Jimmy Buffett

Madam Drey and I went out to see Jimmy Buffett at the Nissan Pavillion last night. The standard gripes about Nissan apply... the parking was abyssmal, and exacerbated by a horde of drunks who had shown up at noon (on a very hot day, 106 degrees F) to start the tailgaters for a concert that started at 8PM.

I have to hand it to Buffett. The last time I saw him was when I was 17 years old and both of us had more hair and less pounds. His big hit back then was "Margaritaville" which is still a cult hit. He was popular back then, but NOWHERE near as popular as he is now.

I think Buffett is a marketing genius with a good old boy smile. He makes us feel great about shelling out cash for island schlock and ingratiating music that we all know by heart and just makes us feel good. Not many of us can live on an island and fly seaplanes and sail around the florida keys, but if you hang out at a Buffett concert, you'll feel like you can.

And he has made billions off of the idea of good old fashioned nostalgia and wish fulfillment. And we don't mind it one bit.

A Buffett concert is cathartic, funny, and and all day long party of the sort we all enjoyed during our college days. Yet it is, somehow, STILL okay for us to act that way as respectable adult citizens, getting publically intoxicated, in fist fights and babbling incoherently in a friendly manner to whomever will listen. Drey and I wandered around various tailgaters without knowing much of anyone, and managed to have all the beer we could want (for free), chili and hamburgers (for free) a souvenier t shirt and a souvenier Corona Light hat. The tailgater scene is truly mindboggling.

The amazing element of it all for me was what I call "parasitical marketing". Corona and Mondello Beers have both jumped on the Buffett bandwagon and go to extrordinary lengths to associate themselves with the island lifestyle. The freebie budget is unbelievable, but it pays off in the long run with market penetration.

I know, I am analyzing it a bit too much-- I really had a great time for all of my cynicism!