Tony Tarracino, known as Captain Tony to parrotheads, passed away Saturday at the age of 92 after being hospitalized for a week. His wife Mary of 38 years and seven of his children were by his side.

Captain Tony, owner of Captain Tony’s Saloon and former Key West Mayor, was immortalized by Jimmy Buffett in the song “Last Mango In Paris”.

CBS4.com has more:

His wife and seven of his children shared stories in his hospital room shortly before his death. A viewing is planned for Friday evening in Key West, with a service scheduled for Saturday morning. A reception for family and friends at Captain Tony’s Saloon will follow.

Captain Tony arrived in Key West from New Jersey in 1948. Ten years later, he purchased a bar on Greene Street, calling it Captain Tony’s Saloon. The bar still has the name, though it was sold in 1989.

Captain Tony was a charter boat captain, gambler and a gun runner for Cuban mercenaries during the Bay of Pigs invasion. He served as mayor of Key West from 1989 to 1991.

He married four times and fathered 13 children. A film titled “The Cuba Crossing” recounts his story; Stewart Whitman played Captain Tony. He was also memorialized by musician and longtime friend Jimmy Buffet, in the song “Last Mango in Paris.” Captain Tony also authored a book with Brad Manard, called “Life Lessons of a Legend.”

Matt Luna of the International Herald Tribune’s Globespotters spent some time with Jimmy Buffett while he was biking around Paris last week. He asked several reader-submitted questions, which we made you aware of last week.

Globespotters also has an audio/photo slideshow with pics of Buffett biking around Paris and audio of him describing his travel around Paris on a rental bike. Check it out here.

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Pete Farmer from Kilbirnie, Scotland, wanted to know if Buffett had any plans to appear in the U.K. And Debbie, who lists the U.S.A. as her place of residence, asked about plans for any other shows outside the U.S.

“Yes, maybe next year. We have been thinking about it,” said Buffett. “Next year it could be a ‘He Went to Paris’ and a ‘He Went to London’.”

Buffett added that he has played in Hong Kong and Singapore, and is now “taking the guitar around like I used to do.”

“Next year I would like to go back to Asia, and maybe up to countries like Norway and Finland,” he said, adding that travel is “rewarding in the fact that I’m always looking for stories.” He said performing while traveling puts a different take on the experience.

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Annie from Maryland asked if Buffett had an “unfulfilled dream of adventure, like climbing Mt. Everest or going into space.” Buffett answered, “I’d go to outer space. I would like to ride on the shuttle, and I’m trying to stay in good shape to be the next old fart in space, after John Glenn.” He added that he would it be more fun to stow away on the shuttle but “that’s not possible.”

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Rayden, from Gold Coast, Australia and Billy from Melbourne wanted to know if Buffett planned to play concerts in Australia. “I am looking at it for early next year. Have not been there in almost 20 years, an am looking to get back. Stay tuned.”

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Steve Adams from North Carolina asked, “What do you think of the upcoming election? Whom do you plan on voting for?”

Buffett stressed his support for the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama several times during the conversation with Globespotters. Keep an eye out, and you just might see a Buffett appearance in support of the candidate.

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Ronnie Creger from Forest, Virginia, wanted to know what Buffett thought of Kenny Chesney “pushing his fans to act like Buffett fans at his shows, with tailgating and beach themes. ”

“Imitation is the best form of flattery,” Buffett said with a slight grin.

Read the entire interview at Globespotters now.

(hat tip to Peter for passing this along)

Last Friday, Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally played an intimate show in front of about 200 people in Montauk, New York. Mark Bialczak of Syracuse.com writes on his blog about his friend’s experience at the show:

We went to dinner at this local restaurant that has been around for ages. There was an unusual flurry of activity and my friends said, ‘Some local band must be playing here tonight.’
“After we ate, we decided to walk outside and sit on bales of hay about 8 feet from the stage. Maybe there were 200 people under the tent… My buddy goes and gets me a beer and it’s ‘Landshark Beer.’ Now, I started to get suspicious.

