If there's one man on the planet poised to make 8-track collecting cool, it's Bucks Burnett. Not that collecting cartridges wasn't "cool" before--I mean, you can't even buy a new player for them at your neighborhood indie record store. How snobby-cool is that? And, it's not like Burnett hasn't been collecting and selling 8-tracks and players for years, currently at Earotica in Dolly Python.
What makes things different now? Well, Burnett's Eight Track Museum is about to open its doors as a part of the walk-able portion of North by 35 daytime festivities, and when he's not driving the collection from Dallas to Denton, he's busy fielding calls from NPR and The Wall Street Journal. (We journalists can't help but drool at "trend" stories like this.)
But, even without the media's interest, and things like the flogging to death of the "vinyl comeback," interest in retro-format collecting is at an all time high. And, after talking with Burnett yesterday, I can't help but wonder why this hasn't happen sooner.
After the jump, check the lengthy Q&A with Bucks that Unfair Park so nicely touted earlier this morning.
For those who maybe aren't familiar with The Eight Track Museum, give us a basic overview, because this is only the second time that this collection will be on display, right?
The first show was late October at the Barry Whistler Gallery,
and that was really a gallery show presented by the Eight Track Museum,
also know as myself because this is my collection, which is about 20
years old now. But this is the first, this is like a museum opening, we
have rented a space. We have constructed walls and painted them and
built fixtures, this is less a gallery exhibit and more a proper
museum. Barry was very kind to let us do that exhibit for a few days,
but this is sorta the museum taking on its own life. [He pauses for
effect.] Which hopefully won't lead to me taking my own life.
And, right now you are trying to find a permanent home for The Eight
Track Museum, what kind of options are you looking at right now?
Well, we're talking, but we're sorta too busy putting the show
together. Today's the last day of prep before it opens tomorrow. But
there's talk of keeping it in Denton somehow.
I'm open to Denton, Dallas or Austin, within Texas. I'd also love to do
it in Brooklyn or London. Ideally, I'd like to have three or four small
museums, each with a permanent exhibit room, as well as a revolving
exhibit room. I don't think that stuff like this should be confined to
one city, but obviously I will have to start in one city."
OK, and obviously, for now that's Denton. So, how did this happen with the launch coinciding with North by 35?
Well, I have roots in Denton. I opened a record store in Denton in 1988
called Fourteen Records. And Fourteen Records was on Fry Street for
three years, and then I moved it to Dallas on Lower Greenville for four
years. So, Fourteen was in business for seven years, but it was born in
Denton and that was the first time I'd lived in Denton.
[His phone rings. He talks about picking up some 8-track stickers in Arlington with a reporter from Fort Worth.]
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I'm mulit-media-tasking. Dude, I'm doing an
interview with NPR later today. And then the Wall Street Journal
article comes out Thursday or Friday. This thing is exploding, and I
don't say that to hype it, but we're already really getting a lot of
media interest in the museum, which I always assumed I would if I could
get one open. Because it's never been done. See, the thing is, if you
open an 8-track museum, you're guaranteed a certain amount of media
interest due to the novelty factor. My challenge is gonna be to move
the perception of the of the museum beyond the novelty status and into
to a lasting project.
The easy part is that first wave of having people show up, which had
never even heard of such a thing, and that first wave of media
attention from bored journalists writing about it because they're tired
of writing about Al Qaeda or earthquakes. Wave two, the next challenge,
is finding a permanent home. But I have no money, I'm literally selling
off my CD collection to pay for all these 8-tracks I bought to add to
the exhibit. I don't have deep pockets, I don't even have Hot Pockets.
So, second wave is to begin the campaign to find a permanent home,
while also trying to decrease the snickering by maybe 10 percent.
How has collecting the 8-tracks changed with the advent of the Internet and sites like eBay?
I started collecting 8-tracks in 1988, I never owned an 8-track in my
life before that, which is surprising because of my age. I'm 51, so I
was a child of the 8-track era, but my parents had a cassette deck in
their stereo, so I never had an 8-track - never wanted one, never
thought about it. But I bought a White Album 8-track at a garage sale
in 1988. Cause I thought, 'Oh, wow, The White Album is my favorite
album by anybody, so I may as well have the 8-track.' Then I got the
perverse idea of building a complete Beatles 8-track collection. And I
didn't know how many there were, or how I was gonna do it. But that
started my quest. This was pre-eBay, so I had to do it old school. I
was going to garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets.
[It took him five years of "aggressive searching."]
[Some people, he says have suggested that now with eBay amassing such a
collection is child's play, but Burnett says that the prices have been
on the rise. And, as artists like Bob Dylan and Miles Davis get scooped
up first, it drives up the prices of the remaining 8-tracks. So,
increasingly building complete collections of certain artists is
becoming all but impossible.]
I'm trying to build truly complete 8-track collections of all the
major, most influential artists. I've done it with The Beatles, Led
Zeppelin and Grand Funk, and that's it out of all the dozens and dozens
of artist that have sold millions of 8-tracks and, you know, I've only
managed to get three complete collections. Well, and The Rutles, but
they only made one album, and the Sex Pistols too.
