Last week Jimmy Buffett visited the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory to see how their work is going as their Oil Response Team tries to combat the oil spill in the gulf:

The singer and songwriter met with the University’s President, Dr. Martha Saunders and her team of researchers on June sixth.

Buffett visited USM’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs to talk about their needs regarding the examination of this spill. To help out, Buffett partnered with a boat company from Florida called Dragonfly Boats. Designer, Mark Castlow is creating specialized boats for the lab.

Buffett is donating those vessels to the University. Dr. Saunders said Buffett e-mailed her about two weeks ago saying he wanted to see the lab’s work.

“So he came and met with our scientists and got a briefing on the kind of work we are doing. And Mark Castlow came and we talked about the progress of the boats and so it was a great day. We got to see a great alum and talk about what we can do together toward maybe improving the prospects with this oil spill,” said Saunders.

Jimmy graduated from USM in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

You can donate to the Southern Miss Oil Spill Response fund visit at www.usmfoundation.com/oilspill and read about the Spill Response Team here.

Read more about Buffett and the Dragonfly boats here.

Last week we reported on Briggs & Stratton’s effort to get 240 generators to earthquake-stricken Haiti and how Buffett was trying to help move them through customs (read the story). Laura Timm, director of corporate communications for Briggs, left a comment today on our article letting everyone know they got through:

This is Laura Timm with Briggs & Stratton. Our generators cleared customs today (6-10-10). Thanks to Jimmy and everyone who helped us get the generators in the hands of those that need them most.

Garden & Gun has an article on Buffett’s “grease experiment.” After running his Green Tomato surf van on used cooking oil for a couple of years, Jimmy came up with the idea to supply oil to commercial fishing boats:

Jimmy Buffett has a vision for his golden years. “My dream,” explains the musician, “is to get a big ole tanker truck, with huge holding capacity, and drive it up and down the Eastern seaboard collecting used cooking oil.” This from a man who’s built a mini-empire of concert tours, best sellers, and restaurants, and who could probably rest on his laurels somewhere besides the cab of a semi. “I want to collect all that used grease and distribute it to commercial fishermen along the coast to use as fuel for their boats.”

Buffett’s food-centric epiphany came from a green tomato. Actually, the Green Tomato, his giant green surf van converted to run on used cooking oil, a process that is actually relatively simple compared with using biodiesel. The van is hard to miss, and driving around the United States in search of swells, Buffett found himself acting like an ambassador for the grease engine movement. “I felt like a teacher because I was giving lectures everywhere I went about the benefits of burning grease,” he says.

Along with the usual suspects—surf bums and eco-hippies—commercial fishermen were anxious to hear his pitch. “These guys are always being screwed by the high cost of diesel,” Buffett says. And among fishermen, no one is more familiar with being screwed by high fuel costs and measly returns than the American shrimper. While shrimp prices have declined due to the flood of farmed shrimp onto the market, most of it imported from Asia, the same cannot be said for fuel.

Continue reading this story here.

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band return to New England this week for two Boston area shows. We’ve heard from a few Mansfield area parrotheads that the parking lot at the Comcast Center at Great Woods will not open until 3:00 pm this Thursday and noon on Saturday.

From the Parrothead Club of Eastern Massachusetts (via urlcenter):

We have been working to confirm the parking lot details and were hoping to actually have them bend the rules and let us in earlier than the posted times. That is NOT going to happen. They are serious about the 3pm Thursday and noon Saturday opening times. In addition, we understand that Mansfield and surrounding Police will be patrolling local parking lots and hotels and disbanding any groups they find loitering there.

Read more in a discussion on our forum.

(H/T urlcenter)

In town already for his Thursday and Saturday shows in Mansfield, Jimmy Buffett attended game 5 of the NBA Finals in Boston on Sunday night:

Making his way all the way from “Margaritaville’’ was singer Jimmy Buffett, who plays at the Comcast Center Thursday and Saturday.

Buffett is a big NBA fan and can often be seen at Miami Heat home games. In 2001, Buffett was ejected from a Heat game for yelling obscenities at a referee. Read about the incident here.