From Gene Burnett
Well I’m finally done with the recording, mixing and mastering
process for my next album “Crooked Love”. This project was much more time
consuming and expensive than any of my other albums, due to the fact that it features
collaborations with some of the musicians I jam with regularly here in Ashland.
I’m not sure I’ll ever do it again…but I’m very glad I did it. I love the
results of the collaborations on “Crooked Love” and I can’t wait to share it
with the world, or at least my world. The next phase is to do the graphics and
then get hard copies made and get the songs up on my site, and through CD Baby,
up on iTunes and other e-retailers of music. I will, of course, keep you
posted.
In spite of being very busy with recording, I did manage to
post some new videos this month. Video links are included below.
Fall is coming fast here in Ashland and we just had our first
rain storm which was very welcome around these parts. We’ve had some bad forest
fires in the area and that rain went a long way towards putting them out. I
think everyone is hoping for a nice rainy season since we’ve been in a drought
for about a year.
Life is going pretty well…I’m still enjoying teaching and
practicing T’ai-Chi even after doing so for 30 years. Samarra’s getting used to
being in grad school and I’m getting used to it too. I think she found a really
good program for her needs and while it’s sometimes stressful for her to be
back in school after all these years, she’s doing great and I’m very proud of
her.
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:
I made several
sky videos of songs from my old album “Plan B”:
Here’s one I made with some video I
shot at Bandon on the Oregon Coast:
I came in third this month. Three
more Rogue Poetry Slam videos of me reading my lyrics:
One new T’ai-Chi video:
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 recently crossed 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)
Upcoming Shows:
Wednesday October 1st, 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
second annual “Songs of Fall & Falling” so musicians and spoken word
artists will be doing songs and poems, originals or covers that are about or mention
anything to do with fall (the season) or falling (in any context). 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 November 5th, 2014: “4th Annual Political
Songs”
Saturday,
October 4th, I'll
be playing at Paddy Brannan's
Irish Pub in Ashland
with The Graceful Losers a.k.a. any of my fine musician friends I can scare up
to play the gig. I’ve decided that whenever I play with other musicians in 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.
Monday,
October 6th, 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...
Thursday, October 15th, 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, October 18th, I'll be at The Downtowne
Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics,
super friendly neighborhood scene.
Tuesday, October 21st, 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.
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