First announced a year ago, and originally scheduled to open in late 2016, the Margaritaville restaurant in Cleveland has delayed its opening again.

The opening of Cleveland’s hotly anticipated Margaritaville restaurant on Front Avenue in the Flats has been delayed until summer.

When the initial announcement of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville coming to Cleveland was made last May, the restaurant was slated to open in late 2016. By October, however, that date was pushed back until spring 2017.

While officials connected with the project said the restaurant will debut this summer, they did not provide any official date.

Margaritaville’s menu features foods like coconut shrimp, seafood macaroni and cheese, fish tacos, steak, grilled chicken and burgers. Yes, there’s even a “Cheeseburger in Paradise” complete with lettuce, tomato, Heinz 57 and French-fried potatoes — just like Buffett’s song suggests.

Once the location opens, it will be the only Margaritaville in the state of Ohio after the Cincinnati location recently closed.

Everyone loves a champion and yet somehow, we also like to see them fall. In FREE FALL TO BLACK, John H. Cunningham’s prequel to the page-turning Buck Reilly Adventure Series, we see how protagonist Buck achieves international fame, wealth and wins the trophy wife, only to lose it all, and ultimately reinvent himself in Key West.

Readers will travel back to 2006 and the peak moment of Buck’s success when he discovers the crypt of the Mayan Serpent King and royal treasury in Guatemala. Proclaimed “King Buck” by the media, he’s on top of the world—investors are pleased, his parents are proud and his bank account is flush. Then, he marries the world’s biggest supermodel. Life is too good to be true…

By 2008, with the world economy on the brink of collapse, Buck’s company with his childhood best friend Jack Dodson is under siege due to fraud, backstabbing and greed that turns their friends and family alike into adversaries. Hubris and hasty decisions lead to irreversible consequences, and when a business partner turns up dead, business as usual isn’t business any more.

For fans of the Buck Reilly series, buckle up for the turbulent ride that led him to Last Resort Charter and Salvage in Key West, and for new readers, this prequel will launch you into the six book series with your eyes wide open, and Buck’s scars still fresh.

John will host a signing for FREE FALL TO BLACK at Key West Island Books (513 Fleming St, Key West) on Friday, May 12 from 5-7 PM.

Jimmy Buffett performed at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in Australia on Friday night. It was his first show in Australia since his stage fall in 2011.

In an Instagram post, Buffett said “Fins up Australia. That was an amazing night – thank you for having us! AN amazing night.”

Send us the set list if you’ve got it!

Buffett will stay in the southern hemisphere, playing a show in New Zealand on Tuesday.

Jimmy Buffett has been making his way southwest through the Pacific Islands, making stops in Hawaii, Fiji, and Norfolk Island (see pics on his Instagram feed) enroute to Australia where he’ll perform at the Byron Bay Bluesfest on Friday.

News Corp Australia Network interviewed Buffett: “Jimmy Buffett hopes to not fall off stage and stay away from sharks on his return gig to Australia”

FAMED American singer Jimmy Buffett hopes to share a margarita with the Sydney trauma doctor who “probably saved my life” when he returns to Australia to perform at Bluesfest.

The Margaritaville star walked off the stage towards the end of his Hordern Pavilion concert on Australia Day in 2011 — at the tailend of his first Australian tour in more than two decades — and sustained a head injury.

St Vincent’s Hospital head of emergency Professor Gordian Fulde was enjoying the concert from the front row and leapt over the barricades to treat the performer.

Buffett hopes the doctor will join the rest of his legion of Parrothead fans at his one-off concert at the Byron Bay festival on Friday.

“Hopefully I am going to get him up to Byron. That fall off the stage is a memory burned into whatever part of my brain I fell on,” Buffett said ahead of his Australian visit.

“I remember coming to with Gordian over me and telling me I had fallen but to stay with him and keep looking him in the eye.

“He was in the front row … who else gets the head of trauma surgery on Australia Day sitting in their front row?
“I am sure they probably saved my life.”

Read more at news.com.au.

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant in Cincinnati will close its doors after four years of operation, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville inside the casino will close on April 23, according to a tweet from its main account. The casino said a new concept will be taking its place but did not offer specifics.

“Jack and the Jimmy Buffett-themed restaurant have enjoyed a four-year partnership and are mutually grateful for the opportunity to have worked together,” Senior Vice President and General Manager Chad Barnhill said in an email. “Jack Entertainment looks forward to announcing our exciting new concept for the space soon.”

A spokeswoman said the casino is still weighing options on what will take Margaritaville’s place.

“We’ve had a really great partnership with them for four years, but it was a business decision,” Gayane Makaryan told me.

Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville was one of the original restaurants to open in the casino, which was originally called Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati, along with Jack Binion’s Steak, Spread Buffet and Bobby’s Burger Palace. Of those, only Bobby’s Burger Palace still remains in operation.