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Radio Trop Rock Blog: The Stars Fell On Alabama In Orange Beach

March 27, 2019 by kevinwilkerson Leave a Comment

Gulf Shores The Perfect Host For This Trop Rock Music Party

Stars Fell On Alabama Radio Trop Rock Pirates
The pirate costume party is a highlight of Day 3.




/Orange Beach Alabama is the perfect setting for Stars Fell On Alabama, a trop rock music event, since it is the area that inspired Jimmy Buffett as a child leading to his love for the ocean and the beach.

It’s a little known fact the first “Margaritaville” establishment was JB’s Margaritaville in Gulf Shores Alabama!

While there are dozens of “trop rock” music festivals that take place all over the country, there are only a few that still take place “on the beach.” Beachfront venue costs have been skyrocketing over the past several years, making it more and more difficult for organizations to hold events, and still be affordable for attendees.

Stars Fell On Alabama in Orange Beach Alabama celebrated its 20th trop rock music festival this March in Orange Beach, Alabama. Unfortunately, the rapid cost increase for holding an event on the beach at this location is one of the reasons it was also the final year.

While some organizers holding it’s last shindig may have resigned themselves to a minimal effort, “let’s just get it over with” type event, the Stars Fell On Alabama board took the opposite approach.  Charlotte “Mother Hen” Skinner headed up the board consisting of members from four Parrothead clubs.

The clubs that pooled volunteer resources for this amazing event include the Mobile, Towns Around Biloxi, Montgomery, and Lower Alabama Parrothead Clubs. Dozens of volunteers contributed hundreds of hours of volunteer hours over the course of the year to guarantee the “party with a purpose” event would not only raise thousands of dollars for charity, but would also make this an event to remember for the 600 attendees!

Day 1 – Thursday March 14

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Jerry Diaz and Hanna’s Reef on the Beach Tent Stage.

The day started early with a buffet breakfast that included bottomless Bloody Marys and mimosas. Shortly after, registration opened, up along with the mini-mart (vendor room), and the fundraising efforts such as the Chinese raffle and silent auction.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Greg Dumas of Radio Trop Rock enjoying the event with his lovely wife Donna.

The first musical act, Rain Jaudon from Mississippi and Steve Hopper from “the tropics of Tennessee” were moved indoors due to the prediction of rain. Moving the party indoors did not keep these parrotheads from having a great time.

Boat drinks and brightly colored tropical shirts filled the room, as did the great music. It was a perfect way to start the event. It wasn’t long before a conga line began to snake through the lobby of the Island House, the host hotel.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
The traditional “Here’s to you” toast during Jerry Diaz’s popular We’ll Get By song.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Rain Jaudon and Steve Hopper
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
The crowd dancing along under the beach tent.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
It is often said these events are like family reunions as friends from all over the country reunite for the fun.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Debbie Hess, Trop Rock Music Association (TRMA) Fan of the Year poses with Fred Wunder, 2018 TRMA Fan of the Year.

Rain and Steve played until 5 o’clock and then everyone took a dinner break to catch their breathe in order to prepare for the night’s main show.

Jerry Diaz and Hanna’s Reef took the stage under the big tent right on the sugar white sands at 7 p.m. Jerry is known as the “Godfather of Trop Rock”, has won Eight Trop Rock Music Association Awards, and last year he was recognized as the first “Trop Rock Legend” by Trop Rockin’ Magazine. The Parrotheads danced with their feet in the sand to Jerry and Hanna’s Reef’s own brand of “Texas Beach” brand of music.

Day 2 – Friday March 15

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Johnny Doo and Donny Brewer posing “musician” style.

Day two started as day one. Buffet and morning drinks in the hotel café along with attendees making sure their silent auction bids were still active for charity. The weather had turned for the better and it wasn’t long before the pool was full of floaters and the line was long at the pool bar.

