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Patron
hedonist
)Immy Buffet
Office of Major Events
Hill Auditorium
8 p.m., Sunday, March 10
By Glen Young
A MIDST VISIONS of rum drinks
and sailing vessels, Jimmy Buffet,
the patron saint of hedonists, will ride
into Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium Sun-
day night on the crest of a Caribbean
flavored musical wave. This will be his
second area appearance since the late
1982 release of disc Somewhere Over
China, as he made a stop last summer
at Pine Knob, and his second Hill
Auditorium appearance in 3 years.
Somewhere Over China has again put
Buffet and his merry men in the
limelight, due primarily to the title cut
and the groups rendition of "On a Slow
Boat to China," both of which have ear-
ned Buffet usually rare radio play.
Though known for his laid-back
lifestyle and "devil-may-care" at-
titudes, Buffet has worked hard during
his musical career and the hard work
has paid off.
Despite the hard work, Buffet has
continually been chastised by critics for
not being in-tune with human feeling,
and for shunning responsibility like an
over grown child. The singer would be
the first to agree he would rather being
sailing the pristine seas of the
Caribbean than working nine-to-five in
an' office, but anyone who has ever
heard tunes such as "Little Miss
Magic," written about his daughter
Savannah Jane, or "Treat Her Like A
Lady," or "The Captain and the Kid,"
dedicated to his grandfather, would
come away feeling this is a man with
great concern and understanding for
the human condition.
Buffet began his musical career in
the mid-60s, playing dives in the Bour-
bon Street area of New Orleans. In the
late '60s he took his act to Florida's
famous "who cares" haven of Key
West, and the rest is history. Or, at
least history to those who have followed
the man from the beginning. To those
less familiar with Buffet the history
begins in 1977 with the hugely suc-
cessful "(Wastin' Away Again In)
Margueritaville" from his most comer-
cially succesful disc Changes In
Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes.
But the hard work didn't begin with
"Marguaritaville," it began years
before that. Buffet's first release was
the 1973 disc A White Sportscoat And A
Pink Crustacean, with the heartwar-
ming ballad "He Went To Paris," and
the now famous hedonistic anthem
"Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw."
The years from 1974 to 1976 saw Buf-
fet release three discs, Living And
Dying in / Time, AA, and Havana
Daydreamin', all of which served to
perpetuate Buffet's committment to
meaningful ballads, such as "Come
Monday," "A Pirate Looks at Forty,"
and "Something So Feminine About A
Mandolin." But he also kept his sense of
island-spiced humor with cuts like "My
Head Hurts. My Feet Stink, And I Don't
Love Jesus," "Pencil Thin Mustache",
and "Making Music For Money."
1977 saw the release of Changes In
Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes which
seemed to be filled with more than its
usual share of the "serious" side of Buf-
fet. Songs such as "Wonder Why We
Ever Go Home," a song which deals
with a perrenial theme of Buffet's -
expatriated Americans, and "In The
Shelter," a song of lost love, are typical
of those on the disc.
In late 1978, Buffet and the Coral
Reefers did something every successful
band must ultimately submit to, they
recorded a four-side live disc, entitled
You Had To Be There, which featured
both the songwriters' soft and carefree
sides. Though the quality of most live
albums leaves something to be desired,
this one works simply because Buffet is
the kind of man who has to be heard live
to be appreciated.
1979 saw the release of Volcano which
again was filled mostly with the island
influenced melodies, and lyrics more
concerned with having fun, drinking
and carousing than with the sentimen-
tal side of the songwriter. Cuts like the
title cut and "Survive" are examples of
this, dealing with themes centered
around "where you gonna go when the
volcano blows?"
Buffet's latest two releases, 1981's
Coconut Telegraph, and 1982's
Somewhere Over China have once
again found the songs achieving that
delicate balance between nostalgia,
sentimentality, and downright raun-
chy, fun-loving times, which seemed to
have wavered a bit in the middle discs.
So 1983 finds Buffet back at it, touring
with this newly uncovered feeling of
delicateness, which was attained, tem-
porarily moved aside, and finally, as
the lyrics would call for, re-established.
For those who rave followed the man
from his beginnings, this new phase of
life for Buffet seems to be a maturing
process, and one which will simply ser-
ve as an even firmer ground for him to
stand on in the future.
So come Sunday night, all of us who
SPECIAL
OCCASIONS
Begin at
LA rtiste
Jimmy Buffet: Musical waves
have been there from the beginning will
once again make the journey to the
lives we live vicariously through Buffet
and his music, and anyone who is only
now discovering the genius of the man
will do themselves an enormous favor
by coming down to Hill Auditorium.
i
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30 Weekend/April 8,1983
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