I remember it well, despite the alcoholic haze. I was in college, many many years ago and I was at a party. More than half the keg into the evening this song came drifiting through the party and before it was over, everybody was shouting

I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french-fried potatoes, a big kosher pickle and cold draft beer, well good God almighty which way to I steer

And thus I was introduced to Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band, the biggest bar band in history.

Lo, these thirty years later, Jimmy still packs the house and it is one of the best and most enjoyable concerts you can attend. Seems that in the fall of '04 he finished his usual summer tour in Fenway Park in Boston, did some skit about removing the Curse of The Bambino and the Red Socks one the World Series. How's that for an accomplishment for some guy that just makes good party music?

Buffett's recordings, particularly in the early years are good, but the quintessential Buffett experience is a concert. It's less about the music than it is the experience. The recording and accompanying DVD of that fated Fenway concert "Jimmy Buffett, Live At Fenway Park" captures that very well.

To be frank, the CD is not all that good. It suffers from mediocre engineering. Excessive applause breaks, or silent periods while something is going on on-stage, and the musical performance is not always that good. If I want to hear Buffett music, I'll get out his studio albums.

But the DVD makes up for everything. With that you experience the magic of a Buffett concert. The DVD concentrates, rightly, on what makes it so fun, the crowd. Yeah, you see the band on stage, and you hear the music, but you mostly see the crowd, see what fun they are having, and if you have a few friends over with a case, you can just join right in.

This thing is clearly aimed at people in Boston and Buffett fans (they are after all legion). If you are such, this is a must have. If you are new to Jimmy, may I recommend his greatest hits compilation "Songs You Know By Heart." Listen to it twice and you will know the songs by heart, then have a few friends over and let the party begin.

But if you've been there with Buffett, "Live At Fenway Park" is a great way to enjoy it all over again.

Editor's note: This now has another venue for success - and more eyes - at the Advance.net Web sites, a place affiliated with about 12 newspapers.

One such site is here.