Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton I’m supposed to be good with words, but sometimes there just aren’t any. I’m having trouble expressing my distress at the violent death of Actor/Director Rob Reiner. Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead Sunday and their son Nick is now facing two counts of murder. Sadness, disbelief, anger, …
Continue reading “Farewell To The Meathead, Closing Credits”
by Kevin Burton There are many ways to illustrate how a person can change and change profoundly over the years, but I can sum it up in two words. Stale Doritos. I was amazed recently to have to admit the truth. The spicy nacho Doritos in our pantry had expired…on my watch! …
Continue reading “Bags Of Glory, Crumbs Of Memories, Change”
by Kevin Burton My very first ecstatic sports moment came via a baseball wild pitch. The Cincinnati Reds won the 1972 pennant by scoring two runs in the ninth inning of game 5. First Johnny Bench hit a tying home run. Then with two outs, Pittsburgh pitcher Bob Moose uncorked a game-ending wild …
Continue reading “You Never Forget Your First Hate (Dodgers)”
by Dictionary Scoop Ever felt something so oddly specific that you couldn’t quite put it into words? Turns out, there are words for those hard-to-describe emotions—you just haven’t heard them yet. Here are a few you might recognize from your own inner world. 1-Mal de Coucou: Friends everywhere, but no real connection …
by Kevin Burton I say “Jane you ignorant slut,” and you of a certain age know exactly what I am talking about. It’s an old Saturday Night Live bit from the 70s, Point/Counterpoint, a sendup of the political opinion shows and a similar segment on 60 Minutes. Jane Curtin spoke in favor of …
by Kevin Burton Residents of one Alaska neighborhood in my newspaper’s coverage area sought to correct a flooding problem by putting rocks in a river. Riprap, they called it, which is, as I would learn, “a foundation or sustaining wall of stones or chunks of concrete thrown together without order.” From that …
by Kevin Burton Looking back, The Bee Gees’ “Jive Talkin’” seems like an obvious, inevitable number one smash. In its day, it was anything but. Fifty years ago today the song was in a two-week run at the top of the Hot 100. It pretty much saved the Bee Gees. There was …
Continue reading ““Jive Talkin’” Saved The Bee Gees In 1975”
by Dictionary Scoop We all have nursery rhymes etched in our memory, verses that take us straight back to our childhood. But behind some of those catchy, cheerful tunes lie surprisingly dark and mysterious origins rooted in real-life history. Join us to discover the hidden stories behind the most popular nursery rhymes. 1-The …
Continue reading “Some Nursery Rhymes Not Exactly Kid Stuff”
by Kevin Burton On a tip from a new friend, I knocked on the door of Interlingua language school one day, and asked the good people there to employ me. Shockingly, they took me up on it. This was in the Reagan 80s. I was in somebody else’s country, Mexico, and somebody …
Continue reading “In Praise Of Mexico, Lettuce And Billy Joel”
by Kevin Burton Did you know the 1975 smash “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennile is actually a breakup song? Hey, I was there. Yes it is, a breakup song! Well, sort of. Fifty years ago today it was in the beginning of a four-week run at the …
Continue reading ““Love Will Keep Us Together” Is Pop Perfection”
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