September News

From Gene Burnett

I’ve had a busy month finishing my new album “Better Off Broken” which should be up on my site within a few weeks, as well as getting ready for the big movie sale I’ll be having soon. So only one new video this month and it’s right here at the top of the page. I’ll just leave “new videos” links up from last month. See below.

And…I’m going to repeat this news from last month: I’m in the process of getting out of the hard copy business with my various creative endeavors.

I’ve already set it up so you can only get hard copies of my books through amazon or iUniverse…I put my Water Study Chi Kung DVD up on youtube where you can watch it free…I set up my Poetry page at my site so my two books of short poems are now available as free downloadable pdf’s…and soon the option to purchase hard copies of my albums will be gone as well. So if you ever wanted a hard copy of any of my albums, now would be the time to buy one.

To be honest, I don’t really sell that many hard copies of anything I do and I’m tired of keeping all the supplies that are necessary to do that…blank CD’s, books, mailing supplies, printing for 30+ albums, jewel boxes...I’m de-cluttering in other areas of my life too.

All my music will still be available for downloading free or with a donation at my site, I’m just letting go of selling hard copies on line. With new albums, I’ll make small runs in those little cardboard sleeves that I’ll sell or give away locally, but when the run is done, it’s done.

So here we go…I’m going to start with local shows in case you’re in the Rogue Valley and then proceed with the usual information about where to find my music, videos, and pictures, including information about new projects.

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.

Upcoming Shows:

Wednesday September 2^nd, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose Café & Bar. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of every month. This month's theme will be our second annual “Country (ish) Songs” night, so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems that are in any way “country (ish)”. Hell, you can just do a song that’s about 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 Ashland. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm. *A heads up for next month: Wednesday, October ^7th, 2015 ”Songs About Fall & Falling”.

Monday, September 7^th, 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...

Saturday, September 12^th, 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!

Tuesday, September 15^th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Caldera Tap House 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 about 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.  

Recorded Music

My newest album is called Crooked Love and like all my other albums (31 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 “Crooked Love” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my latest album:

Crooked Love Playlist

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

Doubles Hitter Playlist

A couple of videos from the annual Bob Dylan’s Birthday Bash at The Wild Goose here in Ashland:

Up To Me (Dylan Night at the Goose)

Man Of Peace (Dylan Night at the Goose)

Three Rogue Poetry Slam videos from the June slam:

All I Can Do (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Dude Just Got Too Greedy (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Catalyst (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

One new Poetry Slam video from the July slam:

Everybody Knows But You (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

And one new T’ai-Chi video:

Taking Pushes While Practicing Solo Forms

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 1200 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 





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

You Can't Always Get

What You Want...

You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
You just might find
You get what you need

~Mick Jagger & Keith Richards

I just love these lyrics and find a real truth in them that changes with age but never stops being relevant to me. It would be easy to dismiss these words as superficial, facile, simplistic…but I think that comes from a superficial reading of them. If you’ve actually had the experience of really wanting something badly…and then, after trying, at least “sometimes” to get it, realizing that you absolutely cannot have it…and then after really letting this in and surrendering to it…realizing that what you wanted wasn’t in fact, what you needed after all, and that, bitter or sweet, what you needed is what you got…well then, I think the song has more resonance.

I also really like the co-creative feeling of “if you try sometimes” and the uncertainty and mysterious quality of “you just might find”…I think it’s kind of an optimistic yet fatalistic and bittersweet embrace of life. You go after sex and love, you go after music, you go after friendship, you go after justice, you go after sweetness (or at least cherry soda)…and you find out what’s real and what’s not, what’s possible and what’s not, and maybe, if you don’t give up too soon, you might just get what you need.

I also like the idea that this is an ongoing and repetitive process, this whole interplay between what I want and what I need. The lessons I needed when I was 20 are not necessarily the lessons I need now. 

August News

From Gene Burnett

We are in the midst of a heat wave here in Southern Oregon...over 100 degree temps…forest fires are burning and smoke is clouding the skies…It will pass eventually of course…but as usual, we are at the mercy of the wind.

And now with more personal news…

Folks, I’m in the process of getting out of the hard copy business with my various creative endeavors.

