This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:09] Robert Bannon: Well, welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon and you're listening to us on Broadway World, the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify, wherever artists talk about art. All right, get out your fins and your cheeseburgers and your margaritas and all of the old, son of a son of a sailor. John Cunningham is here to tell us about how all those songs started, way before those songs even, the beginning, the birth of the Coral Reefer bands and, of course, the one and only Jimmy Buffett. John Cunningham, welcome to the show.

[0:38] John Cunningham: Thank you, Robert. I love your introduction.

[0:42] John Cunningham: And I love your shirt and your palm trees. You must be in Key West.

[0:45] Robert Bannon: I am in Key West, ready for our national theatrical premiere.

[0:49] John Cunningham: That's pretty, you know, I have had some fun, wild times in Key West.

[0:52] Robert Bannon: Well, that's the place to be for fun, wild times.

[0:55] Robert Bannon: You know, back in the day, there used to be the world's smallest bar right on the Strip and me and my friends went, four of us went, and we were young, we were 22. And, well, I think I can't tell you what happened because I would incriminate myself, but we had a good old time. A lot of the movie you wrote has some pretty good old times as well. Tell us how you fell in love back in 1977, maybe, you saw Jimmy Buffett?

[1:22] John Cunningham: That's true. I'm dating myself here, but yeah, so the Statue of Limitations is long gone. I'm coming down here. So yeah, I saw, I inadvertently discovered Jimmy Buffett going to an Eagles concert and seeing this guy on a stool with a broken leg and a wild band, you know, opening for them, which turned out to be a hoot. And then coincidentally, I moved to Key West the following year in 1978. So talk about wild times. And, you know, Jimmy had just left here, but he left a little bit of a wake in his path. And, you know, really back then, as you'll see in the film, he was really a struggling artist in those days down here. So it wasn't like, hey, Jimmy Buffett, the rock star, everyone's like, yeah, he was out busking on the street and this and that. He wasn't really a big deal. So it was the longer time I spent here and the more music he produced, the more it kind of got into my soul.

[2:12] Robert Bannon: Well, I was, I'm happy to hear that answer because for a moment I thought you moved to Key West to be a Jimmy Buffett stalker. And now you wrote a Jimmy Buffett, Coral Reefer documentary. I'm happy they were not tied together. So when did you realize in your journey this, this is not a Jimmy Buffett life story. This is a really story of the Coral Reefers, really about how it all began and how it started. How do you describe what the story you're telling is?

[2:34] John Cunningham: Yeah, we started out, you know, we were going to do a story just on Roger Bartlett. He's a friend. He was the first Coral Reefer. He and I wrote a song together that he recorded. So he was a friend and same with Keith Sykes, had the same relationship with him. So we wanted to really focus on the first Coral Reefers, the first cohort, their story, you know, what it was like to be on the road doing these things. And I mean, you can't tell the story of the Coral Reefer band without the band leader, right? So Jimmy obviously plays an important part. Then you have to back up a little bit. And what was he doing in Key West? How did it happen? How did he get out on the road? How did he meet these folks? And then what happened? And boy, a lot happened, right? So it was a lot of fun to do that. But that's kind of where we started and what we ultimately really sought to produce.

[3:22] Robert Bannon: I love, I really, really love this story. And for people who are friends and fans and joined in the community that are people who love the Coral Reefers as they still tour, as they still get together and dress up, as people are still paying homage to this incredible music, it's the perfect gathering documentary movie night moment for you to see it. Or if you don't know anything about them, it's definitely going to give you an entertaining story because it's like Key West is chill and the vibe of the band is chill, but they were not necessarily chill. They were a party town.

[3:57] John Cunningham: Yeah, well, and these guys, you know, they were in their 20s, in the 70s. So, you know, that's like fire and gasoline or matches and gasoline right there. So they were they were not shy. You know, they were out to have a good time, play music. And, you know, man, they did it, man. They traveled the country. And, you know, the period we were covering, they started out in Roger's old beat up Dodge Green van, you know, breaking down, getting arrested, all kind of bad things happening. And you really just, you know, over time, he just started picking up more band members. And then, boom, I mean, next thing you know, they were opening for the Eagles, which is where I connected with them. And then after that, it just kind of blew up from there.

