Thursday, October 31, 2013

November News





From Gene Burnett

The "Flexy Racer" was a downhill street sled popular in the late 50's and early 60's. My friend and T'ai-Chi student Ed Walsh used to ride them when he was a kid in California. He recently purchased one on eBay and on October 13th, 2013, he took his first real "flight" downhill in 48 years! He started out cautiously, testing the capabilities of the Flexy, but soon he got it going pretty fast and even busted out some street moves. I was there to video the whole thing. See embedded video above…We all had a great time, especially Ed. Just look at his face after the last few runs. "You're never too old to have a blast!"

As for me, life is pretty good. I’m busy, but it’s all good stuff. When I say “busy” that includes the free time I need to myself in order to stay sane and happy. I protect the quality of my life as much as I can. I have a lot of spinning plates in the air but as I said it’s all good stuff. What I have to watch out for is additional projects. I can so small short terms ones…but larger projects and especially new ongoing work, I’m not that interested in. Life is too short to get burned out and overworked. On the other hand I like my work and sometimes it’s hard to say no to more…So again, finding the balance, finding the balance…

I have a batch of new songs that I’m very happy with and I’m hoping to begin recording them soon. I really like these new songs a lot, but I’ve been fighting some kind of throat infection that has left me feeling fine but with a mixed bag in the voice department. I might end up recording them next year…we will see.

As some of you know, I mainly teach private lessons but I’ve started teaching a drop-in T’ai-Chi Fundamentals class every Monday morning from 9:30-10:30am at the Family Massage Education Center on the corner of Mountain and E. Main here in Ashland. This is an on-going drop-in class, no experience necessary. I won’t be teaching any forms in this class, just relatively easy solo and partner exercises designed to give participants a better sense of unforced balance, what it is, how to deepen it, and how to cultivate it. Samarra made me a simple poster for the class that says:

Flow More ~ Force Less

T’ai-Chi For Daily Life
Learn to balance effort and relaxation
Fundamentals Class with Gene Burnett

Nice! That’s more or less what we do in this class. No need to pre-register just show up a little before 9:30am. The fee for the class is $10.


So here we go…starting with the usual information about where to find my music, videos and pictures, including information about new projects, and then followed by information about local shows in case you’re in the Rogue Valley.

I’m offering all this stuff in a “just in case you’re interested” spirit.

So…in case you’re interested…


Recorded Music

My newest album, is called “Already There” and like all my other albums (29 so far…), it’s available for downloading free or with a donation at my website: www.GeneBurnett.com I like all of my albums but some people really seem to especially like this one.


Videos In General

Overall Mission: I post a lot of videos on youtube, over 800 so far! I'm not trying to build a fan base...In fact, I'm not trying to build anything. I'm not expecting you or anyone else to follow what I'm doing or watch all of these videos. Posting videos is just part of my overall plan to make my music (and my T’ai-Chi and Nature videos too) as freely available as possible and see what freely comes back. I think of each video as sort of like a message in a bottle...and more I toss out there the more likely one of them will land on a friendly shore and something good will come back to me. So here are some video links in case you're interested:

How to Find My Videos: First of all, I've set up a "Videos" page on my website (www.GeneBurnett.com) with a menu similar to what you see below as well as a digital tip jar in case any of you want to contribute to my cottage industry. Every little bit helps and not just financially. 

I've also set up some blogs that make navigating and viewing my various videos much easier. You can go to any of these blogs and see thumbnails for all of the videos posted there. Scroll across the thumbnails and you will see the titles of each video. Click on it and a page will open that will let you watch the video right there without going to youtube. My latest videos are always in the upper left hand corner.

To see all of my Music videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Videos

To see all of my T'ai-Chi videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Movement

To see all of my Nature videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Nature

For a quick and easy way to sort through, listen to, or download all of my albums free or with a donation, click here: The Unforced Music

To see my regular blog “The Unforced Life”, click here: The Unforced Life

To visit my youtube channel and possibly subscribe, click here: My Youtube Channel

To see all of my youtube playlists click here: My Youtube Playlists 


New Videos:

A bunch more “Sky videos” which feature my songs set to video I shot of our beautiful Southern Oregon skies:











Here’s a link to my “Sky Videos” youtube playlist if you like this sort of thing:



A T’ai-Chi video:



A Message to my Youtube subscribers (just went over 500):



Three more Rogue Poetry Slam videos of me reading my lyrics:





Pictures

I've stopped posting pictures on facebook, (for many reasons), and started posting them instead on Flickr, which I like much better.

