'A beautiful spirit': Charles Steinberg remembers the night he played for Jimmy Buffett

WORCESTER — What does Jimmy Buffett have in common with the Worcester Red Sox?

Dr. Charles Steinberg.

Steinberg is not only the WooSox president. He’s also an honorary Coral Reefer Band member.

During Jimmy Buffett’s back-to-back sold-out concerts Sept. 10 and 12, 2004 at Fenway Park, Steinberg played “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” on the organ for the “Margaritaville” singer and his fans, despite Steinberg admittedly being more than a little nervous.

“What relaxed me was right before it was my turn to play with Jimmy Buffett, I thought, 'You always wanted to be a Beatle. This is the closest you will ever come and The Beatles would count on you on doing your part. So Jimmy is counting of you,'” Steinberg said in an April 15 article of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

You can hear Steinberg playing the organ on Buffett’s “Live at Fenway Park” CD.

Steinberg expected only to play “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for each of the two concerts. Then Buffett, at the last minute, threw him a curveball.

“Jimmy Buffett said, ‘Why don’t you play for about 15 minutes before the show?’ I said, ‘What would you like me to play?’ Buffett said, ‘Oh, whatever you play every night,'” Steinberg recalled. “Jimmy thought I was the regular Fenway Park organist.”

Despite being taken off guard, Steinberg knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he was up for the challenge.

“I knew it would relax me most if I played music that I knew,” Steinberg explained. “So I was going to therefore default to some Beatles songs that I play.”

Steinberg’s selections for his preconcert of organ music at the Buffett shows included the “Field of Dreams” theme, the Beatles’ “Yesterday” and “And I Love Her,” “Tessie” (both the traditional version and the Dropkick Murphys’ “Reverse the Curse” update) and John Fogerty’s “Centerfield.”

In the end, it was enough to get Buffett to sign Steinberg’s set list with the glowing endorsement, “Charley, thank you so much. You are now a Coral Reefer, Jimmy Buffett.”

“Jimmy Buffett had such a positive, warm, friendly spirit and I know that translated onstage to fans, but it was also what I experienced in my personal moments with him in the early afternoon for the show on September 10,” Steinberg said Sunday, a few minutes before a WooSox home game. “He put me at ease. He was smiling and laughing and joking, just like you might have imagined. He was really a beautiful spirit and I believe his music is going to continue and perpetuate his memory for years to come.”

Steinberg said he can’t immediately think of a worthy successor to Buffett’s festive concert vibe.

“There wasn’t somebody doing Jimmy Buffett-style music before Jimmy Buffett,” Steinberg said. “It was not exactly Beach Boys but like a second cousin. It was not Caribbean music but it was a second cousin. He actually gave the Florida Keys a genre.”

Buffett, 76, the most famous salt-shaker-searching son of a son of a sailor, died at home Friday in Sag Harbor on Long Island, New York, from skin cancer.

All over social media, fans and naysayers alike pointed out that it was appropriate that Buffett died during Labor Day weekend, a weekend that usually marks the end of summer.

How many times did Jimmy Buffett appear in Worcester

Surprisingly, Buffett headlined the Centrum only once. More surprisingly, it was Jan. 30, 1988 – in the middle of winter.

After opening with “Stars on the Water,” Buffett addressed the crowd: “There is snow on the ground out there. How in the hell they convince me to come up here in January, I’ll never know.”

Delivering two one-hour sets, plus an encore, Buffett delivered all his beloved favorites including “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Fins,” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” “A Pirate Looks At Forty” and “Margaritaville.”

Worcester Telegram critic Paul J. Nolan wasn’t too kind to Buffett in his review.

“A Jimmy Buffett concert is kind of like going to Denny’s. You know that what you get won’t be great, but it will be consistently good.”

Buffett also played briefly April 24 and 25, 1990, at the Centrum, as part of the star-studded benefit to stop the development of Walden Woods organized by Don Henley of The Eagles. Buffett’s identical 10-minute sets featured “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” Rodney Crowell’s “Stars on the Water,” Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and "Margaritaville."

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Charles Steinberg remembers the night he played for Jimmy Buffett