From Trop Rock music fan to Parrot Head

After writing my previous blog "The lure of Trop Rock, The call of Eden", I was friended by a friend of Cindy Bates who is also in the San Antonio Parrot Head Club, whose name is Carol.  I also had questions about Parrot Heads.  It seems like the impression that I had gotten about them is a common one.  That they are a Jimmy Buffett fan club who live out their whole lives like they are on college spring break.

 Cindy sent me an article via email, " Article from Central Texas Parrot Head Club August 2010 Parrot Droppings Newsletter, written by Doug Hall, Vice President, CTXPHC"
which answered a lot of my questions.


I also followed through with questions to both Cindy and Carol.  Here are some excerpts from those chats:
Cindy
" a Parrothead is a person who enjoys music, the idea of a tropical lifestyle, being with friends and has a charitable heart. I can be myself with my SA Parrothead friends and they embrace me, no matter what."


Me:
 I thought a Parrothead was a member of a fan club. I do enjoy music, and the ideal of a tropical lifestyle, although the closest that I have been to that lifestyle has been a few trips to Galveston. I love it there, although I do not really believe that is really a tropical lifestyle there. I also like being with friends and I hope that I have a charitable heart. :  


Me
 I have a Parrothead question for you.Can someone be a Parrothead if they prefer listening to Kelly Mcguire and Jeff Pike over Jimmy Buffett?


Cindy
Of course! Parrotheads are predominantly Buffett fans, but what draws so many of us to Buffett is his sense of tropical escapism.


Carol when asked the same questions
To me a Parrot Head is someone who enjoys the tropical laid back lifestyle, Trop Rock music, and likes the charity work "helping others" that Jimmy instills in others. It's not so much a fan club but a way of life for the enjoyment of others around you and knowing you can feel good about yourself when you go to sleep at night.
I am a huge Areosmith fan and they are my boyz so yes you can truely be a parrot head if you like someone else over JB...
I hope you'll join the club and get involved with helping others.


After this I learned that 2 of the 3 musicians that I fell in love listening to their songs on Spotify, were doing a concert in Lewisville.  While trying to find out more about the concert, I came into contact with Randy Morgan, who is the vice president of the Lone Star Parrot Head Club.  He told me that LSPHC was providing the show at no cost and the public was invited.  He also started talking about some of get togethers that they have.  So, after finding out everything that I could, I made a decision to go the concert and I know that meant that I would be there by myself with a club that knew each other and that I would be like a fish out of water being with that group.


I had liked what I had read, plus what Cindy and Carol had told me about being a Parrot Head, but still had some concerns about joining the local group.  So, I made a list of three things that had to happen that had to happen that night before I would join.  1. Would they accept me being there as one of them.  2. Would it be beneficial  for me to be a member of a group when my job, my family, and the distance to the gatherings would prevent me from being very active.  3. Could I pay my membership dues by cash that night?  


The concert was to start at 9, but I had gotten a message from one of the performers that they were going to try and start at 8 to allow for more time to play.  So, I got there at 7 and found a seat as close to the stage that I could get.  As the place started filling up, Shannon and Sue walked up and asked if the seats next to me were taken and if I minded if they sat there.  Then Patrick came over and said hi to them, so Shannon and Sue introduced me to Patrick. I did not mind at all!  After introducing our selves to each other, Sue sat down and saved their seats while Shannon went and got food and to meet everyone there.  So while me and Sue were sitting there, we started talking to each other.  She told me a lot about the club and what the club meant to her. She was great to sit by as she made me not only feel welcomed, but a part of the group.  


Later when "Bubbles" got there, I scooted over and let her sit by Sue.  Bubbles also started talking to me and told me what the club had meant to her.  The one thing that Bubbles and Sue had in common is that they both told me that they could not come to everything but that the club still meant a lot to them.


Then when they decided to let people move the tables and sit on the dance floor, Shannon, Sue and Bubbles made sure that I was included as we all moved there together.  As we set on the dance floor I met John and Cathi as well as Beverly and John.  Great tends to be an over used word to describe experiences like the one that I had, but in this case great is an understatement.


After the concert, Sue pointed out Randy and I finally met him face to face.  he echoed everything that Sue, Bubbles and Shannon had told me and accepted my money to join.  


This is not the end of the story, as I am still a newbie and still looking forward to making friendships there like the ones that I already have in the alumni group.  I found out several years ago that there is no such thing as having too many friends.  

My philosophy of life

For what it is worth, I believe that I can simplify what my viewpoint of what life is about with one cliche':  "To live loved and to love others".  That is it.  I believe that one thing will cure most of the problems that we face and what it doesn't cure, it will make bearable.   Let me explain.

To begin with, I think that we all need to be loved for who we are.  I mean that all of us should know that we are loved without trying to fit in, or without having to fulfill some agenda, without pretending to be something that we are not. You see as I get to make new friends and get involved in their lives, I am not seeking to change them or to coerce them or to try to make them pretend to be something other than just being  them  (Ok one possible exception to this is if I see someone trying to hurt another, but even then I believe that if we truly loved them we would not want to them to harm another person).  I just want to get to know them and to let my love pour out towards them. 

When we are loved in this matter, it changes us.  It frees us to love others.  When we love we act differently.  We do not mistreat people.  We seek the good of others and we seek to go along beside them when they are struggling.

