Garratt Wilkin of Garratt Wilkin & the Parrotheads has issued the following statement in regards to the passing of former Coral Reefer keyboardist Jay Spell:

"It is with great sadness that we report that our keyboard player, Jay Spell, lost his battle with cancer early Friday morning, December 31, 2010. Services are pending, will let you know when details are released. Please join us in keeping Jay's family in your thoughts and prayers."

_________________
Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
From "Cartoon Gold" by the Drive-By Truckers from the album Go-Go Boots

When was he a Coral Reefer?

_________________
Follow me on Twitter! @joshdmartin

He played piano on the Son of a Son of a Sailor LP. Here's a video from his website of him playing with Jimmy on Saturday Night Live. http://www.jayspell.com/buffett/

_________________
http://www.goredforwomen.org/

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. - Herm Albright

The trouble with quotes from the internet is that you never know if they're real or not. - Gandhi

He also played on You Had To Be There which is when he first came to my attention. Jay was blind which will help when reading Buffett's liner notes from that album:

THERE’S NOTHING to this show bidness gig. After twelve years and ten albums I enjoy remembering some of the moments in the history of Coral Reefer madness that still make it fun.

The morning in San Francisco when I found a chandelier in Fingers’ bathroom sink and drug him out of bed to help me rehang the goddamn thing; the night at Kiawah Island when Harry discovered the new religion of Naked Hall Meditation; when Jay Spell introduced Martin Mull to Braille centerfolds; when Buttrey polished off a magnum of champagne during a Central Park concert and finished the evening by attempting to drop-kick his snare drum into the monitor board; the night Deborah and Fingers did their impression of Ike and Tina Turner in a Holiday Inn bar near Billings, Montana; the time Barry decided to redecorate the interior of a Chrysler Cordoba in Sacramento; the afternoon I decided to take the bus for a spin near Wrightsville Beach to find some beer; or just yesterday in London, when they gave all our suites to Gladys Knight and the Pips.

I could go on for hours telling stories but I guess…you had to be there.

Jimmy Buffett
Wasting away in London
August 30, 1978

Note: To all avid lyric fanatics: you may or may not notice that some verses and phrases on these records are not the same as the original version. I can only blame that mishap on an over-indulgence in Mount Gay rum and an over-abuse of poetic license. Hope you enjoy the new versions. J.B.

_________________
Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
From "Cartoon Gold" by the Drive-By Truckers from the album Go-Go Boots

Sail On, Jay.

Definitely remember hearing his name in the band introductions piece on You Had to Be There.

_________________
"Taste for the good life, I can live it no other way"

"a little Cape Cod sand oozing out of my shoes...it's been a Lovely Cruise"

Braille centerfolds... too funny

Sail on Jay

_________________
Follow me on Twitter! @joshdmartin

Cool to see someone finally uploaded this. Cooler still to know that someone even had a way to tape it back then. Anyone know if "Son of a Son of a Sailor" was the only song he performed? In his first interview on The Tonight Show he goes into quite a bit of detail about his broken leg(s) and how difficult it was to perform on SNL when his time keeping foot was in a cast, propped up on a boat.

The other day I found a site that has an archive of torrents from Austin City Limits. Has anyone with the proper torrent software tried downloading Buffett's '77 performance from the site? I'd sure love to see that again after all of these years. Here's the link.






Austin City Limits 1977 from Roger Bartlett's site

_________________
Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
From "Cartoon Gold" by the Drive-By Truckers from the album Go-Go Boots

Hey Jah, I've had both of those videos in the Video Gallery for a long time... plus a lot of other great stuff. Have you looked through it?

Go to http://buffettworld.com/gallery/index.php?cat=10 and then TV Appearances and go a few pages back into the 80's and 70's

_________________
Follow me on Twitter! @joshdmartin

Yeah, I have but must have somehow managed to miss the SNL clip. I recently watched the Carson interview when I went on a YouTube binge. Both brought back a lot of memories as I never used to miss a Buffett TV appearance back in the day. Another reason why I'd love to see that first ACL appearance again. That's been a lot of years ago now.

_________________
Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
From "Cartoon Gold" by the Drive-By Truckers from the album Go-Go Boots