PARROT HEADS MEET UP AGAIN

Jimmy Buffett came through town this past weekend for his annual show in the Bay Area. This year's tour is called "Under The Big Top"

As always Jimmy was in great form, even though it was drizzling through part of the show (not on Jimmy though, but certainly on us) and it was cold enough out that Jimmy was wearing jeans rather than his usual shorts...the man is no fool at 62, almost 63!

And, the Giants won on Saturday night, too...right before the concert started. In fact, Jimmy came out on stage in a Giants Jacket to tell us the good news.


So for three glorious hours, we enjoyed an ever-entertaining show, with little time in our seats...After all, you have to be up dancing with everyone else.

This year, Ruth and I had new additions to our usual getups of hula skirts, Margaritaville tee shirts, and a variety of jewelry: We had new Parrothead hats!





Chris and Rob, who went with us this year, dressed a bit more conservatively, but did not seem too embarrassed to be with us.



While there were other Parrot and Shark heads in the crowd, we only saw two others with hats like ours...oh, and it kept our heads warm too!



Here's a closer look at the amazing Parrot Head!



Looking forward to next time, Jimmy!

FOUR DAYS IN LAS VEGAS 2009: DAY ONE

Well, last week, we were back in Las Vegas for an early birthday celebration for me.



I hadn't planned on going to Las Vegas this year, but when I got an offer from the Bellagio to stay two nights and get a third free, at rates lower than I've ever seen at the Bellagio, how could I pass it up? Of course, the room costs are only the beginning, but for the most part, we remained budget minded throughout our stay.

Taking an early morning fight, we were at the hotel shortly after 9 a.m.

No rooms were yet available, so we looked around the Bellagio's public areas, starting in the lobby where the ceiling of Chihuly glass flower sculptures always captures my attention.



From there, we headed to the Botanical Gardens & Conservatory. This year's summer exhibit has a ferris wheel, giant poppies, and aviary, and lots of balloons. Just about everything is made of flowers...the giant lady bugs and frog out of flowers especially intrigued me. Of course, Fourth of July influences the summer exhibit...how would you like to meet a giant red white and blue snail in your garden or perhaps, a red lady bug flanked by beds of blue and white flowers?










The birds, in a special glass structure are real, not floral, but have such amazing colors that it is hard to believe that nature can create such colorful creatures.




We were here so early that the crew of horticulturists were still doing their daily replacement of any wilted flowers on the exhibit.



Our next stop was a new exhibit by Richard MacDonald in the newly-renovated lobby of the theatre where O is performed. MacDonald studies Cirque du Soleil performers in motion and creates realistic sculptures and drawings of them. All the works in this exhibit are for sale.



After looking at a few of the Bellagio's shops, we headed out for lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in the Flamingo Hotel.



Jim had the Cheeseburger in Paradise (burger, American cheese, iceberg lettuce, and tomato).



I had a variation on it, a Turkey Burger (with Provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, and garlic herb mayo).


To drink? What else than a Landshark Lager, Jimmy's own beer.

Margaritaville is a lively and fun place. Even the Ladies' Room door shows Jimmy Buffett's playful spirit.



The Flamingo Hotel, one of the Strip's oldest remaining hotels. It was the famed Bugsy Siegal who ran the mob's gambling syndicate from the Flamingo. How much of it, other than the site, remains today, I do not know.



Before returning to the hotel, we checked out the City Center project which is under construction next to the Bellagio. City Center is one of the world's largest sustainable developments. Two of its hotels are scheduled to open later this year.




This enormous, hotel, retail, office, and condo project is coming along. Two of the hotels...the Mandarin and the Aria...are scheduled to open before the end of this year.

After checking into our room, we spent some time at the pool before getting ready for dinner.

Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris hotel has become our Las Vegas favorite.





This very French brasserie makes us feel like we are in Paris. The food is oh so French, the service excellent, and the prices moderate by Las Vegas standards for a restaurant as nice as this one. I like that Mon Ami Gabi's dining rooms remain quiet, even when full...good acoustics and tables with some distance between them.



We were first treated to a complimentary amuse bûche of a molded carrot salad to accompany a loaf of warm crusty bread.



To start, we shared the Endive & Blue Cheese Salad which was further garnished with watercress and melon.



Jim's main course was the Roast Chicken, prepared with mushrooms, bacon, and pearl onions (grandmère style).



