MIAMI (February 4, 2001 7:45 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - NBA referee Joe Forte isn't a "Parrothead," apparently. Forte ejected singer Jimmy Buffett from his seat along the baseline at Sunday's game between the Knicks and Heat. Forte said he tossed Buffett for using profanity. "He was there with his son," said Heat coach Pat Riley, who had a front-row seat for the commotion. "I don't think it was that bad. I mean, come on, a few words." The altercation delayed the game several minutes in the fourth quarter. Heat officials said Buffett, whose fans are called "Parrotheads," was escorted to another seat in the arena for the remainder of the game. "He was using profanity," Forte said. "There was a little boy sitting next to him and a lady sitting by him. He used some words he knows he shouldn't have used, so I asked security to move him to another location. "We don't have to take that kind of thing." Forte said he did not know the man was the legendary singer until someone mentioned it to him after the incident. "I told Joe Forte, I said, 'Do you know who that is?"' Riley said. "I said, 'Do you mean to tell me you've never been a Parrothead in your life?' So that tells you where our officials are coming from. "He thought I was insulting him. He wanted to give me a technical for calling him a Parrothead."


Some Duct Tape For Jimmy Buffett?

Miami Herald (February 14)--When Jimmy Buffett took the stage Saturday at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, he quipped to the crowd: ``This is a hockey arena. I can cuss in here, can't I?'' He was referring to his now-famous expulsion from his courtside seat during the Heat-Knicks basketball game at the American Airlines Arena on Feb. 4.

On that day, referee Joe Forte made NBA history by ordering the king of Margaritaville banished for saying naughty words. The game was halted while beefy guards escorted Buffett away, to the incredulity of fans, players, broadcasters and a national TV audience.

It was a bizarre and ludicrous moment. No celebrity had ever been booted from courtside -- not the excitable Spike Lee, or even Jack Nicholson, who is rumored to have once mooned a referee at Boston Garden.

Everyone watching the Heat-Knicks game was wondering: What in the world did Jimmy say?

A New York tabloid reported that he shouted a common term for bovine ex- crement.

``I was misquoted,'' Buffett as- sured me and gave the following account:

With the score tied 91-91, the Heat's Tim Hardaway was racing downcourt when Latrell Sprewell of the Knicks ran up from behind and swiped the ball. ``In my completely biased opinion, I thought he really clobbered him,'' Buffett said. ``So I said to the ref, `Hey, Joe, why don't you call the f------ foul?' And that was it. ``Usually you never get their attention. But he turned around and looked at me, so I said, `Can I help you?' '' Forte didn't utter a word. Moments later, an arena security guard informed Buffett he had to vacate the seat. ``All of a sudden I'm the José Martí of the basketball court. The crowd didn't want me to leave. They're screaming, `Stay in your seat!' They wanted me to get arrested and carried out of there. ``I mean, I thought it was going to get ugly,'' Buffett said. He considered hunkering down, but the security man said the referee could call a technical foul against the Heat, resulting in free throws for the Knicks. ``I didn't want that to happen,'' said Buffett, a Heat season-ticket holder and rabid fan since the franchise was new. So he and his 6-year-old son, Cameron, left the court. Buffett said the first thing he did was apologize to the boy. In a lounge area, they ate cookies and watched the game on TV. When it went to overtime, Cameron boldly returned to his courtside seat. His dad cruised up to the bleachers.

After the game, which the Heat lost, Forte said he didn't know who Jimmy Buffett was. He said he removed him because ``he used some words he knows he shouldn't have used. We don't have to take that kind of thing.'' This is big news to basketball fans. If the NBA starts ejecting everyone who uses the F-word, there won't be anybody left on the court. Players and coaches would be the first to go.
``Let's just say I'm not the only guy in the front row yelling obscenities,'' Buffett said. ``Certainly there's no excuse for using that kind of language in front of my son . . . but, hey, it's the Heat and the Knicks. When did this turn into Disney World?''

