Original subtitles

[crowd cheering]

[man 1] In 1985, in Timberwolf Theater

at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio,

Timothy B. Schmit and Jimmy Buffett were doing a live concert.

We're looking at the crowd, and Jimmy was talking to me.

I said, "Look at all those Deadheads out there."

Timothy B. Schmidt goes, "No, no,

"those are Parrot Heads."

[trop rock music playing]

I've been to 31 shows.

About 20 shows.

This is our 17th show in a row.

Forty five to 50 Buffett shows.

This is show number 79.

[man 2] A fan is a fanatic,

and a Parrot Head is a noun

that is something beyond a fan.

Parrot Head has come to really the whole tropical lifestyle,

that's the music, the travel, the clothes.

Parrot Heads have created this whole world around Jimmy Buffett.

It's like they tune in to a frequency.

Jimmy takes you back down to the beach.

[woman 1] When I think of his music, I think of palm trees, hammocks.

It's songs about escaping.

Your escapism.

Escapism.

It gives you a little break from life.

They wanna escape for...

and take their vacation for a couple of days while we're in town.

[man 2] It's like a condensed week at the beach.

It's not just a fan club.

It's a group of people

who wanna do good things for this Earth and for the community.

So, they call it "party with a purpose".

So, everything they do is to raise money for charity.

They've raised probably over $15 to $20 million overall.

[Jimmy Buffett] The community of people you get to meet

based on their love of this music

is a very satisfying thing.

[Jerry Diaz] A lot of folks think that

Parrot Heads only like listening to Jimmy Buffett,

but Parrot Heads are really strong supporters

of independent music.

Once I got into the club,

I started hearing all these other artists

that kind of run in the same vein.

We call them "trop rock" artists.

"Tropical rock". And then, they kind of shortened it to "trop rock."

It's gone beyond just Jimmy Buffett and his music,

but it's encompassed all these trop rock musicians.

[man 3] Dennis Davis in Texas.

[woman 2] Jimmy and the Parrots.

[man 4] Jerry Diaz.

[man 5] Sunny Jim.

[woman 3] Tall Paul.

[man 6] Melanie Howe.

[woman 4] Thom Shepherd.

[man 7] Southern Drawl Band.

[man 8] Jim Morris, Kelly McGuire, Jerry Montag, Boat Drunks.

[woman 5] But Jimmy started it.

Jimmy Buffett gave me the soundtrack for my life.

[Buffett] I never expected it to go to the level that it's gone to.

[laughing] And I'm very appreciative.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[Buzz Cason] It was 1969,

and I was working at a studio called Spar

in the basement of the Baker Building there in Nashville.

Engineer was Travis Turk,

and he was from Mobile. He was from where Jimmy was.

And he had a friend, Milton Brown.

These two guys, to me, are totally responsible

for Jimmy's launching.

He said, "Hey, Milton's got some new tapes on Jimmy,"

and, you know, he'd like for us to listen.

So, he set them up, and I thought,

"Well, that sounds pretty good. Have him come up and see us."

When he came up, of course, I was charmed by him,

because he had that something that you can't put your finger on.

He had some magic about him.

It's the first thing that you have to really do to have any kind of success

is find people who would actually pay money to go see you.

It was a struggle in the beginning

to find enough people that would get anybody excited

about taking the first steps.

[Cason] As he progressed and grew as a writer,

he really became a poet, and a prophet, and everything else,

you know, and he was able to put that into his music.

In Nashville,

the musicians, and the singers, songwriters, and everybody around

really took to Jimmy.

He'd play somewhere, and they'd say,

"Hey, this guy knows what he's doing."

You start at that level

of, like, an opening act on a five-act bill or something like that,

and then people start coming,

and you can start creating your following.

[Cason] When he moved to Key West,

I remember a card, a letter, he sent me

kind of thanking me for what I'd done in his early career.

He said, "I have found a home."

And that was the first year, first time he'd gone to Key West.

He got implanted down there

and became part of that culture.

That was the beginning of the tropical thing about his music.

I think everybody just gravitated to that fun, carefree lifestyle.

He got right out into their hearts, into their...

He was down partying with them,

but he was up on stage, you know?

And he was everybody's buddy and still is.

There's not many people that were entertainers,

but everybody could relate to them.

The fans themselves...

the loyalty is unbelievable.

[all cheering]

Buffett!

[Cason] If you're gonna go,

you know, you're gonna go all-out for this guy.

["Margaritaville" playing]

♪ Wasted away again in Margaritaville ♪

[Cason] The party exploded.

♪ Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt ♪

How many people would you think you play to in a year?

Last summer, we played to probably about 700,000.

♪ Some people claim that there's a woman to blame ♪

♪ And I know ♪

[Buffett] This is usually some woman's fault.

[Jimmy Fallon] Do you even own socks?

-No, no. -You don't, right?

[audience cheering]

[Cason] "Songs You Know by Heart"

was on the charts for 434 weeks,

and this particular Billboard chart, it's number one.

[Buffett] We play 35 cities a year, and we sell out.

There's 29 or 30 websites, of which I only have one.

You know, I mean, I just don't understand it,

but I appreciate it so much.

Hi, this is Scott Nickerson.

I wanna welcome everybody to the fifth annual Parrot Head convention.

Scott started the very first Parrot Head club in Atlanta

back in '89, I believe.

None of us would be together

if it weren't for Scott Nickerson.

That's Scott Nickerson. Can you believe it?

-[laughing] -I've seen him in the parking lot.

I'm Scott Nicker-... [laughing]

Ah!

I'm Scott Nickerson, founder of Parrot Heads in Paradise,

the Parrot Head clubs all over America

and the rest of the world.

[laughing]

[Bryce Wagoner] You wanna stop?

I gotta do another one.

[Nickerson] I was a morning man

at this tiny, little FM radio station.

I got the award for being the most listened-to morning guy

from Jacksonville, Florida all the way south to Daytona,

but the money wasn't too good. [laughing]

So, I left after about a year.

I moved to Atlanta

and then really got lucky.

Right place at the right time in Atlanta.

Ended up playing music for a living.

I was into more the rock and roll, in-your-face kind of stuff.

The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath,

Alice Cooper when that came out.

Deep Purple was a huge band for me.

So the first band I played on a regular basis when I was 15 years old.

We played a lot of their songs.

For me, Buffett was a country artist,

and I was into country music at all,

because I was into rock and roll.

When I lived in St. Augustine,

a lot of the entertainment in the bars and restaurants

were single acts.

Usually, somebody playing an acoustic guitar and singing.

A lot of people were doing the Buffett covers.

I guess I got used to hearing that kind of music

as a way to, you know, relax.

When I moved to Atlanta,

I had the "You Had to Be There" live album.

Some songs on that just really spoke to me, I guess.

I was so homesick for St. Augustine.

That's really the reason I got into Buffett.

Parrot Heads in Paradise, before it got that name,

were just Atlanta Parrot Head Club.

I seemed to meet the same 10 or 15 people tailgating when Jimmy played.

I just got this wild hair.

I said, "You know, how about putting an ad in the "Creative Loafing" newspaper

to see if Buffett fans,

people who like that Buffett lifestyle that he sings about,

would be interested in getting together on a regular basis.

[Buffett] I really didn't wanna do a fan club.

I thought that that's... That's asking too much.

But the seeds of the Parrot Head phenomenon grew into this on its own.

I got phone calls, first two weeks, I guess,

and we set up the first meeting, if you wanna call it that.

I would say probably no more than 12 people that got together,

but we had a ball.

You've heard my theory behind the starting of the entire Parrot Head nation.

And the whole theory there is that Scott Nickerson just wanted to get laid.

[all laughing]

Within a couple of months,

the people with "The Coconut Telegraph," Buffett's newspaper,

they decided to put a blurb about the Atlanta Parrot Head Club in it,

and they put my name and my phone number in there as well.

So, I started getting calls from all over the country,

Detroit, Madison, Wisconsin,

Columbia, South Carolina,

New York City.

We had 'em in L.A., Las Vegas,

The first one that I'm aware of

that started overseas was in Australia.

