Gulf Shores officials on Friday hinted that some big names were coming to a summer series of concerts intended for promoting beach tourism for the area affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

On Sunday, Jimmy Buffet, the chart topping bard of the beach, revealed that he will be playing on the beach on Thursday July 1 and will bringing some friends along.

An announcement on www.margaritaville.com stated that “Jimmy Buffet & Friends Live from the Gulf Coast” will be broadcast by CMT cable channel that day from 7-8:30 pm. Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band are being joined by Allen Toussaint, New Orleans musician, Jesse Winchester songwriter, Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band and guitarist Sonny Landreth.

On Sunday, other details were still sketchy. The site of Buffet’s described the show as being free. However a similar posting at www.cmt.com seemed to suggest that information on ticketing will soon be available. Last week, Robert Craft, Gulf Shores Mayor, said the beach shows may have a small admission fee that would go towards charities that were wildlife-related.

Last week, Craft said the city was planning to install the stage on the public beach’s west end, similar to one that was used for the Hangout Beach, Music and Arts Festival recently.

Organizers are hoping to have five shows presented this summer, according to Craft, with all to be held at mid-week. The bands will be donating their time. Other costs will paid for from BP PLC money, given to the state for promoting tourism.

According to a report from the Associated Press Bob Riley, governor of Alabama, applauded the idea, agreeing to let Alabama’s tourism department help out with the cost of production.

In a statement, Riley said, this will start the turnaround of bringing tourists back to our beaches and help save our summer season, despite the occasional tarballs. Jimmy Buffet fans by the millions will see how beautiful and clean our Gulf beaches are. Many will make the decision to visit. This couldn’t come at any better time, with the July Fourth weekend starting.

On Friday, Craft said, Gulf Shores City Council will be discussing the plan on Monday evening with an official announcement coming on Tuesday.

The last Mobile show for Buffet was in December 1998. The concert held at Mobile Civic Center, a hurricane relief fundraiser, according to organizers raised about $450,000.

On Saturday, with cleanup crews in the background wearing hazardous material suits as they scooped up tar patties, Jimmy Buffett, Florida music icon, and Governor Charlie Crist stopped at the Panhandle beach, offering comfort to leery tourists and despondent residents.

Buffett said, in life we go through hardships. People from the Panhandle are very tough. It’s sad that everyone in the world tends to get overly afraid of things so quickly. We clean things up and then get on with life. That is what we need to do.

Recently, Buffett sold his home in Palm Beach for $18.5 million. He was in town to attend a job fair for Margaritaville Beach Hotel, his new hotel which will open on July 1.

Buffett and Crist went in front of the television cameras while beach goers stopped to get autographs from the singer-songwriter. Crist was also thanked by a few for him bringing the region some attention.

According to Crist, the presence of Buffett and his opening a new hotel there would help provide local business owners with a boost, who have been disheartened with tar balls appearing, apparently stemming from the oil rig Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Crist said, Buffett really cares about the environment. He cares a lot about Florida. God bless him that he is here and in business and helping to promote Pensacola today. There’s nothing more important than that and helping clean up.

Navarre resident Kirk Darby, sitting at a Pensacola Beach picnic table on the fishing pier to watch Buffet and Crist, said that the frequent visits of Crist’s to the coast were in direct contrast to the absence of President Obama.

Darby said, it presents leadership just being here. Right now that’s important. He is taking control and standing up. We haven’t see much of that, in my opinion, from Washington.

Since last check, a few additional dates have been added by Jimmy Buffett to his “Under the Big Top Tour” taking place over the spring and summer in support of his new double live album.

The outing will kick off in Tampa, FL on April 24 and visit 16 cities before wrapping up in Bristow, VA on September 4.

The set will be released on April 20. The two CD acoustic “Encores” consists of 22 tracks that were recorded during the 2008-09 tour for Buffett in different US cities in addition to Paris. The album is all the encores that Buffet played at the end of his shows.

In the accompanying liner notes that Buffett wrote for the album, he said “Encores” is a set of songs that are well known, as well as ones that are not so familiar, that I feel provide happy endings to the musical meal. Dessert is my favorite. I had an idea of offering more dessert than what we had done before. These “lasts” are a first. In putting these together, my first thought was making a collection of all the moments. But once we assembled and listened to them, I realized its probably history’s longest encore. But in today’s difficult times, maybe having lots of happy endings would be a good thing after all.

“Buffet Hotel,” the latest studio release from the 63 year old songwriter/singer and first since “Take the Weather With You” in 2006, was released late last year. “Buffet Hotel” was produced by Mac McAnnaly and Mike Utley of Coral Reefers and consists of 12 songs along with a booklet of 24 pages, “Lost In The Sahara- A Desert Memoir From Jimmy Buffet.” The booklet is a description of Buffett’s adventures in West Africa which inspired the new album.

