The Unforced Life: August 2014

Sunday, August 31, 2014

September News

From Gene Burnett

I’m almost done with the recording phase of my second album of 2014, “Crooked Love”. This one will be a double album for sure and will feature several duets and trios with musicians I jam with regularly around Ashland. I can’t wait to start mixing and really listen to all the great tracks my friends and I have laid down. I don’t think I’ll do this again! But I do think it will sound great. Hoping to have the mixing and mastering done by the end of September and the actual album up on my site by the end of October.

I’ve also been working steadily on building strength, particularly upper body strength since my back went out a few years ago. Despite several set backs due mainly to the fact that my joints and soft tissue generally are prone to injury, I persevered and happened on a method, finally, that really works for me. See the video above. I’m very happy with this development and it’s really been working wonders in my life. I’m significantly stronger and improving practically daily and I’m not getting injured and my old injuries are feeling better all the time. Good stuff.

Not a huge month for new videos but I did manage a few. Video links are included below.

My wife Samarra is now in grad school pursuing a master or arts in education degree from Prescott College in Arizona. She only has to travel there twice a term and so far so good. I think it’s a good program for her and she’s very excited about it, even if being back in school after all these years is somewhat daunting. I’m very proud of her.

Also, we just celebrated our 20 year wedding anniversary. Amazing that we’ve been able to pull this thing off. As I’ve said before, our relationship has been a long conversation about how we can best be true to ourselves and still stay together. For two pretty independent and stubbornly creative people, it’s kind of a miracle we’ve made it work so well for so many years. The conversation continues…So far so good!

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 latest album:

Doubles Hitter Playlist

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

There Is Only You (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

What You Do Not Have (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Mountains To Climb (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Two “How to Play” videos:

How To Play "We're All Gonna Die"

How To Play "Jump You Fuckers"

Two new music videos:

We're The Losers

It's Very Good Karma To Tip A Musician

Three new T’ai-Chi videos:

Building Strength & T'ai-Chi

Strength Versus Chi

"The Form Is Not The T'ai-Chi"

Two new Nature videos:

Baby Blue-Tailed Skink

Turtle In Ashland Creek

And one kind of funny one:

Lost Cat Phone Message

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 am approaching the 1000 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, September 1^st, 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 September 3^rd, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose Café & Bar. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of each month. This month's theme is our third annual “Songs About Work & Working” so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, originals or covers that are about or mention anything to do with work. 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 Ashland. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm. *A heads up for next month: Wednesday October 1^st, 2014: “2^nd Annual Songs About Fall & Falling”

Sunday September 7^th, I’ll be performing as part of a “Night Of Enlightenment” evening to benefit the Toby Fund which is dedicated to protecting animal life in the Wolf Creek/Sunny Valley area. Many other performers will be contributing. I’ll play a half hour set at some point during the event which runs from 5-7:30pm. There is a $10 charge for this event which will take place at the Merging Rivers Zen Practice Center at 243 SW J Street in Grants Pass Oregon. For more information call: 541-659-5111.

Wednesday, September 10^th, I'll be playing at The Lounge South in Ashland as part of their “Acoustic Wednesdays” showcase series. Just me solo from 9-Midnight. Free show in a new venue for me.

Tuesday, September 16^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.

Thursday, September 18^th, I'll be playing at The Wild Goose. Just me solo from 8-11pm. Friendliest bar in Ashland. 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 Thursday.

Saturday, September 20^th, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.

Saturday, September 27^th, weather permitting, from 3-5pm, I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's Market, behind the Plaza in Ashland. Come by and 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.

www.GeneBurnett.com

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Flow More...

Force Less

Freestyle Taoism can be incorporated into any religion or lifestyle, even atheism. Just ask yourself this on a regular basis: Can I do what I'm doing right now with less force than I'm using? Is there a less forceful way to get the same result I'm getting? Would less force bring an even better result?

The orthodox Taoist Cannon is over 1200 volumes. Mine is four words: Flow More~Force Less.

In any task, when I'm not using too much or too little force, when I'm flowing just right with the job at hand, nothing feels pushed or forced. I'm not making it happen in a forceful direct "I am doing this" kind of way. It doesn't feel like I'm doing that much and yet the job is getting done. I focus on this when I’m practicing martial arts, writing, singing, performing, teaching or just interacting with my wife and friends.

But even before I get to the point of doing any particular task, there’s the issue of which tasks to do in the first place. “Flow More~Force Less” applies not only to tasks themselves but to other larger questions like, Which task should I be doing? What is the best life direction for me? The best work? The best relationship?

What I do is to listen for what feels most deeply right to me, not just emotionally, but in every part of me overall. What actions or directions give me the that sense of rightness, aliveness, or Yes! When I find a course that feels right, I usually need less force to go in that direction, because it feels natural and seems to come from the inside out. In that state, less things need forcing.