Miami coach Pat Riley rushed to Buffett's defense, but he nearly got a technical foul for asking Forte if he was a ``Parrothead'' -- the universal term for die-hard Buffett fans. The ref thought it was some sort of dirty name. (Buffett said he plans to send Forte a free album as soon as possible.) After the furor, the singer assumed he would hear something official, possibly even sheepish, from the NBA. Nobody called.
``They need to get a sense of humor,'' he said. ``I thought yelling profanities at a sporting event in America is an inalienable right.'' Since his ejection, Buffett hasn't been to another basketball game. He currently is on a concert tour, where rowdy Parrotheads are already showing up in striped referee shirts. The tour ends Feb. 24, and Buffett can't wait to come back and root for the Heat. He is considering entering the arena with duct tape over his mouth, or ``one of those Hannibal Lecter masks.'' Still, he cannot promise that every word to leave his lips during the game will be decent and chaste.

``It's a genetic thing,'' he says of his salty vocabulary. ``I come from a long line of sailors.''

Jimmy Buffett Honors Fallen Driver

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (February 20)- - During his sold out concert at the Charlotte Coliseum on Tuesday evening, Jimmy Buffett paid tribute to Dale Earnhardt. "I know he had a great sense of humor and he would want us here raising hell tonight," Jimmy told the Parrotheads. "From all of us to all of you, heroes are hard to come by so we'll take # 3 around the track for Dale right now." The concert was scheduled months ahead of time. But it was what the people of Charlotte needed most on a cold February evening. Jimmy dedicated the song "Take Another Road" (with slightly altered lyrics) to the seven-time champion.

"Never look back, that's what he swore Take 'ol number three to the shore Somewhere, somewhere... Take another road to a hiding place Disappear without a trace Take another road to another time"

At the end of the night, Jimmy came back on stage for one last song-- "Oysters and Pearls." A song about those rare individuals willing to take huge risks for the ultimate glory. Indeed, a fitting tribute to The Intimidator. The last line "Lindbergh left Long Island in 1927" was replaced with "Earnhardt left Daytona... February 2001." His final words to the Charlotte crowd were "Goodnight everybody, God bless you. For you Dale."

IMPORTANT TOUR INFO
Jimmy Buffett: So Hot! So Cool!
By Rick Bird, staff reporter for The Cincinnati Post
Published on 05/31/01

He's always threatened to take the summer off. This time he's really doing it. For the first time in 28 years Jimmy Buffett has cut his touring schedule down to just 16 shows, with eight this spring and another eight in September.

That's half of what he has usually done - and he is not touring at all in the dead of the summer.

Buffett's token tour includes servicing the perennial Parrothead markets. He's playing a sold-out Riverbend on Tuesday, then the current mini-tour ends Thursday in Cleveland.

Buffett also makes stops in cities that have historically featured Parrothead infestations such as Denver, Chicago, Boston and Pittsburgh.

So with his summer off, is Buffett planning to just hang out at the beach? Sort of. A spokeswoman for his publicist says Buffett's planning to sail around Europe in July with his family.

His hard-core fans would likely approve, since they seem to enjoy living vicariously through their idol. If they know Jimmy is happy and boating around Europe, that would probably fit the image.

The current Buffet tour - such as it is - is billed ''2001 A Beach Odyssey.'' In the last two weeks Buffet has played a set designed to please the Parrotheads loaded with more obscure tunes,along with the standard must-plays like ''Margaritaville''" ''Cheeseburger'' and - for this town -''Fins.'' The set has also included several skits between songs and during an intermission.

While the 54-year-old Buffett is cutting back on touring, he's hardly retiring. The chairman of Margaritaville Inc. is remaining busy with corporate interests to keep the empire alive selling his unique lifestyle brand of responsible hedonism. Here's a look at some of Buffett's other enterprises:

Buffett continues to work on his first new studio album in almost five years, to be called ''Far Side of the World.'' A spokeswoman says he will likely finish it up this fall.

The Margaritaville restaurant chain continues to expand with new restaurants rumored for Philadelphia and Miami joining those in Key West, New Orleans, Orlando and Charleston, S.C.

Buffett is working on his second collection of short stories, but a publication date is not set.

He continues to crank up his Radio Margaritaville, a rather inspiring Internet station that hearkens back to the days when radio was not a victim of the homogeneous music consultants.

Perhaps most satisfying for Buffett is the world premiere this spring of ''Don't Stop the Carnival,'' the musical he co-wrote with novelist Herman Wouk. It played in ''workshop'' productions in Miami and San Diego the last few years, but finally has begun a permanent, indefinite run at the Atlantis Paradise Resort in Nassau, Bahamas. Buffett played at the opening night in April and even the reclusive 80-year-old Wouk showed up. Buffett has cut the musical to 90 minutes and the cast has shrunk to 16 from the original 28 for the resort-style production. There are still no plans to take the musical on an extensive tour of the States.


