It can be scary for a musician to play in a new city. Certain harrowing questions arise. Are they going to like my style? Will my name precede me here? Will the banter I do at home still work without the jokes about regionalisms?  What the heck is a diner? But singer-songwriter Jody Raffoul seems to be pretty relaxed about the idea. In fact, he’s a natural. Maybe some of you attended the raucously revolutionary event that was the Wave Gathering in Asbury this spring. Jody opened the festivities with an acoustic set at the Saint. He took the stage with his guitarist and long-time friend Wes Buckley. Together, the two look like a curly-coiffed set of brothers who just happen to compliment each other insanely well in their musicality as well as general vibe. Why did he choose to grace our humble town? Well he did mention that Springsteen is someone he looked up to as a teenager so, playing in this location we take for granted was sort of a childhood dream realized for this out-of-towner.

     Raffoul hails from Ontario but moved down to the Detroit area a few years ago and seems to have made quite a name for himself there (being named best new artist in Detroit). He has had some minor but mentionable successes, playing a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Party and opening for Collective Soul at Starland Ballroom as well as Bon Jovi and Nickelback at Giants Stadium. He is also on Take the Biscuit Records, which is a subsidiary of Warner.…Ok. Maybe his successes have been pretty considerable. And his chops? To be quite analytical, watching his performance gives you the feeling that you’ve found this hidden treasure and that while you’ve been wasting your life away with whatever the 5 major labels present to you as the next hottest thing, Jody’s been honing his craft and actually doing something worthwhile. Where did this guy come from, it seemed that night at the Saint.
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   A deluge of wild rain, as well as wild horses, didn’t stop Parrot Heads from attending METRO’s Florida’s Dolphin Research Center annual charity drive in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on June 24, 2006.
   Jim and Ellen Hill, Ocean Grove, NJ, residents, as well as Jersey natives, have hosted this annual event for a couple of years now. Being Vice Presidents of the METRO club, they needed to choose a charity for
fundraising.

   “We also have a home in the Keys,” says Ellen. “On our way down one year, we stopped at the research center because we love dolphins. We noticed a picture of Jimmy Buffett swimming with these dolphins and we were hooked.”
   The Dolphin Research Center, located in Grassy Key, Florida, was founded for the study and preservation of marine mammals and the strengthening of bonds between dolphins and humans. This is not your typical tourist place. It’s so much more intimate and an experience you’ll never forget because they offer so many different ways to have a memorable dolphin encounter.
   Many Jersey Parrot Heads have stopped by each year on their way down to the Meeting of the Minds Jimmy Buffett convention (Nov. 3–6, 2006). Hurricane Wilma did tens of thousands of dollars of damage to
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