Mom Gave Me Birth, Gave Back My Birthday

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 …

Is Ringo’s New Record Better Than Paul’s

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 …

Meet the 98-year-old ‘Angel of Route 66’

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 …

Pleasures And Benefits Of Soaking In The Rain

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 …

Dave Mason And A Place That’s Far Away

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 …

Tempering Expectations For McCartney Album

by Kevin Burton    I think writers borrow the whole Dickens thing too much. You know, best of times-worst of times. But here I think, it fits.    As a Beatles fan I am of course looking forward to “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” PaulMcCartney’s first new solo album in six years, set for release …

December 1963, Oh What A Song, For The Guy

by Kevin Burton    Here’s what we know about the female character from “December 1963 (Oh What a Night,” the Four Seasons’ fifth and last number one hit:    She had the ability to walk. She walked into a room. That’s all we get.    No eyes of blue, no golden hair, no perfume in …

The Last Jump Shot Of A Confirmed Gym Rat

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, …

A “Knocker-Upper” Isn’t What You Think It Is

by Dictionary Scoop    Social, economic, and technological changes, along with the emergence of new consumer habits, have led to the disappearance of certain jobs that were once popular and profitable. Here is a list of ten English words describing occupations and professions that are rare or have become obsolete: 1-Alewife    Did you know that women …

Pumping Life Into Super Sunday Won’t be Easy

by Kevin Burton    I’m trying to care. Honest to God, I’m trying.    I am a football fan. And I am going to watch the Super Bowl.    Somebody asked me the other day, “you going for Seattle or New England?” “I don’t care,” I said.    And that is mostly true. I would …