From Gene Burnett
Last month everyone was talking about the heat, this month it’s
the smoke. For those not in Oregon, we are having a really bad forest fire
season here. There are fires all around us and depending on which way the wind blows
our air quality can go from not so great to pretty awful, sometimes in a hurry.
It’s been so bad that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival here in
Ashland has had to cancel several of its outdoor shows including the preceding
Green Shows. Unfortunately, my Green Show was one of the ones that got smoked
out. I was disappointed but I totally understand their decision. The air was
solidly in the “unhealthy” category. Such is life in Southern Oregon. I do have
one more scheduled for October 11th which hopefully won’t be rained
or smoked out, but we will see.
As I write this, we are also in the middle of another heat-wave
with temperatures in the upper 90’s and low 100’s. For me, the heat and the
smoke are not so much problems as training challenges. I have to include and
work with them, but not be so distracted by them that I forget my main mission
which is practicing, teaching and living T’ai-Chi (Unforced Balance) as fully
and deeply as I can.
With my main focus on my mission, problems like the heat and
smoke are just what I need to deal with in order to enact that mission. I work
out more at night and mornings when it’s cooler and sometimes less smokey. I
curtail my bike rides until the air clears. When possible I get up and out of
the valley for a break. Just today I drove out with Samarra to a beautiful
place that was much less smokey and much less hot than Ashland. We hung out for
a couple of hours, listened to great music driving to and from, walked out into
a creek, chilled out our feet, saw a bear (on the other side), shot a little
T’ai-Chi video and got in a couple of miles of hiking as well. With all the
suffering and trouble happening down south with the hurricane, I’m grateful
that heat and bad air are all I have to deal with.
In other news, last month, here in America, we had a total
eclipse of the Sun, in case you’ve had no contact with the internet for a long
time. Here in Ashland we had about 93% of the sun’s light blocked out and it
turns out that 7% of the Sun is nevertheless a lot of light. It was still a sight
to see. The air turned a slightly eerie shade of twilight and shadows started
get all crescent-y and it was just amazing to watch the moon pass before the
Sun. Samarra had just gotten back the day before from spending a long summer in
Europe and Seattle and neither of us felt like braving the trip north to see
the totality. So we just sat in
the park where I teach every day, donned our special glasses and took in 93% of
the Sun’s light being blocked by the moon. It was quite nice to see, but it was
eclipsed by having her home safe and sound.
I was recently a guest on my friend Mark Arinsberg’s podcast.
Mark’s a great eccentric guy who seems to know just about everyone in town.
He’s a graphic designer, drummer, taxi-cab driver, international traveler, and
now podcast host. Here’s a link to the cast page. Just scroll down to episode
nine. I think you will enjoy our conversation. Citizen 44
I posted some new videos this month: 5 new T’ai-Chi videos and 1 new Nature video.
I’ve also been putting together some youtube playlists featuring songs from
past albums including “live” and Rogue Poetry Slam versions. 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 September 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 8:00-10pm
Wednesday September 6th, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open
Mike at The Wild Goose Café & Bar. Usually this
happens on the First Wednesday of every month. In honor of Labor Day, this
month's theme will be“ Songs About Work & Working” so
musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, covers or
originals, that have anything to do with work or working 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, October 4th, 2017: “Country (ish) Songs”
*A heads up for next month: Wednesday, October 4th, 2017: “Country (ish) Songs”
Saturday, September 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.
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, September 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:
1 new Nature video:
My 60th Birthday video:
Plus…
Youtube Playlists featuring songs
from previous albums including “live” and Rogue Poetry Slam versions:
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
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