Sunday, December 31, 2017

January News




From Gene Burnett

My new album “Thunder Moon” is now up on my site. As usual, I’m really proud of this one. I hope you give it a listen sometime and let me know what you think. It’s available for listening and downloading free or with a donation along with all my other albums here: Musical Recordings Page

I know you’re supposed to “get behind” your new album, play the songs relentlessly, tour, promote, etc. But I’m 60, I don’t like traveling and I don’t like marketing even more, so the most I do is post some videos, let my facebook friends know about it…and then I start working on the next one. So rather than get behind my albums, I get them behind me and move on. I do this mainly for myself. I like the process of writing, recording and sharing what I do…but mostly I like releasing a charge for myself…saying something musically, that makes me feel better for having said it. I guess I sing more like a bird than an ambitious musician. It is nice though anytime my music touches anyone else, especially if they let me know, so please feel free to contact me or post a comment on this blog.      

This has been a really great holiday season for Samarra and me. She’s been home since late summer after a long summer in Europe and Seattle. She’s finally finished with her master’s degree and will hopefully be spending more time here in Ashland. We’ve been able to spend a lot of time together doing some of the things we love best, hiking, talking, music and enjoying our home. We had one particularly memorable walk where we found and old rusty bucket and turned it into a cool table lamp. See video below. She’s about to return to Seattle to spend time with her dad and she’ll also be going to New York City for a training and will stay with my mom there while she does that. I’ll miss her of course, but this is good and necessary stuff.

Meanwhile I will spend my time writing and singing, training and teaching.                                        

I posted some new videos to youtube his month: 19 new Music videos, 18 of which are videos of the songs from my new album “Thunder Moon”—these are all in a new youtube playlist—and the other one is my Wild Goose Open Mike Christmas Set, 3 new T’ai-Chi videos, and 1 new Rogue Poetry Slam video. See links below in the Videos section of this post.


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

There is so much to listen to and watch on the net these days…I’m amazed anyone even gets this far in the newsletter let alone watches or listens to anything I’m doing. I’m sincerely grateful for every view, every listen, and every nice comment I receive. I’m happy if anything I post truly reaches even one person. I’m offering all this stuff in a “just in case you’re interested” spirit.


Upcoming Shows:

Wednesday January 3rd, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose CafĂ© & Bar. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of every month. This month's theme will be “Whiny Songs~Pissin’, Moanin’ & Complainin’” so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, covers or originals, that are whiny or complaining in any way. 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 community events. No Cover at the friendliest bar in Ashland. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm.
*A heads up for next month: Wednesday, February 7th, 2018: “7th Annual Love Songs”

Tuesday, January 16th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Caldera Tap House in Ashland. Sign-up is at 7:30pm and the show starts at 8. $5 cover, all of which goes to the winning poets. 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.

Saturday, January 20th, from 10am-Noon, my good friend Jesse Biesanz and I are hosting a Hacky Sack session outside Caldera Tap House on Water Street in Ashland. We’ll be under the overpass. This usually happens on the third Saturday of every month but this month we’re doing it on the 2nd Saturday. We both miss the fun and camaraderie of a good friendly Hack Circle and…more importantly, we miss the practice! It’s fun, aerobic, cooperative, demands balance, coordination, quick thinking and accuracy…So whether you’re new to the game, or an experienced player who wants to brush up your skills, or an expert who just wants to meet some new players, come on by. Hacky Sack basically involves keeping a small footbag in the air, usually leather and fairly soft, using only your feet. When there are more than two players, it’s usually played in a circle. If the circle gets too big, it is split into smaller circles.

The only rules of this Hack Circle:

1. You’ve got to use your feet to keep the sack in the air and off the ground. No hands! (10 voluntary pushups if you do)

2. If you miss or otherwise screw up, you can’t say, “I’m Sorry.” (10 voluntary pushups if you do)

3. No serving to yourself. (10 voluntary pushups if you do)

4. No hotdogging. Meaning this is not about how many tricks you can do before the sack hits the ground, and it’s not about working obsessively on tricks. Tricks are fine but in general, we want to keep the hack going as a friendly group and keep everyone involved.

See you at Caldera rain or shine. The overpass provides shelter from the rain and once the circle gets going, you’ll be plenty warm regardless of the weather.


For more info about 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.  


Recorded Music

All of my over 30 albums are available for downloading free or with a donation at my website: www.GeneBurnett.com


Videos In General

Overall Mission: I post a lot of videos on youtube, over 1000 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

19 New Music videos:



3 new T’ai-Chi videos:



1 New Rogue Poetry Slam video:


And…



Pictures

I've stopped posting as many 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 recently crossed the 2000 straight days mark. 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.

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






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 8 or 9 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

Sunday, December 3, 2017

December News



From Gene Burnett

Winter has finally come to Southwest Oregon after one of the nicest and most beautiful falls we’ve had since we moved here. The bandshell  in Lithia Park where I teach T’ai-Chi is under renovation for the next few months (see “Get Back On The Horse” video link below). This means I’ll be teaching at the nearby fountain area when it’s not raining, and in the nearby gazebo if it is. I’m already used to the new locations and they’re actually both pretty nice. I do miss the bandshell but hey, I’ve been able to teach there rent free for going on 20 years, so I think I can roll with this.

