Burton Ride Service Delivers (For Me)

by Kevin Burton    The following is a product/service review for the Burton Ride Service, located in South Central Kansas.    The service was formally established in 2012. Terms and conditions for this service are written between the lines of a 2012 marriage license obtained in Sedgwick County, Kansas.    This review is written and …

“Backward And Forward” And My Memories

by Kevin Burton     I guess there’s a reason why melody and memory aren’t far apart in the dictionary. They go together like peas and porridge.     And, for those who think there is something pejorative in the term “one-hit wonder,” well what about all those no-hit nobodies?    We’re all doing our best then, …

Wife To The Rescue of Alexa And Me

by Kevin Burton    My songwriting is punctuated by bursts of creativity, drive and joy but it swims in a vast ocean of self-doubt.    If confidence were gun powder, I couldn’t blow up an apple.  My confidence is like that sorry little piece of fat they call pork, in a huge can of beans, …

Wichita State Great Ron Baker Turns 30

by Kevin Burton    Ron Baker, the shooting guard who helped usher in the greatest era of basketball at Wichita State, turns 30 tomorrow.    Some of us may not be ready to hear that.    Some of us overlooked, downtrodden people clung tightly to those Wichita State teams, underdogs who routinely slayed giants (I’m …

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 …

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? …

Younger McCartney Travels His Own Path

by Kevin Burton    The English singer known professionally as Mike McGear has a birthday today. He turns 79.    Among the greetings and well wishes, he may get a birthday call, or maybe a musical card that plays the Beatles song “Birthday,” from his brother – Paul McCartney.    Peter Michael McCartney created the …

Disaster At Who Concert Still Haunts Band

   I’ve written a lot about the Beatles and Beatlemania, but there is another side to the craziness of rock and roll.    Yesterday was the 43rd anniversary of the tragedy at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati when eleven people were killed in a stampede to get into a concert by The Who. There was no …

Lennon’s Thanksgiving Concert Appearance

by Kevin Burton    On Thanksgiving night 1974, two of England’s best musical exports, John Lennon and Elton John appeared together in concert.    The appearance was Lennon paying off a bet of sorts.     His song “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” had just reached the top of the US Hot 100, something Lennon was …

New Zealand Tries To Tax Burping Cows

by Kevin Burton    Politicians, working in committees, will find a way.     Bet you five dollars they will. And cows will be cows.    This story from the Associated Press out of Wellington New Zealand, marries politics, agriculture and the unseemly but altogether natural acts of cows.     “New Zealand’s government on Tuesday proposed …