Country Music Icon Dolly Parton Dies At 80

by Kevin Burton    Sometimes at the movies, the writers ask you to suspend disbelief. For one 70s song, I couldn’t do it.    The song is “Jolene” by Dolly Parton.    In a quivering delivery, Dolly begs this Jolene character, “please don’t take my man.” I just never could buy that.    I thought, …

Reading To Mom From “The Blue Book”

 by Kevin Burton    We called it the Blue Book, and it was/is a gift from God, via Grand Rapids.    There was a season, still very fresh in memory, when my mother, having slowly lost most of her abilities, was bedridden, periodically quite discouraged, badly in need of comfort.    Toward the end of …

Love To Carly Simon, The Person And Artist

by Kevin Burton    We now know her body to be ailing, but the art of Carly Simon is vibrant, alive and well.    So, this post represents a bit of a puzzle for me, an exercise in basic journalism and in basic humanity. It’s a reality check.    Carly Simon just had a birthday …

Mom Gave Me Birth, Gave Back My Birthday

by Kevin Burton    Today we talk birthdays on what would have been my mother’s 92nd. She died May 4, leaving an unfillable hole in my heart and life.    She is gone from this life but far, far from forgotten. There were many special days while mom was with us. Birthdays were among the …

Is Ringo’s New Record Better Than Paul’s

by Kevin Burton    I’ve had a ton of fun writing about pop music on Page 7. But I have juuuuust about talked myself out of the notion that I am any kind of knowledgeable, creditable music critic.    And I’m getting close to swearing off all music critics. I mean, we like what we …

Missing My Mom And Defining “Carry On”

by Kevin Burton “And when one of us is gone, and one of us is left to carry on, then remembering will have to do..” “You and Me Against The World” Helen Reddy    The first song I played after learning of my mother’s death on May 4, was “First Morning In Heaven,” by The …

Study Says Music And The Arts Slow Aging

by Good News Network    Culture vultures who regularly take part in arts activities—such as listening to music, visiting a museum, or reading—may be slowing the pace of their biological aging, according to a new study.    Researchers from University College London looked at blood test data and survey responses from more than 3,500 adults …

The Road, The Race And The Finish Line

by Kevin Burton    Most of the words I share today come from Truth For Life, the Cleveland ministry founded by Alistair Begg. But I also imagine them coming also from my late mother.    They are words she might well have spoken in her final days.    Mom died May 4. She had close …

My Friend, “Prepaid” Is The Only Way To Go

by Kevin Burton    I called the cemetery where my mother will be buried next week and told the clerk that the time had come.    The clerk was actually en route to work. She said she would look up our family’s records once she got there, and call me back.    “Everything is paid …

Make Time For Mom, You’ll Be Glad You Did

by Kevin Burton    One day my mother received a letter. The people who owned the house she was renting were going to sell it, and she had 30 days to get out.    It was ridiculous to expect her to move that quickly, and my brother successfully negotiated an additional six weeks. But we …