But I'm not talking about achieving this state or living like this all the time, I'm talking about orienting towards this way of doing things. I'm talking about an ongoing inquiry into the amount of force one is using to get the results one is after in life and to choose one’s life directions. This is why I say “Flow More~Force Less” instead of “Don’t Use Force”. It reminds me to stay focused on the ongoing nature of this process.

Most of us use too much force so I focus on that first. But as I let go of more and more of my unnecessary tension, I can also inquire into where I might be too Yin, too passive and not using enough energy for the job. And all the while keeping in mind that life is not just simply a matter of managing my energy economy in a vacuum. There are all kinds of forces and levels of being that affect and limit my choices.

For instance, I'm tired, I'm in bed, I get a phone call from a friend saying that the river at the end of town is flooding and if a whole bunch of sandbags aren't piled up tonight the town is going to be flooded. In order to help with the sandbags, I have to "force" my body/self to do something it doesn't want to do, get out of bed, get dressed and work all night instead of sleeping.

So here is a case where I would accept that in this emergency, I have to go against what my body wants to do, and, once engaged in helping with the sandbags, I'll have to push myself past what's comfortable. I may have to pile bags for 8 straight hours to save my town and unless I drop magically into "the zone", I'll have to use some force to do this.

However, once on the job, I would still be looking to use my legs more than my upper arms while lifting the sandbags. I would notice the rhythm of the job and see where the best resting beats or times are and I would take advantage of those times to rest my muscles. I would be on the lookout for any way to get more work done with the least wastage of energy. So on the one hand I would be using force to get myself to and through the job, but I would also be looking to make the very most of that force by finding ways to use it as efficiently as possible. I find it helpful in life to know how to be very passive, as well as to know how to force myself to do things. But that "just right" balance point in between is what I orient towards.

This principle can be applied to all kinds of activities. I always start with "Can I get the result I want using less force?" But another avenue is, "Can I get a better result by using more energy?" Orienting toward the right balance of energy and task is one of my greatest pleasures. It makes unpleasant activities easier and pleasant ones more enjoyable.

But beyond personal pleasure the main reason Taoism prizes this state or this orientation is that there is an assumption that the forces around us, the ones that are constantly changing and challenging us, are controlled by the mysterious “Tao” or “Way” and reflects the deepest intelligence and genius of Nature. It is assumed, as a whole to be “good” or at the very least unstoppable and all-powerful. Aligning with this “Way” is what flowing more and forcing less is all about. We are flowing with the “Way” more and forcing against it less. This results in fewer injuries, a longer and happier life, less damage to other people and the environment, and a greater feeling of being a conscious part of an ever changing, beautifully balanced and awesomely well organized Universe.

Another example: I used to work in a cardiac catheterization unit when I was a young guy in Chicago. My job was to wheel out the instrument tray after the procedure, grab all the surgical tools that would need to be cleaned and sterilized, and throw out the disposable stuff. I would then wash all the tools and arrange them on a fresh tray. I would then wrap up this tray in cloth and it would be sent to be sterilized. Each doctor had his own special tray, with his preferred number and type of tools arranged in his own particular way. I remember two doctors in particular. There was Doctor Steiner who had a huge number of tools on his tray, was extremely short tempered, and whose procedures always took the longest time. And then there was Doctor Dhonda. I don't know how he spelled his name but he was from India and it sounded like DeHonda. He had hardly any tools on this tray, he was soft spoken and very well liked and his procedures were always the shortest with the least amount of complications. Even back then when I was barely 19, I could see the correlation between attitude, quality, efficiency and health.

People sometimes hear about this kind of “flow more~force less” philosophy and they think it would lead a person to being very passive and downright wimpy. I can’t speak for other people but I don't find it makes me too passive. Rather than seeing myself as a cork floating in the ocean, I think of myself as more of a surfer. Surfing is a great example of using less force, as is horseback riding. In both cases, one must surrender a more forceful kind of control in favor of a more co-creative kind of control, one that doesn't force the horse, wave or surfboard to do one's bidding, but one that's hardly passive either. Remember the goal is to use the right amount of energy for the job at hand. High-level athletes in many sports share this quality. They don't waste energy and there's an inside out kind of grace to their movements.

Some people seem to really like forcing things and using way more energy than is needed to get things done. I suspect the rewards of this kind of attitude are short-lived and that over time it tends to lead to injuries of one kind or another. But I don’t really know. Life is for learning.

“Flow more~Force less” isn’t for everyone, but it sure works for me.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

If It Don't Fit...

Don’t Force It

T’ai-Chi to me means essentially “Unforced Balance”. The idea in Taoist philosophy is that there is an unforced balance underlying everything. This is represented by the yin/yang T’ai-Chi symbol.

The idea is that everything is in perfect balance already and if you want to experience a bit of it, a good way to start is to notice what you are forcing in life and see if you can let go of doing that. You can also notice which actions spring more effortlessly from your inner being and give more energy to those.

Unforced action or wu-wei is a core principle of Taoism, at least it sure is in my version of it. I would say it’s the guiding principle of my life. It doesn’t mean no-effort, it means no, or at least less, forced effort. And of course it is an ideal. We humans, Taoists or not, use too much force and effort all the time, almost constantly.

