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 …
Tag Archives: rock music
Raised On Radio: Petty’s “Last DJ” Banned
by Kevin Burton National DJ Day on Jan. 20 sent me rocking down memory lane, recalling a time when deft tuning of a transistor radio could take you to another world. The heyday of radio, as we talk about it now in the past tense, was a whole other American era, an entirely …
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Songwriter Cynthia Weil Turns 82
by Kevin Burton Happy 82nd birthday to a great American songwriter you may not know much about, Cynthia Weil. If her name doesn’t ring a bell, her music sure will. She and her husband Barry Mann formed one of the most important songwriting teams of the 60s. They were contemporaries of writers you …
Sunny Songs To Usher In Summer
by Kevin Burton Ready or not, here’s summer! Today’s official beginning of summer coincides with our usual Tuesday music discussion on Page 7 to bring you songs about summer. Summer started at 4:14 am Central Time today, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. But most people have a different definition of summer a …
Reality Intrudes Upon Laverne And Shirley
by Kevin Burton Shame on me for this, but there was a time when I believed every word of the song from Laverne and Shirley. That show ran from 1976 to 1983 on ABC. It was a big hit for its first few years, a spinoff from the very popular “Happy Days.” It …
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The Trippy Lyrics Of Strawberry Letter 23
by Kevin Burton From its carousel introduction to its abstract imagery lyrics, “Strawberry Letter 23” was, different. The song was released 45 years ago this month on Epic Records. You remember the tune? It was one of the quieter songs performed by the Brothers Johnson. Wikipedia says the 7-inch single was …
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What Ever Happened To The Tambourine?
by Kevin Burton Hey man, do you dig the tambourine? They sure did back in the 60s. It was everywhere! Is there any surer stamp marking the time a record was produced, than the prominent use of tambourine? Just for fun I grabbed one of my 60s compilation CDs, “Feelin’ Groovy” put …
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. …
Singer Gladys Knight Turns 78
by Kevin Burton Happy 78th birthday to gospel singer Gladys Knight, and all aboard that midnight train! I think we’ve all taken that midnight train. It’s the one you ride when you are forced to leave cherished dreams behind and build a new life. The song “Midnight Train To Georgia” hit number …
Rapping To The Ladies, Wishful Thinking
by Kevin Burton I love the Doobie Brothers, but I have a complaint. Let’s engage in a little wishful thinking, shall we? I wish Michael McDonald would enunciate. Wishful thinking is “the attribution of reality to what one wishes to be true or the tenuous justification of what one wants to believe,” according …
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