I believe that if we as a people loved each other then there would be no health crises.  There would be no energy crises.  There would be no poverty.  Our jails would be close to empty.  There would be no frivolous law suites that drive up the cost of everything for the rest of us.  We would be living in a place that would be the closest thing to an utopia that we can achieve in this lifetime.  Those problems that can't be cured like disease and death of love ones, would be more bearable by the love of those around us.  When something happened to one of us, everyone else would chip in with repairs, money for bills, and to walk beside us giving a shoulder and ear for the other person's grief. 

As a Christian, my own personal belief is that this starts with us realizing the love of God towards us.  That He actually loves us this way.  It is His love that can change all of us.  When we live in this love and let it flow through to others, then there are no need for rules or commandments, because love will show itself to be better than any commandment can make us.

What is a Parrot Head?

This is a question that I asked multiple times to Parrot Heads before becoming one myself.  This is a common question that everyone asks when they first hear the phrase.  For me the best answer to this question is on back of my Lone Star Parrot Head Club that I received today.

It says-

We are Parrot Heads because:

We love the ocean.

We love our planet.

We love to have fun.

We are not afraid to be silly.

We are not afraid to act foolish.

We are not afraid of love.

We like scantily clad members of our favorite sex.

We like playing in the sun.

We like singing songs that say all of these things.

We believe the best things in life are free.

We believe sharing the best things makes them better.

We believe in the innate goodness in all of us.

We know shared joy is increased.

We know shared pain is lessened.

We know a good friend has value beyond measure.

It just so happens, that Jimmy Buffett sings about all these things.  So, we are not Parrot Heads because we are Jimmy Buffett fans, we are Jimmy Buffett fans because we are Parrot Heads!

In 2011 the lone Star Parrot Head Club Members raised and donated almost $44,000 to our many charitable organizations and volunteered 1,500 hours of service in our communities.

So what did I gain after making this Easter a 3 day weekend.

I used one of my personal days at work this past Friday to make this Easter weekend a 3 day weekend for me.  So as I sit here on a Sunday night, I find myself reflecting on whether or not it was worth it.  I did not really feel that I got many, if any of my felt needs met; but even at that, I believe that it was worth it.

So the questions are "how did I come to that conclusion" and "is it a valid one'.  To answer those thoughts, I need to go back to Friday and go through the weekend.  As we go through, I will point out the pros and cons as I currently see them.

For the past 30 some odd years, my parents have been having a group of people over on Easter afternoon for a get together.  Back in the day, there were a lot more people who came, but deaths, divorces, spats, & people moving have caused the number to dwindle down to about 36 which is about how many we had today.

I made plans to take Friday off over a month ago when I learned that my parents were going to go ahead and have it again this year.  I did this because their health is going down and I knew that they would not be able to get things ready on their own.  Now my brother and sister also put in a lot of work on this also and I don't want to diminish what they did, because without them the event would not have happened.

I went out there Friday and basically just cleaned up the driveway and found out what needed to be done on Saturday.  Even though that does not sound like much, that took up most of the day.  By mid afternoon, my Dad wasn't feeling good and so we called it a day and I went home and did my weekly yard work around my house.


I was hoping to be able to spend that evening meeting and deepening a relationship with some new friends that I had just met the Saturday before, but that did not happen as my oldest son and his family came over and I stayed with my family and took my wife, kids, daughter in law,& grandchild out to get Mexican food that night.  That meal did not close the gap between me and my immediate family, but the gap did not get any wider either.

So, Saturday came around and I went back out to my parents and spent the day over at my parents trimming trees so that people could drive, park, and walk under them.  That took all day and I only got the trees in the side yard where people park and along the driveway.  As I drove home, I realized that I only had 2 pairs of jeans that fit me and both of them were now dirty ( I did not have access to the washer/dryer to clean my clothes).  I ended up going to Walmart to get a couple pair of Wranglers in the smaller size so I had something to wear.

Now we come to today, which is Sunday.  I went over this morning to my parents house and helped my Dad clean out the carport and get it ready to be used as a covered picnic area.  Also, I got a couple of ice chests cleaned out so they could be used to ice down drinks.  I did this and came back to my house to change clothes knowing that my brother and sister would set everything up when they got there.

I came back and changed clothes, got my camera and headed back to my parents house.  You would think that after 30 years of getting together, the people who came would be extremely close, but that is not the case.  Oh, there is some mixing.  We all greeted each other and would want to find out what was going on in each other lives since last Easter, but once that was done, people generally headed back to their own groups.

There are certain exceptions to this though. Two of the people who come are NMHS grads:  Rob, who graduated in 78 and his wife Donna, who graduated in 81.  Rob either is or should be a part of our alumni group.  I am happy to have them both as friends.  Donna's son (Rob's Step-son), Daniel is also the lead guitarist for the group, Dan McBride and the Drifters.  I got with Jeff this evening and hopefully they can get a gig at Kickers, but more will be said about that later if and when they get it.

So although I did not feel like anyone reached out to me, I feel like this weekend was a good one.  If I hadn't done the stuff around my Mom and Dad's, they would have gotten hurt trying to do it all.  My Dad was having a hard time getting around today as it was.  I do think that the people who came out did have a good time and I think that the pictures taken there and posted shows that.  Also, I am hoping that the alumni and anyone else who will come, will have another get together at Kickers as a family member of a couple of alumni will (hopefully) be playing there.

Now comes the part about God.  I believe that even though I did not attend any worship service on Easter, that God was with me, encouraging me to do what I did.  You see this weekend was not about me.  It was about others and now as I look back on the weekend and reflect on what I did,  it was all about loving others and that is always a good thing.