So you got to give kudos to, you know, I think Jane introduced and Jimmy's widow introduced him to Irving Azoff, who became his manager at that point because he was managing the Eagles. So, you know, that obviously was a very important milestone.

[4:52] Robert Bannon: Incredible. It's an incredible, incredible story. You know, this band is where you live is in the fabric of Key West and Key West is in the fabric of them. And there's a lot of locations. And, you know, if you go to Captain Tony's or if you go to, you know, back in the day, these famous haunts, the Chart Room and the Howie's Lounge, all these places that were where they played all of these years. Why do you think they blew up? What is it about? I'm not trying to be shady, but there are people who sing better than Jimmy Buffett. There are people who maybe have more stage crew, like running around the stage, you know, being crazy. This was a band that stood there. They played their instruments and they told stories and literally shot out of a cannon. What is the magic of the band?

[5:45] John Cunningham: You know, I think it's one of the great observations, but I think, you know, he didn't fit a genre. So he wasn't trying to, you know, he thought he was a rock band initially, but he wasn't a country star. He wasn't really a rock and roll star. But that didn't deter him from making the music that he felt that he kind of discovered while being in Key West. I mean, that became his muse for so much of that early music. And he's such an amazing storyteller. So where he may have lacked in other things, he's a wonderful lyricist. I mean, you've got people like Bob Dylan saying "Pirate Looks at Four" is one of the best songs ever written. So I mean, a lot of mad respect for him out there amongst the community.

And I mean, that's the thing. I mean, he became known for Margaritaville, Parrot Heads, all those things. We wanted to cover the time kind of before all that blew up. I mean, obviously we covered the album Margaritaville was on, but that really wasn't ever intended to be anything like what it became. But I think part of that is you get taken away by that music. I mean, I remember when I did discover it and after seeing it, I'm like, wow, you know, I think I borrowed an album from a friend or something. I would just sit in my bed as a teenager listening to "Changes in Latitudes" and imagining the song "Biloxi," you know, and envisioning this beautiful scene he was painting about songs like that. And just say, wow, I mean, I'm reeled in now. You know, I mean, I love headbanging rock and roll, too. But, you know, that really kind of spoke to my heart.

[7:08] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. So if you are somebody who in the 70s was listening to it, you just you just brought it. You brought up "Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude." Or if you look at "40" or "Come Monday" or "Margaritaville," of course, or "Son of a Son of a Sailor," like I say, or "Cheeseburgers" or "Fins" or "Volcano" or all the songs that have become a part of really the American songbook. And you want to know where it started and how they came to be. Then this is the documentary for you. How did you get started in telling the documentary and tell us a little bit about the people you get to talk about? When did you know you had a movie here?

[7:41] John Cunningham: Yeah, well, we started wanting to do a short film on Roger Bartlett as the first Coral Reefer. And he was gung ho for that. As I said, he was a friend of mine. And then he was performing at an event called Sing for Fing, which is a fundraiser on behalf of Greg Fingers Taylor, who died of Alzheimer's. So it was an Alzheimer's Foundation event in Nashville. So we went down there to do a couple of interviews. It turned into six interviews out of the 18 that we ultimately did. So one thing just kept leading to the next. And this was my first feature length film. I've done a few short films before. So it's kind of like, all right, I didn't know what I didn't know. So, I mean, maybe it just kept going, but we actually did it in a pretty concise period.

The interview started in October and then we were really done in January. Then we did Kenny Chesney in April because we'll do Kenny whenever we could do Kenny. And then we went straight into the, you know, into the editing booth and we had an amazing editor. You know, I had seen a film that I'd loved years ago called "Muscle Shoals." And the editor of that's a guy named Richard Lowe. So I was like, that's the guy we want. So we were very lucky. And whether it's our narrator or editor or archival producer, we said this is the person we want and we went out and got him. So it's a small indie team, but we were able to put together a good group to kind of tell the story we wanted to tell.

