Echoes Of The Past

How many of you are old enough to say you ever had Pac-Man Fever? (Or another, lesser-known affliction known as Donkey Kong Elbow?) How many of you are old enough to remember when arcades were all over the place, and not just confined to your local mall next to the Starbucks? Chances are, those of you who do remember are pushing 30... and that's me being kind. If, however, you're pondering the question, "Who, or what the fuck is Pac-Man?" please get the hell off my blog right this instant. I told you how I feel about assholes who try and make me feel old, you goddamn walking embryos.

Anyway, as for the rest of you ancient fucks, the names Buckner & Garcia just might ring a bell. Aside from being the musical geniuses (*snicker*) behind the classic 80's jam Pac-Man Fever, they also hold the dubious honor of being the first "celebrities" to ever have a run-in with yours truly. Here's an old column of mine that you might have missed. If you haven't read it, you might want to check it out before going any further. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Okay, now check out this e-mail that I received just last night. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who had to endure this whole, sordid "dying mother" scandal;

From: "Pac-Man Fever" pacmanfever@sc.rr.com
To: goodnight_tonight@yahoo.com
Subject: Buckner & Garcia
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 19:38:43

Hi there,

I just finished reading your article about Buckner and Garcia and your requesting an interview from them. This is too funny - I had the EXACT same thing happen to me when I requested an interview from them as well.

I am the editor for a site called the High Scores Arcade, which tracks scores for arcade and pinball games and hosts lots of media type fun things to download or play. I started an interviews section, and interviewed Donald Hayes, an 11 time world record holder for classic arcade games. I decided to try to interview Buckner & Garicia because I love their music and thought they would appreciate some publicity for their classic and new work. I wrote Jerry Buckner and never got a reply, so I called him at the number on his web site. He said he'd "love to do an interview and would call Gary to schedule a time for this afternoon". He never called or Emailed me, so I waited a couple of days and called again. Surprizingly enough, he was "taking his mother to the doctor" that morning, and said he'd "get with Gary to make some times next week that they could both be available and would Email me the times so I could pick one". I never heard back from him again.

Ironically, I had planned to promote their new format on their site to buy the songs through PayPal for $.99 each. Instead, just like you said, I posted links to all of the songs from the Pac-Man Fever album in the Media section of the site so that everyone can download them for free. I guess they really didn't need the exposure after all, and the songs you can download from my site are the '82 versions and not the crappy '99 versions they're selling.

Interestingly enough, I am a police detective by profession, so interviewing people is my livelyhood. I'm sure it would have been a very positive interview and would have brought some great exposure to them. I loved your article on your site though, and thought I'd share this with you.

By the way, I know exactly who Louise Robey is - her cover of "One Night in Bangkok" kicked Murray Head's ass.

Blaine Locklair
Editor, High Scores Arcade
www.highscoresarcade.com
editor@highscoresarcade.com
"Recognizing Players Worldwide"

Ahhhh, it's funny how things have a way of repeating themselves, isn't it? I like this guy Blaine, even though his name isn't really a name and is actually "a household appliance." (Sorry. I'm just chock-full of 80's references this morning.)
I always knew Buckner & Garcia were idiots, and this just proves my point. Thanks for the e-mail, Blaine...