Country Singer Alan Jackson Making Video At Jupiter Restaurant

By Bill DiPaolo, The Palm Beach Post  

June 29, 2011

Alan Jackson performs during the filming of a new video at Jupiter's Square Grouper restaurant. (Libby Volgyes / Palm Beach Post)

Singing “I got a woman I’m tryin’ to drink away, and I got a long, long way to go,” country performer Alan Jackson and about 120 extras and crew members filmed a video Wednesday at the Square Grouper.

“This place is a little slice of Hollywood,” said director Steven Goldmann, standing on the sand and nodding across Jupiter Inlet toward the Jupiter Lighthouse. The video’s budget is about $100,000, he said.

Jackson, who has a home in Jupiter Island and is often seen in his boat or red Jeep around north county, was filming “A Long, Long Way to Go”. The song is the story of Jackson and his film crew coming to South Florida to make a video in the sunshine.

“But it rains. Everything goes wrong. So we play poker, make some music and dance. The whole crew gets to be in the video,” said Goldmann, a Montreal native filming his seventh video with Jackson. Goldmann also directed “This Kiss” with Faith Hill and has directed videos with Shania Twain and Brooks & Dunn.

Between takes, the dozens of extras dressed in bathing suits and shorts gingerly stepped around expensive cameras and other equipment. Jackson, dressed in a blue plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a white cowboy hat, stood patiently with his guitar as a makeup person patted powder on his chin.

Wednesday marked the second time Jackson filmed a video at the waterfront bar on Love Street. Jackson drew hundreds of spectators in 2006 when he filmed “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere” with Jimmy Buffett.

Besides being a boost for his bar, making the video could also bring more film business and other revenue to north county, said Jimmy Burg, owner of the Square Grouper, also known as Castaways.

There’s one more benefit. Burg got a bit part in the video.

His big moment comes as he sits at the poker game with other crew members. He notices a bug in his margarita.

“And I say: ‘And it don’t look like a worm to me,’ ” said Burg, pointing to his line typed in the script.