Shit. Jimmy Buffet died. Smoked a doobie with him in 1974 in my best friend ‘s next door neighbor’s house when he was in Tuscaloosa on his Living and Dying in 3/4 Time tour. Have been to see him a handful of times and have enjoyed his music for 50 years. Bought all of his 70s albums and absolutely love Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitude and Son of a Son of a Sailor. RIP., and thanks for the tunes.
pogo, here he is in ‘bama in 2010:
From Jimmy Buffett’s concert in Gulf Shores, Alabama on July 11, 2010. The concert was in response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Silicon Valley elites who have been quietly buying up northern California farmland for several years have gone public with their vision for the utopian city they hope to build from scratch on 55,000 acres in Solano county.
[…]
Before last week, no one knew who exactly was behind the purchase of agricultural plots and empty land in south-eastern Solano county, about 60 miles from San Francisco. The land bought by the firm primarily stretches between Fairfield, home to 120,000 people as well as the Anheuser-Busch Co brewery and the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory, and the small city of Rio Vista.
In all, the group spent nearly $1bn and became the largest landowner in the county, even buying property around the nation’s busiest air force base. The mystery reportedly drew the attention of the US military and FBI.
Last week, the New York Times revealed that Flannery Associates was backed by a group of prominent Silicon Valley investors and aimed to build a new city, operated using clean energy, that would create thousands of jobs while offering residents reliable public transportation and urban living.
[…]
The news fueled further controversy and outrage. The group only recently started interacting with local officials and residents, according to media reports, and had sued landowners who sold their land over what it deemed an “illegal price-fixing conspiracy”.
“People in my district are understandably alarmed at a shadowy investment group buying up large tracts of farmland, purportedly to build a new city,” Bill Dodd, a state senator, said in a statement. “But we don’t really know what’s going on because the investors have not shared anything with locals.”
On Thursday, the group laid out the vision for the land with a new website, renderings and a name – California Forever. California Forever is the parent company of Flannery Associates, founded by Sramek who, the website notes, recently purchased his first home in the county.
On the website, California Forever argued that to build a “complete, sustainable community” it needed a large settlement of land, and said it couldn’t share its plans until it finished acquiring properties to avoid “reckless short-term land speculation”.
[…]
Catherine Moy, the mayor of Fairfield, planned to meet with Garamendi and members of the county board of supervisors to create “a plan for defense”, the Daily Beast reported.
Moy first learned of an entity acquiring land in the county four years ago, she told the outlet, and began digging into Flannery. She discovered Sramek’s involvement and contacted him, but he never returned her calls, Moy said.
She slammed the company and its accusations against farmers and said the companies don’t understand the ties people have to the land there. The mayor said she has received hundreds of messages, nearly all opposed to the group’s plan.
“The one thing that I’ll say Flannery has done is they brought us together,” Moy told the Daily Beast. “And by that I mean, citizens, environmentalists, other builders, politicians – all together to build a wall to stop Flannery.”
I sighed with relief when I read that a man was questioned by police in Norfolk, Neb., concerning the full-grown Watusi bullperched in the passenger seat of his sedanas he cruised downRoute 275. At last, things are getting back to normal.
The nation’s unseemly recent obsession with politics and cultural strife has been an unhappy distraction from the great American pastime of wacky undertakings. Policy brings out the worst in us. The mystic chords of our better angels are strummed by episodes of loony brilliance: a man who takes flight in a lawn chairlifted by balloons; another whomakes a modern Stonehengefrom half-buried Cadillacs; some person whopaints a monumental likeness of the Mona Lisaon the side of an isolated barn. As a boy, I was entranced by billboards advertising theWorld’s Largest Prairie Dogon the remote plains of western Kansas, and felt mixed disappointment and admiration when, old enough to drive at last, I pulled off to discover a weather-beaten statue some eight or 10 feet high.
In this grand tradition comes Lee Meyer. By now, there’s a good chance you’ve met him on the internet. “Full grown bull riding shotgun” is what you call clickbait, but unlike most things fitting that description, the bull in the car is even better than the tease. He is an adult male of theWatusi breed, known for their almost comically enormous horns. In the viral video, the bull appears blissful riding down the highway in the retired police cruiser that his human friend has modified to contain his tonnage. The license plate reads: “Boy & Dog.”
