Boy, the First of September provided folks my age a double whammy.

Jimmy Buffett died from a rare cancer (Merket cell carcinoma) .  And Bill Richardson succumbed soon thereafter that same day.

So, today’s blog will pay homage to them both.

Jimmy composed and sang songs, wrote wonderful books, maintained an active sailing life (while touring and writing books), and actually was an entrepreneur  Oh, yeah, he was also a pilot..

I introduced Jimmy to my eldest daughter when she was three (it was her first live concert, held at Kings Dominion.)  She became hooked – not only to Jimmy Buffet, but to live concerts.  (We returned shortly thereafter to enjoy Charlie Daniels.)

Now, I never was able to classify Jimmy’s music other than as happy. And, perfused with his make believe Island shenanigans.  (OK- with beach bums, drug smugglers, and pirates thrown in for good measure.)  He had a few ballads, but most of his stuff was quick tempo, with wonderful lyrics.

Here’s something you probably didn’t know about Jimmy Buffet.  He was one of six-  authors who topped both the NY Times fiction AND non-fiction best seller lists. I personally treasured each one of his fiction titles.(I do admit that Where is Joe Merchant and Tales from Margaritaville were among my favorites.)

It took him about 6 years for him to make it as a singer/songwriter.  This was followed by his Margaritaville venue successes that he began in 1985.  (Margaritaville was probably his most famous song.) Eventually, he abandoned the Key West image and relocated to Long Island, which is where he was when he died.

Now, for a polar opposite- Bill Richardson.  Congressman (for 14 years where he was the leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Deputy House Whip), Governor (two terms)  UN Ambassador, Cabinet Member- oh and a hostage negotiator.…(He had a short-lived campaign running for President in 2008, but he crashed and burned there.  One of his few failures.)

Bill’s record was exemplary, except for his stint as Energy Secretary.  Not that he really failed, but he had a few blotches on the record.  Folks were angry that Wen Ho Lee was charged with passing nuclear secrets to China; he eventually received an apology for the false charges.  (Richardson did not handle the investigation well.)

As a solo negotiator- often dealing with dictators and autocrats, he managed to help free some 80 hostages from around the world- from military personnel to journalists to basketball stars.  This really began serendipitously- while he was on a Congressional delegation to North Korea, an army helicopter was shot down.  He wouldn’t leave until he had both pilots coming home (one was dead).   (He even tried to negotiate the capture of Osama bin Laden from the Taliban- never happened.)  Bill succeeded because he was a relentless negotiator and had a gregarious personality.

Bill Richardson received several nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize (for his negotiation prowess, which not only dealt with hostage release, but brought about  cease fires in Darfur and North Korea.)  Unfortunately, he was never awarded one.