Subcommittee Approves SC Parrot Head License Plates

March 4th, 2006

Jimmy Buffett fans would be able to buy Parrot Head license tags under a bill that cleared a House subcommittee Tuesday. The legislation sets a $34 price tag for the plates, with $10 going to Alzheimer’s groups in the state.

The subcommittee also approved new specialized plates for Freemasonry and Hunting Island. The bills now head to the full House Education and Public Works Committee for debate.

If the Buffet license tag becomes a reality it will likely be a hit on the Grand Strand. The Coast of Carolina Parrot Club is the biggest in the state with more than 300 members.

Tagged in Parrotheads

Parrot Heads May Get South Carolina Tags

February 27th, 2006

The State has an article on the possibility of a Jimmy Buffett parrot head license plate for South Carolina:

South Carolina Jimmy Buffet fans are pushing for “Parrot Head” license tags that would raise money for Alzheimer’s groups.

“A lot of people don’t realize the charitable work that our groups do,” said Venning Morrison, president of the Palmetto Parrot Heads Club in Columbia, adding that he and the 1,000 or so other Buffet club members across the state adhere to the slogan “partying with a purpose.”

The “Parrot Head” plates that will be discussed in a House subcommittee Tuesday would join similar tags approved in Virginia in 2002. Each tag would cost $34, with $10 going to the Palmetto Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association or the Upstate South Carolina Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Parrot Head fundraising projects have had a soft spot for Alzheimer’s since Buffett’s father died after suffering from it.

“A lot of us, at times, get tired of people thinking of us as nothing but a bunch of drunks who do nothing but go out and listen to Buffett music,” Morrison said.

Read the whole article here.

Update: Another article here.

Tagged in Parrotheads

Study on Parrotheads

February 15th, 2006

Apparently a couple of researchers did a study on parrotheads. I’m going to try to find out some more on this topic, but here’s what there is right now on it, found in the Washington Post:

“Parrotheads in Margaritaville: Fan Practice, Oppositional Culture, and Embedded Cultural Resistance in Buffett Fandom,” by John Mihelich and John Papineau. Journal of Popular Music Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2.

Two University of Idaho sociologists study Jimmy Buffett fans and find they’d rather be wastin’ away in Margaritaville than doing just about anything else, but some view “Corporitaville” — the singer’s ever-expanding business empire — with contempt.

Tagged in Parrotheads

“Pardi Gras” in New Orleans

January 13th, 2006

The Times-Picayune has an article on “Pardi Gras” in New Orleans:

Every January since 1998, a coalition of Jimmy Buffett’s “Parrothead” fans have gathered in the French Quarter for a long “Pardi Gras” weekend. They eat, drink and dance in celebration of the cheeseburger and margarita Buffett lifestyle.

So the ninth annual “Pardi Gras” kicked off Thursday and continues through Sunday. More than 600 celebrants from at least 24 states are expected.

Read the entire article here.

Tagged in Parrotheads

Article on Virginia License Plates

December 9th, 2005

The Gainesville Times has an article on the Virginia Parrothead License Plates.

What you’ve been seeing a lot of since March 2004 is the official Virginia parrot head license plate. As of Oct. 31, 2005, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles, 8,719 such plates have been issued.

Read the whole article here.

Tagged in In The News, Parrotheads