Lucy Buffett, sister of Jimmy Buffett and owner of Lulu’s at Homeport in Gulf Shores, Alabama, has ordered another 10,000 copies of her new cookbook after the first 2,000 went quickly. WKRG TV has an interview with Lucy about “Crazy Sista Cookin”:

“I always wanted to write the book.” she told News 5’s Bill Riales. “I started with that little place on Week’s Bay and I genuinely thought that I’d sell a lot of beer, I’d cook a few cheeseburgers and a pot of gumbo and I would sit on the porch and write my cookbook.. I really thought that, and it was not to be.”

It turned out the restaurant proved so popular, especially after the move to Gulf Shores, that Lucy thought she might have to give up her dream of writing it. But seeing the heart of the eatery, the kitchen, and the rest of it could run without her there all the time–the book started to take shape once again.

She says, “Iniitially I just thought if I sell it at LuLu’s it would be fine–that’s what it started as. I’ve been wanting to write this book for a long time and it follows the dishes we serve here at LuLu’s and those dishes come from my personal experience or they’ve been borrowed or adapted from either friends of mine or family.”

Buffett says she’s gotten word the book has reached readers in Minnesota, and Michigan, New York and California–and lots of points in between. Only two months after its release, she’s already ordered another ten thousand copies–and expects to order more. And just in case you’ve already devoured the stories and recipes in this one–Lucy says she’s still got plenty of tales left to tell and is already planning a second book.

A portion of the proceeds from ‘Crazy Sista Cookin’ will benefit one of Lucy’s pet projects, art education in Baldwin County Schools.

Check out the entire interview with Lucy Buffett here.

Order “Crazy Sista Cooking” now, which includes a foreward by Jimmy Buffett.

The Palm Beach Post has an article on Jimmy Buffett’s former pilot Randy Leslie, who was let go by Buffett a year and a half ago and died in December: “Did Buffett Botch Jamaica Pilot’s Exit?”

“Randy said to me about a year and a half ago: ‘They’re retiring me!’ He didn’t seem to know why,” said contract pilot Jon Norkus, who also worked for Buffett. “He was disappointed that Jimmy didn’t talk to him about it. It was handled by an underling.

Palm Beacher Jimmy Buffett is accused by several friends of his longtime pilot and party accomplice, Randy Leslie, of turning a blind eye to Leslie’s ouster after 15 years.

Leslie entered Margaritaville lore when the Buffett seaplane he was piloting was fired on by Jamaican police who mistook Leslie and his boss for drug runners. The incident inspired the tune Jamaica Mistaica.

“Randy loved his job, but employers love younger pilots. They work longer hours than we do.”

Leslie had recently started flying again when, on Dec. 6, he died during emergency brain surgery.

Yet, says another friend of Leslie’s, Buffett eventually came through.

“He visited Randy’s widow the morning of the celebration (at DuBois Park in Jupiter) and told her he’d start a trust fund for the education of their son,” said Kelly Bergel.

“Jimmy intentionally didn’t attend anything that was public because he didn’t want the focus on him. He didn’t want to draw any attention away from Randy.

“When he left Jimmy’s employ, Randy was taken care of. He got a nice pension and got paid for six months. I never heard Randy talk ill of Jimmy. He was a fan as much as his employee, and we played Jimmy’s music during the celebration.

“Believe me, working for a celebrity isn’t all it’s made out to be. You miss a lot of birthdays.”

Someone in Leslie’s entourage who declined to be named said Buffett told the widow, Terri, he now wishes he had handled the firing differently.

Read the entire article here.

Also, learn more about Buffett’s seaplane here and about the Jamaica Mistaica incident here.

Seven years ago today Jimmy Buffett was ejected from a Miami Heat game for swearing at referee Joe Forte, who didn’t even know who Buffett was. Jimmy is a season ticket holder and regularly attends Heat games.

After the game, referee Joe Forte said that he ordered the singer moved during the fourth quarter because “there was a little boy sitting next to him (Buffett’s son Cameron) and a lady sitting by him. He used some words he knows he shouldn’t have used.”

However, Forte apparently didn’t know who he’d just removed from the arena. Heat coach Pat Riley tried to explain who Buffett was to Forte and was censured himself because the referee thought Riley was insulting him by asking if he’d ever been a “Parrothead,” the nickname for Buffett’s loyal fans.

In the days after, Buffett appeared in various media, including the Today Show. In one interview, Buffett mentioned that he was more upset that some news outlets reported that Cameron was actually his grandson, not his son.

In a Q&A with Sports Illustrated, Buffett recanted the incident:

I got tossed for yelling at a game by referee Joe Forte. It was a big international incident (laughs). I’d say it’s nothing I had not heard from the bench or people around me. Yeah, my son was next to me and I apologized to him first. It was a bad call. It still is a rotten call! John Starks clobbered Tim Hardaway. It was a close game. I just said you stupid, mother——, that is the worst call I ever heard. People yell all the time but he turned at me. Normally, referees do not make eye contact. So while he did not come over to me, he told the local security guard. By then the crowd was getting into it. Pat Reilly was on the bench, asking ‘They are kicking you out of the game? Alonzo was like: Sit down. You stay there. I told the security guard. This is probably not a good idea. Then they came to me and said they would give the Heat a technical foul. So I said, Okay, I’ll go.

Read more about Buffett’s ejection, along with other Incidents in Jimmy’s life, here.

CupCakes for the Tribe details the similarities and differences between Jimmy Buffett and billionaire investor Warren Buffett, whom Jimmy refers to as “Uncle Warren,” in their latest podcast.

On first blush they may appear as if they’re worlds apart, but Warren Buffett and Jimmy Buffett, having respectively built huge empires and fortunes based on their fields of expertise may have more in common than you might think. Episode 3 of CupCakes For The Tribe takes a look at he differences and the similarities between the two American icons.

Listen to the podcast here.

Jimmy Buffett’s sister Lucy “Lulu,” owner of Lulu’s at Homeport, has released a new cookbook.

“Crazy Sista Cooking: Cuisine and Conversation with Lucy Anne Buffett” is the next best thing to being there. “Inside you’ll find laugh-out-loud anecdotes, wit and wisdom from Lucy’s own kitchen, festive party menus, Buffett family favorites, and plenty of telling it like it is.”