Giving The Gifts Of Love And Devotion

by Kevin Burton    The best jokes around our house don’t start with “knock knock” or “a guy walks into a bar.” They start with “what do you want for..”    On our calendar we have spaced birthdays, Christmas, and our anniversary so that at all times there is some kind of gifting occasion on …

Hey Marketers, Watch Your Language

by Kevin Burton    The good people at http://www.thoughtco.com have poked into some language-barrier marketing stories and discovered some of them are simply not true.    The first one burst my bubble.    I heard somewhere that Chevrolet had to stop selling Nova cars in Mexico because “no va” in Spanish means, “it doesn’t go.” …

Video Killed Your Imagination, Not Radio

I think I’m done writing about MTV and Clear Channel for the moment, but I have one more thought on that Buggles tune, “Video Killed The Radio Star.”     I raised the question without answering it in my Friday story: “If you could get your favorite top 40 hits, with pictures, moving pictures, wouldn’t that …

Our Hope Depends On A Risen Savior

by Dane Massey    (Dane Massey is the former Pastor of Mulvane Christian Church. He is now in ministry in Houston, Texas.)      The Grave Is Empty!  Christ has risen!  What does it mean?     The greatest event in human history and the apex of God’s redemptive work!  The Truth that has been derided, assailed, …

Dogs In Alaska Being Killed With Meth

by Kevin Burton    Three dogs have died so far, as someone in Palmer, Alaska is poisoning dogs with methamphetamines.    Katie Stavick of the Frontiersman newspaper, posted a story on it April 5.    “Dogs have many titles-man’s best friend, loyal and trusted companion, and beloved member of the family. That’s what makes a …

Clear Channel (iHeart) Killed The Radio Star

by Kevin Burton    In the old days we turned on our radios for music, for news, for sports and weather forecasts, and we got all those things.    But what we really loved, and what kept us coming back for more, was the way those things were delivered, something that was woven throughout the …

Raised On Radio: MTV And Killer Video

by Kevin Burton    In J.G. Ballard’s short story “The Sound-Sweep,” the main character is a non-verbal boy who has the job of vacuuming up all the stray sounds in a world without music.    He befriends an opera singer living in an abandoned recording studio. The opera singer is destitute, having been displaced from …

These Jokes May Drive You To Drink

by Kevin Burton    Here’s a tip for you discerning eligible bachelors out there, one you may not have picked up on:    Women dig grammar.    In the 70s I would have said “chicks dig grammar,” but you never know when somebody, some female somebody, will stumble upon Page 7 for the first time.  …

Wife To The Rescue of Alexa And Me

by Kevin Burton    My songwriting is punctuated by bursts of creativity, drive and joy but it swims in a vast ocean of self-doubt.    If confidence were gun powder, I couldn’t blow up an apple.  My confidence is like that sorry little piece of fat they call pork, in a huge can of beans, …

Good Riddance Steve Physioc, Go Royals

by Kevin Burton    The Royals lost their season-opening baseball game to Minnesota 2-0 Thursday. The prediction I saw last week said the team would lose 103 games this year.    So why am I newly pumped about the team?    The team has promoted Jake Eisenberg, who had been doing play-by-play for its Omaha …