June News

From Gene Burnett

Summer is fast approaching and with it much warmer weather and more outdoor gigs. We’re in the middle of a pretty dry year here in Southern Oregon and everyone’s hoping for more rain this Spring and no fires this Summer. We will see.

Meanwhile, I’ve been writing a lot of songs and already getting ready to start a new recording. I’m hoping to do some duets and maybe a trio or two with some of the musicians I jam with at open mikes and such. It makes recording more complicated and expensive so I’m figuring out ways to make it as easy as possible. My albums barely pay for themselves so I can’t really go too overboard with production. Generally, my budget for an entire album is what some bands spend just setting up to record one song. ;~)

As usual, some new videos this month…See links below in the “New Videos” section.

My newest album is up on my site. It’s called “Doubles Hitter” and I’m very happy with it. Click here to listen to and/or download the songs free or with a donation: Doubles Hitter

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.

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.

Recorded Music

My newest album is called “Doubles Hitter” and like all my other albums (30 so far…), it’s 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

My “Doubles Hitter” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my newest album:

Doubles Hitter Playlist

Me “live” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Hip-Hop Open Mike playing my song “Save Your Breath”:

Save Your Breath

Me “live” at the 2^nd Annual Willie Nelson’s Birthday Bash Open Mike at The Wild Goose Café and Bar here in Ashland:

Willie Nelson's Birthday Open Mike

Me “live” at the Annual Bob Dylan’s Birthday Bash Open Mike at The Wild Goose Café and Bar here in Ashland:

Shelter From The Storm

Man Of Peace

New “Sky Videos”:

Who's Gonna Believe?

Nothing's Pure

Dumb

A 60’s superhero TV theme song medley:

Superhero Theme Song Medley


“Three-Legged Dog”, featuring Mandy, a wonderfully happy dog:

Three-Legged Dog

“Color Me Grateful”, a new song, not on any albums yet:

Color Me Grateful

I came in second this time. Three more Rogue Poetry Slam videos of me reading my lyrics:

Praying Mantis Blues (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Closer To You (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Color Me Grateful (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Two new T’ai-Chi videos:

Chi Kung For When You're Too High

T'ai-Chi Throwing

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 just passed the 900 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. I made it through my second year recently, and hope to create another video slideshow set to another of my songs. Stay tuned…)

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

"Humor" 

"Me Playing Music"

Bathroom Pond Mural

Weird Book Covers

Trippy Clouds

Yellow Fungus 




Upcoming Shows:

Monday, June 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'll be playing from 8-10pm, maybe longer...

Wednesday June 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 “Songs With Cussin’“ so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems with any adult language in them at all are 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 July 2^nd, 2014. “Stones or Beatles!”

Tuesday, June 17^th, 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. $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.

Wednesday, June 18^th, 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 June 21^st, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.

Saturday, June 21^st, I'll be playing at Paddy Brannan's Irish Pub with The Graceful Losers, a.k.a. my good friend Robbie Lindauer backing me up on guitar and whoever else we can scare up for the gig. I’ve decided that whenever I play with other musicians in anything like a band setting, we will be called “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.

Saturday, June 28^th, weather permitting, from 3-5pm, I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's Market, behind the Plaza in Ashland. Come support local music and art!

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 or 8 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

www.GeneBurnett.com

Listening Audiences?

A Thing Of The Past?

It’s no secret that people are listening less and less and talking more and more at all kinds of musical events. It’s very rare to see a video of a live performance without seeing many many hands holding phones up to video the show. It seems that a lot of people are so interested in commenting on their experience or in generating content that they are almost unable to stop. They are always talking, texting, tweeting or checking their phones, and to let someone else take center stage in their heads is all but impossible, even for a few minutes. Many of my friends have complained about this. And I usually say, if you want there to be more listening, the best way to do that is to listen yourself, because the more people listening in a room, the more talking will stand out and the talking people will at least be encouraged to keep it down a little.

Personally, I don't expect anyone to listen to anything ever. I expect people to be in their own worlds, ADHD, checking their phones constantly, yelling, talking and generally oblivious, whether it's in a bar or a concert hall. It's always a nice surprise when they do listen, but I don't expect it anymore. However, I do my small part to encourage listening by listening myself. Listening can be like gravity that pulls other people in and gradually takes over a room...or not.