Here's a link to my "home page" at Flicker: Photostream.

I have many photo galleries there but a few of my favorites are:

Small Miracles (mostly Nature related stuff)

The Dish Whisperer (I started posting a daily picture of my dish stacking work over a year ago. I’m approaching 700 straight days. I have no idea how long I’ll keep doing this. I’m so used to it, it hardly takes any effort at all to continue. I made a video for my song “I'll Do The Dishes Tonight” that featured a slideshow of the first year. If I make it through this second year, I may write a new “Dishes” song or use some other song I’ve already written to make another video.) 

"Head" and "Boot" (devoted to our two gerbils)






Upcoming Shows:

Friday November 1rst, I'll be playing at Paddy Brannan's Irish Pub with The Graceful Losers, a.k.a. Robbie Lindauer backing me up on guitar and Mark Arinsberg on cajon. I’ve decided that whenever I play with other musicians in a band setting, we will be called “Gene Burnett & The Graceful Losers”. We play from about 9pm 'til around Midnight. Stop by for a pint and some music. I've always liked the friendly and fun vibe of this place. One of my favorite places to play.

Monday, November 4th, I'll be playing at one of my favorite Ashland venues, Liquid Assets. A relaxed living room vibe with great service, excellent food and wine, and a really nice place to listen to music. I play from 8-10pm, maybe longer...

Wednesday November 6th , I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of each month. This month's theme is "Political Songs” so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems relating to politics of any kind. We're never too strict or narrow about the themes for this event. The main idea is to focus our attention a little to hopefully inspire and motivate us creatively. These are always fun. No Cover at the friendliest bar in town. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm. 
*A heads up for next month: Wednesday December 4th, 2013 “3rd Annual Winter/Holiday Songs“

Tuesday, November 19th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Northwest Pizza and Pasta in Ashland. Sign-up is at 7:30pm and the show starts at 8. If you've never been to or competed in a Poetry Slam, I highly recommend this one. Come to watch, compete, or be one of the judges. Some people think of slams as hardcore hip-hop events or places where people are mean and talk trash, but nothing could be further from the truth. All kinds of poetry are welcome and people are very supportive. And it's so nice to participate in an event that is all about the words, or in my case, lyrics. For me it's really not about winning or losing, but just the fun of sharing my words with people and seeing what happens.

Wednesday, November 20th, I'll be playing at The Wild Goose. Just me solo from 8-11pm. Friendliest bar in town. Never a cover at The Goose. I usually play here on the Third Wednesday of every month.

Saturday November 23rd, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.

Thursday, November 28th, Thanksgiving, I'll be presenting as part of the Annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Ceremony at Wesley Hall, Methodist Church, at Laurel and North Main Street, across from Briscoe School. 10am-11am. This event is free and it is the biggest and best attended interfaith ceremony of the year, one I really look forward to. There will be representatives from many different traditions, each giving short presentations on this year's theme: “A Long Standing Tradition”. This will be the 30th Annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Ceremony so the theme is most appropriate. I'll be representing Taoism, (even though the Tao that can be represented is not the true Tao!) I'll do a short talk and then play one of my songs. I love this event and think it's a great way to kick off the holiday. Come early if you can, this one is usually packed. This year we are asking that people bring blankets for homeless if you have any to spare. 


For more info on these and all of my shows, and to confirm that there have been no cancellations, click here: Calendar  

Since I'm putting this newsletter out once a month, it's possible there may be a cancellation of a given show by the time it happens. Please double check with my web calendar if possible to be sure the gig is still happening. I'd hate to have you come out for nothing. Also another gig or two might be added or times or locations might change, so do check the calendar for the latest info.  


