HOME
*





Hemisphere Dancer
Hemisphere Dancer is singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett's personal seaplane. A Grumman HU-16 Albatross flying boat, former U.S. Navy Bureau Number (BuNo) 137928 and civil registration number N928J. The aircraft is central to the action in Buffett's best-selling memoirs, ''A Pirate Looks at 50''. History This aircraft began life on August 22, 1955, as a long range search and rescue platform for the U.S. Navy. The largest member of the Grumman "waterfowl" series of amphibious airplanes, the Albatross remained in service with the U.S. Navy until the mid-1970s. After it remained inactive for a number of years, Buffett purchased the aircraft in the 1990s and restored it. "Jamaica Mistaica" This is the plane Buffett was flying during the incident recounted in the song "Jamaica Mistaica" on the album Banana Wind. While in Jamaica on January 16, 1996, Buffett's plane was shot at by Jamaican police. The "Hemisphere Dancer" was carrying Buffett, U2's lead singer Bono, his wife Ali, their ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville is the name of a United States–based hospitality company that manages and franchises a casual dining American restaurant chain, a chain of stores selling Jimmy Buffett–themed merchandise, and casinos with lodging facilities. The brand is named after Buffett's hit song "Margaritaville" and is owned by Margaritaville Holdings LLC (a subsidiary of Cheeseburger Holding Company, LLC). There are locations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, six island locations throughout the Caribbean as well as in Sydney, Australia, since September 2012. Some locations are franchise-owned, such as the Caribbean, Australian, and Mexican locations. In 2014, a Brazilian company bought 12 Margaritaville restaurants and the rights to expand the company in the U.S. History In 1985, Buffett opened his first successful "Margaritaville" retail store in Key West, Florida, following a failed Margaritaville in Gulf Shores, Alabama. In 2002, he expanded his busines ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released in July 2017, making it the 23rd-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the third-largest metropolitan area in Florida behind Miami and Tampa. Orlando had a population of 307,573 in the 2020 census, making it the 67th-largest city in the United States, the fourth-largest city in Florida, and the state's largest inland city. Orlando is one of the most-visited cities in the world primarily due to tourism, major events, and convention traffic; in 2018, the city drew more than 75 million visitors. The Orlando International Airport (MCO) is the 13th-busiest airport in the United States and the 29th-busiest in the world. The two largest and most inter ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Grumman
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 with Northrop Corporation to form Northrop Grumman. History Leroy Grumman worked for the Loening Aircraft Engineering Corporation beginning in 1920. In 1929, Keystone Aircraft Corporation bought Loening Aircraft and moved its operations from New York City to Bristol, Pennsylvania. Grumman and three other ex-Loening Aircraft employees,Jordan, Corey C"Grumman's Ascendency: Chapter One." ''Planes and Pilots Of World War 2,'' 2000. Retrieved: July 22, 2011. (Edmund Ward Poor, William Schwendler, and Jake Swirbul) started their own company in an old Cox-Klemin Aircraft Co. factory in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York, Baldwin on Long Island, New York. The company registered as a business on December 6, 1929, and officially opened on Januar ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

HU-16 Albatross
The Grumman HU-16 Albatross is a large, twin–radial engined amphibious seaplane that was used by the United States Air Force (USAF), the U.S. Navy (USN), and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), primarily as a search and rescue (SAR) aircraft. Originally designated as the SA-16 for the USAF and the JR2F-1 and UF-1 for the USN and USCG, it was redesignated as the HU-16 in 1962. A new build G-111T Albatross with modern avionics and engines was proposed in 2021 with production in Australia to commence in 2025. Design and development An improvement of the design of the Grumman Mallard, the Albatross was developed to land in open-ocean situations to accomplish rescues. Its deep-V hull cross-section and keel length enable it to land in the open sea. The Albatross was designed for optimal seas, and could land in more severe conditions, but required JATO (jet-assisted takeoff, or simply booster rockets) for takeoff in seas or greater. Operational history Most Albatrosses were used by t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Jimmy Buffett
James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett has recorded hit songs including " Margaritaville" (ranked 234th on the Recording Industry Association of America's list of " Songs of the Century") and "Come Monday". He has a devoted base of fans known as "Parrotheads". Aside from his career in music, Buffett is also a bestselling author and was involved in two restaurant chains named after two of his best-known songs; he currently owns the Margaritaville Cafe restaurant chain and co-developed the now defunct Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chain. Buffett is one of the world's richest musicians, with a net worth as of 2017 of $900 million. Early and personal life Buffett was born on Christmas Day 1946, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and spent part of his childhood in Mobile, Ala ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteristics: floatplanes and flying boats; the latter are generally far larger and can carry far more. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are in a subclass called amphibious aircraft, or amphibians. Seaplanes were sometimes called ''hydroplanes'', but currently this term applies instead to motor-powered watercraft that use the technique of hydrodynamic lift to skim the surface of water when running at speed. The use of seaplanes gradually tapered off after World War II, partially because of the investments in airports during the war but mainly because landplanes were less constrained by weather conditions that could result in sea states being too high to operate seaplanes while landplanes could continue to operate. In t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Flying Boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though the fuselage provides buoyancy, flying boats may also utilize under-wing floats or wing-like projections (called sponsons) extending from the fuselage for additional stability. Flying boats often lack landing gear which would allow them to land on the ground, though many modern designs are convertible amphibious aircraft which may switch between landing gear and flotation mode for water or ground takeoff and landing. Ascending into common use during the First World War, flying boats rapidly grew in both scale and capability during the interwar period, during which time numerous operators found commercial success with the type. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 2 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Banana Wind
''Banana Wind'' is the twentieth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released on MCA and Margaritaville Records on June 4, 1996, debuting at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200. Songs "Jamaica Mistaica" is about an incident in Jamaica on January 16, 1996, in which local authorities mistook Buffett's seaplane, the Hemisphere Dancer, for a smuggling operation. The plane was shot; shortly before, Buffett, U2's Bono, and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell had been aboard. No one was injured, though there were several bullet holes in the plane. (The plane itself is now on display at Universal CityWalk, across from Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant.) "Desdemona's Building a Rocketship" concerns the character Desdemona from Buffett's 1992 novel '' Where Is Joe Merchant?'' The song "False Echoes" (Havana 1921) references the ship captained by Jimmy's grandfather, the five-masted barkentine ''Chickamauga'', named after the civil war ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where in 1976 he began dating his future wife, Alison Stewart, as well as forming, with schoolmates, the band that became U2. Bono soon established himself as a passionate frontman for the band through his expressive vocal style and grandiose gestures and songwriting. His lyrics frequently include social and political themes, and religious imagery inspired by his Christian beliefs. During U2's early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to the group's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with the other members. As a member of U2, Bono has received 22 Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Aside f ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to which Blackwell was inducted in 2001, he is "the single person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae music." Variety describes him as "indisputably one of the greatest record executives in history". Having formed Island Records in Jamaica on 22 May 1959 when he was 22, Blackwell was among the first to record the Jamaican popular music that eventually became known as ska. Returning to Britain in 1962, he sold records from the back of his car to the Jamaican community. His label became "a byword for uncompromised artistry and era-shaping acts". Backed by Stanley Borden from RKO, Blackwell's business and reach grew substantially, and he went on to forge the careers of Bob Marley, Grace Jones and U2 among m ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]