Little Sis Had Her Day, Did It Her Way

by Kevin Burton    It was years after the fact when he told the story, but the anger was still there in his voice.    Apparently someone in obstetrics at the Minot Air Force Base suggested that my father could, or maybe should, allow my newborn sister Patricia to die.    This was before she …

Last Echoes From The Brilliant Rafferty

by Kevin Burton    Thanks to his daughter Martha, we have a new studio album from Gerry Rafferty, ten years after his death.    Parlophone Records released “Rest In Blue” on Friday.  It’s a revamping of the songs he was working on at the time of his death.    For dedicated Rafferty fans it’s a …

Going To Music School With Alison Trelfa

By Kevin Burton    Twice in her life Alison Trelfa has worked as a music teacher. Some of her advice on a recent zoom call has me going to school.    Trelfa is a blind singer/songwriter from Middleborough, England. I wrote about her and her self-released album Decades Of Creation Saturday and Sunday on Page …

Alison Trelfa: At Home With The Music

by Kevin Burton    The inside photo is the most evocative of the two that come with “Decades of Creation” an album by Alison Trelfa.     That one shows her seated on a porch swing, holding her ukulele and smiling.  That picture lets you know you’re at home with Alison Trelfa, who is at home …

Discovering The Music Of Alison Trelfa

by Kevin Burton    Alison Trelfa can’t recall a time without music.    You could say music filled the world surrounding her as a girl, to paraphrase one of her favorite songs.     On weekends home from the Royal Victoria School for the Blind, Trelfa would usually spend the Saturday at rehearsals for her mother’s …

No Need For Fake Commutes At My House

by Kevin Burton    Working from home is one of the virus-era changes that I think is here to stay.     It continues to be a necessity for many and it just makes a lot of sense for employers and employees alike.        But some people are having trouble with one aspect of home …

Brighter Days And Plans That Work Out

by Kevin Burton    Last month I assured my mother and the rest of the family that a certain cabinet would fit under a certain table.    She was moving, in a hurry, and we were strategizing.  She was going to assisted living, going from eight rooms to four. A lot of stuff would have …

The Hall Call That Pete Rose Never Got

by Kevin Burton    An open letter to a “friend” of sorts, Pete Rose. Dear Pete,    In my house I always had to defend you.    My father didn’t respect you, said you got all your hits with two outs and nobody on and hit into double plays with men on.     I never …

“Songs In The Attic” Closes Another Show

by Kevin Burton    Do you have certain albums you play to set certain moods?    Like a baseball manager has a closer, there is one album I go to when one era of life is ending and another beginning.    I moved a lot in my 20s and I listened to Billy Joel a …

Prayer Needed For Tough Family Decisions

by Kevin Burton    I went literary on you last Friday.  Hope that was OK.     I wrote about my mother moving to an assisted living facility and the parallels for that move and my move to the Ohio State School for the Blind as a fourth grader in 1972 (“Love, Tears And Doing The …