My approach to T’ai-Chi, or Taoism, or Chi Kung has more to do with what I’m aiming for than with whether or how often I hit my target. It’s much more about orientation than execution.

I find that with a consistent unforced orientation towards a given state, goal, or skill level and a patient attitude, the results that come to me will be the kind that are the easiest to integrate into the rest of my life.

The key words here are “unforced” and “patient”. It’s pretty easy to get unforced and forced actions mixed up in the subjective soup of consciousness in the body. This is why patience is important, at least why it has been for me. Often what I think of as being relatively unforced is actually more forced than I think it is. This will be revealed to me over time as I orient towards unforced balance and listen, in my life and body, for things I might be forcing or holding too tightly. As I get better at finding and letting go of forcing things, I see where I was fooling myself earlier. This in turn makes me more wary of accepting my current level of unforced-ness as anything special, because so far there seems to be no end to the levels of letting go of using force.

So again, rather than focusing on whether or not I’m hitting my target, I focus on orienting towards it and letting the hits and misses come as they will. And besides, since this is an unforced ideal, an ideal that I do not need to force myself to orient toward, it is simply a pleasure to go in that direction. So yeah, I use force all the time, I waste a ton of energy daily, but my orientation is towards using less and less force and finding more and more unforced balance in my life. And that has indeed been happening.

So, in life, what does T’ai-Chi or Unforced Balance look like? I would say that there has to be both firmness and softness evident. The more they are both present in roughly equal measure the more expressive of T’ai-Chi it would be. This principle can be applied to any area of human endeavor. Singing, speaking, dancing, practicing a T’ai-Chi form, walking working, relationship, anything can express T’ai-Chi.

I’m not saying that force is bad, just that using too much of it takes you farther away from the experience of T’ai-Chi, Unforced Balance, and the sense that you are moving with the Universe.

I aim to express this balance of softness and firmness in my T’ai-Chi forms and teaching, in my singing and songwriting, in my marriage, in how I live and move, in every area of life. It’s not the target I hit very often, but it is what I’m aiming for, and I aim to aim with as little force as possible too.

Friday, August 1, 2014

August News

From Gene Burnett

Work continues on my second album of 2014, tentatively titled “Crooked Love”…This one will feature several duets and trios with musicians I jam with regularly around Ashland. I’m not used to working with other musicians and this process happening over months instead of a few days, but I’m getting used to it. So far so good!

We’ve been having an extra hot Summer and after a pretty dry Winter, forest fires are on everyone’s mind around here, especially when we get a chance of thunderstorms. I recently got out of the heat for a T’ai-Chi vacation/retreat weekend at the coast with some of my Seattle and Ashland friends. It was much cooler at Bandon and we all had a fantastic time. Some video links are included below.

My wife Samarra spent most of this year out of town, helping her dad out with some important organizing and de-cluttering up in Seattle. This is the longest we’d been apart in 20 years but she was doing good work and it was a good time to do it. Now she’s back and we’re catching up and sorting out the next phase of our lives together which may very well include graduate school for her. Our relationship has been a long conversation about how we can best be true to ourselves and still stay together. For two pretty independent and stubborn creative people, it’s kind of a miracle we’ve made it work so well for so many years. The conversation continues…So far so good!

Several new videos posted this month…see the links below.

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

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 latest album:

Doubles Hitter Playlist

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

Three-Legged Dog

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

Take Me Down Mosaic~(Rogue Poetry Slam)

Fuck The Sun~(Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Let's Get High (And Lie Under A Tree)~(Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Six new Open Mike videos with impromptu band:

Six new T’ai-Chi videos:

T'ai-Chi Cane Practice

One Leg Exercise

One Leg Exercise-2

Lead With Your Heart

Weaknesses Into Opportunities

Partner Form and Free Play with Joel Hartshorne

Five new Nature videos from the Oregon Coast:

Boat Sculpture

Shrimp Runs For It

Osprey On The Oregon Coast

Feeding The Seagull

Angus The Happy Dog

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:

Saturday, August 2^nd, weather permitting, from 11am-1pm, I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's Market, behind the Plaza in Ashland. Come by and support local music and art!

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

Wednesday August 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 our third annual “Songs Of Summer” so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, originals or covers that are about or mention anything to do with Summer`. 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 Septemer 3rd, 2014: “Songs About Work and Working”

Sunday August 10^th, I’ll be performing from about 6:45pm until 7:15pm at Grizzly Peak Winery as part of the Jackson Fuel Committee’s 4^th Annual Folk Music Festival. There will be many musical acts donating their time for this great organization which, among other things, provides free wood to help low income folks stay warm in the Winter. The event runs from 4pm-8:00pm and there is a suggested donation of $10.00. Please call 541-488-2905 for more info.

Tuesday, August 19^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, August 20^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, August 23^rd, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.

Saturday, August 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 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.