“You’re No Good” Singer Linda Ronstadt Is 79

by Kevin Burton    Gilbert Ronstadt was the owner of Ronstadt’s Hardware Store in Tucson, Arizona. He loved to play his guitar for this three children, two girls and a boy.    The kids formed a group called “The Three Ronstadts” and played at functions in the area.    One of the girls, you will …

Lennon’s 1972 Peace Overture To McCartney

by Kevin Burton    How would music history be different, had an invitation sent in 1972 been received favorably?    The acrimony surrounding the Beatles’ breakup was not as fevered as Beatlemania itself – nothing else in music has ever been – but it was white hot.    But some two years after the split, John …

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 …

Tears Of Joy In This Valentine’s Day Music

by Kevin Burton    I have made the case for “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney as the greatest love song ever written.    But it’s Valentine’s week and nobody’s going to buy that claim just now. Feb. 14 calls for something with a different feel.    So I phoned a friend, so to speak. …

Billy Joel To Release New Song Thursday

by Kevin Burton    Is it just that easy, like flipping a switch?    Guess we’ll find out Thursday, when Columbia Records drops the first new Billy Joel single in 17 years, a song called “Turn The Lights Back On.”    “In a press release from his label, Columbia Records, the song is said to …

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 …

One Final Encore For The Beatles

by Kevin Burton    I’m guessing the final Beatles song, to be released later this week, will be neither a bang, nor a whimper.    Or maybe it will be a bang, and a whimper and everything in between. That would be fitting for a band that was and is “ way beyond compare” to …

Carolina And The Mind Of James Taylor

by Kevin Burton    You can take the boy from Carolina but you will never extract Carolina from James Taylor.    That’s how it works. Our inner compass points toward home. When we can’t be there physically, our minds take us there. Sometimes it’s better that way.    Just as Penny Lane is in the …

I Guess Static Cling Is A Thing After All

by Kevin Burton    Serving up quibbles and bits for Saturday breakfast on Page 7.  Stray ideas, quick hitters, random asides.    It’s food for thought, albeit maybe not real deep thought…..    So, I spent the first 90 percent of my workday Friday with a washcloth stuffed inside my shirt. I put on a …

A New Beatles Song? We’ll Take It!

by Kevin Burton    From a beloved uncle or a dear friend who has passed away, you find a previously unknown letter. How precious is that?    It’s a piece of that person that you never had, at a time when you thought there would be no more glimpses into their being. Would you not …