Jimmy Buffett on Oil Spill: 'This Will Pass'

The timing might be a bit off for tourists hoping to waste away, but that doesn't bother Jimmy Buffett, who's planning to open a 162-room Margaritaville hotel in Pensacola Beach in a week. As tar balls came ashore yesterday, Buffett said he had no plans to delay the opening. "This will pass," he said as walked along the city's beachfront and fishing pier with Fla. Gov. Charlie Crist.

Buffet said the community will get through the crisis by pulling together. He wants people in the area to know that he's there for them as the oil encroaches on their leisure and livelihoods. If Buffett's good for anything, it's "helping people forget their troubles for a couple of hours," the "Cheeseburger in Paradise" singer said. Hundreds of applicants for Buffett's $50 million hotel lined up outside this week for a job fair even as TV trucks filled a nearby parking lot to report on the oil slick's arrival. (More Jimmy Buffett stories.)