by Kevin Burton Merriam-Webster promised me a list of Scrabble words without vowels, but delivered a bunch of words (with one exception) with the letter Y in them. Y is a vowel, a card-carrying vowel. The fact that it has a part-time job as a consonant does not change that. The venerable dictionary …
Category Archives: hobbies
Playing Musical Instrument Good For The Brain
by Kevin Burton I’m still hanging on to a notion, planted by a Steely Dan song. If you know some of that Steely Dan imagery, that sounds kind of dangerous. Let me explain. I love Steely Dan and I love “Deacon Blues.” I have judged the United States as a nation because …
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Songwriting School, Class In Session
by Kevin Burton International Songwriters Day was observed yesterday and I’m staying on that theme. This post is a service to all you songwriters, or really any kind of writers, out there. But who am I kidding, it’s also to keep my head in the game and stoke those musical fires again. …
My Shifting Sports Team Allegiances
by Kevin Burton Time and location, location, location, can change even the most fervent loyalties when it comes to sports fan allegiances. On ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption, Tony Kornheiser talks about the New York Mets as “the team of my youth” to differentiate it from his current favorite, the Washington Nationals. That is …
Karaoke Machine Inventor Dies At Age 100
by Kevin Burton Shigeichi Negishi, the inventor of the world’s first commercially-available karaoke machine, has died in Japan at age 100, according to National Public Radio. Never knew the man, but boy has he filled up my Saturday nights. You take a character from Billy Joel’s Piano Man who is“sure that I …
Ferris Wheels Also Make The World Go Round
by Kevin Burton In response to one of my Valentine’s Day posts, a reader let me know that Feb. 14 is also National Ferris Wheel Day in the United States. Now that’s news I can use! What an apt metaphor for the “love” of love songs that is wrapped in feelings, or perhaps …
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Wife Carrying: A New Sport For The Burtons?
by Kevin Burton Now this one has potential. On the Dictionary Scoop website I stumbled upon an inspired idea for a new sport my wife Jeannette and I can get involved in. The website called it “weird” and “unique” and it is both. Wife carrying. I am psyched! So fortunate …
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Do Not Buy Me Ice Skates For My Birthday
by Kevin Burton My wife told my granddaughter that I am “good” at skating. This is the topic on today’s installment of Fun With Adjectives! My name is Kevin. I’ll be your host. I am fond of saying that my wife is tall and beautiful. Both “tall” and “beautiful” are adjectives modifying Jeannette. …
Note To Cincy’s Tee Higgins, All Is Forgiven
by Kevin Burton My Kool & The Gang tape doesn’t play so well anymore. Found this out Sunday. I had the greatest hits record on CD, but I lent it to one of my neighbors when I lived in Ohio and never got it back. But I had to hear the song, Celebration, …
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Turning My NFL Sunday Inside Out
by Kevin Burton I don’t know what that was last Sunday, but it was something, and it was personal. Was it a self-boycott, playing hooky, a tantrum ( I am good at those)? I guess it was the fantasy football version of the line “I’m just tired and bored with myself” from …