Beginning Thursday, the Barry Whistler Gallery will host Eight Track Tapes: The Bucks Burnett Collection. This exhibit will feature an extensive collection of rare eight track tapes assembled over a 20-year period by Dallas record store owner and music producer Bucks Burnett. Burnett is launching the exhibit to begin funding and awareness for his Eight Track Museum, slated to open in 2010.

The exhibit will include tapes by The Rutes, The Beatles, Elvis Presley Led Zepplin and Grand Funk Railroad.

“I hope to present these eight tracks, for the first time, as historical pop culture artifacts,” Burnett says in a news release. “The eight track existed as a viable music format for 24-years (1965-1989) and deserves a worthy representation.”

If you’ve never heard of Bucks Burnett, he’s lived quite a life. He once snuck backstage at a Talking Heads concert and befriended Chris Frantz. During his stint as Ronnie Lane’s butler, he met Jimmy Page and began an immediate lifelong friendship. He owns a mold of Tiny Tim’s teeth (he is, afterall, president of the Tiny Tim fan club). He owned and managed Fourteen Records. He started the Mr. Ed fan club, boasting 1,000+ paying members. He was the mastermind behind the brilliant (albeit under-attended) EdStock at the Bronco Bowl, a tribute to our beloved talking horse, Mr. Ed. And he was one of the three in the Volares.

We caught up with Bucks recently for the video below as he hung out with Jeff Liles over at the Kessler Theater: