I have been getting a lot of e-mails lately from people wanting to know when Jimmy Buffett’s tour dates for 2008 will be announced. Looking at the past few years, a pretty good argument can be made that they will come out in 3-4 weeks (around mid-February).

In 2007, the first dates were announced on BuffettWorld in mid-February. Those announced at that time included the September Gillette Stadium shows, the July Tinley Park and Alpine Valley shows, and April shows in Dallas and Houston. More dates were confirmed at the end of February: Indy, Bristow VA, Pittsburgh, and Cincy.

In 2006, Margaritaville.com posted the first tour dates on February 11th for the April tour leg. The June and August shows of that year were announced on February 23rd.

And in 2005, spring and summer dates weren’t announced until late February and early March.

So if history is any guide, I’d guess early February the rumor mill will heat up and in mid-February we’ll start getting some solid dates. This of course may not be accurate, but should be close.

The best and quickest way to get Buffett tour dates when they are announced is by signing up for BuffettWorld news updates. You can do that here!

Veteran Coral Reefer and Grammy-award winning
producer, songwriter and percussionist Ralph MacDonald
has released his latest album, “Mixty Motions.”

Featuring a danceable mix of Caribbean-infused smooth
jazz tunes, the 12-song collection includes noteable
guest musicians like Ashford & Simpson, Will Lee,
Etienne Charles, Dave Mann, Roger George, and fellow
Coral Reefer Robert Greenidge. The record also
includes an update of “Don’t Stop The Carnival,” a
song MacDonald wrote in 1966 for Harry Belafonte.

For more information on “Mixty Motions,” including
audio samples and an online store, please visit
here.

PanOnTheNet.com has recorded an interview with long-time Coral Reefer percussionist Ralph MacDonald.

Percussionist Ralph MacDonald is visual and sometimes quietly intense but always expressive, and is a compendium of unique island and conventional percussive rhythms. The When Steel Talks (WST) crew was privileged to sit down with the dynamic musician in his Stamford, Connecticut home and preview Mixty Motions, his newest CD before its release.

MacDonald has done a lot of interviews, but only here with WST, in addition to the detailed look at Mixty Motions, does the world get the inside scoop on his full relationship with the steelpan, and his intimate connection with what is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, and hear him proudly proclaim that his favorite orchestra is the mighty Desperadoes Steel Orchestra nestled in the hills of Laventille.

Check out the interview here.

There was talk last week that Jimmy might be interested in bringing a casino to Florida. The Miami Herald says don’t bet on it:

A trail of e-mails between Gov. Charlie Crist’s chief of staff and a lobbyist for singer Jimmy Buffett that mentioned ”the gaming issue” stirred a short-lived flutter of speculation last week.

The talk would have touched on Crist’s contested gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe and other Florida issues that interest Buffett, Sharkey said, including the environment.

The Key West Citizen reports that Jimmy was in Key West over the weekend:

Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett waves to fans Saturday at the Key West Bight en route to Sunset Key. Buffett was in Key West over the weekend producing the music of Ilo Ferreira, a young musician he met in Cape Verde off the western coast of Africa.