Not surprisingly, the sight of Meyer and his pet bull, named Howdy Doody, prompted at least one 911 call. I picture a world-weary dispatcher discovering that, in fact, she had not heard it all before. Officers responding to the summons admitted later that they had expected to find — at most — a little calf. But Howdy Doody’s bulk towered above the car’s roofline, with horns as wide as the hood, and a prodigious streak of digested breakfast running down the rear fender.
[…]
The sight of him reminded me of a bull named Ferdinand.
Though he rode from farm to city in a wooden wagon, Ferdinand was equally picturesque, as drawn by Robert Lawson in the classic children’s book by Munro Leaf. A mass of fearsome potential, Ferdinand seemed destined for combat in the bull ring. But much like Howdy Doody, his nature was gentle and placid. He preferred to sit peacefully and smell the flowers.[continues]
Didn’t know he was sick. Despite his beach bum image, Buffett was a skillful businessman, a billionaire — not so much from his music, but by leveraging his brand into restaurants, hotels, clothing, food products, all kinds of stuff.
Woke up to the news and could only echo the OH SHIT! The ones who fill the world with joy are way too few and far between.
Patd
You need to visit Carl Jones on Twitter @Youthguy07
Most of the time it is my gentle place of music and humor, Carl is a Parrothead and low this morning.
thanks, jamie. love the poetry of it. had to look up the lyrics. here are 1st few stanzas of his “one particular harbor”
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
I know I don’t get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It’s a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe
I used to rule my world from a pay phone
Ships out on the sea
But now times are rough
And I got too much stuff
Can’t explain likes of me
But there’s this one particular harbour
So far but yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear
But now I think about the good times
Down in the caribbean sunshine
In my younger days I was so bad
Laughin’ about all the fun we had
I seen enough to feel the world spin
Mixin’ different oceans meetin’ cousins
Listen to the drummers and the night sounds
Listen to the singers make the world go ’round
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
In 2013, we held my 25th high school reunion. It’s normally a 2 night affair. An informal gathering on Friday night and a more formal gathering on Saturday. However, on that particular Saturday night, Jimmy Buffett was in concert at Comerica Park in Detroit. So, some of my classmates said, “I won’t be at the reunion on Saturday night. I’m going to see Jimmy Buffett at Comerica Park.” These classmates were “Parrotheads”. I thought out loud, “You people have seen Jimmy in concert several times before, but you are skipping our reunion to see him again?!” So, I kept on ranting about this. Every 5 years, when it was our reunion year, I would make a comment that I would have to check Jimmy’s tour schedule before I could commit to attending our class reunion. People would often say, “Let it go, Corey.” I would tell my friends at work this reunion story. Whenever someone would play a Jimmy song, they would say, “Sorry Corey.” It was a running joke that lasted for 10 years. RIP Jimmy.
I remember when “Margaritaville” came out. It was a song, like “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “Proud Mary” which from that time until the present every bar band in America would play at least once a night, many times twice. The kind of song a songwriter would kill for.
His stuff was so good it became clicheic.
From Vanity Fair June 1998,
Jimmy Buffett’s answers to their Proust Questionnaire:
What do you consider your greatest achievement? Surviving in the music business for over 34 years.
What is your most treasured possession? My first Martin guitar.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Having my own island.
Where would you like to live? Where I do.
When and where were you happiest? I still am.
What is your current state of mind? Still crazy after all these years. (I wish I had written that song.)
What is your most marked characteristic? My sense of humor.
What is your favorite occupation? Flying.
What is your greatest extravagance? Airplanes.
What is your greatest fear? Earthquakes.
Which historical figure do you most identify with? Jean Laffite, the pirate.
Which living person do you most admire? Walter Cronkite.
Which living person do you most despise? Jerry Falwell.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Chastity.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? Greed.
What is your favorite journey? Paris, always Paris.
What do you dislike most about your appearance? Somebody stole my hair.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Curse words.
What is your greatest regret? That I never taped or documented my grandfather’s stories of his years at sea.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? I really love my life.
Who are your favorite writers? Mark Twain, Eudora Welty, and Patrick O’Brian.
How would you like to die? Quietly on an island.
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? Osprey.
What is your motto? “Never forget to duck.”