Website

I continue to offer all of my albums for downloading, free or with a donation at my website: www.GeneBurnett.com I started doing this about 7 years ago and considered it a 5 year creative experiment. Well the 5 years passed and I decided to start calling it my "ongoing creative experiment" as I have no plans to stop. Since I returned to my folk roots and stopped climbing, or trying to climb, the industry ladder, I've been enjoying music in my life more than ever before. And enjoyment, rather than achievement or worldly success has always been dearest to my heart anyway. So now I focus totally on what I love most: writing, recording, performing and sharing what I create. If other people like it, so much the better, but getting other people to like me or what I do is no longer my goal or focus. I'm out to please myself first. I want to do my music exactly the way I want to do it and see who likes it that way, not figure out what people will like and try to do it that way. I put it out there freely and see what comes freely back. So far so good. I've never had more success and appreciation than I have since I started doing it this. Go figure. 


Thanks, as usual, for your support and well wishes even if you don't make to any shows.

GB

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Balance



And Daily Life

I'm not a savior or a guru, but I am a teacher and I do my best through teaching T'ai-Chi to help people have better balance, spatial awareness, alignment, relaxation, responsiveness, and some self defense options as well.

There is much self-inflicted pain that can be avoided simply by instilling good posture and muscle use. There is also much pain that is inflicted by others, whether by people, objects, or forces like gravity, that can also be avoided or at least mitigated, with the kinds of skills and awareness that a physical discipline like T'ai-Chi can bring.

But I'm not doing any of this to fix the world, or to fix the problem of people hurting other people. I'm doing it because it's my nature to study and teach this stuff.

I would say in a general way that studying and teaching T'ai-Chi, has improved all of my relationships by making me more conscious of my boundaries (my "yes" and my "no" as the Tao Te Tching calls them). I feel better able to defend them and to let them down, as the need arises.

From studying internal arts, all of my capacities are on more of a "dimmer switch" than an "on and off" switch, so this has helped me be more nuanced and less reactive in my relationships.

Also, some of my friends, including my wife, are actually students and practice partners, so we can practice together adding a whole new layer to our ongoing "conversation".

And, I feel more sensitive to my own inner sense of balance and rightness, as well as my own needs and the needs of my friends. I feel better able to feel in general.

I've also learned a lot about the relationship between attitudes and emotions and how people hold and move their bodies and this had given me lots of insight into why people behave the way they do and what a particular person might be like under their skin.

The effects of T'ai-Chi on my relationships is one of the main reasons I study T'ai-Chi and one of the main reasons I enjoy teaching it to other people. Gurus tell you how to live and ask for a certain kind of obedience. I just like helping people with their balance and giving them the tools to be their own gurus.

Balance is always dynamic, never static. A friend once told me that he considered the true test of martial arts to be the workplace, where he would ask this question: Can I get through this day, week, month, year, life, without injuring myself, anyone I work with, or any thing I work with? I tend to agree with this assessment. Even if you work at a desk, try doing that for 10 years with bad posture or attitude, and see what gravity does to you. Being attacked by ninjas is pretty unlikely, but chances are pretty good you will have to do some work in this life.

One benefit of martial training is that while we may not be in a combat situation very often, we are always in a physical situation, one where the consequences or inattention, sloppiness or lack of responsiveness can be just as harmful. Being tuned into your center of balance, the forces of momentum around you, the size and weight of the objects and people around you, their centers of balance, their strengths and weaknesses, spatial awareness, etc. can be a great help to navigate this world with minimal injury, even if you never throw a "real" punch in your life.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

October News


From Gene Burnett

Summer is definitely over! Cooler, rainier weather has returned and the tourist season is winding down in Ashland. Of course, we still have holiday festivities to come but most of the out-of-town influx has died down. I’m looking forward to the more internal days of Fall and Winter.

I have about a dozen new unrecorded songs and hope to begin recording soon…not sure if I’ll have the new album done by the end of the year, I’m not in any hurry. It’s just always nice to have new songs “in the can” so to speak. I’ve been fighting some kind of throat infection which has left me feeling fine but with a pretty croaky voice. I might end up recording these new songs next year…we will see.

