by Kevin Burton Is it just that easy, like flipping a switch? Guess we’ll find out Thursday, when Columbia Records drops the first new Billy Joel single in 17 years, a song called “Turn The Lights Back On.” “In a press release from his label, Columbia Records, the song is said to …
Category Archives: 1970s
Steely Dan To Songwriters’ Hall of Fame
by Kevin Burton Steely Dan and four others will be inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame this year, according to multiple reports. R.E.M. and three non-performing songwriters, Hillary Lindsey, Timothy Moseley (Timberland) and Dean Pritchard will also be inducted. I don’t know if the Songwriters’ hall has toxic politics the way …
What Is The Meaning Of Nyro’s “Stoney End”?
by Kevin Burton One of the greatest vocal performances in my time as a consumer of pop music is on a song that leaves me deeply conflicted; Stoney End by Barbara Streisand. The song grabbed me on some level immediately upon its 1971 release, even before I had the life experience to understand …
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“Here Comes Foster!” There Goes Al Michaels
by Kevin Burton I love me some Al Michaels. Our sportscaster-sports consumer relationship goes back more than 50 years. How much do I love Al Michaels? Well, I watched the entire unwatchable Raiders-Chargers game Thursday because he was calling it. I didn’t even have any fantasy players involved. And I’ve been watching …
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Chef Boyardee And Midweek Culinary Capers
by Kevin Burton Got re-acquainted with an old boyhood pal last Wednesday and I had lasagna for dinner. Sounds like glad tidings, yes? Well maybe not so much. The “lasagna” came out of a can. This all started with an e-mail from the Interesting Facts website, that alerted me to the …
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Closing Credits For TV Icon Norman Lear
by Kevin Burton The television shows produced by Norman Lear were a cultural backbone for 1970s America. In this case, the backbone was connected to the funny bone. When I read that Lear died Tuesday at 101, my mind went immediately to that instrumental piano-driven song that played over the closing credits for …
Rosalynn Carter’s Controversial Nanny
by Kathy Ehrich Dowd Time Magazine Mary Prince, a Black woman who had been convicted of murder, was already a controversial figure at Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Presidential Inauguration. Although she was incarcerated, Prince was given permission to travel to Washington, D.C. for the event and arrived in a dress made of material given …
Dictionary Words Are Funky, Stylish And Cool
by Kevin Burton If the 60s were groovy, the 70s were nothing if not funky. The funk was everywhere then, beginning with music, first seeping then flowing into just about everything else. The funk was the soup we swam in. But I was a little surprised to see funky show up on …
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Words From The Wrong Side Of The Law
by Kevin Burton Some of the entries on today’s word list from Merriam-Webster I learned as a wee lad, by following the news about the federal government. If it hadn’t been for the Nixon Administration and the Watergate scandal, I would have thought hush money was money a parent spends to keep the …
Texas Rangers Redeem Echoes Of The Senators
by Kevin Burton Futility, barren and bleak as it gets, has been the hallmark of the Texas Rangers. But Wednesday, with the Yankees and Dodgers on their couches at home, The Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 to finish off a four-games-to-one, World Series win. World Series win. Texas Rangers? Yes indeed, …
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