Monday, February 2, 2009

Hello Jenny. Hi.

Bids for a New Jersey version of the number, stuck in the minds of millions since Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny" hit the Top 10 in 1982, had reached $5,100 on eBay as of Monday morning.

The song is about a guy who finds Jenny's name and number scribbled on a bathroom wall.

"This is really, in my opinion, one of the last cultural remnants of the '80s pop culture era ... other than the mullet," said Spencer Potter, a 28-year-old DJ who is selling the number he got for free five years ago.

Potter said he has gotten about 40 calls a day since he got the area code 201 version for his Weehawken, New Jersey, DJ business.

Mostly, Potter said, the callers are "a lot of '80s fanatics" and he lets the calls ring through to his voice mail. When he did answer a call three years ago, Potter found his own Jenny on the line.

"She had been using my number to give out to guys that she didn't like at bars," he said. "It was a bum phone number."

"I figured if she was having to give out a bum number that often then she was probably pretty cute," he said. "We ended up meeting for drinks. We dated for awhile and it was actually a great friendship."

Potter said when his auction ends next Monday, February 9, he hopes to make at least $40,000. He said he would use the money to take a Caribbean vacation -- away from his ringing phone.

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