[9:02] Robert Bannon: What impressed me is I talked to people who make documentary filmmakers who take years. You got you hit the pedal to the metal, John. You were like, let's make a movie. And you got it up and out. And there's all sorts of special Key West screening you're talking about. There's going to be Jimmy Buffett coming up there, you know, and then there apparently it's going to be spread out. So tell us a little bit about if we want to see it and we want to support it, what can we do to see the movie?

[9:22] John Cunningham: Well, thank you. Yeah, we're here in Key West right now. We have our theatrical premiere Saturday and Monday. We've got 500 people coming to the show, which would be great. It's during an event here called Just a Few Friends. So a lot of people are in town for that, celebrating Jimmy Buffett Day and everything. Several of the band members will be in town. We've got Roger Bartlett and Josh Leo performing after our film at the theater, which is great. From here, we go out and yeah, we'll be in over 100 theaters around the country over the next couple of months, which we're thrilled about. Our theatrical distributor, Evan Saxon Productions, has done a great job and everything from regal theaters to art houses.

So we're working with Parrothead clubs around the country who want to have events around the film. So, yeah, it's going to be a fun, you know, it's going to be a fun ride. And you can learn about all the locations where the film is going to be seen from our website, OccupationalHazardFilm.com. There's a section on there which tells you the background of who's in it, what it's about, et cetera. But it also lists all the theaters where we're going to be. And in the future, we'll list where you're going to be able to see it on television.

[10:30] Robert Bannon: Pretty amazing. And, you know, John made this, everybody. And in his spare time, he's got like 12 books and he's like, I don't know what he does. If he made me feel lazy, what did I do today? I didn't write 12 books and make a movie. That sure did not happen. Tell us while you're talking about it, when you talk about Key West, you're pretty synonymous with Key West, too. So give yourself a moment. What is your book series? And if people want to fall in love with the beach and some fun summer, end of summer reading, what can we do?

[10:58] John Cunningham: Well, thank you for asking about that. Yeah, the book series is the Buck Riley Adventure series. It takes place here in Key West. Actually, Jimmy appeared in one of my stories with his permission. But it's a guy who was it's sort of he was a for-profit Indiana Jones treasure hunter who lost everything, moved to Key West, lives in the La Concha Hotel and flies around in an eighty-five-year-old seaplane. So he's helping people. It's kind of like a modern Travis McGee, if anybody knows what those stories are about. But he's a guy who's out there and sometimes he's looking for treasure, not for his own benefit, per se, but to help people or he's rescuing somebody who got in trouble. But it goes all around the Caribbean.

The last couple of books went to Italy and Scotland. But Buck is I like to call him an everyman hero who, you know, he doesn't have any special agent skills. He's not rich. He's got to figure things out on his own. So I think the stories resonate with people.

[11:56] Robert Bannon: They sure do. The New York Times, that's what it says. So and if you want to get them, you can see that in this movie as well. I hope that you don't get attacked by any chickens in the street of Key West today because they're all over. I hope people go out and check out this movie, listen to some of the Coral Reefers and then hear the story before the beer, before the restaurants, before the merchandise, before what became a gigantic business. It started as friends making real music together and get the inside scoop with some real rare and unseen archival footage telling the story about this incredible once-in-a-lifetime moment and band. And I look forward to having you come back when you write another book, another movie. And I don't know what else you got up your sleeve, but I'm sure it'll be done within the next 24 hours.

[12:41] John Cunningham: Well, thank you so much, Robert. I look forward to it as well.

[12:43] John Cunningham: Thank you so much for being here. Congratulations. Go get them.

[12:46] Robert Bannon: My pleasure. Really appreciate it. Enjoyed talking to you.

[12:49] John Cunningham: Thank you.