Jimmy Buffett’s sister Lucy will appear on the Today Show on NBC this Monday (July 28th) to discuss her cookbook “Crazy Sista Cooking”. Lucy is the owner of Lulu’s at Homeport Marina, a restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

There will be a watch party at Lulu’s from 8-10 am on Monday that includes a complimentary continental breakfast. Get the details here.

Get “Crazy Sista Cooking” now at Amazon.com.

Update – The Press Register has more:

The sister of singer Jimmy Buffett said she will be on the air during the 9 a.m. hour, when she will be featured in a three-minute cooking segment.

On TV, she’ll prepare the tiny Wee Burgers that are favored by her youngest patrons and showcase a pre-prepared sampling of L.A. (that’s “Lower Alabama”) Caviar. The latter is a signature LuLu’s dish comprised of black-eyed peas, various peppers, onion and cherry tomatoes, among other tasty ingredients.

“It’s exciting” being on TV, Buffett said on a summer afternoon from the bar at LuLu’s. “Sometimes I get a little nervous, but then I think, ‘Oh, heck. I am just going to cook.’ Hopefully, it will sell books.”

“Crazy Sista Cooking,” which features more than 150 of Buffett’s favorite recipes mixed in with tales of life in Lower Alabama, is a self-published book. Recently, book distributor PGW signed on to give the full-color volume greater exposure.

“We’re getting ready to run another 40,000 books,” Buffett said. “Hopefully, they will do well. If not, they will just be around LuLu’s for a while.”

Many of the dishes featured in the book are served every day on the LuLu’s menu.

“Almost all of them are LuLu’s recipes,” Buffett said. “I figure it’s not like they are big secrets. If you want to go and make an oyster loaf, I am sure you can do as well as I do. I want to make sure people enjoy the food, but I’m not sure that’s the whole reason people love LuLu’s.”

The 2008 Year Of Still Here Tour continued Thursday night as Jimmy moved the tour into Chicago for his annual visit.

This year, Jimmy’s Chicago stop was in Toyota Park for the first time ever and the first of two shows. The opening show featured a change right away as a solo version of “Hey Good Lookin'” started things off. It was the first ever acoustic version and the first time the song had been played in any form since June 30th of last year in Atlantic City. Other changes saw no “Pencil Thin Mustache” for the first time since the opening show in Houston and the return of “Jamaica Mistaica” for the first time since September 20th of last year in New York City.

The second set didn’t include any surprises, but it did feature a few guests. The Juke Joint Duo and Greg “Fingers” Taylor were back again to put some blues in the show and they even got Jimmy involved again as he helped out on a fantastic version of “Sweet Home Chicago.” Fingers also stuck around for “Son of a Son of a Sailor” and of course “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”

The First Encore opened the same way with “Fins” featuring another hot Fingers solo but this time Jimmy opted for “We Are the People Our Parents Warned us About” instead of “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35.” This was the first performance of “We are the People” since January at the Hong Kong show. The second encore was not a complete surprise this time but was still very nice as Jimmy played the John Prine classic “It’s a Big Old Goofy World” for just the second time ever. No Steve Goodman songs this time which makes you wonder what where in for Saturday Night.

View the entire set list here.

Did you attend the show? Share your thoughts on our Discussion Board or post your photos in our Photo Gallery.

Update – There are two reviews of last night’s show:

Chicago Tribune – “Buffett moves smoothly into Toyota Park”
Southtown Star – “Buffett fans sip margaritas and chill out at Toyota Park “

The third leg of the 2008 “Year of Still Here” will continue Saturday night with another show in Bridgeview, IL just outside of Chicago. There’s still plenty of time to Get your tickets!

The Sun Herald reports that work is slowing on the construction of the Margaritaville Casino in Biloxi, MS:

The credit crunch has squeezed even the world’s largest casino company and Harrah’s put an end to rumors about the Margaritaville building site in East Biloxi by releasing details.

“Over the next few weeks, residents of Biloxi will notice less activity and fewer workers at the Margaritaville work site,” vice president of communications Marybel Batjer said in an e-mailed statement. “Rest assured that Harrah’s is not canceling the project. We still believe in the Margaritaville concept, and we remain committed to our vision for the property. This is a project that we studied extensively, and we believe that it still has a great potential to benefit the Biloxi market and our company.

“We simply need to adjust the plan for the development to better align with the economic environment, market conditions on the Gulf Coast and the current financing environment.”

Karen Sock, general manager of Harrah’s Grand Biloxi Casino, met with City Council members before their meeting Tuesday and told them she doesn’t know how the construction slowdown will affect the target completion of 2010.

Jimmy Buffett’s Year Of Still Here Tour rolls into southern Chicago this week for two shows at Toyota Park (Thursday and Saturday). The Southtown Star has an article on the upcoming shows:

The soccer stadium and concert venue will open its parking lot at 9 a.m. Thursday and Saturday so fans can tailgate before the 8 p.m. concerts.

Tickets still are available for Thursday’s concert, but Saturday’s concert is sold out, said Dan Garnett, the stadium’s general manager.

About 150 fans with mobile homes and recreational vehicles – 50 on Thursday and 100 on Saturday – will have the flexibility to spend the night in the parking lot if they want, Garnett said.

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For the first time, tailgaters will be able to buy ice before the concerts and concessions at stands set up in the parking lot, Garnett said.

“We are trying to make people be self-sufficient, but we want to have necessities like ice,” Garnett said.

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For safety reasons, no charcoal grills are allowed, he said. Only propane grills will be allowed.

“If people are drinking, the last thing we want is for them to bump into a grill full of hot coals,” he said.

Read the entire article here.

The 2008 Year Of Still Here Tour continued Tuesday night as Jimmy moved the tour into Pittsburgh for his annual visit.

Back at Star Lake yet again, the first set saw no surprises. It did however feature a few changes as “Boat Drinks” opened with Jimmy solo while “License to Chill” replaced “The Tiki Bar is Open” in the second spot and “Cowboy in the Jungle” moved up to the sixth spot replacing “Miss You So Badly.” Also back was the Jimmy and Sonny Landreth duet “USS Zydecoldsmobile,” sneaking in at twelve just before the intermission.

The second set didn’t include any surprises either, but it did feature a different order. “Coconut Telegraph” kicked the second half off, just it’s second appearance this tour. Other highlights from the second half include “Take Another Road” making just it’s second appearance since 2001 and “Miss You So Badly” making it’s tour debut for the second half of the set.

The First Encore was the same as most of the tour with “Fins” and “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35” staying put. The second encore was again a surprise, as Jimmy acknowledged the fact that he had been playing rare songs to close the show, then followed that with the ultra-rare “Death of An Unpopular Poet,” last played at Jerry Jeff Walker’s Birthday Bash on March 23, 2002. This was just the fifth known performance of the song.

View the entire set list here.

Did you attend the show? Share your thoughts on our Discussion Board or post your photos in our Photo Gallery.

Update: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a review of the show: “Concert Review: Buffett takes his Parrotheads to the beach”

The third leg of the 2008 “Year of Still Here” will continue Thursday night with the first of two shows in Bridgeview, IL just outside of Chicago. There’s still plenty of time to Get your tickets!