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In 1989 legislation entitling the Save The Manatee Trust Fund to benefit from thousands of dollars passed the Florida House and Senate. The bill authorizes the printing and distribution of Save The Manatee license plates. Thanks in part to the encouragement and support of Jimmy Buffett, environmental education and marine mammal research will get a much needed financial lift.

Jimmy landed on the New York Times Best Sellers list for over seven months with his first book, Tales From Margaritaville / Fictional Facts and Factual Fictions. Long hailed as a "genius at storytelling," Jimmy replaces lyrics with prose in his first collection of short stories, Tales From Margaritaville. Jimmy appeared on the Larry King talk show to promote the book, and discussed among other things the following:

Larry King: Considering your obvious skills what took you so long to write a book?
Jimmy: I've wanted to write a book of short stories for a long time, and it finally got to the point where I thought I better get this down. I've been fortunate enough to travel all around the world and also fortunate enough to keep my eyes and ears open.
LK: How would you describe yourself, are you a kind of balladeer?
JB: Yea, I think of myself as a troubadour in the old sense...storytellers and entertainers.
LK: How did Margaritaville come about?
JB: I hate to admit it, but it was a 5-minute song. I was on my way back from Austin, TX and I ran into an overabundance of tourists attacking Key West. So I took it all in and wrote the song. I'd had one song, “Come Monday,” that was pretty successful. But when Margaritaville went there was no stopping it. And it's been very kind to me since then.
LK: Is it hard to top that (success of one song)?
JB: I never let that kind of thing affect me. I’m glad it happened, I certainly don’t mind playing it for people. I know of performers who after years will announce they don’t do their old songs anymore. I think when people are paying good money to come see you it doesn’t take that much to please them.

In later interviews Jimmy summed it up best stating that, "The basic way to be a good writer is to keep your eyes and ears open, and keep an open mind. If you can listen and you have a bit of imagination, you can create. I listen to everything. But don't go to a particular pace and listen to the bellman at the hotel that caters to tourists. Go down to the local bar, to the waterfront where the fish are cleaned and listen to the local people. That's where you get your information."

Peter Mayer, Jim Mayer and Roger Guth as the PM Band toured with the Moody Blues and Chicago, and have played and worked with Jimmy for nearly two decades, but they first recorded with Jimmy on the Off To See the Lizard album. Jimmy recruited producer Elliot Scheiner to work with him on the new album. Elliot’s list of credits at the time included Steely Dan, Bruce Hornsby and Eagle Glenn Frey. He introduced Jimmy to keyboardist and songwriter Jay Oliver. Jay operated a recording studio in St. Louis, and was helpful in getting Warner Brothers Records to sign the PM Band. Jay suggested to Jimmy that the use the band to record the album. Much of the recording was to take place at Shrimpboat Sound studio in Key West, so the Mayer brothers and Roger were happy to sign on. It was considered by all to be a creative and rewarding collaboration, so the band joined Jimmy on tour as the Coral Reefers that summer and the association continues today.

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