to himself and was very impressive, and Buffet sang the Big Eight he’s required to sing at every concert, plus a bunch more stuff.

I left warm and happy and smiling, which is what happens when you listen to Jimmy Buffet, and I’ve had “One Particular Harbor” going through my head ever since.  So I thought I’d share that song with you.

And now you can take comfort in the fact that you might be as hip as me.