The Pirate and the Lieutenant:
Jimmy Meets Lt. Shane Osborne
By Chris Dixon

On April 1, 2001, Navy Lieutenant. Shane Osborne and a crew of 24 were conducting a relatively routine reconnaissance mission in international waters off the coast of China aboard a P3 spy plane. Throughout the flight, the Navy plane had been badgered by a Chinese fighter pilot who kept putting his agile plane within a few feet of the lumbering P3. The third pass the Chinese pilot made however, was too close. The fighter hit the wing of Osborne's plane, releasing a plume of debris that caused damage to the P3's wing and far left engine and knocking the nose section clean off. As Osborne watched the Chinese plane careen out of control, the nose of his own plane took a sickening dive. He had time to think, "That guy just killed us."
Twelve days and a great deal of fanfare later, Lt. Osborne and his crew safely set foot again on American soil. Their foreign odyssey was over, but their American one was just beginning.
On Thursday, May 24th, Lt. Osborne climbed on-stage with Jimmy during his encore at the Coors Amphitheatre in San Diego. Osborne’s story is well known, but what isn’t well known is the fact that the 26 year-old pilot is a bona-fide Parrot Head. During his solitary confinement, Shane maintained his sanity by keeping Jimmy’s live version of Southern Cross playing on repeat in his head. Upon returning to the U.S., Osborne’s life has been a whirlwind of medals, CNN appearances, magazine and newspaper articles and hobnobbing with the rich, famous and presidential. However, due to his overriding Parrot Headedness, Shane graciously gave nearly a half an hour of time to talk about his experiences in life, on-stage and behind enemy lines. 
Chris Dixon: Shane, how did you end up at the San Diego show?
Shane Osborne: Well, Admiral Mike Bowman, who is the former head rear admiral in the Navy, and a friend of Jimmy’s, overheard me talking to a few friends of mine about the show. He told me that he might be able to sort us out with tickets, which he did. But somehow in the translation, they put down Dave Osborne. I went up to Will Call and the people doing their jobs wouldn’t let me in. I said, Dave Osborne is that guy who jumps motorcycles! I’m Lt. Shane Osborne. I was supposed to go backstage beforehand, but the concert was already started by the time I got inside. I had a bunch of buddies, other Navy pilots with me, so we got a bunch of Margaritas and headed up on the lawn. Then we ran back to VIP area during the break. 
At that point, Jimmy’s assistant came over and grabbed my girlfriend Roxanne and me and took us backstage. Then he asked if we wanted to watch the show from the side. So there we were just standing right on the side watching Jimmy play. I called my good buddy John Cummerford — he was the head guy in the back of the spy plane — and we’re both huge Parrot Heads. John was in DC at a wedding, so he got to hear Southern Cross live over the cell phone.
I heard that song in particular has some significance for you.
While we were in China, I was isolated for about 8 days, and I had told John that the whole time, Southern Cross was stuck in my head off Jimmy's new live album. I don’t know even know all the words, but I just kept singing it over and over in my room. The lines, "I have been around the world," and "think about how many times I have fallen." Both spoke to me. That concert was my big grand finale. To hear that song right there live on stage was just awesome. 
Describe your meeting with Jimmy.
That was Jimmy’s last set, and before his encore, he came backstage, and I said, "Rox, let’s go, I want to go meet him." I yelled, "Hey Jimmy, I’m the guy from China!" and Jimmy says, "Oh, let’s talk about crashin’!" So I got a quick picture with him and my girlfriend. I didn’t know he was going to go back out on-stage, but he did, and then all of a sudden a bunch of people came running out to grab me and my girlfriend. They said, Jimmy’s talking about you, he wants you on-stage!
What did he say?
He talked about what I told him about singing Southern Cross, and gave me a big hug, and the whole crowd was chanting USA!, USA! I waved to my boys out in the crowd and Jimmy talked a little more about me. My buddies were freaking out. It was definitely, definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten to do in my life.
What were some of the things that struck you about being backstage?
Wow, just the number of people running around doing things. The control room for the Jumbo-tron, and the sound equipment was incredible. There were a lot of people, and they obviously had work to do. I was just trying to stay off to the side so they wouldn’t kick me out, and I could watch Jimmy play from 25 feet away. 
How did it feel being in front of that crowd?
Wow that was crazy, there were thousands of people out there screaming and chanting, I was just amazed. The Margaritas definitely helped take the nervousness away though. I’m not a beer drinker — just Tequila and Whiskey, and to be able to go to a show and get a real drink — that was kind of nice. 
