Jimmy Buffett will help US Senator Bill Nelson kick off a statewide campaign tour on Friday:

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson will kick off a statewide campaign tour Friday with a brief show in Sanford featuring an acoustic performance by Jimmy Buffett.

The Buffett stop will be at 3:45 at Avion Jet Center at Orlando-Sanford International Airport, 2841 Flightline Ave. Sanford.

The Nelson campaign will be providing details on the other stops on the tour later.

The event will be the kickoff of a two-week, 19-stop tour that will include senior centers, college campuses and local small businesses in towns, cities and communities from the Panhandle to South Florida.

Nelson faces Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV.

Buffett will also play a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at 5 pm.

Nominations were announced Wednesday morning for the American Country Awards and Jimmy Buffett and the Zac Brown Band earned a nod for “Knee Deep.”

Single of the Year: Vocal Collaboration

• Kix Brooks featuring Joe Walsh, “New To This Town”
• Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw, “Feel Like A Rock Star”
• Brad Paisley featuring Carrie Underwood, “Remind Me”
• Rascal Flatts featuring Natasha Bedingfield, “Easy”
• Zac Brown Band featuring Jimmy Buffett, “Knee Deep”

The third annual American Country Awards will air live from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas Monday, Dec. 10 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX. Luke Bryan leads the American Country Awards nominees with seven nominations; Lady Antebellum and Zac Brown Band each earned six nods; and Eric Church and Taylor Swift garnered five nominations.

Starting today, fans can vote once each day for their favorite American Country Awards nominees at www.theacas.com. Voting is open until Monday, Nov. 12 for all categories, except for Artist of the Year, which closes on Friday, Dec. 7. The nominees for each award category have been determined by four media measurement companies: BigChampagne (record sales and media consumption); Great American Country (video airplay); Mediabase (radio airplay); Pollstar (touring data); and Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Jimmy Buffett is among several nominees for the 2013 Songwriters Hall of Fame:

Elvis Costello, B.B. King and Ray Davies are among the nominees for the 2013 Songwriters Hall of Fame.

They’re joined by a slew of top acts, including Jimmy Buffett, Vince Gill, Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Christine McVie. Also nominated are Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, Jeff Lynne, Aeromsith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, as well as Steve Winwood and Bobby Womack.

Songwriters Hall gave The Associated Press a list of nominees in advance of the official announcement, set for Oct. 16.

Voting ends Dec. 17, and the gala takes place June 13 in New York City.

Jimmy Buffett will perform a show in San Francisco in a couple weeks benefiting Singing for Change:

On Thursday, October 18th, Jimmy & the Coral Reefer Band will be performing a very special intimate concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA to benefit Singing for Change. The concert starts at 8pm (doors at 6pm), and tickets go on sale Monday, October 8th at 10am at Ticketmaster.

Please note:
There is a two ticket limit per customer, and this is a Will Call only event. Each customer will need to bring their government-issued photo ID and credit card used to purchase the tickets to the box office window on the day of the concert to redeem the tickets. Once the ticket order is redeemed the customer must directly enter The Fillmore.

All will call tickets must be picked up by the card holder. Alternate names for Will Call will not be permitted. Ticketmaster at its discretion will cancel any and all orders with out notice that exceed the ticket limit. This includes duplicate orders having the same name, bill address or credit card.

What does stolen treasure, Cuban secret police and Jimmy Buffett’s old plane have in common?

All are part of the major plotline of Key West writer John H. Cunningham’s latest Buck Reilly Adventure—GREEN TO GO.

Cunningham will host a series of signings in Key West during Meeting of the Minds “Meet the Authors” Event from November 1-3:

MOTM 2012 SIGNING SCHEDULE:
11/1: 9-11, 1-3, 5-7 at Casa Marina
11/2: 9-10:30 at Casa Marina
11/2: 1-3at Smokin’ Tuna Saloon (4 Charles Street) with authors Michael Haskins and Andrew Forsyth
11/3: 11-1 at Casa Marina

Locals have come to love John H. Cunningham and the Buck Reilly Adventure Series, which includes RED RIGHT RETURN and GREEN TO GO (Green Street Publishing; $3.99 eBook).

In GREEN TO GO, good news turns bad fast, and the bad just keeps coming…The unexpected contents of his parent’s Swiss bank account offers Buck Reilly a chance to dig himself out of the hole he’s been in since the recession hit, but first he must recover the treasure maps and clues he lost at sea. Those plans get put on hold when a friend is accused of orchestrating the biggest theft in Key West’s sordid history, and the FBI uses Buck’s past against him to demand that he search for the thieves who fled aboard a hundred year-old schooner.

No good deed goes unpunished, and Buck’s dogged by greed and double-crosses from Key West to the Bahamas and points south. His hunt for the missing treasure pits him against a crazed mercenary, Peruvian rebels, rogue Cuban Secret Police and a beautiful woman torn between turning Buck over to the authorities or succumbing to his easy charm.

If you love John D. MacDonald, Clive Cussler, Tom Corcoran, Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen, Buck’s faults, quirks, humanity and heroics will appeal to you. Cunningham’s clever, thrill-seeking mysteries will leave you guessing.

For locals, you’ll hear a lot about famed Key West locales – Blue Heaven, La Concha Hotel, Pepe’s, Margaritaville and others.

For more information about the author, visit www.jhcunningham.com