The Gulf Breeze News has a great article on the recently announced Margaritaville Beach Hotel in Pensacola, Florida. According to the article, the ball began rolling back in March. In fact, the March 31st impromptu show at the Panama City Margaritaville came after Buffett toured the hotel property.

Marilyn Hess feels as if she won the lottery. As head of Little Sabine, Inc., she was finalizing the details to open a Gulf-front hotel on Pensacola Beach, replacing the Holiday Inn that Hurricane Ivan washed away in 2004.

A phone call from a friend turned her plans upside down.

She met the friend, who is also involved in hotel development in Atlanta, when in walked Jimmy Buffett and the CEO of Margaritaville Holdings, John Cohlan.

A few days later, Buffett came to tour the nearly completed hotel and invited Hess along on a road trip to his Margaritaville Café in Panama City where he planned an impromptu performance.

Hess said she couldn’t believe she was on a road trip with Jimmy Buffet, music legend and connoisseur of the laidback lifestyle, and felt like a teenager.

“He is charming and delightful,” Hess said of Buffett.

To top it off, Buffett insisted on stopping each and every Budweiser beer truck he encountered to chat with the drivers and talk about his Land Shark Lager.

“He pulled into the Circle K in Navarre because he saw the beer truck there, and he took pictures with everybody,” Hess said. The employee behind the counter begged for a photo to show her boss, a Parrot Head who otherwise wouldn’t believe he missed the chance to meet his idol.

The article also reveals some details on the hotel:

To meet the target opening in mid to late June for the Margaritaville Beach Hotel, workers are retrofitting the kitchen to accommodate “Frank and Lola’s” restaurant inside the hotel so it can serve signature Margaritaville Café dishes such as the “cheeseburger in paradise.” A pool bar is being constructed as well as an outdoor bar and entertainment area tentatively named “Land Shark Landing.” The Margaritaville Café is scheduled to open on a parcel adjacent to the hotel in Spring of 2011.

Room rates will range from $195 to $450 per night depending on the season and accommodations. Margaritaville Beach Hotel will offer meeting space, a board room and a spectacular view of the Gulf of Mexico through massive glass windows.

“It will have the most beautiful bar area you can imagine,” Hess said.

The article also says that USA Today will feature a spread on the hotel this Friday.

Read the full article here.

Jimmy Buffett’s official website Margaritaville.com has received a makeover. There doesn’t appear to be many new features, just mainly cosmetic changes. And the tour dates page seems to have been completed before the fall dates were added, because they are not listed.

Here’s a quick tour of how the Margaritaville.com site has changed over the years. How far back do you remember?

1997

1998

1999

2001

2002-2003

2004-2005

2006-2007

2008-2009

Tickets for the October 21st Jimmy Buffett show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California go on sale Monday morning at 10 am PT through TicketMaster.

Click here for TicketMaster direct link

Prices are $30 and $130, plus fees.

And if you’re new to buying tickets to Jimmy Buffett shows, read our Ticket Buying Tips.

Margaritaville.com has confirmed that Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will perform at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California (Los Angeles) on Thursday, October 21st.

Tickets will go on sale Monday, May 3rd at 10 am PT through TicketMaster.

On Wednesday night Comedy Central aired the 200th episode of South Park, bringing back many of the celebrities they’ve made fun of over the years, including Jimmy Buffett.

The premise of the episode was that all of the celebrities were banding together to to file a class action lawsuit against the town of South Park for the constant ridiculing. They’re led by Tom Cruise, who agrees to drop the lawsuit if the town can arrange a meeting between him and the prophet Muhammad. Cruise believes that Muhammad is impervious to ridicule, and that they too can become impervious.

As Cruise pitches his idea to the other celebrities, he says to the cartoon Buffett: “Jimmy Buffett, how would you like it if no one could call your music drunken, frat boy monkey garbage?”

Buffett responds: “I’d…. I’d love it.”

Watch the full episode here. The part with Buffett starts around the 7:05 mark.

Buffett was first lampooned on the show back in 2008 when he was shown performing “AIDSburger in Paradise” at a benefit concert for Cartman after he was diagnosed with AIDS. Watch the clip.

(H/T Garrett)