We had a sad day last month as one of our little gerbils, the one we named “Boot” passed away, leaving his brother “Head” to soldier on. He lived over 2 years which is about 4 times as long as they live in the wild. Although he was pretty frisky and happy most of the time, he was the less healthy of the two. In the past he had had a couple of episodes of some kind of illness where he barely left their nest. “Boot” was a great pet and will be missed. Every death, no matter how small, is a reminder to me that life is short and fragile and best savored now…

As some of you know, I mainly teach private lessons but I’ve started teaching a drop-in T’ai-Chi Fundamentals class every Monday morning from 9:30-10:30am at the Family Massage Education Center on the corner of Mountain and E. Main here in Ashland. This is an on-going drop-in class, no experience necessary. I won’t be teaching any forms in this class, just relatively easy solo and partner exercises designed to give participants a better sense of unforced balance, what it is, how to deepen it, and how to cultivate it. Samarra made me a simple poster for the class that says:

Flow More ~ Force Less

T’ai-Chi For Daily Life
Learn to balance effort and relaxation
Fundamentals Class with Gene Burnett

Nice! That’s more or less what we do in this class. No need to pre-register just show up a little before 9:30am. The fee for the class is $10.


So here we go…starting with the usual information about where to find my music, videos and pictures, including information about new projects, and then followed by information about local shows in case you’re in the Rogue Valley.


I’m offering all this stuff in a “just in case you’re interested” spirit.

So…in case you’re interested…


Recorded Music

My newest album, is called “Already There” and like all my other albums (29 so far…), it’s available for downloading free or with a donation at my website: www.GeneBurnett.com I like all of my albums but some people really seem to especially like this one.


Videos In General

Overall Mission: I post a lot of videos on youtube, over 800 so far! I'm not trying to build a fan base...In fact, I'm not trying to build anything. I'm not expecting you or anyone else to follow what I'm doing or watch all of these videos. Posting videos is just part of my overall plan to make my music (and my T’ai-Chi and Nature videos too) as freely available as possible and see what freely comes back. I think of each video as sort of like a message in a bottle...and more I toss out there the more likely one of them will land on a friendly shore and something good will come back to me. So here are some video links in case you're interested:

How to Find My Videos: First of all, I've set up a "Videos" page on my website (www.GeneBurnett.com) with a menu similar to what you see below as well as a digital tip jar in case any of you want to contribute to my cottage industry. Every little bit helps and not just financially. 

I've also set up some blogs that make navigating and viewing my various videos much easier. You can go to any of these blogs and see thumbnails for all of the videos posted there. Scroll across the thumbnails and you will see the titles of each video. Click on it and a page will open that will let you watch the video right there without going to youtube. My latest videos are always in the upper left hand corner.

To see all of my Music videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Videos

To see all of my T'ai-Chi videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Movement

To see all of my Nature videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Nature

For a quick and easy way to sort through, listen to, or download all of my albums free or with a donation, click here: The Unforced Music

To see my regular blog “The Unforced Life”, click here: The Unforced Life

To visit my youtube channel and possibly subscribe, click here: My Youtube Channel

To see all of my youtube playlists click here: My Youtube Playlists 


New Videos:

The last of the videos I shot of me in the studio recording songs for my latest album “Already There:

Nobody Knows  (I tried to get as many life philosophies as I could into one song…)

Nothing's Gonna Be All Right (Bringin’ the pain yet again…)


A couple of Nature videos:

Pacific Crest Trail Hike (Samarra and I went on a great hike together…)

Downtown Starlings (We have our business and they have theirs…)


A bunch more “Sky videos” which feature my songs set to video I shot of our beautiful Southern Oregon skies:

Fuck You Up (Life’s gonna FYU…)

Where I Belong (One of my favorite of many songs about playing music in the world…)

It's You (Another one about the loser in everyone…)

Tornado (I’ve always been fascinated by storms, especially tornados…)

Angeltown (One of my prettiest ever songs…hard to play and sing…somehow I did my best take ever in the studio! Love it when that happens…)

Let's Just Be Blue (Love the guitar on this one. Actually sounds like I can play the thing…)

Heart Broke (Simple and true…)

Now Is The Time (I wrote this for a female voice several years ago…)

Heaven (A song about a gambler who dies and doesn’t quite like the afterlife…)


Here’s a link to my “Sky Videos” youtube playlist if you like this sort of thing:



A T’ai-Chi video:



Pictures

I've stopped posting pictures on facebook, (for many reasons), and started posting them instead on Flickr, which I like much better.

