Studies Say Music Is The Way To Brainpower

by Kevin Burton    My father wanted me to study computer programming in college. He had that charming way of pushing his desires for himself onto other people.    I wanted to be a journalist – an unblinking champion of the truth and a painter with words. I had that charming way of evaluating ideas …

Songwriting School, Class In Session

by Kevin Burton    International Songwriters Day was observed yesterday and I’m staying on that theme.     This post is a service to all you songwriters, or really any kind of writers, out there. But who am I kidding, it’s also to keep my head in the game and stoke those musical fires again.    …

Songwriters Day, A Musical Day Of Reckoning

by Kevin Burton    I grew up mostly at the school for the blind in Ohio. But I had (still have) some partial vision and I played a lot of sandlot baseball in my day.    The school used to hire recreation leaders to work with us restless kids. I think these were students from …

Karaoke Machine Inventor Dies At Age 100

by Kevin Burton    Shigeichi Negishi, the inventor of the world’s first commercially-available karaoke machine, has died in Japan at age 100, according to National Public Radio.    Never knew the man, but boy has he filled up my Saturday nights.    You take a character from Billy Joel’s Piano Man who is“sure that I …

Quibbles And Bits: Going Postal, Smart Water

by Kevin Burton     Come and get it, kids! Page 7 is now serving up quibbles and bits for the first time in 2024. \   We’ve been helping you connect the dots since 2019 and we’re not about to stop now So here’s a train of thought that makes a few stops along the way……. …

I Wish You Christmas Merriness, With Jesus

by Kevin Burton     Well, the big day has come, and I wish you a Merry Christmas!    This covers today and all Christmases. Even after I die, if you’re still chugging along and remember me, remember that old Kev wished you a Merry Christmas.    But on this Christmas Day I have a bigger …

Origins Of Six Classic Christmas Songs

by interestingfacts.com    The ubiquity of holiday songs on television, radio, and social media from Thanksgiving through Christmas ensures that we’ll be able to sing these anthems in our sleep.    But lesser known are the backstories behind these famous tunes, which share common themes but draw from vastly different sources. From centuries-old standards to …

Blind Band, From Darkness To Limelight

by Xinhua GUIYANG — During the day, Yang Zhi works as a blind massage therapist, and at night, he is the lead singer of ‘Zhe Er Gen,’ a band that enchants the vibrant streets of Guiyang, capital of southwest China’s Guizhou Province.    Bathed in the stage lights, passersby often halt in surprise as four …

A Lunar Light Show Called A ‘Moonbow’

by Kevin Burton    Would you believe? Rainbows by night; moonbows!    They’ve got to be good looking ‘cuz they’re so hard to see. But they do exist. Poets, take note.    Never heard of this, but this week I read about them on interestingfacts.com, then on Wikipedia. I say, there must be a song …

Lowes Hates Me And I Hate It Right Back

by Kevin Burton    Please know up front this is not one of my angry product/company boycott posts….but I hate Lowes.    Please know that Lowes is our go-to store for all things home improvement. Just about all the problems we’ve ever had at Lowes were our own fault, because we bought the wrong thing. …