Willie Nelson · Jimmy Buffett · Emmylou Harris · Sheryl Crow · Eric Church · George Strait · Dave Matthews · Chris Stapleton · Derek Trucks · Kris Kristofferson · The Avett Brothers · Bobby Bare · Jack Johnson · Jamey Johnson · Lee Ann Womack · Lukas Nelson · Lyle Lovett · Margo Price · Micah Nelson · Nathaniel Rateliff · Norah Jones · The Little Willies · Ray Benson · Steve Earle · Susan Tedeschi · Vince Gill
Proust
Got Zeused.
My favorite
SFB shouldn’t be running for president not just because of the legal issues but because of the fact that he was a horrible, terrible president. The worst.
I hope theDemocrats are planning to start talking about the impact of shutting down the government…..especially during the holidays. And what the Republicans are really up to. Republican registration continues to drop.
A personal rant. I just had my third flat tire in as many weeks. People driving pick-ups–secure your stuff. It’s not just me either. Everyone I know has had a flat from nails or screws. I also learned there is a tool –a magnet bar that people wave over an area to help with this problem. I think they all come from the Safeway parking lot.
So happy Rick and I got to eat in one of his Cheeseburgers in Paradise restaurants while he still owned it.
Yup… it was in downtown Lahaina…. R.I.P. Jimmy and all that you wrought.
That time Jimmy got beat on by Sherrif Buford Pusser at the King of the road Hotel in Nashville as told by Jimmy Buffet
I work with lots of Death-to-Tires Level screws. Very conscious of screw-dropping. But if it drops on a grassy or leafy area you have to get out the Voice of the Theater speaker magnet on a cord and thoroughly sweep the area.
My proustian motto of the week: No Screw in Grass.
the glorification of alcoholism was pretty destructive, wasting away indeed 😬
An irritation of the intertubes is you see “RIP Bill Richardson, you did so much for hostages” and cannot find a backup article that he has indeed gone room temperature. He was governor of New Mexico a while ago, and, sort of ran for president. He was hindered in that endevour for many reasons. Hopefully something will show up so everybody can read about him.
The creation of a single word was completely responsible for the Buffet fortune. The set up had been used at least since the Beatniks……splitsville, squaresville, what have you…..and then for Buffet it became pure magic: Margaritaville. All he had to do then was turn a salt shaker into a shaker of salt and Katie bar the door. He was astute enough to have some good solid stuff as follow up and he’s soon on his way. It was meant at first as a kind of standard it’s my fault she left me and now I’m so drunk I can’t even find my salt shaker song…..but it rose up and became Margaritaville. Cult song perfection.
“…dedicated his post-political career to working to free Americans detained overseas…”
“He bargained with a who’s who of America’s adversaries, including Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It was a role that Richardson relished, once describing himself as “the informal undersecretary for thugs.”
Ukrainian forces have decisively breached Russia’s first defensive line near Zaporizhzhia after weeks of painstaking mine clearance, and expect faster gains as they press the weaker second line, the general leading the southern counteroffensive has said.
Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy estimated Russia had devoted 60% of its time and resources into building the first defensive line and only 20% each into the second and third lines because Moscow had not expected Ukrainian forces to get through.
“We are now between the first and second defensive lines,” he said, speaking to the Observer in his first interview since the breakthrough. Ukrainian forces were now pushing out on both sides of the breach and consolidating their hold on territory seized in recent fighting, he said.
“In the centre of the offensive, we are now completing the destruction of enemy units that provide cover for the retreat of Russian troops behind their second defensive line.”
“People are wrapping trash bags and Ziploc bags around their shoes to avoid getting stuck, while others are walking around barefoot.”
“It’s unavoidable at this point,” she said. “It’s in the bed of the truck, inside the truck. People who have tried to bike through it and have gotten stuck because it’s about ankle deep.”
His fadder wuz a mudder.