Tell me about your history as a Parrot Head.
Well, John Cummerford and me — we call John "Ballgame" -- are the big Parrot Heads. I’ve been listening to Jimmy since I was a kid. And it just progressed. During college, my roommate Brian Westwood and I would always start the evening with about an hour and a half of Jimmy on his 4 CD collection, Boats, Beaches, Bars and Ballads, and we usually ended the night with it too. 
What do you think turned a younger person like you to his music?
I think music is timeless, and it’s all about the mood it can put you in and the place it can take you to. I think we all know what Jimmy’s music does for us. 
Are there any of Jimmy’s songs that you keep in your mind, or that you particularly identify with?
You name it. I listen to them all, and often. I don’t have a favorite, I love ‘em all. You know, you can just tell that he loves what he’s doing and that he’s not all out just to make a buck. And he loves flying. He’s doing exactly what I’d do if I had the money. Get a nice fleet of aircraft and tool all over.
Have you read any of his books?
A Pirate Looks at Fifty when I was in college. Navy pilots don’t do a whole lot of reading when we’re trying to save our eyes — I was paranoid about my eyesight growing up. You’ve got to have 20-20 vision to get in to flight school. I spent three years in flight school and most of my reading was serious technical stuff. But when I read A Pirate Looks at Fifty, I thought, yeah, I could relate to Jimmy’s thoughts as a pilot for sure.
Did you know from an early age that you wanted to be a pilot?
Oh yeah, I knew from 4 or 5 years old that I was gonna be a military aviator. I had a pretty easy life. Had my goal ahead of me and I didn’t want to change it.
I read articles about you, and saw you on CNN, but not much went into your pilot background and the sorts of things you guys train for. 
Well, you have to get a college degree to become an officer. And the Navy paid for me to go to the University of Nebraska through ROTC. Then you graduate and head down to Pensacola, the cradle of Naval Aviation. It’s beautiful down there. The beaches are great. You start with the training and it’s really kind of similar to An Officer and a Gentleman. You go through your dunk testing, and obstacle courses, classroom work. The stuff that determines if that is definitely what you want to do. It’s a weeding out process.
None of it discouraged you?
No, it was fun. Most who go through it think it’s fun. But it is definitely meant to test you. They also want to see if they’re going to freak you out in the water. They put you in some hairy situations in that dunk tank. 
Jimmy credited a dunk tank with helping him keep his presence of mind when he crashed his Widgeon.
It’s huge what training will do for you. And it’s amazing how much of it will come back to you if you haven’t even done it in a few years. It still comes back to me. And it comes back in the worst situations. So after Pensacola, I went to Corpus Christi and started flying the Beechcraft T34. It was a blast, you get to go out and do aerobatics and all sorts of maneuvers. Then I got into the P3 pipeline. The jet trainers were what I wanted to do, and I had the grades. But the whole fleet of P2’s, the planes the Navy uses to train its jet pilots, went down, so it was backlogged. So P3’s it was. I stayed in Corpus and flew a King Air 200 T12. A new multi- engine trainer that the Navy just brought online. I was actually the first pilot to get winged on one of those. Then off to Jacksonville, Florida to learn to fly the P3. I fell in love with Jax, but had to move away up to Whidbey Island, north of Seattle for the real missions. All that movement was in just four and a half years  From Whidbey, I began flying the P3 missions. And I’ll tell you, I never thought I’d have anything like this happen to me in a P3. It’s a big aircraft, and carries a lot of people. You don’t get yourself into too many situations like we did. 
I would imagine flying those long spy missions gets occasionally mundane. 
Oh yeah, up circling around doing reconnaissance on 10 hour missions — you’d better believe it does, it’s not always exciting. It’s fun, but that part can get old quick.  But right before I moved out to Washington and took a two week course called Fear. Which was POW evasion and outdoor training. It was all about the situation I got put into, which of course, I never thought I’d need to use. That came in handy too. In terms of how to conduct yourself in interrogation. Pretty intense stuff. 
Did they tell you to think about a song when you’re in isolation?
No, that’s gonna come into your head no matter what. You’re in a room for 8 days…no TV, radio, nothing to do but stare at a wall. You’re gonna do something to pass the time. 
So it’s true what you read, that when you’re confined, you just kind of lose track of time?
