As we tweeted out earlier today, Jimmy Buffett visited the campus of Southern Miss today to discuss a couple of projects he’s working on with the university:

After he and [school president Martha] Saunders had lunch in the Trent Lott Center, Saunders gave Buffett a tour of campus, and the two talked with students outside the Administration Building.

“I wanted to come back and see my old campus,” Buffett said. “It’s been a while. Some things have definitely changed, and some things haven’t.”

Buffett said he came through Hattiesburg on business, but he will be having some fun as well. “I’m on my way down to see the Saints game,” he said.

Buffett told the students he graduated from USM on the same day as President Saunders. “I have the program to prove it,” Saunders joked.

Before going into the Administration Building, Buffett said, “I’ve never seen the President’s office… but I’ve seen the dean’s office a few times.”

As Saunders and Buffett left the students, Buffett told them, “Y’all get back to class.”

Back in June Jimmy visited the university’s Gulf Coast Research Center. He had donated boats to them to help in the gulf oil spill cleanup.

Buffett with President Martha Saunders. Photo by Steve Rouse

Jimmy Buffett’s summer tour ended last weekend, so there’s no better time to do another photo caption contest. Take a look at the picture below and come up with your own funny, creative caption for it:

Post your caption in the comments section of this post.

After a few days we’ll take some of the best captions and put them in a poll for everyone to vote on their favorite.

Caption away!

Jimmy Buffett’s latest Margaritaville Cafe is on schedule to open before Christmas:

A $10 million remodeling project on Lower Broadway to house Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Cafe continues on schedule so the beach-themed restaurant and live-music venue can open by Christmas, the building’s owners say.

Both floors of the century-old building at 322 Broadway are being prepared for a variety of bars, dining areas and performance stages. Interior framing was under way as the owners toured the site with the architects and general contractor late last week.

“A lot of people are excited this building is coming to life again,” said Mark Bloom, a principal in the Corner Partnership, which owns the building and is paying for the renovations.

Once a Planet Hollywood restaurant and bar, the Broadway location most recently housed the Global Cafe — an Internet cafe — but has been vacant for more than a year now.

The biggest challenge in completing the Buffett project is working inside a historic building, where crews have found surprises behind walls, under the floors and in the ceilings, said project architect Sara Atherton.

“Opening the walls, we’ve found all kinds of structural changes that have been made over the years,” she said.

That includes steel reinforcements for the original plaster walls, as well as ornate windows facing Broadway on the second floor that had been covered from the inside for years.

The two rows of windows have now been uncovered, and that allow lots of light into a room that had been “dark and dank” before, Atherton said.

At street level, there will be a restaurant, three bars and two areas for live music, including a small stage in the back. On the second floor will be two more bars, additional restaurant space, a small concert hall with seating for about 200, and a separate party room, Bloom said.

Visit the official site for the new location at http://www.margaritavillenashville.com.

The circus came to town again Saturday night as Jimmy and the Reefers moved the Under The Big Top Tour to the Jiffy Lube Live amphitheater (formerly Nissan Pavilion) in Bristow, VA.

Notable additions to the set list this time included “Wings,”, “Brahma Fear,” last played November 20th, 1999, and “It’s My Job,” last played in 2007, both in a acoustic set instead of intermission. “He Went to Paris” was tonight’s final encore.

View the entire set list here.

Did you attend the show? Share your thoughts on our Discussion Board.

The fourth leg of the Under The Big Top Tour is now over. The next show will be in Paris on September 24th. The fifth and final leg of the Under the Big Top Tour will begin October 16th in Mountain View, CA. You can still get your tickets now for any shows left!

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will play the second of two shows at the Jiffy Lube Live amphitheater in Bristow, Virginia tonight. The first was on Thursday (view the set list).

You can listen to the show live on Radio Margaritaville on the web or on Sirius 31 / XM 55. Tune in at 7:30 pm ET for the pre-show. Jimmy will take the stage shortly after 8.

The 2010 Under The Big Top Tour is winding down, with only a handful of shows left. Check out the tour schedule here.