I don’t need people to listen in order to keep making music. Playing in public does not motivate me to keep creating music. I'm actually not motivated to create music and if I was it would not be to please other people, listening or not. I don't need a motivation to create music. Music itself is my motivation. Birds aren't motivated to sing, they just do. The word motivation usually implies a goal and a hoped for result. My motivation, if I have one, is to express myself, to sing my song just like the birds do and see what comes back. If an opportunity is presented to me to do this, I usually take it, but I generally don't spend much time making them happen. I make music because I have to in order to feel like myself. It's a part of me. I'm not doing it to get things for myself. That's nice of course, and I do have to make a living, but I'm not doing this to get something or somewhere. Most of the time, I'm doing it to do it, with no other goal in mind than that.

I’d prefer that people listen, but I don't impose my wishes on people where I play, which is mostly bars, restaurants and coffeehouses. Most businesses are so hard up for customers that if even one or two people didn't like my suggestions, or left, I would probably be fired. And I appreciate their concerns. I can understand why they'd rather have a bar full of loud noisy people than be out of business. I voice my opinions and suggestions here and on facebook to get them off my chest and maybe reach a few people who might consider being a bit more polite next time they're out and about.

I've accepted that times have changed and listening is going out of style. I've played many gigs where most of the people in the room spent most of their time on line or looking at their phones. It's almost exclusively people over 40 who complain with emotion about this tendency of people to not listen. To everyone else it's mostly just the way it is now.

We are all media saturated with so, so, so many music and entertainment options to choose from. It's one of the downsides to everyone and anyone being able to make their own CD's and videos. There's so much music that the water is incredibly muddy. The supply keeps going up and the demand keeps going down, so it's literally worth less and less all the time, in a general market sense.

When I was a kid, very few people around me played guitars and played gigs and virtually no one had their own albums unless they were at least kind of famous. Good musicians were fairly rare and got a bit of respect. Now they're literally everywhere. There must be hundreds of self produced albums in the valley where I live and I don't know how many original songs posted on line worldwide every day. Probably in the thousands. I don't expect anyone to listen to anybody and I sure don’t feel entitled to anyone’s attention. I'm always pleased and happily surprised whenever anyone listens to me and genuinely grateful if they actually like what they hear. Meanwhile I make my sound because it's a pleasure to make. It's not my career, it's my life.

I don't mind providing background music. Birds do it all day for free. I prefer that people listen and like it, but I don't blame them for not listening. They are free to do as they please. I do not put my heart and soul into what I do expecting to be listened to. I do it to do it.

A problem I often encounter is other people assuming that my goals and motivations are the same as theirs, or the same as most people who play music.

For the record: I am not interested in becoming famous. I am not interested in a recording contract. I am not interested in the "music industry".

I like to write, record and post my songs on line and sing publicly whenever and wherever it feels right. I am interested in seeing what comes back when I do this. I am fine with anyone who's signed on to the industry bandwagon covering my songs. I am fine with whatever money, fame, attention, or whatever comes back to me, as long as I get to do exactly what I'm doing now: whatever the Hell I feel like doing. I am willing to make almost no compromises whatsoever for fame and fortune. Again, this is my life, not my career.

If I only played at "listening" venues, I'd hardly play out at all. There is no listening scene where I live and not much of one in other places too. I see many, many youtube videos of some pretty well known folks playing in rooms with a constant murmur of talking going on. So background type scenes are pretty much what there is.

That said, every place I play, has been absolutely great from time to time. I've had hushed moments and longer periods of time that resembled an audience at every single place I play. I’ve also had fun nights playing with other musicians where the crowd was not necessarily listening closely to what we were doing, but definitely enjoying it and/or dancing to it.

I play out because I love to make my sound and see what happens. Even if people aren't listening actively, some part of them is getting what I do. If it's a raging noisy crazy place where I can't even hear myself, then I won't play there. But when I do play, I go to see what happens. I go to reach the people that are reachable with what I do. I usually reach at least someone every time I play. So it never feels like a waste of time to me.

When people are not listening, I can always take joy in making my sound and the simple act of practicing my songs. And I almost always do well in tips so something is getting through.

Usually though, it’s a pretty mixed bag. I've played in many bar or coffeehouse situations where the staff were some of the loudest people in the room. I think we're all pretty music saturated in our lives and coupled with our internet fueled self-importance, listening to people play music is just not what people are interested in doing, even if they pay to get in. I love to make my sound. I need to make it actually, in places where I have a chance at being heard, so I will continue to take whatever I can get. The less I care about what audiences do and the more I focus on the work at hand, the happier I am. But it sure is nice to be listened to and heard.

