Happy Birthday Little Sister, I Love You

by Kevin Burton    There was a day in the 70s when my younger sister Patricia asked me a question. I knew the correct answer to the question, but I lied to her.    We were in the basement of our father’s house in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Nobody else was around.    “When am I …

American Slang Phrases Through The Decades

by Dictionary Scoop     Have you listened to teenagers talk lately? Their vocabulary is full of words we don’t quite understand. But come on, we did it too: every decade has had its own set of slang words and expressions.    Today, we look back at ten slang words and expressions that have defined each decade from …

Imperfect Tens: Hits Dionne Warwick Hated

by Kevin Burton    The artist hated them, I loved them and so did millions of others.    From the 60s genius of legendary songwriting team Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and the 80s (post-70s really) brilliance of the Bee Gees, came two smash hits for Dionne Warwick.    Both songs went to number 10 …

Lennon’s 1972 Peace Overture To McCartney

by Kevin Burton    How would music history be different, had an invitation sent in 1972 been received favorably?    The acrimony surrounding the Beatles’ breakup was not as fevered as Beatlemania itself – nothing else in music has ever been – but it was white hot.    But some two years after the split, John …

“Rock Your Baby” And The Dawn Of Disco

by Kevin Burton     There would come a time, in a year or so, when you could not escape disco. But at its inception 50 years ago, you couldn’t have seen it coming.    “Disco snuck up on America like a covert operation,” wrote Alice Echols in her book “Hot Stuff, Disco and the Remaking …

Joni Mitchell’s Masterpiece, “Both Sides Now”

by Kevin Burton    Turning on the radio is like opening a musical fire hydrant. The product comes at you fast and   furious.     When I was young I lacked the discernment to understand that some of the musical water being spewed out by that hydrant was more nourishing than some of the other.    …

Facts You Might Not Know About M*A*S*H

by Interestingfacts.com    From its premiere on CBS in Sept. 1972 through its historic series finale watched by more than 106 million Americans in Feb. 1983, M*A*S*H changed television forever.     The series followed the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War of the early 1950s and seamlessly blended comedy and drama like never before. …

Come On Cavs! Recalling Miracle Of Richfield

by Kevin Burton    Some memories have a soundtrack and this one has the best.       On April 29, 1976 the Cleveland Cavaliers played in what they now call The Miracle of Richfield. It was the first playoff berth for the Cavs, who were born as an NBA expansion team in 1970. In the first …

Gerry Rafferty Was Born 77 Years Ago Today

by Kevin Burton    The headline to an article in The Independent called Gerry Rafferty a “bipolar alcoholic industry misfit.” His biographers including his daughter Martha dispute none of that.    The article was printed on the occasion of the 2021 release of “Rest In Blue” an album of Rafferty demos polished and completed by …

Songwriters Day, A Musical Day Of Reckoning

by Kevin Burton    I grew up mostly at the school for the blind in Ohio. But I had (still have) some partial vision and I played a lot of sandlot baseball in my day.    The school used to hire recreation leaders to work with us restless kids. I think these were students from …