Page 23 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2023

In 2012, Buffett helped open Margaritaville Casino Biloxi in the town where his career first soared by taking
the outdoor stage in his
well-known yacht bum
raggedy straw hat and
short-sleeved shirt with raucous patterns and
squared-off tails. Interspersed among “Margaritaville,” ‘’5
O’clock Somewhere” and other favorite songs, he shared Gulf Coast memories with a crowd
of 4,000. Buffett saluted Jake Mladinich, who hired him for his first professional gig at Trader John’s in Biloxi, and shouted out, “Thank you, Jake. It worked out.”
And in true Margaritaville style, those who didn’t have VIP tickets formed
an impromptu Parrothead yacht club near the marina and listened from their
kayaks and party boats. Buffett had one of the largest fan bases in the United States, and the Parrothead community spirit will persist even after his death.
He built his audience on the backbones of the songs he penned and his ease and charm at performing them. Buffett and fellow Mississippi native Mac McAnally recently wrote “Gulf Coast Girl” as a Coast theme song. The video shows people enjoying all of the Gulf Coast beaches as well as landmarks like the Biloxi Lighthouse and a Pascagoula Water Tower as Buffett harmonizes, “Have a world of fun on a Pascagoula run, and you might get lucky on a beach in Biloxi.”
And so, just like that, the Pascagoula Native Son had his last call on September 1 and his Margaritaville spirit left behind a phenomenal wake. But his island life essence will forever remain steadfastly anchored to the Gulf Coast.
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Jimmy Buffett.
Tributes and Love
Tony Trapani, Jimmy Buffffett, and Jolynne Trapani at Trapani’s in Bay St. Louis, 1995.
Continue to Pour in Following the Untimely Death of Jimmy Buffett
Lucy Buffffett, Eileen Mahoney Ezell, and Jimmy Buffffett at Mary Mahoney’s.
“What you saw on stage was what he was like in person. He was a renaissance man and a great ambassador for Pascagoula, not only with his songs
but also graphics behind the band on stage.”
“We had only been open a year and
in walks Jimmy Buffett. Tony ran into the kitchen and got one of the prettiest pieces of trout that we had and made him our specialty, Paneed Trout Eatery, and he loved it. They made plans to go fishing the next day but it rained. Jimmy came back year after year and he looked for us after Hurricane Katrina. He sent Margaritaville machines, 23 cases of tequila, and all kinds of things. He was just very encouraging. We lost Tony last year and I hope, maybe, they finally get to go fishing.”
“We went to camp together from five and up and I used to tease him all
the time that his career started with singing those campfire songs. He’d stop by periodically, whenever he came to Biloxi, he always got a crabmeat Po’boy. When other musicians die, it doesn’t feel like this. When Buffett died, it felt like a cousin or part of the family. He was a one-of-a-kind and brilliant man.”
– Richard Chenoweth, owner of the Grand Magnolia and Scranton’s in Pascagoula
– Bobby Mahoney, owner of Mary Mahoney’s in Biloxi
Jimmy Buffffett and Mac McAnally give Richard Chenoweth a bear hug at Grand Magnolia in Pascagoula, 2017.
– Jolynne Trapani of Trapani’s Eatery in Bay St. Louis