As far as I know, they're still there.

He would be one of the founding fathers of a lifestyle.

Yeah, exactly.

If you were to look at it in religious terms,

-he'd be a major prophet. -Yeah.

[Nickerson] We used to get rented buses, go to games.

We went water rafting,

hiking, backyard barbecue.

Go to Stone Mountain and see the fireworks.

It didn't have that much to do with going out and drinking.

It was more about being outside and doing things together.

[woman 6] Scott brought the first group together,

and there are clubs now all over the world.

He has facilitated so many very special friendships.

[Buffett] He found other people that liked listening to my music.

I think that that's really a unique thing,

because I was doing exactly the same thing on the other side,

trying to find people who liked my music.

[Nickerson] I had the idea,

but a lot of other people were involved in making it what it is now.

Scott Nickerson and Jerry Diaz

they threw around this idea of having a national convention for Parrot Heads.

We said, "Hey, wouldn't it be great

"to get everybody together for a little... a party somewhere,

"and where else better than New Orleans?"

We let "Coconut Telegraph" know about,

"Hey, we're doing this. We're all Parrot Heads."

And they said, "You know, it'd be better

"if you had a name for this party,

"you know, just to give it a little panache."

And I thought about 10 seconds.

Hell, not even 10 seconds. 5 seconds.

I said, "Let's call it Meeting of the Minds."

And I thought it was just a throw-away line,

but it ended up being what they call it now, so... [laughing]

MOTM, Meeting of the Minds.

[Announcer] Welcome to the 1995 Meeting of the Minds.

This weekend is a time to party with the flock from across the country.

It's also a time to reflect on the true purpose of the clubs.

Hi, this is Jimmy. We're still on the road, and I won't be in New Orleans,

but, uh, welcome all y'all to Margaritaville

for the fourth annual Parrot Head Club meeting...

[laughing] at New Orleans.

[Sunny Jim] It started getting big enough

that they needed to move it to a bigger place.

Had to cap it off at 3,500 people.

And that fills up fast.

[Sunny Jim] They moved it to Key West.

Jerry still has an annual party

called Pardi-Gras in New Orleans.

Welcome to Pardi-Gras.

This is our annual event that we have here in New Orleans.

It's put on by myself

and a group of really close friends.

Last 15 to 20 years, I've been writing songs, and recording albums,

and playing live shows throughout the Gulf Coast

from Key West all the way down to South Padre Island.

Our music is pretty much centered around a tropical theme.

Uh, I think the name for the genre is "trop rock" music.

Something that's really part of our culture and our lifestyle

here on the Texas coast.

This song is pretty special to me,

because it's a song about where I live,

the people that I've grown up with.

It's called "Gulf Coast Day".

[trop rock music playing]

[trilling]

Trop rock sound incorporates a lot of different types of instrumentation.

Mostly, it's centered around some kind of tropical lyrics.

Songs about escapism.

A lot of trop rock music involves steel drums and congas.

Pretty much anything that centers

on the topic of tropical, uh, lyrics and content

is regarded as trop rock music.

♪ The Gulf of Mexico ♪

♪ Spends his time between his flop gigs ♪

♪ Chasing girls he'd like to know ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh Oh ♪

♪ Watching Charlie go ♪

[Diaz] We've developed a lot of friends over the years,

uh, I guess because we've been at this,

playing the trop rock music and putting on events,

for really over 20 years now.

People apparently like what we're doing.

I fell in love with Jerry in a bar in our hometown, Nederland, Texas.

He would get up on the bar and surf

when they played Beach Boys' music,

and I loved it. I fell in love with him that first night I met him.

That's it. [laughing] He was awesome.

And we've been together really ever since.

When I met Jerry, he was already a Jimmy Buffett fan,

and we started going to concerts together all the time,

and all our friends were big Parrot Heads.

So, we all just decided, "We need something to represent us,

and that's how we formed our Parrot Head Club.

What I think makes my dad so special to the Parrot Head community

is that he gives so much of himself.

[Mary Diaz] He will bend over backwards for the other musicians.

Jerry Diaz, man, that guy has done more to help me get into new markets.

And, you know, he's... He's booked me gigs and shows playing the same places he does.

And he doesn't see it as competition. He's helping somebody out.

He's thrown a lot of shows my way,

and he's just always been a good friend and a good buddy.

And, uh, we've had a lot of fun playing together.

And Jerry is a great songwriter and a great performer.

[Jerry Diaz] As part of Pardi-Gras,

we do a parade that we have on Friday night.

It's called the Pardi-Gras Parade.

We raise some money for charities here in New Orleans,

and, uh... And we just have a good time.

[marching music playing]

[Buffett] When I saw it,

it appealed directly to my sense of Mardi Gras,

because I come out of a French Mardi Gras culture.

That's all this really is.

[Jerry Diaz] Fun set after that.

Hope y'all are having a good time at Pardi-Gras.

Are you having a good time?

[crowd cheering]

Isn't it good to be in New Orleans on a beautiful day like...

Come on, Parrot Heads!

♪ Friday night And we're feeling right on the bayou ♪

♪ Have some crawfish in the pot ♪

♪ And Wingtips on the radio ♪

♪ Look at all our kin here We've got beaucoup ♪

Live auction is really the big fund-raiser.

Here's the rules, folks.

Dig deep.

Credit cards are accepted on these auction items, okay?

1,900 going twice. Sold. $1,900. Thank you, sir.

♪ Let the good times roll ♪

♪ Till the cows come home ♪

♪ Put your problems in the past ♪

♪ Let the good times roll ♪

My name is Thomas Pimentel.

I'm from Boston, Massachusetts,

and I'm a Parrot Head.

I first started making movies when I was 10 years old.

You know, acting out, putting on shows,

and doing impressions, and things like that.

We are two wild and crazy guys!

[Thomas Pimentel] Every single school project I had,

I begged and pleaded to turn them into videos.

I love satire, and I love parody.

Somebody see a ghost?

["Ghostbusters" theme playing]

It's the Ghostbusters!

Sorry we're late, big man. Traffic was brutal.

It's the ghost of The Bambino. It's my biggest fear.

You'll never win without me.

I was the best pitcher you ever had.

My greatest influence, as far as film-making goes, is Steven Spielberg.

The movie that really changed my whole entire outlook on making films

was "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

This crossover between my favorite movie of all time

and this world of Jimmy Buffett just seemed to make sense.

I thought to myself, "Indiana James

and the Raiders of the Lost Shaker of Salt."

[dramatic music playing]

[Pimentel] It is a monumental task

trying to recreate a blockbuster like "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Especially on a next-to-nothing budget.

Shot in six different states in over 60 locations,

the project has taken a decade to complete.

Two statues that Indy climbs up and crashes through the wall,

we built that totally from scratch.

I mean, if it gives you any street cred, I think it would.

[laughing]

We interject so many jokes

and references for the super-super-nerds.

What is Indiana James afraid of the most?

Cakes.

-Why did it have to be cakes? -[Pimentel] "Why did it have to be cakes?"

Indiana Jones is searching for the lost ark.

Jimmy Buffett is searching for his lost shaker of salt,

and you don't really know if he'll ever find it.

[dramatic music playing]

[Pimentel] It's escapism.

Jimmy Buffett is an escapism artist,

and that's what filmmakers are.

Someone sent me a message through YouTube,

and it said, you know, "What's this project about?

and what's the Buffett connection?"

Turns out, it was Jimmy Buffett's media director.

He said, "We'll take a clip of your movie,

and we'll play it during intermission."

We were down at the show.

He does his first set,

and then the lights go down,

and on the giant screens,

plays "Indiana James and the Raiders of the Lost Shaker of Salt."

[dramatic music playing in film]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

It was everything that I hoped it would be.

[man] We did it, baby.

[Pimentel] I got a call on my cell phone.

"Come back stage. Jimmy wants to meet you."

And, you know, I couldn't believe it.

He says, "What in the hell possessed you to make this movie?"

And I said, "An over-active imagination and an abundance of free time."

He said, "I can relate to that."

