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
