5.19.2006

Jimmy Buffett Interview from the T-P

From today's Lagniappe in the Times Picayune:

CHANGES IN ATTITUDE

Despite some initial misgivings, Jimmy Buffett is glad he was one of the first to say he'd return for this year's Jazzfest


Friday, May 19, 2006
By Keith Spera
Music writer


The sun always shines on Jimmy Buffett.

A severe thunderstorm threatened his May 6 performance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. At the last minute, the storm parted, allowing Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band to deliver yet another memorable set at a Jazzfest full of them.

A week later, on a break before the launch of his summer tour, Buffett called from Palm Beach, Fla., to reminisce about the Jazz-fest that nearly wasn't. Excerpts from the conversation follow:

How did you first hear that Jazzfest was on?

The first time I talked about it with (Jazzfest producer) Quint Davis was at the "From the Big Apple to the Big Easy" benefit in New York in September. It came out of the emotions stirred up by that concert. Little things like going to rehearse with Allen Toussaint's band and the guitar player didn't have a guitar, because it got washed away.

That first scratched the surface of how deep this thing really was. I'd seen the pictures on TV, but that brought it home. Out of that came discussions, probably fueled by a couple of cocktails, about, "Yeah, we're going to do Jazzfest this year!"

Then we all went away and, after the emotions and the alcohol were gone, the serious business of whether we actually could do it came about. By that point, I'd gone down to Pascagoula (Miss.) first and then New Orleans. When you see it, you're so overwhelmed: "How could we possibly do this? Is it too early to try?"

Those kinds of conversations happened for several months. I wasn't one of the big believers in "hell or high water, here we come." The emotional level was, "Of course I'll do it." (The hesitation) was more on a practical level of someone who does shows for a living.

I had to be convinced, and Quint was the guy that did it. Quint said, "Whether it works or not, we need to step up here. Everybody is looking for something that's the first step back." When he told me that, I understood what he was talking about, and that's when I said, "I'm coming."

Then other people followed. I think Dave Matthews and I were the first ones that committed, which gave them a basis to say we've got a real festival this year. After now having pulled it off, I think it's wonderful that we all made those decisions.

During Jazzfest, I gave a writer from the Miami Herald the "disaster tour" and she was shocked. People don't realize the extent of the devastation.

(Coming to Jazzfest) I flew into the Lakefront Airport in my little plane. I told the people with me, "What you've got to understand is that, leaving Lakefront Airport until we get to Canal Street, this was underwater." Going through Gentilly and St. Bernard Parish . . . all my New Orleans family lived in that area. The normal drive to the expressway to get into town . . . people in my band were stunned. Nobody really understands it until they see it.

On the other side, knowing the coast and having come out of New Orleans, I also understand that in the middle of hopelessness, the one thing we have to cling to is that music.

Some performers played Jazzfest for a reduced rate. Were you one of those guys?

Of course I was. (laughs) It was about half.

Do you normally get your full fee at Jazzfest?

No. I've always played Jazzfest for much less than I get anywhere else.

Because of your relationship with Quint and the city?

I think so. I was about to charge 'em what I normally get to come back down (this year), because I thought we were worth it. (laughs) Then the hurricane hit. That's my personal irony with New Orleans. It's kind of amusing. But you play for the heart.

Your Decatur Street restaurant, Margaritaville, reopened relatively soon after Katrina.

I thought it was our contribution to the city to come back and get that restaurant open. People that work at other Margaritavilles did an incredible job of helping out their fellow workers in New Orleans. They put together a rescue and support system that I had very little to do with, other than endorsing it and saying how proud I was of them. We paid everybody, and took a big loss. But we're in for the long haul. We do very well everywhere else, and it was the least we could do.

So there's all this emotion leading up to Jazzfest. The day of your show, you're looking at the weather forecast . . .

It didn't look good. We play in all conditions because of the loyalty of our fans. If our fans stay in the rain and adverse conditions, then we should be able to play to them in those conditions. We carry a truck that is a full-blown generator that can run the entire show. If the facility gets a blackout, we can switch to it in 30 seconds.

That being said, we didn't have our full production at the Fair Grounds -- it's a festival. So we were out there putting scenarios together with thunderstorms . . . if we lose power, what do we do?

I looked at the weather map and this thing called the lifting index. It measures the amount of moisture in the atmosphere and intensity. I said, "I think this (storm) is going to break in half in the middle, and may go north and south of the lake." And I'll be damned if it didn't.