The first musical act to take the pool stage was Tropicool. Well, two-thirds of Tropicool, Jimi Pappas was unable to make it. John Patti and Sunny Jim, with over twenty Trop Rock Music Association Awards between them, make quite the duo. John played steel pan while Sunny Jim played lead guitar.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
In there somewhere is a swimming pool!
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Trop rock fans enjoying the live music poolside.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Radio Trop Rock getting ready for their live remote broadcast.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
John Patti and Sunny Jim cranking out their tropical tunes.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
The view of the host Island House Hotel from the beach.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Jane Tarver officiating the annual tradition of vows renewal on the beach.

They took turns on vocals with a mostly original set, and some covers sprinkled in the mix. The great weather made the swimming pool, with its beautiful gulf view, the place to be for the afternoon.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Jim Hoehn and Brent Burns laughing at their own jokes.

Jim Hoehn and Brent Burns took the stage to a packed pool. Although Jim is a sports writer by trade, he is a TRMA Academy Member and is frequently the writer and emcee for the annual TRMA Awards Show. Brent is jokingly considered the “grandfather” of trop rock, and has received ten TRMA awards over the years. This show was a mixture of comedy, stories, and of course a little bit of music thrown in.

The Trop Rock Music Association Radio Station of the Year, Radio Trop Rock broadcast these two poolside shows live on air as part of their TRMA award winning radio show Trop Rockin’ The USA.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Kitty Steadman and Melanie Howe of Drop Dead Dangerous model some Donny Brewer swag.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Kevin Ware of Hat Lady Bling giving us “more cowbell.”
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Melanie Howe and Kitty Steadman of Drop Dead Dangerous join Donny Brewer and the Dock Rockers on stage for a couple songs.

Following the Jim Hoehn Brent Burns show Greg Dumas did his radio show Happy Hour 2.0 live on the pool stage. Greg Dumas’ original Happy Hour show took place on Radio Margaritaville until the location of that show, the New Orleans Margaritaville Café closed down. After a few years break, Greg took his Happy Hour Radio Show to Radio Trop Rock which airs each Friday at 5 p.m, CT.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Donny Brewer beginning his trip around the stage playing every instrument.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Donny Brewer and the Dock Rockers. L to R: Trey Newmiller (drums), Johnny Do (bass), Paul Klemme (keyboards), Donny Brewer (lead guitar / vocals), Mark Mireles (steel pan), not pictured Matt Gonzales (percussion).

Day two climaxed under the big tent, back on the sand. Donny Brewer and the Dock Rockers, the TRMA band of the year, played to a standing, or should I say “dancing” room only crowd! Donny has gained a reputation for being arguably the best entertainer on the Trop Rock circuit. Proof is that he has won the award as TRMA Entertainer of the Year the past two years.

These two awards are part of his trophy case holding a total of 13 TRMA awards. It was a non-stop musical journey through some of Donny’s greatest hits. At one point Donny, with a wire-free guitar, joined in on the conga line making it’s way around the tent.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
A monkey and a cow, depicted in the song Blues Lagoon, get their stage time.

During his song Blues Lagoon, some of the audience dressed as characters in the song stormed the stage; a monkey, cow, octopus, and even a couple of mermaids! Donny’s signature antics include one song in which he makes his way around the stage playing every instrument, without a break in the song. Guitar, bass, percussion, drum kit, keyboard, and steel pan; he plays them all.

The 10 p.m., city ordinance requiring all amplified music cease did not stop Donny. He went “unplugged” right in the middle of the crowd with a 15-minute sing-along session to end the show.

Day 3 – Saturday March 16

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Some of the pirate themed costumes were very detailed.

It’s no surprise day 3 starts as the first two; buffet and morning drinks. You know what they say, “you can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning!”

At 9:30 a.m, five charter buses loaded up the early morning revelers for a trip to the first music event of the day – Jimmy & The Parrots at Lulu’s in Gulf Shores Alabama. Lulu’s is owned by Lucy Buffett, also known as Jimmy Buffett’s “Crazy Sista.”

