PARROTS ALL ATWITTER FOR BUFFETT

SAN DIEGO —  “Parrotheads,” they call them.

They’re as devoted to singer Jimmy Buffett as the thousands of “Deadheads” around the country are to the Grateful Dead.

They’re birds of a feather who pluck their dearest fantasies from Buffett’s breezy country-pop songs about tropical islands and pearly white beaches, sleek sailboats and swaying palm trees, afternoon Margaritas and sunset luaus.

Every other Friday night since April, as many as 300 local Buffett fans have been descending on Coconut’s on Shelter Island like a swarm of screeching parrots.

That’s when deejay David M. Hakola spins nothing but songs from Buffett’s 15 albums for five solid hours--and transforms the year-old restaurant-lounge, where the standard fare is live calypso music, into the lazy, carefree “Margaritaville” immortalized in Buffett’s biggest hit.

The most zealous Parrotheads start gathering at Coconut’s a few hours early, during happy hour, to prime themselves for the evening ahead. They sip Margaritas, compare suntans and Buffett T-shirts, and chat about how much fun they had at Buffett’s last concert here a year ago with his Coral Reefer Band.

Among the regular early birds is Ed Miller, 25, a San Diego native who recently earned his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California.

“These Jimmy Buffett nights are wild, really wild,” Miller said. “The last time I was here, there were so many people you couldn’t move, and the dance floor was so packed you could feel the whole room shake.

“That’s why I always come early--I don’t want to miss even a second of the fun.”

The fun starts at 9 p.m., when Hakola pulls out the first of several dozen Buffett albums, cassettes and compact discs he has brought along for the night.

The moment the music starts, the flock of Parrotheads clustered around Hakola’s mobile sound system, which overlooks the dance floor, erupts into a cacophonous chorus of screams, yells and cheers of the kind normally reserved for the deciding home run of the World Series.

For the next five hours, it’s Margaritaville all the way. Many of the Parrotheads sing along to every Buffett tune that is played, from popular hits to the more obscure numbers like “Son of a Son of a Sailor” and “Desperation Samba (Halloween in Tijuana).”

The dance floor becomes a sea of swaying, laughing, singing bodies. Not bodies, really, but puppets--and Hakola is pulling their strings.

He cues up “Volcano” and the Parrotheads form a human train, dancing the conga around the bar. He puts the needle on “Fins” and they fold their hands above their heads, prayer-style, and rock back and forth: “Fins to the left, fins to the right . . . “

Between songs, the Parrotheads gulp margaritas and feast on cheeseburgers--”Cheeseburgers in Paradise,” as Buffett sings.

June 19 was Julie Jenkins’ first “Jimmy Buffett Night” at Coconut’s, but it won’t be her last.

“This reminds me of the annual Buffett parties a friend of mine used to give in Maryland, where I lived before moving here four months ago,” said Jenkins, 22. “Jimmy Buffett is so much fun to party with, and tonight it’s just like he’s right here.”

Terry McBride, another first-timer who vows she’ll be back in two weeks, said she became a Parrothead purely by chance.

“Four years ago, I took a trip with 12 people to Cancun, and we had a Buffett tape in our cassette player,” said McBride, 31. “The suitcase with all our other tapes got lost, so for 17 days we listened to nothing but Jimmy Buffett.

“Ever since, his music has been embedded in my brain.”

Those things happen, Ed Miller maintains.

“Buffett’s music is actually very simple,” he said. “If you know three chords, you can play most of his songs. But his lyrics are what set him apart. He has a way of putting into words the life style we all want to live.

“Basically, he’s saying, ‘Be who you are, like who you are, and just have fun.’ That’s why he’s more than a musician--he’s one of the greatest philosophers of our time.”

At midnight, Hakola reaches into a stainless-steel bucket stuffed with names. Seconds later, two lucky Parrotheads run up to claim their prize: a pair of tickets to the Aug. 12 Jimmy Buffett show at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater.

John Hilger, the owner of Coconut’s, is chartering a bus that day to shuttle 50 winners from his nightclub to the concert--and back again for an all-night party.

“A few months ago, we were searching for a promotion and someone suggested a Jimmy Buffett night, with five straight hours of Buffett music,” he said. “The response was so unbelievable that we decided to do this on a regular basis.