Spoonful’s John Sebastian Turns 79

by Kevin Burton     Happy 79th birthday to the personable multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter John Sebastian.    Both his music and his personality seem accessible, based on how he comes off in interviews on You Tube. I mean, here’s a rock and roller who plays the auto harp of all things. He said he learned the instrument …

Hey Baseball, Get Off My Lawn!

by Kevin Burton    The seasons are changing, calendar and sports calendar; the time is changing (spring forward Saturday night, kids), too much is changing.    Any number of poets have rhapsodized about the beginning of spring and all it symbolizes. OK, I’m good with that. But as a sports guy in the man cave, …

Raised On Radio: Petty’s “Last DJ” Banned

by Kevin Burton    National DJ Day on Jan. 20 sent me rocking down memory lane, recalling a time when deft tuning of a transistor radio could take you to another world.    The heyday of radio, as we talk about it now in the past tense, was a whole other American era, an entirely …

The Case For George Harrison, Best Beatle

by Kevin Burton     I asked a co-worker, a big Beatles fan who has played guitar since high school, for his opinion on The Big Question: Who was the most essential Beatle?    I suppose I was spoiling for a McCartney/Lennon fight. That discussion goes to Paul McCartney and John Lennon and stops there, right? …

Quibbles And Bits: Chiefs An Evil Empire?

by Kevin Burton    Today, some updates, passing asides and leftovers from previous posts. When I cook these up together, I call them quibbles and bits.    Come and get it!:    From my two posts about favorite duets:     I can not overstate how much I love much of the work of Paul McCartney. …

Looking For A Spark In A Springsteen Song

by Kevin Burton    My favorite Bruce Springsteen song was born of irritation and is marinated in frustration.    I seem to have slipped into it comfortably, as one might slip into a t-shirt and jeans.     Here is how the song came to be, according to SongFacts:    “Springsteen wrote it after his manager, …

Don’t Miss The Moments Life Brings You

by Kevin Burton    Somewhere between the art of science and the science of art, I dropped the ball and missed a moment.     The girls were up from Oklahoma between Christmas and New Years Eve. The girls are our now-ten-year-old granddaughter on my wife’s side and her five-year-old step sister by living arrangement, not …

Love Is Growing New And She’s Still The One

by Kevin Burton    Found a lyric last week that is so cool, I want to use it to tell my happy Valentine’s Day story.    This is what happens when my usual Tuneful Tuesday post coincides with Valentine’s Day.    The song “Still The One” went to number five for Orleans in 1976.  It’s …

Legendary Composer Bacharach Dead At 94

by Kevin Burton    You know Burt Bacharach, even when it’s not Burt Bacharach.    Bacharach died Wednesday at home in Los Angeles of natural causes, according to his publicist, Tina Brausam.    The Kansas City-born composer had an unmistakable sound, especially in his work with longtime writing partner, lyricist Hal David.    The New …

Another Set Of Musical Valentines

by Kevin Burton    Yesterday I plucked ten of my favorites from a Billboard list of the 40 biggest duets ever. Today I’ll list ten of my favorites that didn’t make their last.    Pulling from that list was easy. Now I’m picking from every other duet ever released. Chances are quite high that I …