Where do the Parrotheads go when it is all over?

 

            Where do we go? What do we do? No, these are not questions I am thinking about the post-apocalyptic world… These are my thoughts on when Jimmy Buffett is no longer touring.

             

            As I was flipping through channels, I came across an episode of ‘Crossroads’ that featured the Zac Brown Band along with Jimmy Buffett. Upon seeing Buffett on TV, memories of some glorious tailgate partying has come to mind… You have heard the stories from one of the particular Buffett concert Weekends through the “The Drunkest Weekend of my Life” blogs, let’s be honest here, tailgating at Buffett concerts are fun. Here is the problem… Jimmy is not getting any younger. Where do we party when Buffett retires?

                The annual summer trip to go to the Jimmy Buffett concert is something I really look forward to each year. It is a chance to get out of town with the boys for a weekend, get drunk and act like a fool for 48 hours. You go to the concerts and you see people from their teens all the way through their sixties practicing Jimmy’s way of escapism while wearing grass skirts, coconut boobies, swimming in kiddie pools with sand around them, flying pirate flags, making vehicles look like sharks with fins on the roof. It’s the type of behavior that is not acted on in regular daily events. People like to get away for a few days, let loose and not have a care in the world.

We have to be serious here; Jimmy Buffett is in his mid-sixties… He cannot tour forever.  Where do the parrot-heads go? What do we do to fulfill our thirst for that weekend of escapism? Maybe I should seek out some dead-heads from the famed Grateful Dead days. Dead-heads often followed the band across the country… to an extent, some parrot-heads practice similar antics. Did the party just stop when The Dead stopped touring? Did they find other outlets for their entertainment dollars? I am curious, because I realize that Jimmy probably will not be touring much longer.

Is there a possibility for find an heir apparent for Buffett? Kenny Chesney comes to mind. He is following in the Buffett mold as far as his passion for the tropics goes, but would his concerts yield the same atmosphere? It is unlikely.  As another blog that I had penned discussed, we brought our Buffett style tailgating to a Chesney concert, and no one else had brought “parrot-headism” to the venue. Maybe it would be different if Chesney embraced the Parrot-heads and welcomed them to bring the party to his shows. It might not even be then same even if that had happened; because it is just would not be the same without Jimmy. Could there be Parrot-head conventions at concert venues where videos of past Buffet Shows played on a screen? Just a thought…

I am not sure what the future holds for the Parrot-Heads goes, but I hope that we find somewhere to escape to in the future. The experiences had at these concerts are far to fun to just disappear. Let’s remember that Jimmy will not be around forever… maybe we should realize that and start thinking about the future now. Looking forward to next summer already!