“I look off to the side of the stage and I see Mac McAnally (from the Coral Reefer Band) with Kunkel, and Jimmy Buffett is standing right behind them. Buffett walks out on stage and plays for 2+ hours with no set list, just taking requests from the crowd. After the show there was a flurry of activity and I found myself face-to-face with the king of the Parrotheads for about a 5-minute chat.

“I told him that I was the idiot yelling out ‘Jimmy Dreams’ during the show . … He goes, ‘Man, that’s one of my favorite songs, and I was ready to play it, but I couldn’t remember the words.’ I told him that I asked my son to make sure they play it at my funeral and he said, ‘Wow, I hope they play it at mine too.’

Johnson e-mailed again to add that his good friend, former NHL player Pat LaFontaine, was part of his group of friends who smuggled him to Montauk.

“Pat thanked Buffett for playing the ‘hockey song’ (‘Boat Drinks’). Jimmy told him the story about how it was written in Boston after a particularly squirrely night with former Bruins star – Derek Sanderson. Buffett called Sanderson ‘a great wingman.’

“Pat invited Jimmy to come and skate with us some time on Pat’s backyard rink and Jimmy said, ‘Hell no, but I’d love to show you how to surf.’ Very cool.”

Read the entire blog entry here.

On Wednesday night, Jimmy Buffett was at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC to honor his friend, author Herman Wouk:

Jimmy Buffett showed up at the library’s Coolidge Auditorium last night to sing the praises of his old pal — along with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz, New York Times columnist William Safire and Librarian of Congress James Billington, who announced that the new award would bear Wouk’s name.

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it was the sockless Buffett — bounding onstage, he promptly shed his shoes as well — who offered the evening’s most startling change of pace.

“People have asked me for years, ‘How the hell did you and Herman Wouk get together?’ ” Buffett said. Long story short, he’d somehow gotten the idea of turning Wouk’s “Don’t Stop the Carnival” — in which a New York PR guy plays out midlife fantasies on a tropical isle — into a Broadway musical.

So Buffett wrote Wouk a letter. “Who are you?” the author replied. But he eventually signed on, despite the fact that he didn’t know what reggae was. “Don’t Stop the Carnival” ran for a few weeks in Miami in 1997.

“We never made it to Broadway, but the carnival is still happening,” Buffett said. Then he proved it with a medley of songs from their collaboration. Seated onstage, Wouk smiled and mouthed the lyrics.

Read the entire Washington Post article here. Buy Buffett’s album “Dont Stop The Carnival.”

photo: Gerald Martineau / Washington Post

The duPont Registry is awarding a 6 night/7 day stay at Jimmy Buffett’s former home in Key West:

duPont Registry will award a 6-night/7-day stay at a historic home in Key West, where famed musician Jimmy Buffett lived for 20 years, to a member of LuxuryRealEstate.com at the 13th Annual Luxury Real Estate Fall Conference in Philadelphia.

This prize, valued at more than $10,000, will be awarded at the Luxury Real Estate Sponsors Reception on the evening of Monday, October 13, 2008 at the Fall Conference. The conference is scheduled for October 11-14, 2008 at The Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia and organizers expect more than 300 luxury professionals to attend.

“For the serious fan of recording star Jimmy Buffett, this is a dream come true,” said Eric V. Kennedy, editor-in-chief of duPont Registry. “It’s a place that captures the hidden essence of the real Key West that inspired a lifetime of musical favorites. Every step has been taken to ensure that items that were a part of Jimmy’s life here have been preserved. The result is a living museum that allows a privileged few who stay here a chance to experience the same lifestyle as the living legend who has captured the hearts and minds of so many.”

The property is located on a Key West canal with quick access to the sea. It includes a dock that can accommodate most boats. In addition, guests can enjoy a swimming pool, grill and screened patio, plus sleeping arrangements with a master bedroom with king-size bed, guest room with queen bed and a bunk room that sleeps four.

“This is the chance for a once-in-a-lifetime stay in a home that played a major part in the life of an American music icon,” Kennedy said. “Once you’ve stayed here and absorbed the history, those songs you’ve always cherished will relax you even more and sound just that much sweeter!”

Learn more here.