THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140546
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 121 lines
ATTENDING A MEETING of the Parrot Head Club of Tidewater is not unlike going to church. Neighborly people of all ages and from all walks congregate for shared reasons: faith, fellowship and the joyful noise.
``Cheeseburger in Paradise,'' not ``Rock of Ages.'
Let the record show, too, that Parrot Heads do not meet merely to knock back frosty bottles of Corona beer and talk about their baptism by the Right Rev. Jimmy Buffett.
First, they spend, oh, 20 minutes going over new business - upcoming fund-raisers, the home page on the World Wide Web, a shuttle bus for tonight's Jimmy Buffett concert at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater.
``It's a whole lot cheaper than a DUI,'' said president Andy Harrell, looking around the room and laughing. ``We only have enough money in the club account to bail out one person a year, and I see a lot of possibilities.''
Then they knock back Coronas, talk, knock back Coronas and talk some more.
Harrell, 35, can't recall when he wasn't a Parrot Head; it was probably sometime in the mid-'70s. Tonight, though, is a milestone. Concert No. 25.
``It's a two-hour vacation, an opportunity to escape just for a little bit,'' Harrell said between pulls on a Corona.
Tony Agnelli has lost count of how many times he's seen J.B., but he remembers the first. It was in 1983 at Kings Dominion, back when theme parks could hold an audience for the Mayor of Margaritaville and his Coral Reefer Band. What a difference a decade or so makes: All 20,000 Amphitheater seats sold out in less than an hour.
Agnelli, who lived in Northern Virginia then, went along for the ride.
``I didn't know what to expect,'' the 32-year-old Virginia Beach accountant said over a Corona. ``He was playing `Why Don't We Get Drunk and (mild expletive for sex)?' and there was this couple, probably pushing 60, up on the bench waving their arms and singing along. I thought, `That's what I want to be doing when I'm pushing 60.' I've been hooked ever since.
``I don't really consider it going to a concert. It's more like a party you go to every year with 20,000 of your closest friends.''
Same goes when the Parrot Heads - teachers, bankers and contractors; musicians, lawyers and sales reps - get together. Even the waitresses at America Rocks, the Virginia Beach restaurant where the club meets, know everyone by first name.
The restaurant's rear deck overlooks Rudee Inlet and its flotilla of charter fishing boats. Gulls cry overhead and the mild evening breeze carries a whiff of diesel fuel. What's that they say about birds of a feather?
Dress is casual, with one exception. The prez has on a tie, a loud tie in a parrot print. With his electric blue shirt, white shorts and deck shoes, Harrell, service manager at Bobcat of Tidewater, seems to be making a statement: ``I've got the gavel. Please pop me a frosty Corona.''
Before the meeting begins, scrapbooks and photo albums are passed around. So are copies of The Beakon, the club's newsletter, and a catalog from Creative Bird Accessories, a Connecticut outfit offering hats, T-shirts, pillows and tote bags in a parrot motif.
Over the PA system, Buffett is singing about ``changes in latitudes.''
``Just look around here,'' said VP Jeff Stewart. ``The atmosphere is laid-back. There's not a care in the world. The music let's you escape from the real world into a vacation land where you have no worries.''
``Some people might join different social clubs but don't know the people,'' added his wife, Donna. ``You hope you have something in common. Here, you do. You know you do. I think that's why the club has taken off so well.''
There's more than partying, however, to the Parrot Head Club of Tidewater.
Besides his music and publishing credentials, Buffett is a well-known environmental and civic activist. If they want to keep their charters, the hundreds of clubs across the country and around the world under the aegis of Parrot Heads in Paradise pick up on his lead.
Since it was founded last January, the local chapter has raised $2,800 for the Alzheimer's Association, $1,800 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and $300 for the Back Bay Restoration Foundation. Members participated in a 24-hour relay walk for the American Cancer Society and a Chesapeake health fair.
``A lot of people associate Jimmy Buffett fans as drunken partiers, but they're really not,'' said Jeff Stewart. ``It's a true-to-heart foundation. We want to give something back to the community.''
Stewart, 32, speaks from experience. Seven years ago, he lost his left arm, just below the elbow, in an accident. He won't forget the outpouring of support from the community, old friends and friends he didn't know he had.
``We want to help people,'' he reiterated. ``We want to give back to those who aren't as fortunate.''
Membership now stands at 142, nearly double the number after WVEC-TV newsman Terry Zahn, a Parrot Head of long standing and the club's 100th member, did a story on the group in March.
They turned out en masse for a theme party at the Stewarts' home in Salem Lakes and for a July party cruise aboard the American Rover. They'll start partying this afternoon at America Rocks and reconvene there after the concert.
It's all a means to the same end, said Donna Stewart. ``You need an escape from the kids, from work and from bills.''
But no one has summed up the Parrot Head way of life better than the man himself, she said, pointing to a line from ``Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes'':
``If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo-illustration
BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Andy Harrell, president of the Parrot Head Club of Tidewater, and
wife Bonnie, club secretary.
Color photo
SCOTT NEWTON
Graphics
MEET PARROT HEADS
The Parrot Head Club of Tidewater meets the first Tuesday of the
month at America Rocks (formerly Sloppy Joe's), 530 Winston Salem
Ave. on Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach - except next month, when the
club meets Sept. 10. For more information, call 482-4937 or
471-3536.
CONCERT INFO
Who: Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band
When: 8 tonight
Where: Virginia Beach Amphitheater
Tickets: The concert is sold out. by CNB