Country Music Icon Dolly Parton Dies At 80

by Kevin Burton    Sometimes at the movies, the writers ask you to suspend disbelief. For one 70s song, I couldn’t do it.    The song is “Jolene” by Dolly Parton.    In a quivering delivery, Dolly begs this Jolene character, “please don’t take my man.” I just never could buy that.    I thought, …

Find The Good Life In Christ And None Other

by Kevin Burton     At a commencement ceremony in Columbus years ago I heard the speaker admonish us to not “confuse what is clever with what is wise.”    That stuck with me.    Some of the commercials I endure while watching the NFL on Sundays are clever.   But there is very little wisdom to …

Quibbles And Bits: Sorry Drew, Didn’t Mean It!

by Kevin Burton    In a recent post about Elton John and his struggles with vision loss, I made an offhanded, rash statement. Today I make a correction.    I hope it’s not too late.    I wondered in print about what I would say to Sir Elton about blindness in the very unlikely event …

Of Sir Elton John And Seeing Things Clearly

by Kevin Burton    What would you say to Sir Elton John if you could have a moment’s conversation with him today?    Now that question may be absurd, or at least rhetorical. If you’re like me and grew up with Elton John in his prime all over the radio, as part of the fabric …

More Musing On Life, Baseball And Pete Rose

by Kevin Burton    One day I answered the phone and instead of a typical getting I heard, “Your boy’s in jail.”    Baseball was one of the few things that my father and I could talk about peacefully. But we had a disagreement about Pete Rose.    I loved Rose, who died Sept. 30 …

Happy Birthday To Sir Paul McCartney, 82

by Kevin Burton    When Paul McCartney was 14 he wrote a whimsical song called “When I’m Sixty-Four.” As of today he’s 82.    Can you believe that?    On that pivotal night, Feb. 9, 1964, when the Fab Four Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, their collective age was 86.    A …

A Female Version Of The Beatles? Who Knew?

by Kevin Burton    I have read maybe two dozen books about the Beatles on talking book. But I didn’t know this.    In books by and about other contemporary artists, the Beatles emerge, as a yardstick, a cultural happening, a turning point. But not so much as a syllable about this.    Until very …

Gerry Rafferty Was Born 77 Years Ago Today

by Kevin Burton    The headline to an article in The Independent called Gerry Rafferty a “bipolar alcoholic industry misfit.” His biographers including his daughter Martha dispute none of that.    The article was printed on the occasion of the 2021 release of “Rest In Blue” an album of Rafferty demos polished and completed by …

New Beatles Song Is Neither Now Nor Then

by Kevin Burton    Think of the individual Beatles’ colossal talents, with egos to match. Think of the group putting together an album.    It’s John Lennon trying to get his songs on the record, Paul McCartney doing the same and George Harrison fighting to be heard at all.    There is creativity, artistry, but …

The Infectious Rhythm Of A Disco Classic

by Kevin Burton    For those rock and rollers who hate disco, one song makes me wonder.    I have always wondered what that group thinks of “Turn The Beat Around” by Vicki Sue Robinson.    Robinson was born on this date in 1954.  She was only 45 when she died of cancer in 2000.  …