NEW THREAD by Jack
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pogo, a repost of your 4:45 am:
Shit. Jimmy Buffet died. Smoked a doobie with him in 1974 in my best friend ‘s next door neighbor’s house when he was in Tuscaloosa on his Living and Dying in 3/4 Time tour. Have been to see him a handful of times and have enjoyed his music for 50 years. Bought all of his 70s albums and absolutely love Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitude and Son of a Son of a Sailor. RIP., and thanks for the tunes.
pogo, here he is in ‘bama in 2010:
From Jimmy Buffett’s concert in Gulf Shores, Alabama on July 11, 2010. The concert was in response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
and just this year in the keys:
hello to Sili-valley-ville
Plan for 55,000-acre utopia dreamed by Silicon Valley elites unveiled | Silicon Valley | The Guardian
the new ETs – Elite Terrestrials – have landed
also making news in the guardian today
Ukrainian counteroffensive has made ‘notable’ progress in south over past three days, US says | Ukraine | The Guardian
There is legislation in Solano County that prevents doing what Flannery is planning. They could just be holding the 55000 acres as a nature preserve
Yacht music before it was yacht music. Too young.
My favorite Buffett song. A Pirate Looks at Forty.
instead of the usual dreary bullsh*t, an unusually lighthearted WAPO op-ed
Opinion | The Watusi bull riding shotgun is what makes America great – The Washington Post
Didn’t know he was sick. Despite his beach bum image, Buffett was a skillful businessman, a billionaire — not so much from his music, but by leveraging his brand into restaurants, hotels, clothing, food products, all kinds of stuff.
Woke up to the news and could only echo the OH SHIT! The ones who fill the world with joy are way too few and far between.
Patd
You need to visit Carl Jones on Twitter @Youthguy07
Most of the time it is my gentle place of music and humor, Carl is a Parrothead and low this morning.
thanks, jamie. love the poetry of it. had to look up the lyrics. here are 1st few stanzas of his “one particular harbor”
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
I know I don’t get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It’s a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe
I used to rule my world from a pay phone
Ships out on the sea
But now times are rough
And I got too much stuff
Can’t explain likes of me
But there’s this one particular harbour
So far but yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear
But now I think about the good times
Down in the caribbean sunshine
In my younger days I was so bad
Laughin’ about all the fun we had
I seen enough to feel the world spin
Mixin’ different oceans meetin’ cousins
Listen to the drummers and the night sounds
Listen to the singers make the world go ’round
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
In 2013, we held my 25th high school reunion. It’s normally a 2 night affair. An informal gathering on Friday night and a more formal gathering on Saturday. However, on that particular Saturday night, Jimmy Buffett was in concert at Comerica Park in Detroit. So, some of my classmates said, “I won’t be at the reunion on Saturday night. I’m going to see Jimmy Buffett at Comerica Park.” These classmates were “Parrotheads”. I thought out loud, “You people have seen Jimmy in concert several times before, but you are skipping our reunion to see him again?!” So, I kept on ranting about this. Every 5 years, when it was our reunion year, I would make a comment that I would have to check Jimmy’s tour schedule before I could commit to attending our class reunion. People would often say, “Let it go, Corey.” I would tell my friends at work this reunion story. Whenever someone would play a Jimmy song, they would say, “Sorry Corey.” It was a running joke that lasted for 10 years. RIP Jimmy.
I remember when “Margaritaville” came out. It was a song, like “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “Proud Mary” which from that time until the present every bar band in America would play at least once a night, many times twice. The kind of song a songwriter would kill for.
His stuff was so good it became clicheic.
Fair winds and following seas, Mate.
This article is a good overview of the possible damage sfb has done to the intelligence groups. I cannot say out loud what level of hate I have of the idiot.
From Vanity Fair June 1998,
Jimmy Buffett’s answers to their Proust Questionnaire:
What do you consider your greatest achievement? Surviving in the music business for over 34 years.
What is your most treasured possession? My first Martin guitar.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Having my own island.
Where would you like to live? Where I do.
When and where were you happiest? I still am.
What is your current state of mind? Still crazy after all these years. (I wish I had written that song.)
What is your most marked characteristic? My sense of humor.
What is your favorite occupation? Flying.
What is your greatest extravagance? Airplanes.
What is your greatest fear? Earthquakes.
Which historical figure do you most identify with? Jean Laffite, the pirate.
Which living person do you most admire? Walter Cronkite.
Which living person do you most despise? Jerry Falwell.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Chastity.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? Greed.
What is your favorite journey? Paris, always Paris.
What do you dislike most about your appearance? Somebody stole my hair.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Curse words.
