>>>>http://finance.yahoo.com/news/welcome-margaritaville-most-lucrative-song-140701644.html
>>>
>>>Met him a couple of times in the '80s or '90s. At that time he just, AFAIK, had a small bar on St. Bart's.
>>>Nice guy, good pilot (had his own flying boat), not a bad writer and a good chess player (well, at least he used to beat me :-{
>>
>>I am a long time Jimmy Buffett fan and have lots of his CDs. He is a terrific songwriter. Not thinking so much of the hits like "Margaritaville" or "Cheeseburger in Paradise" but the less well known songs. "A Pirate Looks at 40." "Living and Dying in 3/4 Time." "If the Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me." "He Went To Paris." And on and on.
>>
>>But then I discovered there is another side to Jimmy Buffett. It was in the news that he was thrown out of a Miami Heat game for being too obnoxious. This was quite a few years ago, probably 15. My younger daughter was on the school swim team at the time and one of her teammates was from a family who moved here from Miami. I was chatting with her dad while we waited at practice one evening and said I was surprised to hear about Jimmy Buffett. I wasn't, he said. He said it's well known around Miami that he is an A-hole. Since then I have not taken the soulful ballads at face value.
>
>Strange. Doesn't sound at all like the guy I met - he was always quiet, unassuming and good company. That must have been 20/25 years ago though. Met him in St. Bart's and he stayed with us on Lewis for a couple of days a year or so later.
>Maybe he deteriorated.....
>>
>>Somewhat on topic, here is something I read recently about F. Scott Fitzgerald. It wasn't just about his descent into alcoholism and early death, at age 43. It said his funeral was attended by 30 people. They had to hire the pallbearers.
>
>Sad. I re-read Great Gatsby a couple of months ago and, by coincidence, the Beeb did a good dramatization on radio a little later. I'm assuming the new movie is crap :-}

My younger daughter saw it. She says it is her favorite book and that she liked the movie. She didn't like the garish look. I said well, that's Baz Luhrmann.

I am glad to read what you say about Jimmy Buffett. It makes me feel better to go back to thinking of him as a good guy. You spent some time with him and the swimming dad may have just been repeating what "people say."

Maybe you should write a memoir ;-) Everyone else is, including people no one ever heard of. Yours can be about walking on the wild side and then becoming a programming savant. The quiet life....