Here's a link to my "home page" at Flicker: Photostream.

I have many photo galleries there but a few of my favorites are:

Small Miracles (mostly Nature related stuff)

The Dish Whisperer (I started posting a daily picture of my dish stacking work over a year ago. I’m approaching 700 straight days. I have no idea how long I’ll keep doing this. I’m so used to it, it hardly takes any effort at all to continue. I made a video for my song “I'll Do The Dishes Tonight” that featured a slideshow of the first year. If I make it through this second year, I may write a new “Dishes” song or use some other song I’ve already written to make another video.) 

"Head" and "Boot" (devoted to our two gerbils)







Upcoming Shows:

***There’s a new Monday Night Open Mike at Paddy Brannan's Irish Pub and I’ll be hosting it along with my friend T-Poe. We’ll get started around 9:00pm and go ‘til we’re done. Bring us your songs and spoken word! This is a bit of an experiment…As of this writing we are planning on going at least through October to see if it catches on. Please call me at 541-488-1926 if you want to be sure it’s happening.

Wednesday October 2nd , I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of each month. This month's theme is "Songs of Fall and Falling” so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems relating to Autumn and Gravity. We're never too strict or narrow about the themes for this event. The main idea is to focus our attention a little to hopefully inspire and motivate us creatively. These are always fun. No Cover at the friendliest bar in town. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm. 
*A heads up for next month: Wednesday November 6th, 2013 “3rd Annual Political Songs“

Monday, October 7th, I'll be playing at one of my favorite Ashland venues, Liquid Assets. A relaxed living room vibe with great service, excellent food and wine, and a really nice place to listen to music. I play from 8-10pm, maybe longer...

Friday October 11th, I'll be playing at Paddy Brannan's Irish Pub with my good friends Robbie Lindauer backing me up on guitar and Mark Arinsberg on cajon. We play from about 9pm 'til around Midnight. Stop by for a pint and some music. I've always liked the friendly and fun vibe of this place. I've done several shows here with Robbie and it's becoming one of my favorite places to play.

Tuesday, October 15th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Northwest Pizza and Pasta in Ashland. Sign-up is at 7:30pm and the show starts at 8. If you've never been to or competed in a Poetry Slam, I highly recommend this one. Come to watch, compete, or be one of the judges. Some people think of slams as hardcore hip-hop events or places where people are mean and talk trash, but nothing could be further from the truth. All kinds of poetry are welcome and people are very supportive. And it's so nice to participate in an event which is all about the words, or in my case, lyrics. For me it's really not about winning or losing, but just the fun of sharing my words with people and seeing what happens.

Wednesday, October 16th , I'll be playing at The Wild Goose. Just me solo from 8-11pm. Friendliest bar in town. Never a cover at The Goose. I usually play here on the Third Wednesday of every month.

Saturday October 26th, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.


For more info on these and all of my shows, and to confirm that there have been no cancellations, click here: Calendar  

Since I'm putting this newsletter out once a month, it's possible there may be a cancellation of a given show by the time it happens. Please double check with my web calendar if possible to be sure the gig is still happening. I'd hate to have you come out for nothing. Also another gig or two might be added or times or locations might change, so do check the calendar for the latest info.  


Website

I continue to offer all of my albums for downloading, free or with a donation at my website: www.GeneBurnett.com I started doing this about 5 years ago and considered it a 5 year creative experiment. Well the 5 years are up and I've decided to start calling it my "ongoing creative experiment" as I have no plans to stop. Since I returned to my folk roots and stopped climbing, or trying to climb, the industry ladder, I've been enjoying music in my life more than ever before. And enjoyment, rather than achievement or worldly success has always been dearest to my heart anyway. So now I focus totally on what I love most: writing, recording, performing and sharing what I create. If other people like it so much the better, but getting other people to like me or what I do is no longer my goal or focus. I'm out to please myself first. I want to do my music exactly the way I want to do it and see who likes it that way, not figure out what people will like and try to do it that way. I put it out there freely and see what comes freely back. So far so good. I've never had more success and appreciation than I have since I started doing it this. Go figure. 


Thanks, as usual, for your support and well wishes even if you don't make to any shows.

GB