Ode to an Icon

Good afternoon from the banana hammock. I’m taking this week’s telegram in a different direction to write about last week’s death of an icon.

An ode to Jimmy Buffett

A lot of tiki folks don’t like Jimmy Buffett. Tiki is the West Coast and Polynesia. Jimmy was the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. Tiki is a Mai Tai or Jungle Bird. Jimmy was a frozen Margarita or Piña Colada. Tiki is about escaping to your own little paradise. Jimmy was about…. escaping to your own little paradise. And therein lies the conflict. On the surface, the two don’t get along. But deep down, they both are about the same thing.

Jimmy was as much a pioneer as Don or Vic. Jimmy was a world traveler, enjoyed a cold drink (or three), and romanticized escaping normality. That’s what we’re all going for at the end of the day.

The past couple decades Jimmy was maybe a little too commercial. The casinos, the retirement communities, the branded foods and sweet pre-made cocktail mixers. He certainly cashed in in the lifestyle he sang about since the 1960s and 70s.

But at the end of the day, Jimmy carried the torch, for decades, of finding one’s own slice of paradise. He indirectly introduced tiki to whole new host of folks. Folks that may not have discovered it on their own. So whether you’re a fan or not, you have to respect the positive impact he’s made on us all.

If you won’t indulge in a cheeseburger in paradise, maybe have a margarita in his honor.

Next telegram is back to our regularly scheduled programming.