Fresh off a New Year’s Eve stint in New York City, Jimmy Buffett heads to New Orleans next week to headline a charity event:

Some top names in the worlds of food and music are coming to town next week, tapped by a team of New Orleans chefs to support a pair of local causes.

The occasion is the Bal Masque, the first major event from the Link Stryjewski Foundation, created by chefs Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski, the chef/partners in Cochon, Peche Seafood Grill and other restaurants.

The event takes the form of a top-dollar costumed Carnival ball, held at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, Jan. 9, with Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band headlining and Mario Batali among a brigade of big-name chefs serving the food. Tickets are $1,000 each.

While masks are required for guests at the party, the event’s goals are undisguised, and they’re aimed at one of the city’s most starkly blatant needs.

The Link Stryjewski Foundation was created “to address the persistent cycle of violence and poverty, as well as the lack of quality education and job training opportunities available to young people in New Orleans,” according to the foundation’s mission statement.

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While you’re ringing in the new year, be sure to set your television to ABC to catch a portion of Jimmy Buffett’s show from the Barclays Center in New York City. During the Dick Clark New Year’s Rockin’ Eve show, host Ryan Seacrest will cut to Buffett’s show for the performance of “Margaritaville.”

The full show will be broadcast on Margaritaville TV and on Radio Margaritaville. The pre-show begins around 10:00pm EST.

Tonight’s show will mark the first time that Jimmy has performed in New York City on New Year’s Eve..

Happy New Year!

BuffettWorld would like to wish the chief parrothead a happy 69th birthday today!

Born December 25th, 1946 to James Delaney Buffett and Mary Loraine, Jimmy shares his birthday with Humphrey Bogart, Sir Isaac Newton, Barbara Mandrell, Sissy Spacek, Annie Lennox, Justin Trudeau, Karl Rove, and Jesus Christ.

Happy birthday Jimmy and Merry Christmas everyone!

Look for our 2015 Year in Review soon!

Mac McAnally has a new album out and is giving it out digital copies for free this holiday season. Go to Mac’s website to download the album.

From Mac:

Happy Holidays everybody. I’m working all the way up to the day or two before Christmas but want to touch base before then with all you folks who do me the honor of following my microscopic career. Thank you for the gift of putting in the work required to do so.

Now for the reciprocity part…

Everybody who knows me knows I do not possess the qualities required to be a salesman and I am writing today to re-enforce that fact.

I have a new CD (AKA NOBODY) which some of you have already purchased (thanks so much) and with it comes a bit of a dilemma.

This is my 12th Studio album and I am especially proud of the work my friends (Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown, Chris Stapleton, Sonny Landreth, The Coral Reefers and the McAnally Daughters ) and I did …. From writing to recording and performing I think it represents the best efforts of my God Given Limitations.

And since I don’t have it in me to ask anyone to buy it.. and since I spend (by choice) the bulk of my working life in the service of artists other than myself….

I want to give it to you.

I am not a man of great wealth but I can at least offer you something that I value and hope it brings something good to you and yours.

From now until January 4 you can have the whole project with the Digital artwork just by clicking on the link. If you already bought one Thank you so much. Feel free to download it again and give it to someone else.

I ask for nothing in return. If you are on my website you have already gifted me with your attention. I would love to hear what you think of the music good or bad as I intend to keep playing and singing for the rest of my life and your input will contribute to my attempts to improve, both as a musician and a human being.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I hope to see you all soon.

– Mac

P.S. I’m a writer and a musician, so I want everyone to know that I’ll be paying all the royalties due from all these free downloads. No pickers and singers and writers will be harmed in the process. I’m happy to do it. I hope I have to go into savings.

It was a year ago that we told you about a musical in the works based on Jimmy Buffett’s life and music, and it was announced today that the project will indeed happen, and there are some big names on Broadway that are involved with the development. 

A team of producers including Hollywood regular Frank Marshall is developing a new musical centered around the tunes of Jimmy Buffett, with a story by Greg Garcia, the creator of TV shows including “My Name Is Earl,” and Mike O’Malley (pictured with Garcia), whose face is familiar from acting gigs in “Glee” and “Yes, Dear,” another series created by Garcia.

Christopher Ashley, the director of Broadway Tony winner “Memphis” and the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, will direct. No plot details have yet been set, but the story will be inspired by the island-escape party vibe beloved by Parrotheads, as Buffet’s legion of fans call themselves. A title hasn’t been announced yet either, although it would seem a shocker if the show isn’t called “Margaritaville,” the name of one of Buffett’s best-known songs.

Marshall has teamed with Mindy Rich, Anita Waxman and Beth Williams, the lead producer of upcoming Broadway musical “Tuck Everlasting,” for the new musical. Buffett’s work seems a logical choice for a large-scale Broadway outing, since the the singer-songwriter comes to the table with fervent, older-skewing fans who fall right into the target demo for Broadway ticketbuyers.

The show’s proposed timeline has the musical bowing in 2017. No exact date or venue has been set, although the La Jolla Playhouse, the theater run by Ashley, looks like a logical choice for a pre-Broadway tryout.