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.
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:
Me
“live” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Hip-Hop Open Mike playing my song
“Save Your Breath”:
Me “live” at the 2nd 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
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
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)
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 2nd,
2014. “Stones or Beatles!”
Tuesday, June 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. $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 18th, 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 21st, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in
Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood
scene.
Saturday, June 21st, 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 28th, 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!
Saturday, June 28th, 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
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