PUBLIC LISTENING: DAVE & BUSTERS

THIS BLOGGING SH*T IS NOT A GAME

It was supposed to be a relatively straightforward episode of Public Listening. I was going to go to Buffalo Wild Wings, watch the Marquette versus NC State game, and log the music that played as I smeared my face with buffalo sauce. But then—record scratch noise—the trouble started. The music at the Downtown Brooklyn outpost of the restaurant was so inaudible, or maybe nonexistent, that I had to call an audible, if you will allow me to use a football metaphor in a blog post about watching a basketball game. I had no choice but to take the short walk over to Dave & Busters.

Founded in 1982 by David "Dave" Corriveau and James "Buster" Corley, Dave & Busters is a restaurant, bar, and video arcade with over 150 locations in America. But I didn’t come to the Brooklyn D & B’s to play games. I came to watch one, though that ended up being far more complicated than I could’ve ever imagined. The highlights of my Friday night saga are below. It’s Public Listening, presented by John’s Music Blog.

7:10: Kesha (Feat. 3OH!3) “Blah Blah Blah”

To get to the Dave & Busters from the Buffalo Wild Wings, I had to walk a short distance from the Atlantic Terminal Mall to the Atlantic Center Mall. Once inside, I rode multiple escalators, moving through the kind of tiled mall space that aging millennials like myself love so much. In contrast to the Buffalo Wild Wings, which, in addition to being quiet, was also bright and smelled like sour buffalo sauce, the Dave & Busters was dark and cavernous. Upon entering, I was schmacked with a two-tiered, screen-covered dining room and bar area. Beyond that lay massive, blinking arcade units. To hammer home the casino-like feel of the place, there were no windows. And the music: I’ve said it before here, but I’ll never forget the show I played with 3OH!3 in the summer of 2007. It was on that night and in that room that I should’ve learned a lesson about the limits of my ambition, but that did not happen.

7:13: Reneé Rapp “Too Well”

I sat overlooking a dining area with three massive screens on its far wall. My waiter told me that I better put in my order, so I did: buffalo wings and a Diet Coke, which he typed into a finicky iPad. I mentioned to him that I was there to watch the Marquette game, and he mentioned to me that he was betting on the Marquette game. It was the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament, a sporting event that is close to my heart, though I do not have the time or energy to follow it. One recurring theme on this blog, a theme I have no doubt hammered into the ground, is my longstanding fantasy to drop out of “cutting-edge music and culture,” move back to the Midwest, and get into sports. Maybe learn how to drive.

7:22: BTS “Yet To Come”

Dave & Busters was playing the start of the Marquette game, but someone somewhere turned that shit off real fast. There were only two NCAA men’s games happening at the time, and yet screen space was being taken up by, among other more worthy events, reruns of baseball games from earlier in the day. You would think they could spare one of their dozens of screens for a game that surely many people—including the restaurant’s own employees—were betting money on. In the space between “To Well” and “Yet To Come,” I listened to songs by Jay-Z and The Chainsmokers and attempted to get a Dave & Busters employee to put on the game. I also stared at photo of a desert item called the R U Cereal Cake: A cereal-flavored cake with marshmallow cream icing and cotton candy, garnished with jumbo Froot Loops. Cutting down on sweets has been harder than quitting drinking. 

7:36: T-Pain (Feat. Akon) “Bartender”

I put in my screen request ten minutes ago, and in that time sat through a Taylor Swift song and a confusing song called “Tattoos” by Natalie Jane, but the game didn’t materialize. My wings did eventually arrive. It’s hard to eat wings and type at the same time. I’m a disgusting eater, which hasn’t gotten better with age. As an eternal T-Pain classic played, a group of children bounced balloons in the air. I monitored the game on my phone. Marquette was down 26-19, with 5:47 to go in the first half.   

7:46: Bella Poarch and Lauv “Crush”

Around three minutes before this song by super influencer Bella Poarch—who, for the record, first found viral fame through a TikTok lip sync to a UK-style bassline tune, for whatever reason—I reached out to another Dave & Busters employee, my waiter, to inquire about the game. Was I being unreasonable? There’s so many televisions in this demented place. 

7:49: The Game (Feat. 50 Cent) “How We Do”

I picked on the bones of my wings and looked at my phone. I still couldn’t watch the game, but at least I could listen to The Game. There was something mindblowing about The Game when he dropped. He was the rapper who rapped about rap and named himself after a common term for the industry itself. D & B's did have on the Brooklyn Nets game, mere steps away from the arena that it was being played inside of. I read somewhere that when Hunter S. Thompson used to cover sports, he would often do it from the bar across the street from the stadium.

7:53: Bowling for Soup “High School Never Ends”

Have I ever told you mofos about the time DJ George Costanza and I went to a Bowling for Soup concert? My friend’s band was the support act, so we headed to the Gramercy Theater and listened to the Texas masters of radio pop punk play a set that included a version of “Stacy’s Mom" by Fountains of Wayne. During their set, Bowling for Soup explained that they are often mistaken for the writers of that song, so after a point, they figured they might as well play it live. I hear Reel Big Fish deploy similar logic in justifying their cover of “The Impression That I Get” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. My waiter had finally tracked down his manager, who was able to get the game on just as it was going to halftime. Marquette was down by 13.

7:59: Amerie “1 Thing”

I spent halftime walking around the gaming area. I have very little interest in playing, but the culture surrounding video arcades, especially in the 1990s, will always capture my imagination. I once read an entire book about NBA Jam. But it seems like arcade technology has stalled a bit. The buildouts on the actual game cabinets have gotten more baroque, but the rest of the tech feels a bit stuck. Here are a few games that caught my attention: a fidget spinner-shaped game called Spinner Frenzy; a rubber hatchet throwing game called Hatchet Hero, whose sign featured a Paul Bunyon-cum-2000s hipster character, complete with undercut and massive beard; a “Dave & Busters exclusive” version of the racing game Super Bikes 3, where the players race as not a motorcycle but a unicorn. And so on.

8:14: Katy Perry “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”

Not unlike Walmart, D & B seems to have a proprietary in-house music service, complete with DJ breaks and product advertisements. I listened to one as I waited for the second half to start. Shortly after, a bandana-clad person with a name tag reading “Deluxe Photo” attempted to take my picture. It was impossible to tell if he worked for Dave & Busters, but I assumed that whatever it was that he was trying to do would be something that I would have to pay for later. I declined, but now I regret it.

8:26: Avril Lavigne (Feat. Blackbear) “Love It When You Hate Me”

The second half was in full swing, and Marquette was down 40 to 26. I started to contemplate quitting—not life, just this stupid edition of Public Listening. I was deep into my second Diet Coke. I wanted desert, but I wasn’t going to order it.

8:34: Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give It Away”

Is “Give It Away” my favorite Chi Peps song? It could be. I might be revealing too much about the dark heart of my taste here—and, look, I’m aware of their ‘80s output; the demo of “Police Helicopter” is good enough to be on Double Nickels on the Dime—but, gun to the dome, my three favorite RHCP songs would have to be “Give It Away,” “By the Way,” and “Scar Tissue.” Marquette was down by 13 and would eventually go on to lose the game by nine. In the time before that final whistle blew, I heard “Party Rock Anthem” and “Feel Good Inc.” I left Dave & Busters disoriented, with a mild stomach ache.