Cincinnati Baseball Icon Pete Rose Dead At 83

by Kevin Burton    This is a story about baseball cards and the souls of men.    Or maybe it’s about crime and punishment and fleeting youth.    Or maybe this is a Joni Mitchell song in the making; I’ve looked at Pete Rose from both sides now, from glory and shame and still somehow …

I Can Still Feel That Mexican Embrace

by Kevin Burton    There is a cove that I visit, a path where I meander, to which no one on earth can follow.    I don’t go often, but when I go, I go down deep.    Out of despair from not being able to break into journalism, I decided at 24 to go …

Honeymoon Days And A Potty-Placement Row

by Kevin Burton    Ah Hounslow!    On the desktop of my office computer is a picture of the “Hounslow Central” sign which was in front of our nearest train station while we were on our honeymoon in London.    Our adventures started there that week, and took us all around the capital city, to …

50 Years Ago, Terry Jacks’ “Season In The Sun”

by Kevin Burton    When you move into a house, you see it and feel it in a way all your own. You inhabit that space with your special vitality.    The way others see that space, if they see it at all, may be interesting, but it lays no lasting hold on you.    …

Archaic Words From Christmas Songs

by Kevin Burton    Uh-oh, I think I may be archaic.    Our friends at Merriam-Webster dictionary served up a timely platter of cookies this week, a list of “archaic” words we know from Christmas songs.  Well I just used one of these words last week on Page 7!    In order to keep this …

“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 …

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 …

Last Of The Original Temptations Looks Back

by Nick Krewen Special to the Toronto Star    Sixty-three years on, Otis Williams is still at the helm of one of the greatest Motown acts of all-time, the Temptations.    Not only does the tenor and baritone vocalist continue to tour with the group into its seventh decade as its only original member, but …

One Final Encore For The Beatles

by Kevin Burton    I’m guessing the final Beatles song, to be released later this week, will be neither a bang, nor a whimper.    Or maybe it will be a bang, and a whimper and everything in between. That would be fitting for a band that was and is “ way beyond compare” to …

How Long Is A Jiffy Exactly?

by Kevin Burton    Last month on Page 7 we looked at words such as several and handful that defy exact definition. Here’s another: Jiffy.    How long is a jiffy?    Merriam-Webster says a jiffy is “a very short period of time: moment, instant.” The Cambridge dictionary lists synonyms “flash, heartbeat, instant, split second.” …