For the sixth or seventh year in a row, I got to present and sing one of my songs at the annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Ceremony. I love this event and it’s always an honor and a pleasure to participate. See video link below…

We also had a “Neil Young Birthday Bash” at the Wild Goose CafĂ© & Bar that was a blast! The music was great even if the acoustics were a bit dodgy. There was a concurrent fundraising event for a Goose regular who was having some serious medical issue so it got pretty noisy at times. But everyone seemed to be enjoying the music and they did raise a bunch of money, so it was all good. I made a video of some of the highlights. See link below…

And as usual, Samarra and I strung lights around our apartment and hung our ornaments on them. For the past couple of years, Samarra has been out of town during the fall and only made it back very close to Christmas, so we just got the decorating in under the wire. This year was a special treat as she was back in town for Thanksgiving and we got to put our holiday stuff up with plenty of time to enjoy before Christmas. See video link below as well as above.

We’ve had to skip a couple of Rogue Poetry Slams this fall because T-Poe our resident Slam Master and the guy who really makes the slam happen has been faced with some major health challenges. He’s making a slow and steady recovery but running the slam is just proving to be too much for him. This month we were back with mutual friend Liesl Garner taking over as Slam Master. It was a great slam and we even had a 3-way tie for first place and had to do a run-off round. I ended up coming in 2nd place. See video links below…

T’ai-Chi and training has been going great. As usual, people are a bit in and out of town this time of year, so my teaching schedule is a bit lighter than usual, which means more time to practice. I’m going to start a gentle marketing push for new students starting with the new year. T’ai-Chi is so good for health and balance and it’s also a great “martial yoga” to help build attributes that are useful, not only in fighting and martial arts training, but in daily life as well. And private lessons is a great way to learn this stuff.

I should have my new album “Thunder Moon” up on my site any day now. I’m proud of this one, just like all the others, but I’m looking forward to getting back into writing. I know you’re supposed to “get behind” your album and sell it, but I’m too old for that, I hate marketing, I don’t travel, and honestly, I don’t think there’s much of a market out there for unknown old guys playing four chord folk music, so instead, I put my albums “behind me” and move on to the next one. I love the new songs though and I like the way this album turned out. I’ll of course keep you posted.

I posted a bunch of new videos to youtube his month: 5 new T’ai-Chi videos, 4 new Music videos, and 4 new Rogue Poetry Slam videos. See links below in the Videos section of this post.


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

There is so much to listen to and watch on the net these days…I’m amazed anyone even gets this far in the newsletter let alone watches or listens to anything I’m doing. I’m sincerely grateful for every view, every listen, and every nice comment I receive. I’m happy if anything I post truly reaches even one person. I’m offering all this stuff in a “just in case you’re interested” spirit.


Upcoming Shows:

Monday December 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 7:00-9pm *This will be my last show at this venue as they’ve decided to go a different direction with music in the future. I’ve enjoyed playing First Wednesdays for several years, it’s been fun but every gig is temporary and I have no hard feelings at all about the change.

Wednesday December 6th, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose CafĂ© & Bar. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of every month. This month's theme will be our 7th annual “Holiday/Winter Songs” so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, covers or originals, that are about or mention winter or the winter holidays in any way. 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 community events. No Cover at the friendliest bar in Ashland. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm.
*A heads up for next month: Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018: “Whiny Songs~Pissin’, Moanin’ & Complainin’”

Saturday, December 9th, from 11:30am-1:30pm, I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's Holiday Market, at the Briscoe School building in Ashland. Come support local music and art!

Saturday, December 16th, from 10am-Noon, my good friend Jesse Biesanz and I are hosting a Hacky Sack session outside Caldera Tap House on Water Street in Ashland. We’ll be under the overpass. This usually happens on the third Saturday of every month but this month we’re doing it on the 2nd Saturday. We both miss the fun and camaraderie of a good friendly Hack Circle and…more importantly, we miss the practice! It’s fun, aerobic, cooperative, demands balance, coordination, quick thinking and accuracy…So whether you’re new to the game, or an experienced player who wants to brush up your skills, or an expert who just wants to meet some new players, come on by. Hacky Sack basically involves keeping a small footbag in the air, usually leather and fairly soft, using only your feet. When there are more than two players, it’s usually played in a circle. If the circle gets too big, it is split into smaller circles.

The only rules of this Hack Circle:

1. You’ve got to use your feet to keep the sack in the air and off the ground. No hands! (10 voluntary pushups if you do)

2. If you miss or otherwise screw up, you can’t say, “I’m Sorry.” (10 voluntary pushups if you do)

3. No serving to yourself. (10 voluntary pushups if you do)

4. No hotdogging. Meaning this is not about how many tricks you can do before the sack hits the ground, and it’s not about working obsessively on tricks. Tricks are fine but in general, we want to keep the hack going as a friendly group and keep everyone involved.

See you at Caldera rain or shine. The overpass provides shelter from the rain and once the circle gets going, you’ll be plenty warm regardless of the weather.

Tuesday, December 19th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Caldera Tap House in Ashland. Sign-up is at 7:30pm and the show starts at 8. $5 cover, all of which goes to the winning poets. 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.



For more info about 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.  


Recorded Music

All of my over 30 albums are available for downloading free or with a donation at my website: www.GeneBurnett.com


Videos In General

Overall Mission: I post a lot of videos on youtube, over 1000 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

5 new T’ai-Chi videos:


4 New Music videos:


And…

4 New Rogue Poetry Slam videos:



Pictures

I've stopped posting as many 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 recently crossed the 2000 straight days mark. 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.

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






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 8 or 9 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