From Gene
Burnett
Well my friends, Summer is coming to a close and Fall is fast
approaching. Hopefully, the Fall rains will put an end to the forest fires that
have been messing up our air and threatening the lives, health, and homes of
folks further North in Oregon. Gone too will be the outdoor gigs and Summer
nights on the town, so take advantage of the nicer weather while you still have
a chance. As usual, while I’ll miss the long days of Summer, I look forward to
life returning to “normal” around Ashland and the more internal focus of the Winter
months…
As of this writing I have 11 new unrecorded songs that I’m
really liking a lot…Once I get to around 15, I’ll start recording them.
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.
In other news there is a Special Event that’s been happening
all Summer: My good friend and one of my favorite T'ai-Chi students Betty
LaDuke, who recently turned 80 and is still going strong, is having a big
retrospective show at The Schneider Museum here in Ashland on the SOU campus.
It will feature work from her entire career, from her earliest work right up to
her very latest and very beautiful pieces. The show will be up until the middle
of September. Highly recommended. Please visit www.BettyLaDuke.com for more info. And if you’re from out of
town and would like a quick sample of her work, I shot some video at the
opening and synched it up with some of my music. Click here to see it: Celebrating Life~The Art of Betty LaDuke
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:
Some
videos of me in the studio recording songs for my latest album “Already There:
Three
videos from the August Rogue Poetry Slam with me performing my songs as spoken
word pieces:
Some footage of my good friend and
longtime T’ai-Chi student Betty LaDuke’s recent retrospective art show here in
Ashland with a couple songs in the background, one by me, one by Leonard Cohen:
A T’ai-Chi video:
And last but not least, this is just
what it sounds like:
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:
Monday, September 2nd, 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 September 4th, 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 "Beatles Night!",
so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing Beatles songs, or Beatles
parodies, or songs about The Beatles, either with the band or their solo work.
Basically anything Beatles related is good to go. 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 October 2nd, 2013 “Songs About Fall and Falling“
Friday September 6th, I'll be playing at Paddy
Brannan's Irish Pub with my good friends Robbie Lindauer
backing me up on guitar and Mark Arinsburg on cajon. We play from about 9pm
'til around Midnight. Stop by after the First Friday Art Walk for a pint and
some music. I've always liked the friendly and fun vibe of this place. I've
done several First Friday shows here with Robbie and it's becoming one of my favorite
places to play.
Monday, September 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, but this month I’m playing on the Third Monday.
Tuesday, September 17th, 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.
Saturday, September 21rst, weather permitting, from 11:30am-1:30pm,
I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's Market, behind
the Plaza in Ashland. Come support local music and art!
Saturday September 28th, 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
No comments:
Post a Comment