Some of my friends get mad when I tell them stories about some of my gigs, but I don't feel I have any right to tell anyone to shut up and listen. I don't even "go after them" when I play. I offer what I offer and the audience does the same.

And please keep in mind that I very rarely play anything like a concert. I'm talking about bars, restaurants and coffeehouse type situations. I keep my volume at a level where people who don't want to listen don't have to, and people who do want to listen can do so. What bugs me is when people are really loud and disrespectful. A little rowdy is one thing, being the only table in the room yelling and screaming is another. But even then, it's not on the level of "I am an artist, pay attention to me!" It's more like it's just hard to hear myself and concentrate on what I'm doing when people are being really loud. It's more a functional interference than a psychological one. I'm totally used to people not listening and do not usually take it personally.

When I was focused on whether or not people were listening and whether or not they liked my music or whether I got booked at this or that venue and what my status was, etc. I was pretty unhappy, always considering quitting and in fact did totally quit singing and writing more than once. Since I gave up all that and started focusing mostly on the work and letting the audience feel and do whatever they want to, I'm much more happy and productive. I'm focused on the parts of making music that I enjoy most. And ironically, I’ve gotten a few really nice gigs that used to forever elude me when I was trying to get them so hard. To each his own though. Plenty of people feel differently than I do about music, audiences, when and what they will play and how much they need to get back from it. We all have to find our own balance with it. This latest way of being has worked really well for me and continues to. I do keep checking though to see if anything has changed...

Enlightenment?

Not For Me...

I don't really believe in or strive for enlightenment, or any kind of elimination or transcendence of personal interest. I don't believe in a permanent state of self-transcendence and I don't believe that a person who has achieved it has any authority to tell me or anyone else how to achieve it. I don't strive for eliminating or transcending any of the opposites of human nature. I don't strive for the victory of the light over darkness. I don't pick sides in any of the so-called "battles" within human nature. I believe all of us are both dark and light, greedy and generous, lustful and loving, violent and peaceful, thoughtful and impulsive, good and evil, cooperative and competitive, altruistic and self-interested, emotional and rational, one and separate.

To me, nothing is pure, everything is intermixed. I strive to accept the dynamic tension between these opposites, to find the unforced balance that is at the core of everything, to live in that tension and not seek to resolve it because to live in it is the only resolution I can imagine. I don't do any overt energy work. I don't try to move or change anyone's energetic configurations. I try not to interfere with their own natural unfolding and the intelligent process at its root is theirs not mine. I'm just a person who has studied unforced balance for most of my life and who can give people some tools to study it too. I help people improve their balance, open their circulation, release some of their tension, gain more mobility and responsiveness, flow more and force less, and I use the martial training games of T'ai-Chi as a teaching tool to help facilitate this.

I do pretty ordinary stuff really and the goal of this training is to become a more balanced person. I do of course recognize that there are contemplative traditions that are thousands of years old that think otherwise and have other goals, and I respect that. I don't knock believers or seekers of enlightenment, it's just not my path. There are also many different approaches to mind-body trainings and martial arts and many have real merit. I'm just talking about what feels most deeply right for me, not anyone else.

I do experience moments of self-transcendence to be sure...What I don't do is call them my true or ultimate nature and seek to experience them all the time. This seems to be something a lot of people do with these experiences, they want it to be their permanent state. I'd rather just allow them to be part of life. It's like they had an orgasm and then decided that that's their true nature, everything else is illusion, and then seek to have a continuous 24-7 orgasm. For me moments of self-transcendence are an inevitable part of life. Just as moments of self-involvement are. I tend to take them as they come. I do work on posture and alignment, relaxation and flow, opening and breathing and connecting...the self-transcendent seems to come and go on its own.

May News

From Gene Burnett

One of the things I like best about finishing an album is that I can start focusing on writing the next one. I’m already 10 songs in. Hope to record sometime this Summer. Speaking of Summer, we’re getting a bit of much needed rain lately, all of which is much appreciated around here. We are in a drought and the more rain we get now the later that forest fire season starts. We had a very smoky Summer last year and no one wants a repeat of that. Samarra’s been out of town for months now, helping her dad with some much needed stuff in Seattle. I miss her a lot but it’s good work and a good time to be doing it. Meanwhile, I’m taking care of lots of formerly “back burner” projects…making the best of her absence because I can’t think of a good reason not to.