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
The beach at Lulu’s Homeport.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Another year, another win for the St. Louis Parrothead Club for being the club for having the most registered attendees.
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Jimmy and the Parrots on the boat stage at Lulu’s.

At showtime the weather was not wanting to play along. It’s was a little cool with a steady drizzle. However, the “no-rain” dance helped as the wet stuff stopped and the party was able to continue at the main stage at Lulu’s which is a mock-up of a boat. Jimmy and the Parrots did what they do best, an “in-your-face you are going to have fun even if I have to force it on you” type of show.

During the same time Jimmy and the Parrots were performing at Lulu’s there was another music event taking place at the world famous Flora-Bama beach bar just across the Alabama – Florida border.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Day 3 – Drop Dead Dangerous performing at the dome stage of the Flora-Bama. L to R: Melanie Howe (percussion / vocals), Kitty Steadman (lead guitar / vocals), Paul Wray (bass guitar), Eric Erdman (guest guitar)

The Flora-Bama happens to be just a couple miles from the Stars Fell On Alabama host hotel so it was fortuitous that Drop Dead Dangerous was playing the dome stage at Flora-Bama Saturday afternoon. Melanie Howe, current TRMA musician of the year, and Kitty Steadman make up Drop Dead Dangerous and are very popular on the national trop rock live music circuit.

They were playing as their “Loaded” band, which means they were joined by Paul Wray on bass guitar, and Eric Erdman on accompaniment guitar (Eric was taking the place normally held by JD Edge on fiddle. He was not able to make the event). While this was not an official part of the Stars Fell On Alabama schedule, there was a very large contention of those that were registered for SFOA that was able to stop by for the show.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Girlz Rule L to R: Kristie Bobal, Heather Vidal, and Lynley Tolls.

Girlz Rule entertained folks as they returned from Lulu’s in the hotel lobby/bar/café area. Girlz Rule is made up of Lynley Tolls, Kristie Bobal, and Heather Vidal (the current and former TRMA female vocalist of the year). You can’t beat the harmonies and chemistry Girls Rule provides.

Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
Mike Miller of the Boat Drunks
Radio Trop Rock Stars Fell On Alabama festival
The Boat Drunks getting the crowd whipped into a frenzy.

The final music act of the final Stars Fell On Alabama was a very fitting one. The Boat Drunks, whom have won the TRMA band of the year several times, returned to the SFOA main stage on the beach. They have always been a favorite of the SFOA crowd and it’s obvious why!

They knocked it out of the park with some of their originals like Beer, Buffett, and Baseball, and what some call the perfect trop rock song Hollow Man, to the Jimmy Buffett covers they do so well. There were dozens of “pirates” in the sand since the evening’s theme was “Pirate Looks at Twenty”, a twist on Jimmy Buffett’s popular song Pirate Looks at Forty, in honor of Stars Fell on Alabama’s 20th anniversary.

Each night, in the hotel lobby area, some of the weekend’s musicians would host “after-party” sing alongs. This is another one of those things that make trop rock events so magical. While it is great to attend a Jimmy Buffett show, it’s fairly certain he’s not going to hang out with you at the bar, or in this case, the hotel lobby, and take your requests on an acoustic guitar.

These trop rock stars seem to enjoy hanging out with their fans for a beer or two after the show, as much as they enjoy sharing their incredible talent with them from the stage.

Stars Fell On Alabama’s twenty year “career” can only be described as a successful labor of love by the four area Parrothead clubs that have hosted it year after year. It is always considered by trop rock fans as one of the best by being consistently nominated as TRMA Event of the Year.

All photos courtesy of R.O. Smith Photography with the exception of the picture at the Flora-Bama. That picture was taken by Mike Ross.

Additional details:

• Trop Rock Music Association

www.TropRock.org

• Radio Trop Rock

www.RadioTropRock.com

Filed Under: Trop Rock Tagged With: Orange Beach, Radio Trop Rock Blog, Stars Fell On Alabama

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