[Bucks then remarks about the irony of recording an 8-track
interview on a digital recorder. I apologized for not bringing my micro
cassette recorder instead.]
I'm of the opinion now that all formats are cool. Even, and
especially, the Compact Disc which is on the extinction list now. I'm
to the point that I don't care whether their into cassettes or CDs, as
long as they are into a format. And I'm not anti-downloading at all. I
don't know how to do it, but I'm all for people doing it. But, at the
same time, I do have a little animosity toward the mp3 'cause it's
threatening the music stores.
[He jokes about how an mp3 collection is, well, not really a collection
to be proud of, at least not something you can show off like a
collection of vinyl. We talk about recent trends and events like the
resurgence of vinyl (with download codes), cassette only labels and
bands like Cheap Trick releasing 8-tracks. (And, yes, the band sent him
a copy.) ]
What do you think about some of these format comebacks?
I love it; I say bring back the 78 and the wax cylinder while we're at
it. And, I'm thrilled that these formats are coming back, because I
spent 15 years thinking that people, no, people did hate records for
about15 years. And I thought, 'Well, this is the way the world turned
out and it kind of sucks.' And, for me, the death of vinyl was quite a
painful thing for millions of music lovers....Now it's flipped and the
album is making a real strong comeback and CDs are on their way to
being considered worthless.
So, if someone, wanted to cash in all their CDs and start collecting
8-tracks, what's the first thing you recommend? Where should they
start? What advise would you give?
I would recommend that they get out of my way. I will destroy them.
[Long laughs.]
Aren't there lots of shops around town that carry 8-tracks?
Oh yeah, you can always find them, but the odds of finding good titles
in good condition in any kind of store now are a million to one. You'll
find a lot of easy listening and country 8-tracks. But my advise,
honestly....
[His phone rings again. It's another reporter. But, after the phone
call, our conversation takes another turn. I ask him what he thinks
about things like digital download codes with vinyl, does he feel like
that's a step in the right direction for the recording industry.]
"The industry is finally starting to say smart things from its death
bed. Some of the best words to come out of people's mouths are on their
deathbed because they finally realize that it's finally time to say
something that matters. And that's the music industry to me, it's on
its last gasp now, and it's finally dawning on them, because they now
realize that they need to be smart. And if 10 or so years ago when
Napster had to go to court, and downloading became the enemy of all
that was good and decent in our land....If those major labels had taken
an opposite approach, and done something productive instead of suing
college students for millions of dollars, then there could have been a
whole different outcome. Everybody feel obligated to think, 'Oh, what
do we do to save the music business?' I say watch it drown.
Buh-buh-buh-bye, because it's dying by its own hands and not by
progress, but by its own resistance to progress.
But, what does you see for the future, or hope to see in the future?
A balance. You may say that I am a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I foresee a future in claymation - it's always in claymation - where
there's a balance, where a major label, if there are to be any, work
hand in hand with the 20 year olds who are smarter than them, more
inventive than them saying, 'Hey, we want to work with you so we can be
apart of this.' Rather than, 'Hey, stop or we'll cut you.'
[He starts talking more about what's wrgong with the recording industry
and about how he'd love to get a job advising them, for pay of course.
Then he turns back to 8-tracks.]
Believe me I'm having a laugh too, I'm having a laugh that the Dallas
Observer is interviewing me. Frankly, this has already gone too far.
[He laughs.] I just got a call from the Wall Street Journal. This has
gone waaaaaay too far, because the one thing that finally gets me taken
seriously happens to be the 8-track tape. Go figure skate. Of all
things"
[His phone again. More 8-track talk. The Wall Street Journal again.]
How does it feel to have your interview macked by the Wall Street
Journal? Back up Street Journal, we're Observicatin'. Observicatin'. That just felt so right.
OK, but what do you hope people take away from this?
Well, they better not take my tracks. [more laughs.] I hope that when
they see them on the wall people will see how cool they look, when you
line up a complete set of the tapes with their matching paper jacket
that says Apple Records on it, it's beautiful. Now, if you just put
them haphazardly stacked on your desk next to some other crap, then
they're just 8-tracks. So, I am the first to elevate them to art;
artistic and historic relevance is how I want them to be perceived, and
I promise that we're pulling it off. Because that's what happened at
the Barry Whistler Gallery and that's what's gonna happen with this
museum. So, I want to increase the awareness that these things are cool
not so much that these things are worth money, and that they'll go up
in value.
The 8-track is 45 years old and it's moving from collectiblity into
history, so it's sorta time to start treating it with a little bit of
respect, while still having a laugh. But, above all let's keep these
out of the landfills, and get them out of the garages and attics and
onto some nice shelves where, people could go see them in a public
place so people can go, 'Wow! No wonder they invented CDs.' Or
whatever, but I just want them to be shown off.
