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

Hampton Style magazine has a great article on veteran surfers in Montauk, New York. It also has several great pictures:

Not easy to miss in his subtle new ride, a forest service-green Scooby-Doo van [pictured in article], Buffett pulls in grinning as a handful of comrades gather to gawk at the ultimate in solar-paneled, vegetable oil-fueled eco-cruising. Buffett maintains an enigmatic smile, unpacking his boards while sightseeing friends tour the van’s carpeted, cream interior. “How much is Crisco a gallon?” and “Do you smell French fries when you’re driving?” are just a few of the inquiries thrown his way.

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But Buffett shakes his head. “You’re gonna get a few assholes wherever you go, but it’s pretty mellow out there. You’ll see people with boogie boards and kids, guys teaching and world-class surfers and everybody gets along; that’s the great thing about surfing here,” he assures.

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“I’m not interested in having to go and do exercise; you put people in the water who haven’t paddled, and they know real quick how in shape you have to be to do that. We’re really having fun out there. I’ve lived here for 25 years over the summers, and I was lucky enough to pal up with a bunch of these guys. It’s just a real cool place,” Buffett states firmly.

“I’ve come out here on a Tuesday and it’s head-high break and there’s four people in the water. It’s just a luxury. A couple of months ago here, the buzz was out so I called Tony, and he said there was a swell. I had to get on a plane to go to Cannes in the afternoon but I just thought ‘I’m gonna go out.’ I came down and it’s all the people who don’t have real jobs, so there was only about five of us in the water. It was one of those days when the waves were starting there,” he points to the far left of the break, “and just long and clean, so I surfed for a good hour then I got on a plane, and I thought ‘This is the way to go to Europe.'”

The article is a great read. Be sure to check out the entire article here.

(hat tip to Matt for passing this along!)

The New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Keith Spera has a review of Saturday’s Jazz Fest show: “Jimmy Buffett and NOJO close out Saturday”

Say what you will about Buffett and his music: The man knows how to work a Jazzfest crowd. That he appears to be having as much, if not more, fun as anyone is key.

In his final 40 minutes, he broke down “Come Monday” to acoustic guitar and steel drums; showcased a singer he met in a bar on an African island; led the most exquisitely un-P.C. sing-a-long “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw?”; and cut loose Lafayette slide guitarist ace and frequent Buffett collaborator Sonny Landreth on “Southern Cross” and a grunged-up version of Landreth’s own “U.S.S. Zydecomobile.”

That’s when the party really got started. Buffett spotted an audience member wearing a T-shirt that read, “Helping Rebuild New Orleans one margarita at a time.” “I will trade you these flip-flops,” Buffett said, pointing at his own feet, “for that T-shirt.” Recognizing a one-of-a-kind Jazzfest souvenir when offered one, the guy accepted. Buffett immediately donned his new, slightly too big, “funky” T-shirt and kicked off the audience participatory “Fins.”

Buffett had one final surprise: Accompanied only by Allen Toussaint on the electric piano, he sang “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans” as the sun set on Jazzfest. “It’s hard work leading a band on a Saturday night,” Buffett had said earlier. He makes it look easy.

Moments after the set ended, Jazzfest security stopped pedestrian traffic on the dirt track. A convoy of vehicles sped from the Acura backstage area. Buffett himself hung out of the passenger window of the lead SUV. His fans cheered as he passed within high-five distance on his way out of the Fair Grounds — he waved and yelled back at them.

Read the entire review here.

See more photos from the 2008 New Orleans Jazz Fest in our Photo Gallery.

There are some more photos up in the Photo Gallery from the March 24th concert on Anguilla. They include crowd shots, pictures of Bankie Banx, and some great shots of Jimmy and the band.

Photos by Craig Dykstra