Need a Hall & Oates song fix? Call the “Callin’ Oates” emergency hot line

Are you in need of an emergency shot of music from Hall & Oates? Well, fear not. The Callin’ Oates telephone hotline is ready to satisfy your need. Just dial 1-719-26-OATES or 1-719-266-2837. The pre-recorded attendant will prompt you to press #1 for “One On One,” press #2 for “Rich Girl,” and so on. How did it come about? The Verge tracked down the folks behind the phone service. They write:

It’s from “Go Solo” fan Michael Selvidge (@selviano), who recently joined cloud communications company Twilio, and his high school buddy Reid Butler (@rbutlersf). The San Francisco-based company requires that all new employees build an app, whether they’re working in marketing, design, or systems. Selvidge, who formerly worked PR part time for Twilio before coming on as a full time employee, knew that he’d have to build something, but lacked an idea. He told me, “I thought, ‘If only there was a pun that would work with this…’ Then ‘Callin’ Oates’ hit me, and that cinched it.”

With the idea secure, Selvidge and Butler built and launched the hotline this weekend, mixing a bit of PHP and links to public URLs on Dropbox to create a simple interactive voice response system. The custom 1-719-26-OATES number costs $1 / month, and Selvidge found it via an online phrase search. Twilio’s obviously helping out here, but any user can build a custom app on the Twilio API, and even with viral success like this, you’d just be out a “couple hundred bucks.”

When I called the hotline, I pressed #3 for “Maneater.” They say the 80’s are back. Local rates may apply.