Oh you do. In today’s world, you’re so used to bells and whistles, computers, TV’s all this input all the time. All the sudden, you’re sitting in this plain white room staring at the wall and your only input is this interrogation by a Chinese official screaming at you for 6 hours at a time. There was sleep deprivation too, which slows time down even more. They’d wake me up screaming at me if I fell asleep.
You’ve already led a damn interesting life. 
Yeah, I’ve peaked at 26. Well, maybe not peaked, but it’s not something I want to top. It’s been crazy since I got back. We’ve been treated wonderfully, but you get a little worn out too. I’ve been to D.C. twice, LA, San Diego, went back home to Nebraska, and got flown to Florida. But it’s been great. And we’ve been getting the interview for a book that’s going to come out. 
So, you’ve already got a book agent?
Yep, William Morris. There will be a book coming out in the fall. Kind of on my life, the training and obviously on "the episode." 
Tell me about the awards that you and the crew received. 
I received the distinguished flying cross and the rest of the crew received air medals. And Senior Chief Mellows and I also received, a meritorious service medal, and that was for leadership on the ground in China. It was actually a pretty high award in itself too. The distinguished flying cross is as high as you can get.
I would imagine that saving the lives of yourself and 24 fellow crew might warrant something like that. 
Yeah, being upside down in that aircraft is not a good thing.
Like you said though, the training kicked in. 
The money the navy has to spend to train a pilot is a lot. But I’ll tell you what, it paid off here. It brought 24 people home. 
How much of the training was simulated, Vs real world and which would you attribute more to your survival?
Simulators, you can do a lot of crazy things, but you don’t get the feel. I don’t care what anyone says. The real world. That’s what’s great about Navy training. I may be biased, but we have the best pilots in the world. We talk about losing an engine, they yank the power and you land with two engines working out of four. And flying the P3 -- it’s an old plane and we get a lot of emergencies anyway. I’ve had 14 emergency landings in flying this plane for oh, two and a half years now. Engines shut down, malfunctions with gear, flaps, that kind of thing. Thankfully, it’s a hardy, forgiving aircraft. 
What’s been your impression of being a sudden celebrity?
I’m happy to say that all my friends have told me that it hasn’t changed me a bit. I’m the same guy I was before. Some of it has been good and some has been bad. But the reason I’m willing to put up with a lot of it is just because I think it’s a great story for the Navy and the country to bring back some patriotism. Hopefully it was a wake up call to let folks know that there are people out there risking their lives each day. I mean there were people in the Navy who didn’t even know that we were getting intercepted every day by armed Chinese fighters. 
Or that they were flying so close.
It’s amazing what you can get used to. You’re always kind of nervous, but you just get used to it. I’ve got screen saver pics on my computer from even before this episode, and another one of those fighters giving me the hang loose sign.
Where was the rest of your flight crew while you were on-stage with Jimmy?
Well, I had to come to San Diego, and they all got flown up to New York by George Steinbrenner to go to a Yankees game. I had to miss it but, they did get me a ball and shirts signed by all the Yankees. But hey, I got to be on-stage with Jimmy Buffett. Who are some other people you’ve met? 
Well I went to the White House twice. That was crazy, I’ve met the president twice in the past month, and the vice president. Got invited to this VIP party afterwards, all these millionaires and actresses, running around. It was pretty cool, but it’s over now and that’s fine. I had my fun and am glad to be right back where I am. 
I read that when you were able to land your plane in China, that one of your crew said, "That’s it, I’m getting married!" 
That was Edmund. Yeah there’s nothing like a life changing, near death experience to get you to commit.
Did your girlfriend lean on you after that?
No, she’s not ready to get married, but we get along great. She’s from Jax beach, and is not liking the weather here too much. I think next we’re gonna try to head back down south. Maybe Pensacola to fly a little two seater jet and hang out on the beach.
Has this experience altered your perspective on your own life?
Oh sure, it’s amazing. It really has. You just sit back and if something is wrong, or bothering, you, you just think of how much worse it could be, and how many people have gone through a lot worse. I just enjoy life every day.
Any message for Jimmy?
Jimmy, thanks for the music, I enjoy it and plan on hearing it again soon. Next time you make it here in concert, I’ll be there and I want together and have a chat.