Cheers and fins up!

[trilling and laughing]

[trop rock music playing]

[announcer] Get out your tropical clothing.

Sioux Falls cable and KELO-FM

welcome the A1A Brew Ha Ha Tour

Friday, July 10th for one night only.

Probably a year or so into the Parrot Head Club in Atlanta,

I got a call from a guy's mother.

Talking about her son plays tons of Buffett music,

and maybe I would wanna hire him

to play for some Parrot Head events.

He was playing at a place not far from where I lived,

so I went and checked it out.

He invited me to come, and sit in with them,

and play some of their Buffett stuff.

We sat down and went to talking.

And I said, "Listen, when you go back to this club

"and play,

"why don't you talk to the manager about just doing Buffett?

Call it a Buffett Tribute Weekend."

And it was a packed house all weekend.

It was just one of those things where you look at each other, and you go,

"That was a good idea.

"Let's form a Buffett cover band.

Call it A1A."

It was based on a highway that runs north and south

from about Jacksonville, Florida

all the way south to Key West.

[harmonic playing]

We got corporate work, wedding receptions, outdoor concerts.

The biggest show we ever played was in Vegas.

And Buffett was playing inside.

They had us play outside the venue.

I was told we played to over 3,000 people that day.

When he was round with A1A,

there was always an event, always a party.

He was sort of my inspiration.

You see these people going nuts.

Thanks, everyone. Let's hear it for Scott one time for doing all this stuff.

[crowd cheering]

There was a band way out on the end of the dock,

and you couldn't really see, but you could hear.

And I thought, "Oh, my god! Jimmy's out there. It's Buffett playing"

And then we get out there, and it was A1A.

[Michael Utley] They were, like, the first organized trop rock group,

and, you know, it helped create the fanat-, fanatic...

You know, the Parrot Head behavior.

He's taking over Jimmy's position after this tour,

and we've already discussed it with the Coral Reefer Band.

Scott is going to be the new Jimmy Buffett.

[Nickerson] We hit it at the right time.

There was nobody else out there calling themselves a Buffett tribute show.

There were people doing a lot of Buffett songs,

but not just that.

I thought, "If this lasts a year and a half

"before people are gonna see what's going on,

and they say, 'Oh, I can do that.'"

It took eight years for anybody to start doing what we were doing.

[trop rock music playing]

[Nickerson] I was living my dream,

and then, everything just fell apart.

[ethereal music playing]

[Nickerson] I noticed I had some problems with my eyes.

They did an MRI on me

and found that I had a brain tumor.

I had to have it taken out.

They had to split me basically all around like a backwards questions mark on my scalp.

[Cindy Eayly] Then, you know, surgery was over.

Everything seemed fine. Tumor was gone.

And then, all of a sudden, he stroked.

[Nickerson] It went straight to my brain to my speech motor function.

[Eayly] This is a man who...

could not speak.

He couldn't put a sentence together.

Couldn't focus.

The Parrot Head community was, uh... was just in shock.

My phone rang a lot.

People, friends of Scott's, who wanted to know what...

what was going on.

He's a drummer also a harmonica player,

and those are fine motor skills

that could be in danger of being damaged or lost.

[Eayly] We really didn't know what the outcome was gonna be.

I loved Scott's voice,

you know, when he and Jeff would sing together.

I always liked Scott's voice.

I was just afraid it would, uh, take a toll

on his being able to sing,

and it did. It did.

♪ Hold me close ♪

♪ -We are the Earth -We are the Earth ♪

[singing indistinctly]

[Nickerson] It took me quite a while to learn to speak again.

I still, you know, have problems with certain words.

You know, when you come out of something like that,

you're really not thinking like you did before.

I thought, "Well, I can go back on the road,

and everything will be fine."

A year into recovery, I started having seizures.

That was the most horrible thing in the world.

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I wasn't able to stay as involved with PHIP as I had been before.

[Eayly] Someone puts their heart and soul

into an organization,

and get it going, and it works,

and it's growing,

but then, new people come into the mix,

and they want to change things.

To me, you know, Scott was PHIP.

Members of new clubs now,

probably the majority don't know who Scott Nickerson is,

and I think that's a real shame.

[Nickerson] And I moved after my surgery

to, uh, Wilmington, North Carolina

to be closer to my doctors,

help me with the recovery.

I really can't remember too much about the actual breakup,

um, between Scott and Jeff.

[Nickerson] The end of A1A wasn't really discussed.

It just kind of happened.

Jeff wanted to go one direction.

I wanted to go a different one.

It was sad.

You get used to doing something you loved for a living for that long,

it's pretty tough.

I dreamed all my life as far back as I can remember

of being able to play music for a living.

And I really miss that.

More than I can tell you.

♪ We are the Earth ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

My name is Thom Shepherd,

and I am a singer and a songwriter.

I live in Austin, Texas,

and, uh, I just travel and perform full-time.

I spend a lot of time on the road.

I think in the last year, I did over 150 dates.

Now, we're traveling in this awesome Dodge Sprinter van.

I've put nearly 30,000 miles on it in about six months.

And we call it Rocinante,

which is actually the name of Don Quixote's horse.

I think it means "beat-up, old nag".

[laughing]

The first hit song I ever wrote was called "Riding with Private Malone",

and it was a number one by a guy named David Ball.

It's a song about a soldier.

And that song just changed my life forever.

It was great.

That was the one that kicked open the door.

The next song that I wrote that was a hit

was called "Redneck Yacht Club" by Craig Morgan,

and that one did very well too.

I like to say it's good work if you can get it.

I fell into the Parrot Head gigs a few years ago,

and it was something I totally didn't expect,

and I just fell in love with all those folks.

The Parrot Heads are, like, some of the most giving,

and friendliest, and fun bunch of people that I've ever met.

They'd take a bullet for you, you know.

They're good people.

House concerts have been in existence probably for... What? 10? 10 years,

and it's way better than going to a concert

when you have 2,000 to 20,000 people.

[man] It's a chance for artists to meet fans

that weren't familiar with their music previously.

Because the whole key with independent music is

trying to get people who potentially like that music

to get familiar with the artist.

[Shepherd] I think when you start out as a musician, you go,

"I wanna play at arenas for 10 gazillion people."

But to me, I find that shows that are some of the most rewarding

are these intimate settings

where folks are listening to every word.

Honestly, I think house parties might be the future of music.

[playing "Riding with Private Malone"]

♪ I was just out of the service ♪

♪ Thumbing through the classifieds ♪

♪ When an ad that said, "Old Chevy" ♪

♪ Somehow caught my eye ♪

A lot of people assume that

when you go and you play for a Parrot Head crowd,

all they wanna hear is "Margaritaville"

and all the Buffett songs,

and that's the farthest thing from the truth.

They love original music.

They like songwriters.

We love Jimmy,

but sometimes, you want to hear a little more.

-Original music. -Yeah, you wanna hear original music.

[Shepherd] As an artist, it's great when people wanna buy your CD,

and your T-shirt, and things like that.

What I've found is, at the Parrot Head shows,

you have to bring something new every time,

because they brought everything last time you came. [laughing]

♪ He said, "My name is Private Andrew Malone ♪

♪ And if you're reading this, then I didn't make it home ♪

[Shepherd] They're very helpful about sharing the love,

and spreading the good word.

If they like you, you know, they spread the word around.

If you come to San Diego, they'll tell you, "Well, we know the people from L.A.

Call this guy."

And then you end up with, you know,

two, or three, or four days in a row,

-and it makes for a really... -And they come pick you up from the airport.

-You sleep at their house. -Feed you.

-Feed you. It's a pretty good deal. -They make you a drink.

You know what? Let's cut this from the film

because we might have a good thing going here,

and we don't want word to get out.

♪ It was a young man named Private Andrew Malone ♪

♪ Who fought for his country and never made it home ♪

My connection with "Private Malone",

and it's very touching.

Um, I just retired from 23 years

as a psychotherapist with the military.

So, that's my boys.