A few additional dates have been announced by Jimmy Buffet as he continues backing “Buffet Hotel,” his latest studio album, with a leg in late winter as part of his ongoing tour “Summerzcool.”

The veteran performed has mapped four dates out for next month. He will kick things off in Jacksonville, FL on February 20. Buffett will also be performing in Columbia, SC on February 23, in Orlando, FL on February 24 and in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on February 27. Check Jimmy Buffett Tour concerning dates on future shows.

The latest opus from the 63 year old song writer and singer, “Buffet Hotel,” released last month, is his first studio album release since “Take the Weather With You” in 2006. Buffet said in a recent press statement that a recent visit to West Africa in order to attend the annual music fest, “Festival In The Desert” near Timbuktu, Mali inspired him to write the music for his new album.

Buffett said, I didn’t go into the desert with any pre-conceived ideas of coming back with an album. I just went to look for stories really. When I stepped on the patio of Hotel De La Gare Buffet at Bamako’s train station, it was that story that ended up as the album’s name and title track. The hotel, better known as Le Buffet Hotel was a train station and hotel in the colonial era where music in Mali flourished after the country’s independence in 1960.

The 12 song “Buffet Hotel,” produced by Mac McAnnaly, Mike Utley and Coral Reefers, also contains “Lost In The Sahara- A Desert Memoir From Jimmy Buffett, a 24 page books that contains each song’s liner notes and descriptions by Buffett of his adventures in West Africa that inspired his new album.

2010 Jimmy Buffett Concert Tour
February 2010
20 – Jacksonville, FL – Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
23 – Columbia, SC – Colonial Life Arena
24 – Orlando, FL – Amway Arena
27 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – BankAtlantic Center

When you first glance at the new album by Jimmy Buffet, which will be released on Tuesday, you might think the title is Buffett Hotel spelled like his last name. If you look closer, however, you’ll notice there is just one T.

People ask me, what is the Buffett Hotel? Then I say it’s Buffet. Jimmy’s last name has been pronounced as Buff-ay for a long time instead of Buff-it. I used to get pissed off, Buffett said. Early on in his career his very own record label even misspelled his name on his albums twice. He says even his lawyers sometimes don’t get it right. This has been ongoing, he added.

“Buffet Hotel” is the first studio album to be released by Buffett in three years. When he visited West Africa in 2007 he fell absolutely in love with a train station inside an old beautiful building located in Bamako, Mali called Buffet Hotel de la Gare. It’s the site of where Mali’s musical scene flourished after the country gained independence in 1960. Buffett said, it’s kind of like you’re visiting Africa’s Opry.

While Buffett was in West Africa to attend the Festival In The Desert held each year in Timbuktu, he ended up jamming in the hotel as well as other clubs late into the night. Buffet said, that was 36 hours of some of the greatest musical runs in my whole life. It left a very lasting impression on me. At Margaritaville.com there is a slide show of Jimmy behind the scenes. For die hard Buffett fans, influences of blues from his African trip can be heard on the new album, but “Buffet Hotel” has lots of classic Buffet songs as well, including Summerzcool, a tune Jimmy has played during his concerts this summer.

Jimmy writes in the booklet accompanying the album that he doesn’t imagine himself just growing old and sitting in a deck chair on a cruise ship. He wrote, I would rather get lost while in the Sahara.

Buffett said, I have a new adventure coming up. I will shy away from live ammunition and sand storms. He is off to Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific.

In early 2010 I’ll be there. On Christmas day he will be celebrating his 62nd birthday. Sixty two, that’s a nebulous kind of birthday, Buffett said. I’m just happy I am here and that I feel good. Sixty five will be a big one I think. That isn’t too far away. My goal is just to live in the moment. Early enough I learned how to do that.

Buffett does admit that he has thought of growing old. Recently he saw Leonard Cohen in concert. He said, I want to see 75 and how that looked on stage. Cohen did a good job. I can see myself doing that when I’m 75. That is if people are still wanting to see me. If not, then I will go to the beach.

Monsters of Folk, Gavin Rossdale, Sheryl Crow, Wolfmother, Fleet Foxes, Chris Martin- Coldplay’s frontman, No Doubt and Neil Young will be performing both nights at this year’s Bridge School Annual Benefit concert.

The event will take place in Mountain View, CA at Shoreline Amphitheater October 24 and 25. On the engagement’s first night Jimmy Buffett will also be featured. Adam Sandler, the comedian and actor, will be featured during the second night.

