Can You Imagine Elton John As A Banker?

by Kevin Burton    Elton John turns 76 today.  So when I was nine years old listening to Crocodile Rock, he was all of 26.    He wasn’t called Sir Elton back then, not hardly.  He was a sight to behold.    His wild costumes and antics on stage. His huge international hit songs, these …

Old Times, Springtime And Baseball Cards

by Kevin Burton     Mid-March, this time of year. In the old days, when it wasn’t quite time for baseball, it was time for baseball cards.     Growing up at the school for the blind in Ohio in the 70s, with the gloom and chill of February fading, with temperatures perhaps in the high 40s …

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 …

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, …

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 …

(Mostly) Sweet Duets For Valentine’s Day

by Kevin Burton    Love is in the air, not to mention on all the store shelves. I’m sure you’ve noticed.    Gentlemen, you’re on this, right? One week from today, Valentine’s Day.    OK, to get you in the mood, we’ll have not one, but two posts this week dealing with duets. For Valentine’s …

Raised On Radio: Gaga For That Sound

by Kevin Burton    Can’t remember how we got on the topic, but a co-worker was telling me last week how radio was the life blood of his youth.    Radio was the conveyor belt on which everybody travelled in my day, as in his (he is roughly ten years older than I am, if …

Raised On Radio: National Disc Jockey Day

by Kevin Burton    The other day I was researching music and stumbled upon the Raised On Radio podcast. I thought, yeah, wish I had thought of that.    That’s me. I was raised on radio.    When I got back online to find it again, I found something entirely different called Raised On The …