I’ve already set it up so you can only get hard copies of my books through amazon or iUniverse…I put my Water Study Chi Kung DVD up on youtube where you can watch it free…I set up my Poetry page at my site so my two books of short poems are now available as free downloadable pdf’s…and soon the option to purchase hard copies of my albums will be gone as well. So if you ever wanted a hard copy of any of my albums, now would be the time to buy one.

To be honest, I don’t really sell that many hard copies of anything I do and I’m tired of keeping all the supplies that are necessary to do that…blank CD’s, books, mailing supplies, printing for 30+ albums, jewel boxes...I’m de-cluttering in other areas of my life too.

All my music will still be available for downloading free or with a donation at my site, I’m just letting go of selling hard copies on line. With new albums, I’ll make small runs in those little cardboard sleeves that I’ll sell or give away locally, but when the run is done, it’s done.

I’m also going through my other stuff, including hundreds of movies, getting ready for a big sale I’ll be having later this year. Feels good to be letting all this stuff go…I’ve been somewhat of a collector all my life…the world was like a store to me…a place to get stuff…now, it’s more like a museum, a place to look at in wonder and let me. I’m not sure if I’ve just gotten older or wiser or if the collector “gene” has just petered out in me, but I don’t care. I’m just glad it’s done! As a consequence of all this sorting and sifting through stuff, I only have one new video this month…Round One of the Rogue Poetry Slam. So I’m going to leave the links here from last month and just add this one.

In other news…I will be recording a new album this month. 15 new songs and one new version of a very old one I wrote in high school back in 1975. The title will be “Better Off Broken” and I should have it done an up on my site within a month or so.

Links to the new (ish) videos as well as my “Crooked Love” video playlist are below in the “New Videos” section of this newsletter.

So here we go…I’m going to start with local shows in case you’re in the Rogue Valley and then proceed with the usual information about where to find my music, videos, and pictures, including information about new projects.

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.

Upcoming Shows:

Sunday August 2^nd, I’ll be performing from about 4:40pm until 5:10pm at Grizzly Peak Winery as part of the Jackson County Fuel Committee’s 5^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.

Monday, August 3^rd, 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 5^th, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose Café & Bar. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of every month. This month's theme will be our second anuual “Stones or Beatles!” night, so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems that are either by The Rolling Stones or The Beatles, or about or that mention either band, or hell, about actual rock and bugs. 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, September ^2nd, 2015 ”Country (ish) Songs”.

Friday August 7^th, I’ll be playing as part of the annual CelebratABILITY fundraiser benefit for D.U.D.E (Disabled United in Direct Empowerment). The event will run from 3pm-into the evening. There will be free refreshments, silent auctions and all kinds of good music. I’m sure at this point exactly when I’ll be playing…but I think it will be in the early evening…like 6 or 7pm or so. If you’re out and about for the Ashland First Friday Art Walk, swing by the Ashland Community Center near Lithia Park, donate a few bucks, bid on some cool stuff, and listen to a few tunes.

Tuesday, August 18^th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Caldera Tap House 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.

Monday August 24^th, starting at 6:30pm, I’ll be opening for and playing a few songs as part of a reading of Sam Younghans’ new one man show called “Jung, Cayce, Einstein, Me, Sex & Religion”. The reading will be free and will take place at the Ashland Public Library. Sam has had a long and interesting life and the show will be a recounting of his thoughts and stories about sex and religion and how they relate the work of the men in the title.

Tuesday, August 25^th, I'll be playing at The Wild Goose Café & Bar. Just me solo from 8-11pm. Friendliest bar in Ashland. Never a cover at The Goose.

For more info about 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.  

Recorded Music

My newest album is called Crooked Love and like all my other albums (31 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 “Crooked Love” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my latest album:

Crooked Love Playlist

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

Doubles Hitter Playlist

A couple of videos from the annual Bob Dylan’s Birthday Bash at The Wild Goose here in Ashland:
 

Up To Me (Dylan Night at the Goose)

Man Of Peace (Dylan Night at the Goose)

Three Rogue Poetry Slam videos from the June slam:

All I Can Do (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Dude Just Got Too Greedy (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Catalyst (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

One new Poetry Slam video from the July slam:

Everybody Knows But You (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

And one new T’ai-Chi video:

Taking Pushes While Practicing Solo Forms

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 1200 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 





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