Puff Cigar Discussion Forums

BillyVoltaire · 06-23-2009, 10:16 PM

Hello everyone,

Great to see such a spirited online community that Puff has put together here. I have learned so much from sifting through the forums and am eager to learn so much more and hopefully with time I will be able to add intelligent ideas to conversations here.

My real name is Matt, though most people call me Freddy as I have a resemblance to Fred Flintstone. I live in Marietta, GA, work in downtown Atlanta. Grad of Georgia Tech in the mid 90s.

My cigar background is weak at best - I have had a few Cubans on trips to the Caribbean, but I was never educated enough about cigars to enjoy them, but that is in the process of changing.

My screen name "Billy Voltaire" comes from a 1973 song by Jimmy Buffett entitled "Cuban Crime of Passion" that was originally on the album "A White Sport Coat And A Pink Crustacean". It is a nice little tune on a great album.

The quote from Jimmy Buffett about the song: “There used to be a piano player in Key West named Billy Nine Fingers who told me stories about playing the ferryboat that once ran from Key West to Havaña. One day I was reading an article in the Miami Herald about a murder that had taken place in Hialeah in which a love triangle had ended in blood shed. The reporter called it a Cuban Crime of Passion.”

The song is about three players, Billy, Merrita, and Shrimper Dan. Billy/Merrita are boyfriend/girlfriend, until "one night he did find her in the arms of Shrimper Dan, So he pulled a knife, took poor Danny's life, And then he turned his own cold hand".

Interesting side note: In 1996, a man murdered his wife and tried to plead insanity, implying that this song on the radio inspired him to do it. Unfortunately he was found guilty due to one mistake in his defense... he forgot to "turn his own cold hand".

Sorry, I ramble, but I love that story.

BV