Wasted Away Again In Margaritaville!

The big day was finally here! Jimmy Buffett was coming for the Grand Opening of our very own Glendale Margaritaville. Yay!

The day started early. Very early. One of the local TV stations and the Margaritaville promo person asked us to bring a group in for breakfast. Apparently, they wanted some "color" for the morning show. That was fun. What wasn't so fun was that they wanted us there at 6 AM. Factoring in travel time and picking up Mike and Rhett (who came from Salt Lake City) at their hotel, that meant I had to get up at 4 AM.

Crikey! I usually go to bed around midnight so that was a big shift for me. But, heck, it's for Jimmy. What choice did I have?

We got there at 5:55, just in time to pose for the opening shot. A couple of clips later and it was breakfast time. They had a section on the patio for us, served us omelets, potatoes O'Brien, French toast and fruit. Oh, and booze. Yes, the bar was open and it was on the house!

I started with Tequila Sunrises. Those went down smoothly. I was on my second one and having a grand time with my friends and wanted to share with my friends not there. I started to send a text message and realized it was only 6:30. Hey, I'd been up for hours and I was on island time. Fortunately, I waited. Only until 7:30 though. Fortunately, I didn't wake Sugar Daddy up or I would have been dead meat.

The staff at Margaritaville couldn't have been nicer nor more friendly. Some of them had made special hats for the day and a group of them came outside to say hi before they opened up the outside bars. They were happy to have us there and I have no doubt they're talking about the total bar bill that 30 of us racked up in four hours. I wouldn't have wanted to pay that.

They sent us to various spots in the restaurant for filming ops. During one of the breaks, I chatted with Ray, St. Jello-Shot Queen's Dad. He's too funny. She just throws a hat and some beads on him and he goes with us.

We had to wait for the tailgate parking lot to open at noon before we could start the outside party. They were nice enough to let us move our cars in there ahead of time, though.

There was all kinds of fun in the parking lot. Lots of folks had grills set up, Sammy brought his uke, Bob Karwin was there with his guitar and there was Beer Pong. I've never played before and Bob Rohn dragged me into a game. We won and were ready to walk away when we were told we owned the table and had to defend it. We played a second game and won.

By this point, I was totally antsy. There were 4,000 people coming out there for me to butterfly to and I was stuck! Two cute girls challenged us and they got down to one cup. I was even setting up a back stop to guide the ball in. Then, I found out they were from U of A and I wanted to beat them. It's hard to fight that instinctive rivalry. They won, though, so I was free to wander again.

Rhett took his traditional mid-party nap in the back seat of my car. There was no napping for me. Julie and I took a break from the party to go to a luncheon for the West Valley Child Crisis Center. It was pretty cool. The Arizona Parrot Head Club donated $10,000 to them last year.

One of the balloon guys at Margaritaville joined the club back in November. I caught up with him before the show and asked him to make the most elaborate hat he could. He came through with a spectacular one...way better than Crash got last time we were all there. So, take that, Crash!

It was The Rocket Scientist's first Buffett gig. I told him he would be very envied by lots of people that his first time was a free, intimate, acoustic show like we were seeing.

Steven had to work so he got there a little before show time. I gave him my camera (which we weren't supposed to bring in but who was going to follow that rule?) since he had the vantage point from his height. He did a good job of capturing the moments.

It was just Mac and Jimmy but it was so fun. They played lots of the classic favorites. There was a periodic sound issue and they completely lost all amplification during Son of a Sailor. The crowd just picked it up and sang until the problem was fixed. We might not have sounded very professional but we were enthusiastic. Jimmy dubbed his Reeferettes.

The show lasted about an hour then we took the party inside to Margaritaville. Gene was doing magic all day and he impressed Steven to no ends with his fork bending skills.

We called it a night a little after 9. I was beat. I was still beat today at work even thought I didn't get in until almost 10. It was worth every minute though.