Once again, I posted a ton of new videos this month…

Several more of my “Sky Videos”, where I take video footage that I shoot of our beautiful Southern Oregon sky and synch it up with recordings of my songs…A couple of which are songs I recorded as part of the folk duo “Gene Burnett & Victor Cummings” back in Seattle in the late 80’s-early 90’s.

Three more videos of me performing at our local Rogue Poetry Slam. I won this time. ;~)

A video of local band “Buckle Rash” performing “Jump You Fuckers” which I’m very happy and excited about.

A video of me showing an easy way to play “Save It For Later” by English Beat.

My good friend Jim Page was passing through and we decided to make a couple of videos, one of me playing second guitar on one of his new songs and one vice-versa. It was really fun and I’m very very happy with how they came out!

A video of my song “Make Something Beautiful” being performed by our local Rogue Peace Choir Ensemble. Very cool to hear my song sung by a choir in a beautiful church. ;~)

As well as…

Two new Nature videos…”Bamboo in the Wind”, my favorite sound in Nature…and another Breakfast In Bed for “Head” video for those who like that sort of thing.

And four new T’ai-Chi videos…

See links below in the “New Videos” section.

My new album is done and up on my site! It’s called “Doubles Hitter” and I’m very happy with it. Click here to listen to and/or download the songs free or with a donation: Doubles Hitter

I also have a more detailed blog post announcement about the new album with lyric samples and links to videos of the individual songs. Please click here for that: Doubles Hitter Announcement

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.

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.

So…in case you’re interested…

Recorded Music

My newest album is called “Doubles Hitter” and like all my other albums (30 so far…), it’s 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

My “Doubles Hitter” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my new album:

Doubles Hitter Playlist

Buckle Rash covers JYF!:

Jump You Fuckers (Buckle Rash Version)

Two videos featuring me and my good friend Jim Page. One of my songs and one of his:

I Saw Jimi Hendrix At Winterland (Jim with me)

Every Day (Me with Jim)

My song being sung by a choir!

Make Something Beautiful (Rogue Peace Choir Ensemble Version)

New “Sky Videos”:

Have A Wonderful Miserable Life

Hearing It Like It Was

The World Of You And Me

Not That Far Away

Two of which are “Gene Burnett & Victor Cummings” songs:

Do It Now

The Flame

How to play “Save It For Later”:

Easy Way How To Play “Save It For Later”

I came in first this time. Three more Rogue Poetry Slam videos of me reading my lyrics:

Have A Wonderful Miserable Life (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Without The Moon (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Dancing (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Four new T’ai-Chi videos:

Stating Your Training Goals

Techniques And Levels Of Work

Lengthen Your Spine~Relax Your Shoulders

Kid's Improv T'ai-Chi~Part Two

Two new Nature videos:

Bamboo In The Wind

Breakfast In Bed For “Head” (our gerbil)

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’m approaching the 900 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. I made it through my second year recently, and hope to create another video slideshow set to another of my songs. Stay tuned…)

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

"Humor" 

"Me Playing Music"

Bathroom Pond Mural

Weird Book Covers

Trippy Clouds

Yellow Fungus 




Upcoming Shows:

Monday, May 5^th, There will be a free “Hip-Hop Open Mike” at the Black Swan Theater at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  Doors open at 6:30pm, show starts at 7. These are really fun and it’s always nice to play a song for a seated audience in a nice room. They’re not too strict about that “hip-hop” thing, so I’m hoping to go up early so I can play a tune and then zip over to my next gig that night…

Monday, May 5th, 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'll be playing from 8-10pm, maybe longer...

Wednesday May 7th, 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 “Country (ish) Songs“ so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems in anything resembling a country-ish style are good to go. Hell you could do a song or poem that just takes place in the country. 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 June 4th, 2014. “ Songs With Cussin’ ”

Monday, May 19^th, it’s time for the annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash at The Wild Goose in Ashland. All Bob, all night long. No idea when I’ll be going up…Things should get going around 8pm. Come early, get a good seat, have dinner and pay tribute to the master!

Tuesday, May 20^th, 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, May 21^st , 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.

Friday, May 23^rd, I'll be playing at Paddy Brannan's Irish Pub with The Graceful Losers, a.k.a. my good friend Robbie Lindauer backing me up on guitar and hopefully, Mark Arinsberg on cajon. I’ve decided that whenever I play with other musicians in anything like a band setting, we will be called “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.

Saturday May 24th, 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 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

www.GeneBurnett.com