The Boston Globe has an interview with Buffett where they discuss the oil spill, his Buffet Hotel and Encores albums, and a new project that will be coming out:

Q. You have the public image of a free-for-all party guy and surfer, but weren’t you just down in Haiti helping out earthquake victims? And you’re going down to the Gulf Coast to lend a hand; what are your thoughts on the oil spill?

A. You have to figure out what to do instead of just bitching about it. One thing is that we have partnered with a little boat company and we’re building these small skimmer boats that can go into shallow water and actually help with the cleanup. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, I don’t do this for headlines, but just because I want to give back. . . . We’re about to open our [Margaritaville Hotel] in Pensacola Beach, which is right at ground zero. We had a job fair there for 40 jobs — and 1,000 people showed up.

Q. You also just put out the double-CD “Encores,’’ taken from the acoustic encores you’ve done the last two years. It gave you a way to revisit some of your more obscure tunes and to show your roots by covering songs by Jesse Winchester, John Prine, and Bob Dylan.

A. On tour we have a 17-piece band that works people into a frenzy, but as big as this thing has gotten, I never want to forget being a folk singer, because that’s what I grew out of. I want to keep the roots alive of just me and a guitar since I spent so many years doing that. By ending the shows that way feels like a nightcap. It feels good.

Q. Any other recording projects?

A. Twenty years ago I ran away to Tahiti and wrote the song “One Particular Harbour.’’ I went back to Tahiti not long ago and did an acoustic version of the whole “One Particular Harbour’’ album in a bar called Bloody Mary’s where I first played — it fits about 80 people. So we’ll put that out.

Buffett is playing two shows next weekend just outside of Boston at Mansfield’s Comcast Center.

A couple weeks ago Jimmy Buffett spoke at the Lawrenceville School, a private boarding school near Princeton, New Jersey:

The Lawrenceville School’s gift to students in the days before their summer break quite literally arrived on the Kirby Arts Center stage yesterday with a gift-wrapped box on his head. A more appropriate present there never was, for beneath the festive packaging was famed singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett, a fellow who knows how to start a summer off right. Buffett entertained the whooping, cheering crowd with hilarious anecdotes of his life on the road — and also delivered on his promise to tell a story or two that would make his daughter’s face “as red as her shirt.”

“Fun has to be a part of life,” he said in his iconic drawl. “And I’m fortunate to have made a career out of it.”

As a young man, Buffett took a little while to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, “But I did know that I wanted to get the hell out of Mobile, Alabama.” He learned a few guitar chords in college (to impress girls) and, after some ups and downs, this “child of Mardi Gras” established himself a fun-loving performer that knew how to make audiences walk away happy. “Your relationship with the audience is about what they want to hear, not about what you want to play,” he told the students. “There are eight or nine songs I have to play or they’ll kill me.”

He urged the crowd to live life to its fullest and see the world in person rather than through the glow of a computer monitor. Then, after a lively Q&A that riffed on everything from buying a boat in lieu of an insurance policy to his relationship with Santa Claus, Buffett, launched into a rousing rendition of a few of his iconic songs.

Mac McAnally also joined Buffett for a couple songs.

Check out a photo gallery from the appearance on Lawrenceville School’s Facebook page.

Briggs & Stratton has donated 240 generators to provide power to areas of Haiti that were devastated be the January earthquake, but the units have been tied up in customs. After a company Rep met Buffett, he offered to help:

Laura Timm, director of corporate communications for Wauwatosa-based Briggs, recently spent four days in Haiti checking on the status of the generators and touring the ravaged nation. She met Buffett, whose hit songs include Margaritaville and Cheeseburger in Paradise, in the lobby of her hotel in the capital city of Port-au- Prince and told him of the reason for her trip. The following morning, Timm received a phone cal saying that Buffett wanted to speak with her again. He told her he was on his way to the U.S. Embassy in Haiti for a meeting and said he would mention Briggs & Stratton’s plight.

Briggs & Stratton?s donation, valued at $250,000 was coordinated by Vero Beach, Fla.-based Haiti Partners, which will distribute 190 generators to schools, churches and clinics. The foundation wil share its 50 generators with Haiti?s Civil Protection Department.

You’ll be a cheeseburger in paradise when you meet the one and only, Jimmy Buffett, at one of his US concerts in 2010!

Two tickets, as well as backstage passes to one of Buffett’s continental US shows this year, are currently being auctioned on charitybuzz. Fans will get to meet the Master of Margaritaville backstage.

Proceeds will benefit the Ross School of East Hampton, NY, in their mission to raise funds for the School’s programs and for the Steven J. Ross Scholarship Fund, which has been in place since the School’s
inception in 1991.

The auction will close on June 18th. To place a bid, visit:
http://www.charitybuzz.com/catalog_items/212305.

The bidding is currently at $950.

Charitybuzz auctions VIP experiences and luxury goods on its web site to raise millions for nonprofits around the globe.

After a deal fell apart in mid-2009, it appears Coastal Development and Trump Entertainment are back at the negotiating table over the sale of the Trump Marina Casino in Atlantic City. From CasinoGamingStock.net:

Previous negotiations fell apart in 2008 with both parties accusing the other of breach of contract, which resulted in a lawsuit over $17 million that Coastal paid as a deposit on the original sale.

Under terms of the new purchase agreement, both parties agreed to drop all pending litigation upon closing.

Coastal Marina will purchase the 27 story hotel, 80,000 square feet of gaming space and 60,000 square feet of convention space, nightclub, three players clubs, four retail outlets, six restaurants, cocktail lounge and health spa for $316 million.

Richard Fields, chairman of Coastal Marina said that the casino hotel will be re-branded and refurbished to fit within their “Margaritaville” brand.

“Together with Jimmy Buffet’s team at Margaritaville, our plans are to create an exciting new property that we believe will tap its full potential and make it one of the most successful destination gaming resorts in Atlantic City,” Fields said.

“They are buying a wonderful building in a great location. It has been an important part of our company with a loyal customer base and a dedicated team.” responded Trump.