♪ And I was proud to be riding ♪

♪ With Private Malone ♪

To make somebody cry,

I mean, it sounds like a bad thing,

but it can be a good thing if it's through a song

or a shared experience.

I first started doing Parrot Head shows

about a year after I'd had cancer for the second time.

When I went through having cancer,

it's like, "What do I really wanna do with my life?"

You know what I mean? I was writing songs for a living,

and I liked doing that,

but to me, it's the connection with the folks.

And that's why I write songs

is to play them and have people connect and relate.

♪ Thank god I was riding ♪

♪ With Private Malone ♪

[crowd cheering]

Thank y'all.

Thank you very much.

Starting to make me cry.

But I'm about to do it again.

[all laughing]

[woman] Welcome to the Cheeseburger Festival.

Pour me something tall and strong. [laughing]

My name is Patricia Desjardin.

I'm mayor of Caseville.

It's a beautiful town.

It's pretty quiet.

But when Cheeseburger starts, oh, boy!

It's 10 days of Jimmy Buffett, and everything goes.

["Cheeseburger in Paradise" playing]

[Hersel Falbash] About 16 years ago,

we started having Cheeseburger at Hersel's.

It was kind of busy. We only had it for one weekend.

All those people, they came,

they enjoyed it, and they came back next year.

We decided to do it 10 days in a row

in Caseville, Michigan, the home of Cheeseburger Fest.

[Desjardin] Our last census of 2010,

we have 777 residents.

But at Cheeseburger, we can have up to 75,000 people.

Parrot Heads gravitated here mostly because a lot of them live in the Detroit area.

It's not very far to come up to Caseville.

If we did not have the people that come up

and shop during this Cheeseburger, 10-day festival,

our small boutiques and the small stores,

they'd have a hard time working to keep their stores open.

People are coming from Chicago, Ohio.

The hotel, the resort gets full two years ahead of time.

We're talking about thousands, and thousands, and thousands of people every day.

We've been coming to the festival here from the very beginning.

-For 15 years. -Yeah, for 15 years.

She dragged me to the first one.

I've been here just about every Cheeseburger Festival since then. It's great.

I come from big city of Detroit.

I never saw this even at all the parades when I was a little girl.

[Don Middlebrook] I've seen Parrot Head events.

I've seen Parrot parades.

I've seen them raise millions of dollars.

This town dedicates the whole town

to the Key North and Cheeseburger in Caseville.

[Falbash] They go through 60,000 cheeseburger,

all different kind of cheeseburger.

They have cheeseburger on every corner.

As you're driving in Caseville,

you can smell cheeseburger for blocks.

Even if you're not hungry, you have to have a cheeseburger.

The food, the partying,

the music, the comedy shows,

it's nothing but 10 days of fun in Caseville.

[woman] It's a big family atmosphere.

So, they can bring their whole family, and camp out,

and just have a ball for a whole week

with all the kind of trop rock music that we love.

[laughing]

Tonight, we're gonna see Jimmy and the Parrots from New Jersey.

They are really good.

[man] You know, when you're on a big stadium,

you don't have the feeling that you have here in front of a band.

The people are all on the hill.

They all go down and dance right in front of the band.

It's as much fun as you'll have with your clothes on.

[all laughing]

We're doing the best-dressed pirate tonight.

I didn't know they were gonna have a pirate contest

at this event.

I just happened to bring this

because I might have wanted to dress up like a pirate.

I think pirate number one has it.

[audience cheering]

It's always Jimmy Buffett, his music,

and that's what Cheeseburger is all about.

♪ I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise ♪

We need you, Jimmy.

Come see the mayor.

I'll welcome you. I might even buy you... a cheeseburger.

We're Frank and Chris Bellino.

We're both board members of the Los Angeles Parrot Head Club,

one of three clubs that sponsor the event, Migration.

We bring together trop rock bands.

We have silent auctions. We have raffles.

We raise money for charity

and just have a big party for two or three days.

♪ ...wearing palm trees and neon green ♪

[Sunny Jim] It's a fun event.

I've done this probably four times in the last 15 years or so.

♪ Tropical shirt-wearing king ♪

I've been very successful with this. It's been great.

I've been making my living solely off music for the last 30 years.

In 1988, I moved to the Caribbean with a band.

We were the house band at a resort there for one year.

And that one year turned into 12 years for me.

While I was down there,

of course, all the Caribbean influences just took over.

And I learned to play the steel drum. I taught myself steel drum.

[man] A lot of trop rockers live their songs.

They live their adventures.

Sunny Jim is the real deal.

They see him as someone who's actually done it.

Has lived that dream, and has written about it,

and knows what he's writing about.

You know, living in the tropics,

what else are you gonna write about?

[Sunny Jim] When Jimmy turned 50, he took a trip for himself

around the rim of the Caribbean.

We ended up meeting him, and we got to chat for a while.

Became friends,

exchanged phone numbers and emails.

He ended up writing about us in his book, "A Pirate Looks at 50."

And titled the chapter "Island Girls" after my girls.

The Parrot Heads discovered me through that book,

and then subsequently, through the Radio Margaritaville.

In 1999,

Jimmy sent Radio Margaritaville down to Grand Cayman.

We did a live broadcast of my show,

and I did an hour and a half of my own music.

So, people know me from my music,

rather than being a Buffett cover artist.

♪ It was the gentle kiss ♪

[Sunny Jim] I've been blessed to be able to work for Parrot Heads around the country.

We just did a house concert with him a few weeks ago.

And he's just very down-to-earth, very friendly.

Sunny Jim and I are very good friends. Known each other a long time.

You know him as a great songwriter and singer, I'm sure,

but he's also a very talented guitar player.

Sunny Jim will play until he drops.

He'll play until he has no vocal chords left.

He can play with everybody. He can play anything.

He's a great guy.

The Parrot Heads and the performers are really one big, extended family.

♪ When tomorrow finally comes and it's all said and done ♪

♪ We could blame it on the rum ♪

[audience applauding]

My name is Steve Hoffman.

I'm the president of the Cincinnati Parrot Head Club.

Cincinnati and Jimmy Buffett are synonymous with one another.

Back in the late '60s, before Jimmy Buffett was a household name,

he played around town.

He was at a place called The Blind Lemon.

He played up there kind of regularly.

And then we go to King's Island, Timberwolf Theater,

and now, he's down at the Riverbend Music Center,

and he's been playing there for a long time.

Every show has been sold out.

He's played to almost 900,000 people at that one facility.

And the tailgate is just legendary.

When he comes into town, it's like a national holiday.

When you live in the Midwest,

there's no beach. You don't see the water. You can't go surfing.

We have somebody to take us somewhere where we've never been.

In real life, I'm a city manager of a city.

But you don't need to know that. [laughing]

I work in a grocery store with my brother.

So, I hustle groceries for a living.

Police dispatcher.

Telling the policemen where to go.

I'm an engineer.

I'm a teacher.

I work for the government.

Back in the days of kings, and queens, and serfs, and you know...

You had to give poor people the day off,

or else they were gonna kill you.

That crowd out there goes back to work on Monday.

But that's their weekend, and that's their Mardi Gras.

I'm Matt Corcoran.

Um, we're sitting here in my dental office.

I got started with Jimmy Buffett concerts in 1984.

I worked over at Kings Island

and right across the street from Kings Island in Timberwolf.

I was their lifeguard.

My friend was like, "Hey, we're gonna go see this guy, Jimmy Buffett."

I'd just come straight from work.

I came straight from work wearing a lifeguard T-shirt, bathing suit.

Fit right in to the crowd

and said, "I'm home. This is it."

We started going in just a car

and then a van.

Got to the point where we were renting limos,

buses to get everybody down.

Then I bought an RV. [laughing]

It's a lot more fun when you bring your own party with you.

During Buffett week,

this is what I wear to the... to work in.

Patients love it.

Yeah, all his patients are asking him about it.

He's not here the day after the concert.

[all laughing]

[Steve Hoffman] The clubs itself,

we don't just go out, and have parties, and drink all the time.

What we really do is we're a philanthropic group.

[Matt Corcoran] Started up going to a couple club meetings,

and then they opened up Margaritaville.

