The Jimmy Buffett Today Show concert on May 5th has reportedly been canceled so that the anchors and staff can remain in New York to cover the Swine Flu breakout.

The Key West Chronicle says that “The Today show plans on doing a Key West broadcast at a later date – but as of now, none is scheduled.”

The Key West Chronicle’s Key West Blog has some additional details on Jimmy Buffett’s upcoming concert on the Today Show that we first reported last Thursday:

The Today Show is promoting Key West as an American vacation destination and will be filming an entire 4-hour morning show on our little tropical island.

As part of the production, Jimmy Buffett will play a live 30-minute concert on May 5, 2009 starting at 8:30 am.

The mini concert will be at either the Westin Resort or Mallory Square.

One of our readers, Melissa, passed this along:

I heard on the Today Show this morning that the Today Show gang is heading out to Key West on May 5th to Mile Marker 0 and Jimmy Buffett will be playing a concert there with the Today Show.

(hat tip to Melissa for passing this along)

Update – The Today Show’s website has more:

For one week this May, America’s first TV family will be spending more than just their mornings together. Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Al Roker and Ann Curry will pack their bags and head to some of America’s most beautiful destinations. TODAY Takes a Vacation, a five-day series, begins Monday, May 4.

Lauer added details about the anchors’ itinerary for Tuesday, May 5. “We’ll travel to mile marker zero in Key West, Florida,” he said. “From the southernmost point in the U.S., we will look for sunken treasure. And you can’t go to Key West without a little music from Jimmy Buffett, who’ll greet us with a live concert.”

From Margaritaville.com:

In February of 2009, Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally played an inpromptu show at the Margaritaville Cafe in Key West, Florida. The theme of the evening was Key West songs, and also included a performance of a brand new song – A Lot To Drink About. Watch the video on the Coconut Television now!

This digital download is now available at Mailboat Records! Tracks included are audio mp3s of three songs from that performance (I Heard I Was In Town, Migration and A Lot To Drink About and a Quicktime .mov movie of A Lot To Drink About).

Buy it now!

TRACK LIST:

1. I Heard I Was In Town – live from Key West (audio mp3)
2. Migration – live from Key West (audio mp3)
3. A Lot To Drink About – live from Key West (audio mp3)
4. A Lot To Drink About – live from Key West (video mov)

(hat tip to HD18JBGuy for passing this along)

The Margaritaville Key West website has a writeup of Jimmy Buffett’s private show that he played last Thursday night. The article mentions that Buffett has been in Mac McAnally’s studio in Muscle Shoals, AL working on new songs:

The current state of the country prompted our troubled troubadour to take pen in hand and put his spin on the state of the union, noting in particular that “we have a lot to drink about.” And since drinking was involved, what better place than Key West to premier the new song.

Key West’s current living legend embodies the spirit of our islands infamous forerunners in the guise of shipwreck salvors, road weary writers and bar owners; it’s safe to say that best-selling author Jimmy Buffett has certainly found treasure in Margaritaville. So he and Mac came into town on Lincoln’s Birthday to share the new song, spend some time with old friends and favor the Margaritaville crew with Key West classics, the songs we know by heart.

Read the entire article here.

Here are two videos of Buffett singing his new song “We’ve Got A Lot To Drink About”:

Part I

Part II