Just posted the final version of our PAC-MAN FEVER cover.  Its a song I've always wanted to cover and used to bug Barcelona about it all the time.  We just never got around to doing it. 

I'm not afraid to admit I loved that Buckner & Garcia record when I was a little kid.  Vivid memories of dancing around to the Defender song and feeling it really spoke to me.  Rocked out in a big way to Do the Donkey Kong.  Was touched by Froggy's Lament.  Its kind of hard to listen to the original PMF now though, so I thought it was in need of an update.

Has anybody played Pac-Man recently?  Its still a fun game but I don't understand why it was so hard when I was a kid to get to like the third screen.  If you play it tomorrow and you're not totally high, I guarantee you'll get to the fifth level without dying once.  So have years of gaming, advanced gaming skills, improved coordination, age and wisdom enabled me to be a better Pac-Man competitor?  Or were the stories true that the guys who ran Video Oasis and the Pegasus Arcade were able to flip some switch and speed up the games to eat your quarters up more quickly?  On a completely separate note, isn't there something creepy and insidious about the Atari version of Pac-Man?  Don't ask me why, but something about it used to scare me and still does.

Yesterday I was visiting my parents, and I stopped at their neighborhood Pizza Hut where we used to ride our bikes and play Pac-Man (a table top version), Zaxxon, 1941, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Burger Time and that crazy Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom game until the manager would get sick of us.  It made me sad.  Not just because I miss doing those things, but because Pizza Hut sucks so bad now.  What happened?  Was Pizza Hut ever delicious or was I too young to know any better?  Please send me your thoughts on this if you have any insight.

Incidentally, there is nothing especially fun about carrying a pocket full of quarters to the arcade.  It is bulky and awkward. 

I think you should be able to download the song here if you like it.  Otherwise, it will be included on the next edition of Little Darla Has a Treat for You volume 25 available from Darla Records.  If you're not familiar, its a long running and great sampler series.  Highly recommended.

Enjoy the song.  Play it for a friend and see how long it takes them to realize what it is.  Are you embarassed that you want to shake it?

Hope you are having a good summer. 

Jason