It's only six miles from Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

My oldest son was there from December through April.

He's got ulcerative colitis.

I mean, any time you're sitting at Cincinnati Children's Hospital,

you need a place to go... decompress,

get the stress off of you.

Get off work,

drive down to Margaritaville,

put in a food order...

and all of a sudden, they're like, "Hey, how's your boy doing?"

Geez. [chuckles]

The Cincinnati Parrot Head Club organized a Hoxworth blood drive.

You know, that hit me on a personal level,

you know, 'cause my son...

Gee, I know they put at least 10 units of blood in him.

So, a lot of people say,

"Well, what all do Parrot Heads do?"

It's more than just tailgating and parties.

I'm very honored that people don't just listen to a tune.

They on their own have gone beyond that to give something back.

My name is Connie Musser.

We are in Cleves, Ohio.

Been there my whole life.

Got married. Had two boys, Joshua and Michael.

I have listened to Jimmy my whole life.

You know, when he started up at Kings Island,

we were going to the concerts up there.

If you haven't heard a Jimmy Buffett song, or been to a concert,

you don't know what it's all about.

But it's lively music. It makes you happy.

Well, in 1993, it was hot.

Wanted to get out of the house and go swimming,

so we went up to my sister's.

So, my first dive in,

I went through the inner tube, and hit bottom,

and broke my neck.

I could hear it break underwater,

and it sounded like your body just kinda shuts down on you.

There I was, laying in the pool

with my face down and my neck broke.

I couldn't lift my head up at all.

My friends thought I was joking for a little bit

and weren't getting me out of the water.

They finally got me out,

and I was up on the deck,

and I remember saying, "Just call 911. Call 911."

They got me into the ambulance and everything,

and then they said they'd almost lost me in the ambulance.

My fellow Parrot Heads

have been with me since day one.

They started sending in jewelry

and Parrot Head items

that would lift my spirit.

My bedroom was completely filled with cards

from not only my family and friends,

but from all my fellow Parrot Heads.

Probably he had 500 cards on my wall.

I had my accident two days before the Buffett shows,

and I had tickets to all five shows.

While I was in the hospital,

I got a phone call.

I said, "Hello."

And he said, "Connie, it's Jim."

I said, "Jim?"

"Jim Buffett."

I was like, "Oh, my god.

"Like, how'd you know I was here?

And what're you doing calling me?

He wished me well and stuff,

and said he's send the tape up to the hospital

so that we could see the tape of the show,

and said he's see me next year at the concert.

A man of his word,

about a month later,

I got a tape

of his concert that year.

And at the end of the show, he dedicated it to me.

Every year from then on,

we have gone backstage

and talked to Jimmy.

We have our little chat session.

He inspires me so.

Just to be able to do it

and have people appreciate you that much,

you can't ask for more than that.

[Musser] He makes it real easy. Because I'm in a chair,

and believe it or not, I'm not good in crowds,

but I attend Jimmy's show every year.

We were backstage talking to Jimmy last year.

Talking about my progress, and how far I've come, and where I wanna go to.

He had mentioned something about

them doing something in California with stem cells.

So we decided to have some fund-raisers.

I knew that if I ever was gonna be successful, I wanted to give something back.

I love the fact that the Parrot Head Clubs go about it,

basically, the same way.

[Musser] I put an e-mail out

to the president of the Parrot Head Club,

Steve Hoffman, and asked if there was anything they could do to help.

As soon as he got in touch with me,

he was attached to my hip.

Steven went to work trying to get this all okayed to have at Margaritaville,

and lo and behold, it happened.

We went down to Margaritaville

and had a nice, wild night out.

How many Parrot Heads are in the audience tonight?

[crowd cheering]

I'm gonna introduce you guys to this amazing person, Connie Musser,

'cause she's gonna need an amazing chance with stem-cell therapy.

[Musser] I just really want to thank everybody.

You guys have really been awesome tonight.

I took that money,

and it paid for my surgery out in California.

We went in,

and they put them stem cells in two different places on the back of my neck.

I just wake up every morning

and start trying to twirl those toes,

or work those fingers.

But it's really good therapy

to sit and just move what you can move.

It's all gotta start somewhere.

[physical therapist] That's her legs actually moving it.

[Musser] It's teaching me how to dance.

I've got feeling to my toes already.

That's from Jimmy's music.

That's what I exercise to, Jimmy.

Every time we talk or send an e-mail,

he just says, "I'm waiting on that dance.

I'm waiting on that dance."

So the ending goal here is

I want to give Jimmy that dance.

I wanna dance again.

I wanna dance with my man.

[Nickerson] The New York Parrot Head group

that I knew back in the early days

invited me to come and see them.

It's been a long time since I've seen or heard from anybody in that group,

so I'm looking forward to it.

When I was no longer doing music,

I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do,

but I had to get a job.

Nursing aide, that's what they call it.

You are the low man on the totem pole.

The job I have now doesn't pay even ten bucks an hour.

I took that job so I have insurance for my kid and myself.

Basically, is it.

My kid, my 5-year-old son, that's number one right there.

Awesome kid.

Adopted when he was six months old.

Now he's five and a half years old, and it's hard to believe.

Give me your phone please.

[Nickerson] We were getting hassled like crazy

because of mortgage.

I said, "I don't wanna go bankrupt. What do we do?"

When you make that little amount of money,

[laughing] you go through your savings pretty fast.

Oh, I'm not gonna kid you, man.

I made more money playing music

than I ever made working for anybody else in my life.

I didn't get wealthy, but I wasn't hurting for anything.

When you have a five-year-old kid, and you're worried about him,

you don't wanna have everything yanked out from under him.

Hell, I could survive anything.

I have before,

but I don't want him to have to go through this.

I wanna do something to be able to provide for my son,

doing what I do the best.

This is more important to me than anything. It really is.

I'm Lynn Creamer. I'm president of the Metro Parrot Head Club

here on Long Island.

We're into our second day of JB at JB,

Jimmy Buffett at Jones Beach.

He played Tuesday. It was a great tailgate and show.

I've been to 120 Jimmy Buffett concerts.

Been to 57.

We just follow Jimmy wherever he goes.

We've seen Jimmy a couple of times at Madison Square Garden,

and that's a more difficult venue

to tailgate at obviously.

Jones Beach makes it a little more comfortable

with, uh, the beach and the sun.

I think New Yorkers love Jimmy Buffett,

because New York is not the easiest place to live.

So I think Buffett's music, and his lifestyle, and what he loves

is something that we embrace as part of our lives.

It's a nice diversion from the pace of New York City.

[woman] The thing about New York is how everyone goes all-out.

Any type of concert, whatever they love, they go all-out for it.

There's no music like Buffett.

There's no place like Jones Beach.

Montauk! No place!

My name is Jimmy Maraventano.

I'm Hal from Jimmy and the Parrots.

[Maraventano] We've got a fun, little band we play with.

You know, I started... I always played the guitar as a kid.

My dad played, my uncles. We lived in a country house.

There was always a guitar laying around, or a mandolin, or a banjo.

I knew one Jimmy Buffett song, "Margaritaville".

I had no idea what he did.

Just coincidentally,

we happened to, um, be in Florida when Jimmy Buffett was filming "Fruitcakes".

["Fruitcakes" playing]

[Maraventano] He was trying to get back to his trailer,

and I said,

"Jimmy, you mind taking a picture?"

He turns around. He looks around. He goes, "No problem."

And he was so gracious.

He puts his arms around my kids and wife, takes a picture,

and I say, "Thank you." I'm nervous. I don't wanna bother the guy.

And then he starts talking about he's gonna be in New York.

He's got a place up here. He's playing with Paul Simon out in Montauk.

We gotta come by.

He kept going on and on.

He was just so gracious. I fell madly in love with him.

Came back. Bought all of his CDs.

Played them constantly. Gave the guitar to my son.

We started a band.

[upbeat trop rock music playing]

[Selzer] We added a little energy to it.

-We like to run around and have fun. -We do.

Fool around a little bit and...

Still play great.