The only place I find Skate on a menu is in France and in a few American French restaurants. If it is on the menu, I cannot pass it up. So, for me, it was the Skate, served with caper lemon butter and accompanied by Crispy Garlic Chips (very garlicky), a fresh salad of julienned vegetables.



We ended this wonderful meal by sharing the fresh Berry Crisp.



From the dining room, we could see the Bellagio Fountains that "dance" to lights and music every 15 minutes, starting at 8 p.m.



After dinner, we crossed the street to return "home" and watched a few more shows of the dancing waters.

Of course, Paris and Planet Hollywood, both across the street from the Bellagio, were illuminated in all their glory.




A perfect first day in Las Vegas!

SUMMERZCOOL...JIMMY BUFFETT BACK ON TOUR

Tuesday night, Jimmy Buffett made his pass through the Bay Area with his 2009 tour: SummerZcool. He was just in the area last Fall, but that did not stop MA and me from heading out to spend the evening with him.

For the first time since 1991, he performed at the Concord Pavilion, now called Sleep Train Pavilion, but even Jimmy still calls it by its original name.

The tour name is exceptionally clever with a double entendre...summer's cool/summer school! Jimmy's "theme" was a spoof on summer school, but one that could be enjoyed by all of us "students" and we all passed...I will suspect some passed out, particularly the older man a few rows in front of us who danced up and down like an Engergizer Bunny through the whole show.

So the evening started with a photo shoot of us in our Parrot Head garb.



We brought a picnic dinner from Kinder's...sandwiches, salads, baked beans...and homemade fresh fruit crisp from home.




Big drinkers that we are, we shared a large glass of Jimmy's Landshark Lager beer...really tasty...there will be more in our future.



As always, there was a line for tee shirts and a line for beer.




Then, it was show time. These few shots will hopefully give you a sense of the fun on the 2 1/2 hour SummerZcool concert!






Until the next time, Jimmy...

JIMMY BUFFETT COMES TO TOWN with THE YEAR OF STILL HERE

Just about every year, Jimmy Buffett, who will be 62 in December, comes to the San Francisco Bay Area, with a new tour. This year it is called The Year of Still Here.

Last night was his night at the Shoreline Ampitheatre, an outdoor performance venue in Mountain View.

My friend Ruth and I, loyal Parrotheads that we are, always attend his shows. In fact, last night was Ruth's second time to see this year's tour; she saw it this summer in St. Louis.

It takes about an hour and a half in rush hour traffic to drive to Shoreline from home.

We started our journey with a little photo shoot in her driveway.


The thing on my head is a Shark, the perfect accessory, particularly when Jimmy sings Fins. Jimmy Buffett concerts are big costume parties...yes, I really am wearing a hula skirt over my jeans...it's late October in Northern California and this concert was outdoors, you know. I completed my outfit with Parrot earrings, a lei, and a Jimmy Buffett shirt from a past concert. Ruth stuck with "jewelry"...a tiki doll necklace and a few leis.

We stopped at Kinders for Sandwiches and salads for our tailgate dinner, and off we drove.

Even arriving two hours before showtime, we found the parking lot alive with tailgaters...had we wanted a Margarita from our neighboring tailgaters, they would have gladly poured us one. And, some of our other neighbors were grilling Cheeseburgers from Paradise.



My Blondes for Obama button was nothing compared to this gal's Parrotheads 4 Obama sign.

Jimmy's crew liked it so much, they featured it as part of the video that was shown during the concert.

We had some of our best seats ever, in the 15th row, in clear sight of a big video screen and of the stage...of course the huge guy who came in late and was seated in front of us, did cramp our style a bit by blocking our view when we took a break from dancing to sit down to catch our breath for a moment.


Jimmy is looking good and shows no sign of wearing out. He was onstage and singing for close to two and a half hours, with just one very short break.

When he first came on stage, he informed the audience that if they had come to see Tina Turner, they were at the wrong show. Tina, now age 68, just made her tour through the Bay Area. Jimmy acknowledged his desire to keep up with her.





One of the highlights of the show was Jimmy singing with Nadirah Shakoor, one of his Reeferettes (backup singers). She has a distinctive and amazing voice and has just released a new album of her own, Nod to the Storyteller, which includes songs of her own and also her renditions of somel of Jimmy's songs. Her album is a tribute to Jimmy, with whom she has sung for 13 years.

The other Reeferette, Tina Gullickson has been with Jimmy for the same length of time.



After three encores, the show was over and we were on our way home...it was close to 1 a.m. when we said goodnight.