What is your greatest regret? That I never taped or documented my grandfather’s stories of his years at sea.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? I really love my life.
Who are your favorite writers? Mark Twain, Eudora Welty, and Patrick O’Brian.
How would you like to die? Quietly on an island.
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? Osprey.
What is your motto? “Never forget to duck.”
Willie Nelson · Jimmy Buffett · Emmylou Harris · Sheryl Crow · Eric Church · George Strait · Dave Matthews · Chris Stapleton · Derek Trucks · Kris Kristofferson · The Avett Brothers · Bobby Bare · Jack Johnson · Jamey Johnson · Lee Ann Womack · Lukas Nelson · Lyle Lovett · Margo Price · Micah Nelson · Nathaniel Rateliff · Norah Jones · The Little Willies · Ray Benson · Steve Earle · Susan Tedeschi · Vince Gill
Proust
Got Zeused.
My favorite
SFB shouldn’t be running for president not just because of the legal issues but because of the fact that he was a horrible, terrible president. The worst.
I hope theDemocrats are planning to start talking about the impact of shutting down the government…..especially during the holidays. And what the Republicans are really up to. Republican registration continues to drop.
A personal rant. I just had my third flat tire in as many weeks. People driving pick-ups–secure your stuff. It’s not just me either. Everyone I know has had a flat from nails or screws. I also learned there is a tool –a magnet bar that people wave over an area to help with this problem. I think they all come from the Safeway parking lot.
So happy Rick and I got to eat in one of his Cheeseburgers in Paradise restaurants while he still owned it.
Yup… it was in downtown Lahaina…. R.I.P. Jimmy and all that you wrought.
That time Jimmy got beat on by Sherrif Buford Pusser at the King of the road Hotel in Nashville as told by Jimmy Buffet
I work with lots of Death-to-Tires Level screws. Very conscious of screw-dropping. But if it drops on a grassy or leafy area you have to get out the Voice of the Theater speaker magnet on a cord and thoroughly sweep the area.
My proustian motto of the week: No Screw in Grass.
the glorification of alcoholism was pretty destructive, wasting away indeed 😬
An irritation of the intertubes is you see “RIP Bill Richardson, you did so much for hostages” and cannot find a backup article that he has indeed gone room temperature. He was governor of New Mexico a while ago, and, sort of ran for president. He was hindered in that endevour for many reasons. Hopefully something will show up so everybody can read about him.
The creation of a single word was completely responsible for the Buffet fortune. The set up had been used at least since the Beatniks……splitsville, squaresville, what have you…..and then for Buffet it became pure magic: Margaritaville. All he had to do then was turn a salt shaker into a shaker of salt and Katie bar the door. He was astute enough to have some good solid stuff as follow up and he’s soon on his way. It was meant at first as a kind of standard it’s my fault she left me and now I’m so drunk I can’t even find my salt shaker song…..but it rose up and became Margaritaville. Cult song perfection.
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/02/1197430962/bill-richardson-former-new-mexico-governor-and-diplomat-dies-at-75
“Bill Richardson, a former Democratic governor of New Mexico who went on to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has died. He was 75.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/02/bill-richardson-a-former-governor-and-un-ambassador-who-worked-to-free-detained-americans-dies-00113831
“…dedicated his post-political career to working to free Americans detained overseas…”
“He bargained with a who’s who of America’s adversaries, including Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It was a role that Richardson relished, once describing himself as “the informal undersecretary for thugs.”
Also, he was the UFO guy.
slave ukraini
‘Everything is ahead of us’: Ukraine breaks Russian stronghold’s first line of defence | Ukraine | The Guardian
Ukrainian counteroffensive has made ‘notable’ progress in south over past three days, US says | Ukraine | The Guardian
One way ticket to Palookaville.
Folks stranded by rain at Burning Man, conserve your drinking water. Life is odd.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/02/us/burning-man-storms-shelter-black-rock-city/index.html
“People are wrapping trash bags and Ziploc bags around their shoes to avoid getting stuck, while others are walking around barefoot.”
“It’s unavoidable at this point,” she said. “It’s in the bed of the truck, inside the truck. People who have tried to bike through it and have gotten stuck because it’s about ankle deep.”
His fadder wuz a mudder.
NEW THREAD by Jack