But I think that really connected to the Parrot Heads.

A few of the bands said to us,

"Note to self. Don't go on after Jimmy and the Parrots."

[Maraventano] We want the people to have a good time.

We're not up there for us to have a good time. We're up there for them.

[Selzer] We always have a good time.

[Maraventano] We have a great time.

[Selzer] If we have a good time,

they're gonna have a good time.

And that's it. And they seem to grab right onto this.

They start going nuts. We start going nuts.

It's all about you people.

How did this all happen? How did this all happen?

[playing trop rock song]

A little song we call "We Owe It All to Jimmy."

I hope you like it.

Even though we're known for Buffett music and trop rock,

Jimmy has some amazing originals

that when we play, the crowds sing all the words.

Here we go.

♪ I'm looking out on the sea of smiling faces ♪

♪ Swaying to the rhythm and the sound ♪

I can't believe you know it.

♪ A pat on your back from your favorite friends ♪

♪ There's high fives going all around ♪

A friend of mine knew somebody at a record label called Madison Entertainment

that does these theme CDs.

I said, "I got an idea for you.

Island music, Jimmy Buffett themed."

So we did a three-CD set for them,

became their fastest selling CD,

and we sold over 100,000 of them.

♪ We owe it all to Jimmy ♪

♪ And you crazy fans ♪

That's you people!

♪ To all the flags and the shark fins ♪

♪ Out on those minivans ♪

Yeah.

♪ It ain't about the parrots ♪

Oh, no.

♪ Or the swaying palm trees ♪

♪ It's about all the great friends ♪

♪ That we have come to be ♪

Look at ya! Look at ya!

Last year, we won the Trop Rock Entertainers of The Year.

Yay.

You know, it's really funny.

They said, "Oh, we're nominated."

I didn't give it much thought. But when we won it, though, it was so great.

The whole thing is just really amazing.

♪ It's about all the great friends ♪

That we have come to be.

♪ We have come to be ♪

And, man, have I made some good, life-long friends.

All right. Here we go.

[Nickerson] I've never been here in this area before.

I've never been to Jones Beach.

The New York Parrot Head group that I knew,

I met them at New Orleans back in the early days of the convention.

It's been a long time.

One, two, three!

[shouting and cheering]

Welcome back!

Thank you. Been a long time.

Come on, you gotta say something now.

I don't know what to say.

Come on, man!

I was taken aback.

You know, they were saying, "Speech, speech."

I didn't know what to say. I was not expecting that to happen.

And it was fun. It was a great time.

Thank you for all you've done.

-Hey... -You're an inspiration to mankind, pal.

Yeah, yeah. You really have.

Changed our minds. I met him because of you.

Oh, good. Excellent!

I would have never met so many great people if it wasn't for you.

If it wasn't for you, I would've never met him.

[shouts] Hey! Look who's here!

[all shouting and cheering]

[chanting] Bosco! Bosco! Bosco!

[Nickerson] Bosco was on all the Parrot Head cruises we played on.

He came out of nowhere,

and I saw him after not being in touch with him probably eight years or so.

It's kinda weird when a guy this tall comes up

and starts kissing you because he missed you...

that much.

What's going on, man?

So good to see you.

Good to see you, man.

I think you just got engaged.

We caught each other on Internet a couple of yeas ago, I guess.

Years ago.

And in person, also years ago.

It's been a long time for that.

A long time.

Oh, man, those...

Those were the days.

[Nickerson] [chuckles] What I saw in that parking lot...

It was like, oh, somethings never change.

And that's the truth.

The outfits people wear to the Buffett concerts

is still just as insane as it has always been.

So, you do autographs?

I'll hold your beer.

[musician] Everybody here having a good time?

[all cheering]

I'm not used to that kind of attention, you know?

It's like, "What do I say? What do I do?"

You wanna grab everybody and hug them all at the same time.

Get this!

Scott, could you take a picture with our club?

-Oh, could you? -Absolutely.

-All right, everybody... -Whatever you want.

[musician] All you crazy people!

[all cheering]

Today, the litmus test of that sense of community,

and coming together as complete strangers,

and leaving as friends or even better than that

is Paris.

When Jimmy comes to Paris, it's the United Nations of Parrot Head-ism.

I'm from Cornwall in the U.K.

I'm from Stuttgart, Germany.

[all] Switzerland!

I had an apartment in Paris many years ago,

and I'm a Francophile. I love the city.

In some ways, it has the same kind of spirit,

the esprit, of the music of the Parrot Heads,

because it's calm. It's relaxed. Everybody enjoys life.

Everybody takes the time to drink a glass of wine.

[speaking in French]

[cheering and applauding]

[speaking in French]

[speaking in Italian]

I'm from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Jimmy Buffett? No, never.

[laughing]

We love you, Jimmy!

[speaking in French]

[crowd cheering]

[speaking in French]

Yeah! Yeah, I know the song "Margaritaville".

That's, uh... That's fun music. Fun music, yeah.

I walk down the streets of Paris,

I can't help but having "Quietly Making Noise" go through my head,

or "Frenchman for the Night",

or "Rue De La Guitare".

Best thing about being a Parrot Head is you just get enrolled,

and you have friends for all your life.

I'm from London.

And I'm from the Netherlands.

I'm from Holland.

And me from Germany.

So, there was this Englishman, this Dutchman, and this German in a bar...

[all laughing]

[Buffett] People now, within the community,

are going, "You gotta go see the Paris show."

That's the new Holy Grail, you know,

is to go to Paris.

You see bistro managers and waiters

who, when we first went there, just, you know... like this,

and then now, it's like they get it.

To see that happen in Pigalle on that little, round island there that they occupy,

is an interesting full circle.

You are enchanted by it, because you see that there's sincerity.

We need one day in France, we could call it the Jimmy, Buffett Day,

where everybody should be wearing clothes like that,

and it will be a funny day.

My name is Mike Holly.

I was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio.

Spent 50 years there.

I became a stock broker.

A lot of people say I have a problem with Jimmy Buffett.

I probably do. Well, I know I do, yeah.

But that's okay. It's a good problem.

I was first introduced to Jimmy Buffett by my wife-to-be.

She bought me the CD "Off To See the Lizard".

It was like, "Oh, this stuff is pretty good. I kind of like it."

It just started out slow, grew, and grew, and grew,

and all of a sudden, it's huge, and I just...

I just go to all the concerts now.

I've seen Jimmy Buffett 128 times as of right now

in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati.

Hawaii is one of the more outstanding places to see him.

Anguilla was one of my favorites,

because I got to make the video, "A Pirate Looks at 40."

I gotta tell ya.

Being in Toledo is probably the single best city in the United States

to see Jimmy Buffett.

A couple of friends and I joke about we have season tickets to see Jimmy Buffett.

And we do.

I mean... [laughing] we miss a few home games,

but on average, we see virtually all the games.

I met Mike at Duke's on Sunday.

Now, it's over, uh... 50 shows together.

-You remember we started putting the, uh... -Number.

Number of shows that we went to on our arms?

Now, everybody knows us when we go to each show.

The reason I go to the concerts is because I like that opportunity,

for the two hours that he plays and the six or seven hours before he plays,

of being taken away to somewhere else.

If I'm at a... [laughing]

on a stone parking lot in Pittsburgh,

it feels like I'm in the tropics somewhere.

I've done a lot of travel based on Buffett songs.

When he sings about Tierra del Fuego,

next year, I decided to go down there.

He goes through the, uh... The Straits of Magellan.

We took a boat ride through the Straits of Magellan.

Australia, obviously, "Take It Back",

"Boomerang Love".

Kenya, "Far Side of the World".

Virtually, the whole album inspired me to go there.

♪ I'm halfway round the planet ♪

Went to San Remo where "the crazy painter dwells".

"First Look", perfect song for inspiring me to go go Brazil.

But I've probably lived out more of his songs maybe than he has. I don't know.

From the time that I was in Toledo working as a stock broker,

I was looking out my window at the slop and snow for six months out of the year.

