Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton On the morning of my first day as a full-time honest-to-God newspaper reporter, a game of musical chairs broke out. Musical desks too. I had been hired by The Frontiersman in Wasilla, Alaska, to replace a local government reporter. I was a second choice. The person they hired first …
Continue reading “Long Live The Frontiersman And Print News”
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 …
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 …
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 …
by Rebecca Treon BBC On a dusty stretch of northern Arizona, about an hour west of Flagstaff, the neon glow of Angel and Vilma Delgadillo’s Original Route 66 Gift Shop still flickers to life each morning. Inside, 98-year-old Angel Delgadillo greets the stream of visitors pouring in from tour buses with a handshake and …
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 …
Continue reading “Make Time For Mom, You’ll Be Glad You Did”
by Ally Hirschlag BBC It was the sixth straight day of the heat index topping 100F (38C) in New Milford, Connecticut, when the sky turned a sickening shade of puce. I was leading an outdoor theatre workshop, and noticed campers gawking at an ominous, miles-long shelf cloud advancing overhead. Then a thunderclap shook …
Continue reading “Pleasures And Benefits Of Soaking In The Rain”
by Kevin Burton There was just one song that brought Dave Mason into my top-40-based musical awareness in the 70s, but that was enough to keep him there. Mason died April 19, and tributes began to pour in from people who knew him as I didn’t, as a co-founder of the British rock …
by Kevin Burton Fourteen years ago, give or take six days, I attended a wedding in Wichita. My own. Some of my friends thought I would never get married. So it may have been fitting that the heavens opened up on my wedding night. Jeannette and I exchanged vows at 3 p.m., …
Continue reading “Tornado Interrupts Wedding: Sounds Familiar!”
by Kevin Burton My most recent place of employment was a three-story church, which had, on the third floor, a gymnasium. I almost never went up there because my work was on the other two floors. But the whole time I worked there, there was a basketball on the floor, in the office, …
Continue reading “The Last Jump Shot Of A Confirmed Gym Rat”
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