In the meantime, as I was going to work, in the parking lot (of the Fair Grounds) I saw Sister Jane Remson, who runs New Orleans Artists Against Hunger and Homelessness, and Sister Blaise Fernando. They're really good people. I got whacked by a lot of bad nuns in my day; I'm sure glad to meet a couple good ones. (laughs) They told me we were going to be OK. So between the nuns telling me and the weather forecast, I went to work pretty positive.

(The storm) broke in two. Not only that, but the sun came out. You start like that, you don't have to go far with emotions. And I was already emotionally amped.

Describe your emotions as you stepped onto the Acura Stage.

Well, I believe a lot of it is still magic. It certainly exhibited itself to me that day.

I had decided to open with "City of New Orleans" because it was the song I closed with at Wrigley Field (on Sept. 5), when I was thinking about New Orleans but still having to do one of the biggest shows of my life (Buffett gave the first concert at the historic Chicago ballfield). I was going through a lot of emotions; I dedicated it to New Orleans.

Being a full-circle believer . . . I consulted with my daughter and we talked about the set list (for Jazzfest), and we went with "City of New Orleans." That song fit my sense of connection, and how do you musically get to people about something that devastating and still not preach to 'em? Some people choose to preach. I choose not to.

I got very emotional just starting the song. As a performer, if you're worth your salt, that's your job to somehow get through that stuff, and the emotional stuff comes later. But I got very choked up in that first verse, looking at that crowd. It's a beat, then you go on. But I enjoyed it. I just let it happen for a minute.

You reveled in the emotion.

I did. But you can't revel long. (laughs) Because you've got to get back on track.

Did you make any other specific alterations to your set for Jazzfest?

I tried to gear it for New Orleans and do some things that would mean a little something there. I tried to pick songs that would make the crowd feel good. I also had to be the realist. It wasn't a place to go down an energy level. I wanted to go there and keep 'em up. I could have gone down, but I chose not to.

Did you hear about Bruce Springsteen's set the weekend before yours?

I knew he was doing the Pete Seeger show, which I thought was interesting. That was a pretty risky call. I thought that he would probably go with the (E Street) band and do Bruce.

He did "My City of Ruins" and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Then he closed with an acoustic, prayer-like version of "When the Saints Go Marching In." In my review of your show, I wrote, "If Bruce Springsteen was the preacher who delivered the eulogy, Jimmy Buffett was the grinning uncle cracking open the whiskey after the wake." Fair assessment?

I thought that was pretty accurate. I kinda smiled and thought of my crazy uncles. I'll take that as a compliment. (laughs)

It was meant to be. It was two different approaches. Springsteen hit on one emotional level. You touched on it with "City of New Orleans," but also let people forget about it and have a good time.

That's all a part of it. We've been lucky enough to have this amazing, successful run, to still be on top turning 60. Hell, I'd have never thought that -- I should've been dead a long time ago, much less popular. One of the things I attribute to that success, along with the hard work of a lot of people, is the fact that what we bring is a little bit of the Mardi Gras culture when we come to town. There's really no other explanation of why people dress up in Cincinnati or Pittsburgh.

It's in human nature, the ability to revel. I never made very good grades in school, but I was great at float decoration. Having grown up in that culture, I naturally gravitated toward being a performer. Somehow it got infectious with other people.

I know what I do best. I went down there, in the middle of a lot of tragedy and questions, to catch our breath and have a little fun. Everybody needs a couple days off. If you think of what people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas had gone through, they deserved a couple of days off.

That's as much a part of recovery as anything financially. People came out of (Jazzfest) going, "Wow, that was nice. Now let's go back to work." A little sense of renewal -- I felt that, for sure.

Were you there on the final Sunday when Fats Domino bailed and Lionel Richie filled his slot?

I had to leave town that night. I'd had lunch with Paul Simon and was going to see his set. I got all the way to the entrance of the Fair Grounds and it was pouring rain. I went, "It's not going to let up. Let's just go to the airport." So we flew out.

What did Jazzfest as a whole mean for the city?

People that I've talked to (from out of town) were so glad that they made the effort to go. They were angry at what they saw in terms of the devastation and lack of what's being done about it, but glad they went to experience the fun that still is there.

I'm too much of an optimist to think all hope is gone for New Orleans and the coast. It's a terrible tragedy, but all you've got to do is read history -- there's been terrible tragedies forever. I think saving the musical culture and the soul of America is a very worthwhile endeavor.

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