One of the driving forces behind me being successful there

was the fact that someday I have the shot of going to the beach somewhere,

and starting over, trying something else, trying something different.

I decided to sell my practice and live the Parrot Head dream permanently.

In the last year, I've moved to Tamarindo

and have started this Nibbana Beach club.

Been running this for about a year and a half now.

Traveled around the Caribbean, really all around the world,

keeping my eyes open for something that was just the right place.

The whole town gave me the feel of Key West,

but on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

It was really what I was looking for,

something very tropical, something that had not been done before.

He did his research, and he found the right place to make everything work.

He's turning it into what he wants.

[Jimmy Buffett] ♪ Oh, I believe in song lines... ♪

Unlike Jimmy Buffett, I couldn't sing, or dance, or play the guitar,

but I always wanted to be on the beach.

Typical day,

uh, get down here...

I still hit the restaurant even on my days off.

But the nice thing is I'm right on the beach,

so in five minutes, I get a surfboard. I'm in the water.

It's something that a lot of people wanna do,

quit their job in the cold weather. Move to the tropics.

I always say it's all Jimmy Buffett's fault.

I would probably not be here if it wasn't for Jimmy Buffett.

He was just... The inspiration from the music,

and the lifestyle, and the mindset.

For the real Parrot Head,

there's a much more emotional connection to a lot of the music.

It gives you inspiration in life.

In one form or another, you live that song out.

If not in your head, then in real life.

[strumming guitar]

You know, I've been doing this all my life,

and I was thinking, "God, maybe one day,

I'll be able to play those Jimmy Buffett songs as good as Scott Nickerson can."

-[laughing] -I'm still working on it.

I know you've got them down, Scott.

Hope you're doing well out there and making a recovery.

We want you back in our lives,

and we wanna thank you for all the time and joy you've brought to people.

And personally, I'd like to thank you for extending,

uh, my reach by your work

and, uh, your ability to make people have a really good time.

Thanks for believing in what we do

and taking it a little bit further.

This is Jimmy from the road, Las Vegas.

Maybe next year, Scott.

[Nickerson] For a long time, I felt kinda bad

after the A1A thing fizzled.

I didn't wanna listen to Jimmy Buffett's music

or even go there for a while.

When I was in New York,

seeing the people in the Parrot Head clubs there,

I realized, people still remember me.

I thought my music career was long gone.

Who would care about an old guy like me?

But they remember.

So, now, my goal in life, at 50, 60 years old,

is to play music for a living.

That's what I wanna do.

If I can do that,

I don't need much.

Just... I'd like to do what's right here.

I pulled out my harmonica

for the first time in probably over a year,

and I was really surprised that I remembered all of it.

[warming up]

Okay, we got it.

[playing harmonic tune]

[Nickerson] I'm ready to get out there again.

Music is in my life.

It's what I wanna do with my life.

-[Wagoner] I got an email this morning. -Uh-huh.

Oh, my god!

[laughing]

That's pretty cool, man.

[stammering] I wouldn't ever expect that at all, but...

but to have people to really give me a chance to get out there again

is a big deal to me.

They wanna send me out into the field again

and let the world know I'm here again.

I couldn't ask for better than that.

[laughing] Key West, here I come!

Meeting of the Minds, it is where the Parrot Heads take over an entire island

for a few days.

My family, you know, big Parrot Heads.

I've probably been to close to 20 Buffett shows in my life.

Well, I always thank people's parents for raising their children on this music.

[Melanie Howe] But the bars all around the island take part,

and there's constantly music.

There's somebody playing somewhere all the time,

and then when that act is done, another one goes on,

and it's all this great trop rock music.

♪ Welcome to Key West, my friend ♪

♪ Where it's always Saturday night ♪

[Announcer] Please welcome your host for this year's Trop Rock Music Awards,

Mr. Jim Payne.

[applauding]

[Host] Welcome you all to the sixth annual Trop Rock Music Awards show.

[crowd cheering]

And I can't think of a more appropriate place

than Jimmy Buffett's original Margaritaville cafe

in Key West.

We're pleased to present awards tonight in 18 categories

with the nominees and winners chosen by you.

And the winner is Jerry Diaz.

Jerry Diaz & Hanna's Reef.

A deserving recipient of the I Can Award,

from Nederland, Texas, my friend, Jerry Diaz.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

I'm totally shocked and blown away.

I'm not very good at speeches,

but all I can say is if you saw my drunk ass last night,

you probably wouldn't give me this award.

[all laughing]

Are you guys having fun out there?

[cheering]

How much fun is this?

All these crazy Parrot Heads together,

drinking for four or five days.

We are the Southern Drawl Band.

I'm Mike Nash. I'm the singer and guitar player.

I'm Larry Dunsmore. I play drums.

Paul Wray, bass player, and we're in paradise.

[Mike Nash] When we first started our first album,

I wasn't really writing for me. I was writing for other artists.

But the more we started playing these trop rock gigs, I started seeing, you know,

"I live this. I love this stuff."

You know, "I can write about this kind of stuff."

So, it influenced me to start writing more

about this lifestyle that we're living.

My number-one influence from an early age was Jimmy Buffett.

To me, there's no other songwriter

that... I've never been to this place before that he's singing about,

but when I'm done with that song,

I can taste the tastes and smell the smells.

And, you now, he's got such a magical talent

of being able to put that into a song.

A lot of my songwriting has been life stories, you know.

I don't feel like people wanna hear songs

that are just a bunch of words, you know?

That's what makes them magic is

you're singing about something they can relate to.

Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown are big country artists,

and they're making a ton of money in country music because it sells,

but, you know, they have that trop rock side to them, that beach side,

and it meshes well, because they're really just storytellers.

We came here last year,

and nobody knew who we were when we got here.

And we went around, and I played every songwriters afternoon.

And that's another opportunity this place presents is,

you know, a chance to get out

and get in front of thousands of people.

And we got our music out. We got our name out.

You know, and then the second year, we come back,

and we're headlining Street Fest.

I mean, gosh! Are you kidding me? That was like...

Talk about instant reward for your hard work.

It's all about the work ethic, man.

I mean, Melanie Howe, she's got that, man.

I noticed that in her right off the bat when I first met her.

I was like, "Man, this is a girl who gets it."

You know, she works her butt off.

I'm Melanie Howe.

Most people in trop rock refer to me as The Djembabe. That's my stage name.

Based out of Knoxville, Tennessee.

I started getting into music when I was a kid.

I got into band when I was in middle school, high school, college.

I went from one instrument to another.

Played woodwinds for a while, brass, and settled into percussion.

Just love it.

I have a really great friend of mine

that I owe discovering trop rock to,

Tall Paul.

I was like, "How do you do it, man?

How are you out touring all the time?" You know?

He's like, "You gotta get into this genre of music.

You know, it's kind of this Parrot Head, fun, party kind of thing."

And I'm like, "Parrot Heads? My gosh, I grew up listening to Jimmy Buffett."

I didn't really know there was a bunch of other musicians that do this.

I started working with Southern Drawl Band,

and traveling through Florida,

and getting into the trop rock scene.

♪ Nobody ever gets old ♪

[Howe] As a female musician,

it's got a lot of really good pros

and a lot of really crappy cons.

Some of the pros are that I do get noticed.

People can identify me really quickly.

Well... [chuckles] also, my hair is purple.

But some of the crappy things about it is, like, not a lot of people understand

that females can do it on their own.

In the beginning, having to work past that was extremely difficult.

You know, I felt, "Well, hey, I'm good enough."

[playing Conga beat]

[Nash] So, thanks for putting us

on the road we were on to get us here, guys.

-This is for you. -[crowd cheering]

[trop rock song playing]

[Howe] It's a pretty amazing genre of music.

You show up at these venues,

and it's like, everybody is gonna come say hey, and hugs,

and, "Great to have you here."

We can't walk, you know, down the street without somebody stopping us

and saying, "Hey, man, you know, you guys did a really great job.

We really enjoyed listening to you."

You know, and we can't... We can't thank them enough,

you know, for coming out and just listening.

[Nash] You just released this album two days ago, and...

