WalMar; Silver Star; More on Boy Groups; Babblefest

Now that I have a car that starts and runs and doesn't make funny noises, I can actually go places. Very much of a novelty for me. Yesterday, I went east on Lakeland to see what had changed. An incredible amount of growth, I noticed. All kinds of banks, fast food eateries, quick oil change drive-thrus, various strip malls, new supermarkets. And in the middle of nowhere was a gargantuan WalMart ready to strike fear into the hearts of every mom-and-pop place within 50 miles.

There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the growth. Zoning laws seem to be non-existence. Every mile or so, I'd see a church amid the commercialism. I passed a sign that said, "Future Home of the Greek Orthodox Church." Then schools would pop up. Then a massive apartment complex. I was reminded of my trip to Orange County, California several years ago. It was the same type of unchecked, jumbled growth.

I was tempted to keep going and visit Silver Star. In case you didn't know, Silver Star is the state's only land-based casino at the Band of Choctaw Indians Tribal Reservation. About five years ago, the state passed legislation allowing for gaming along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. A remarkable achievement given how conservative the state is. When this happened, I wondered who would want to come here to build a casino. Turns out, EVERYBODY! In terms of square feet devoted to gaming, we're now second only to Las Vegas. A new casino opened on the Coast a year ago with an investment of $600 million.

Back to Silver Star. If a state allows gaming, then federal law allows for any Native American Tribe in the state to offer gaming. Which is what the Choctaw Tribe did. Again, I was silly enough to think, what kind of resources do they have to build a casino. A lot apparently, Silver Star was so successful that it paid off its loan in nine months. It has expanded three or four times. Now, a second Casino is being added. In addition to the Casino, they also built a golf course that cost $1 million per hole! There was concern that the appropriate type of grass would not grow in the summer heat, so they devised a cooling system of pipes that literally provides air conditioning for the greens.

Enough of the tour guide bit. Saturday, I did some more checking on Friday's "Making the Band" program. I thought that I'd read that there had been a break between the promoter, Louis J. Pearlman, and his previous two groups, 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. Both groups split from him and signed with other labels causing a flurry of lawsuits and accusations. The promoters are always the ones to get rich; the guys get little. A similiar situation occured with New Kids on the Block and New Edition. Greed, not music, rules.

This has been a curious babblefest. Not a lot here that was personal. Not a lot of pithy observations either. But maybe this is like a Chekov drama; it's not what is said that is important, it is what is unsaid that is signficant. I have a sneaky feeling that this verbage represents a defense mechanism. My inability to confront things that are bothering me. But then should every entry in a journal be wrenched from the soul.

PAX!