According to the website for Bridge School, tickets will go on sale for the event beginning September 20 on LiveNation.com or by telephone at 877-598-6659. Prices for tickets are $75 and $150 for reserved seats, with general admission seats costing $39.50 plus service charges. The general admission tickets are also available at $99 for four packs.

Reserved seats on the lower level will be available as well, but are limited in number, via an auction on LiveNation.com. Additional information can be obtained from the website of Bridge School.

The concerts will be benefiting Bridge School, a San Francisco Bay Area organization that helps children with severe speech impediments. The school was co-founded in 1986 by Jim Forderer and Neil Young’s wife Pegi, parents with children who have severe physical and speech impairments with Dr. Marilyn Buzolich.

In 1986, the same year that the school was established, was when the very first benefit concert was held. It has taken place every year since except for 1987. Neil Young performs at the event each year. Past performers include Wilco, Tom Petty, Phish, Green Day, Thom Yorke, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews Band, Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam.

According to the website for Bridge School, performers mainly use acoustic instruments for the benefit shows.

According to the event’s website, on Saturday June 13 Jimmy Buffett will be playing a special show at noon on Which Stage at Bonnaroo. The performance of Buffett with the Coral Reefer Allstars and Ilo will be kicking off the line-up for the second stage on Saturday for the four day arts and musical festival held in Manchester, TN.

Following Buffett on Which Stage will be The Mars Volta, Gov’t Mule, Booker T & the DBTs and Heartless Bastards.

All of the headline performances on Saturday, which will also include Travelin’ McCourys, David Grisman, Elvis Costello and the Decemberists, will take place on Bonnaroo’s six stages and wrap up before Bruce Springsteen, along with his E Street Band, head to What Stage to close the day at 9 pm.

On May 8, the name of Miami’s Dolphins Stadium changed to Land Shark Stadium, with hundreds of dancing parrotheads and fins celebrating along with Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, and Jimmy Buffett.

The name change is the fifth for the stadium since it opened in 1987. The recent one is due to a partnership between Miami’s football team and Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffett’s enterprise.

The singer, reading from his prepared statement said, it’s such a cool thing to do, especially in South Florida which is my home. I am very honored and looking forward to working along with the Dolphin’s organization. I’d like to thank Steve. He had the idea for thinking outside of the box. It included his vision to make things more fun for Dolphins fans. So let the Fins begin.

Buffett, who is best know for “Margaritaville,” his vacation anthem, wrote a new song called “Fins” specifically for fellow Dolphin fans and the team. Buffett performed his new song, as well as two others, at the event this morning.

The latest album release from Buffett was in 2006 with “Take the Weather With You.” He has released over 30 albums, which date to the early 1970s.

Outside it might be cold, but the Parrotheads are making summer plans no doubt now that the full itinerary for Jimmy Buffett’s “2009 Summerzcool Tour” has been revealed.

The outing will be getting an early start. Later this month two shows will be performed in Hawaii. Then Buffett along with the Coral Reefer Band will be performing over 30 shows all across the US, starting in mid April and running through late November. Two night stands have been booked for Bristow, VA; Bridgeview, IL; Mansfield, MA; and Camden, NJ; along with three gigs in Las Vegas from May through October. There will also be a Toronto stop on the tour which wraps up at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 24.

The latest road outing for Buffet was his “Year of Still Here Tour,” that ran last year from April through October.

Buffett continues supporting “Take the Weather With You, his latest studio album released in 2006. The country leaning set became Buffett’s second No. 1 debut in a row on the Top Country Albums chart of Billboard. The album was followed by two lives sets: “Live at Texas Stadium” and “Live in Anguilla,” a three disc DVD/CD set.

Last summer Buffett released “Scenes You Know By Heart” as well. It was a DVD capturing live performances from songs appearing on his multi-platinum set from 1985 “Songs You Know by Heart.” Two bonus cuts are included on the DVD” “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere,” which was nominated for a Grammy, and “Hey Good Lookin.”

According to several reports, Buffett later this year plans on releasing a CD of living acoustic music of songs that he performs traditionally as his final encore at the end of his shows.

According to a report from HearldTribune.com, on Sunday November 12 in Tampa Jimmy Buffett will be performing a free concert to support the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

The concert will be held in the Ford Amphitheater at 3 pm. Tickets are available at the Early Vote information tables for Florida residents at the Obama Campaign for Change. Tickets will be issued on the basis of first come, first served.

Campaign tables will be at the 8th Street J&J Bar-B-Q as well as Main Street’s Buddha Belly Donuts in Bradenton, FL.