We were playing the Street Festival,

and I look out there and see hundreds of people already singing these songs.

I'm like, "How did they learn these songs this fast?" You know?

But they care enough to do that. I mean...

♪ To the place where I belong ♪

♪ And I'm hoping you'll come with me ♪

♪ Take a walk with me down the road ♪

♪ That I'm on ♪

And that's what this is. It's like a big... you know, family.

These people go to all of the same events every year,

and they see each other four or five times a year.

And you know, it's like, "Hey, how you been?" Catch up on their lives.

It's like a big family reunion or something, you know? It's really cool.

[Howe] When I get on stage,

and there's somebody out there, staring up at the stage,

watching me, and enjoying what I'm offering them.

Whether it's 10 people or 10,000 people,

I'm making someone's night good.

And, you know, they're dancing, and smiling,

and having a good time.

That's what makes it all worth it.

♪ And I'm hoping you'll come with me ♪

♪ Take a walk with me down the road ♪

♪ That I'm on ♪

Thank you so much for all the support and what you do for us.

[cheering and applauding]

[Nash] You guys are the best, and we love you.

[Nickerson] Just a flood of all kinds of emotions coming in here,

because I've done it before so many times,

but it's been so long.

[Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,

Jeff Pike and Scott Nickerson, A1A, from Atlanta.

[Nickerson] It's always been exciting, fun times.

Some things never change. Hit it.

[Nickerson] About tomorrow night,

playing for the first time in years is a big deal to me,

because I wanna do a good job.

Being here has been, uh, pretty interesting,

because it's so different.

Even though a lot of places, most of them look the same,

but a lot of people I didn't even know.

I see all these people out there doing it now,

I'm like, "Shit, man, am I too old?

Is it too late?

"I had my chance.

"Maybe this is a one...

pop," you know? "Maybe that's it."

You know?

[host] Welcome to the 13th annual Welcome to the Island Party

sponsored by the Atlanta Parrot Head Club.

[cheering]

[host] And without further ado,

I'd like to introduce the band tonight.

Everybody, the founder of Meeting of the Minds, Jerry Diaz!

[cheering]

[host] The incomparable Melanie Howe.

[cheering]

[host] And a man who needs no introduction

but probably still wants one,

Sunny Jim White.

[crowd cheering]

[host] And last but not least,

on drums and harmonica...

Scott Nickerson.

[cheering and applauding]

♪ I saw an old friend yesterday ♪

♪ He was walking down my street ♪

♪ He was trying to get in shape ♪

♪ But let me tell you He could barely move his feet ♪

♪ So I ordered him a cold one ♪

♪ Didn't think he'd take me up ♪

♪ But as he raised it to his lips, he said ♪

♪ "This one here is for luck" ♪

♪ Here's to you Here's to me ♪

♪ Here's to taking life easy ♪

♪ Fill my glass ♪

[Diaz] Parrot Heads are just a good, fun group of people,

and that's what it's all about.

Mr. Thom Shepherd.

[crowd cheering]

♪ Thinking about love ♪

♪ Thinking about love ♪

[Shepherd] I was down the street at the Hog's Breath,

and I ran into a guy named Damn It Earl,

and he said, "You gotta get down to the Bull and Whistle.

Everybody is down there. It's gonna be a night that you'll never forget."

And, uh, sure enough, he was right.

[trop rock song playing]

It's really all about looking on the good side of life

and sharing the positive experiences

with other like-minded people.

Won't you please welcome up to the stage...

the king of madness, Mr. Jimmy Maraventano?

["Son of a Son of a Sailor" playing]

♪ As the son of a son of a sailor ♪

♪ I went out on the streets for adventure ♪

♪ Expanding the view of the captain and crew ♪

♪ Like a man just released from indenture ♪

This is a phenomenon. It's really...

It's not getting smaller.

Thank you, Scott.

♪ One step ahead of the jailer ♪

♪ I'm just a son of a son ♪

[Nickerson] There's a whole myriad of feelings.

You remember the old days to a point,

but I was really more in the moment.

I hope people will remember that I'm here,

ready to get back into it.

All I can do is...

hope and pray that it happens.

-[crowd cheering and applauding] -Scott Nickerson on harp!

Key West!

[crowd murmuring]

[performing soundcheck]

[Nickerson] It's funny how things turned around.

I got the motivation to get involved again.

-[Buffett] All right! -[strums guitar]

Well, thanks again, everybody.

We're gonna play a few more songs.

Oh, we don't have a drummer? Mr. Scott Nickerson on drums!

[crowd cheering and applauding]

Yes, the real Scott Nickerson

will be playing with the Coral Reefer Band right now.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

That's the guy who started the whole thing.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

-Scott has been practicing. Right? -Yeah.

Have you been practicing?

All right, kick it off, baby.

["Margaritaville" playing]

♪ Nibblin' on sponge cake ♪

♪ Watchin' the sun bake ♪

♪ All of you Parrot Heads covered with oil ♪

♪ Strummin' my six string ♪

♪ On my front porch swing ♪

♪ Smell those shrimp here beginning to boil ♪

Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!

♪ Wasted away again in Margaritaville ♪

♪ Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt ♪

Salt! Salt! Salt!

♪ Some people claim that there's a woman to blame ♪

♪ But I know ♪

♪ This is all Scott's fault ♪

[Nickerson] The Parrot Head clubs have lasted this long.

I just wouldn't have guessed that.

Next year is 25 years,

which is a pretty amazing thing for the Parrot Head club.

Being a Parrot Head is giving and being helpful to other people,

I do think that.

And it's work, but I wouldn't take anything for it.

[Nickerson] It's so big a part of my life.

It's amazing how fast 24 years can go by.

♪ Wasted away again in Margaritaville ♪

It's something special. It's a connection to what music used to be.

It's really like having a second family.

[Buffett] They really don't need me there.

They found friends in the music

and in the community they've done.

♪ Some people claim that there's a woman to blame ♪

♪ And I know ♪

You never get too old to play music, that's for sure.

Look at Jimmy.

He's doing better now than he was 10 years ago.

The songs are made for the people who enjoy them.

They're not made for me.

Once they're out of me onto an album,

they belong to the people out there having a good time.

And I'm happy to be the background music to their lives.

♪ Some people claim that there's a woman to blame ♪

♪ But I know ♪

♪ It's my own damn fault ♪

Welcome home, everybody!

[crowd cheering and applauding]

["Jolly Mon Sing" playing]

Jimmy, you're the best, man.

I would love to sit down, and buy you a beer,

and just have a little, quick chat about life in general.

Jimmy, please don't stop.

Keep it up. We need you.

Thanks for the opportunity to be myself

and for giving everybody else that opportunity.

Thank you for your music...

for all generations,

for me, for my mother in law,

my aunt, and mom,

and for my kids too,

hopefully, their kids as well.

-Thanks, Jimmy. -Yeah.

Thanks for the fun. Love the music.

Let's have a margarita.

You know, he's really done well for himself

for a no-talent hack.

[laughing]

Thanks for everything you do.

I am very thankful that Jimmy Buffett's music can bring me closer to my dad.

Yeah.

Thank you! Thank you, that's what I'd say.

I'd say, "Do you like my hat?"

Jimmy, you're fucking hot.

[all laughing and exclaiming]

Jimmy Buffett, please live forever.

I don't ever wanna see you quit playing concerts.

I don't ever wanna see you stop recording music.

I love you forever.

You got too many followers.

You have to live forever, buddy. You gotta figure it out.

You gotta figure it out.

♪ The night was filled with magic as they bid the sea goodbye ♪

♪ They swam into the heavens And they stayed up in the sky ♪

♪ All the island people when they wish upon a star ♪

♪ See the dolphin and the Jolly Mon who tell them where they are ♪

♪ Oh, Jolly Mon sing ♪

♪ Oh, make the magic ring ♪

♪ Oh, Jolly Mon sing ♪

[Buffett] You all look like children to me.

♪ Oh, give 'em everything ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Oh, Jolly Mon sing ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Oh, Jolly Mon sing ♪

[song ending]

[crowd cheering and applauding]