February News

From Gene Burnett

My new album “Better Off Broken” is now available for downloading free or with a donation at my website. Just click here: BOB 

Like most of my work, it’s just me and acoustic guitar with occasional second guitars added. The songs might be considered a bit “country-ish”. I can’t help it as I’ve been in a bit of a Hank Williams and Willie Nelson swoon for the last couple of years. Not trying to imitate them mind you, that would be ridiculous…but I am trying to write from the place that they touch in my heart and mind and a little sonic similarity is inevitable. In any case, this album is the result of a somewhat tumultuous year or two in my marriage, which I’ve tweaked, re-imagined, and creatively exaggerated into 15 songs…along with two bonus tracks.

T’ai-Chi tip of the month: See how long you can stand on one leg without too much stress or strain. Some things that might help: bend the leg you’re standing on slightly…don’t lock your knees…tuck your tail bone down and under a bit…like you were about to sit on a stool…lengthen your spine by lifting your ribs front and back. If you’re not sure of your ability to do this exercise safely, do it next to a table or countertop and use one hand to help with your balance. Gradually reduce your contact with the table or countertop as your balance improves. (Note: Stop immediately if you feel any pain in the knees, hips or feet. A little discomfort or feeling of working is OK, but not joint pain. That’s always a sign to stop and get some advice from someone more experienced.) When you can stand on one leg for over a minute without struggle or stress…some things you can experiment with: bouncing slightly on the standing leg…crossing your arms across your chest…you can also try gently moving your non-standing leg…try different angles…draw circles with your knee in the air…try it with your eyes closed…this makes it much harder to balance, so be ready to open them, and again, if you feel shaky, do it next to a table or countertop and lightly touch the surface to help your balance…lighten your contact as your balance improves. Once you can balance on one leg fairly easily, it’s a great way to take a break from sitting or driving. Balance is important in life, especially as we get older. Consider practicing this simple exercise as doing the older man or woman in your future a favor.

Many new videos this month: a new “Free Range Chicken” video featuring a couple of roosters who appeared for a while in the park where I teach…17 sky videos for all of the songs from my new album “Better Off Broken”…One new Rogue Poetry Slam video (I didn’t make it out of the first round this month)…A typical Oregon downpour video…and four new T’ai-Chi videos. See links in the Video section below.

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:

Monday, February 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 play from 7-9pm.

Wednesday February 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 every month. This month's theme will be our “5^th Annual Love Songs”, so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, covers or originals, that either mention or are about love in any way. 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, March 2^nd, 2016: “Break-up Songs”

Wednesday, February 9^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.

Tuesday, February 16^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.

Saturday, February 20^th, from 10am-Noon, my good friend Jesse Biesanz and I are hosting a Hacky Sack session at the Band Shell in Lithia Park. This will happen on the third Saturday of every month. We both miss the fun and camaraderie of a good friendly Hack Circle and…more importantly, we miss the practice! It’s fun, aerobic, cooperative, demands balance, coordination, quick thinking and accuracy…So whether you’re new to the game, or an experienced player who wants to brush up your skills, or an expert who just wants to meet some new players, come on by. Hacky Sack basically involves keeping a small footbag in the air, usually leather and fairly soft, using only your feet. When there are more than two players, it’s usually played in a circle. If the circle gets too big, it is split into smaller circles.

The only rules of this Hack Circle:

1. You’ve got to use your feet to keep the sack in the air and off the ground. No hands! (10 voluntary pushups if you do)

2. If you miss or otherwise screw up, you can’t say, “I’m Sorry.” (10 voluntary pushups if you do)

3. No serving to yourself.

4. No hotdogging. Meaning this is not about how many tricks you can do before the sack hits the ground, and it’s not about working obsessively on tricks. Tricks are fine but in general, we want to keep the hack going as a friendly group and keep everyone involved.

See you at the bandshell, rain or shine. The shell provides shelter from the rain and once a circle gets going, you’ll be plenty warm.

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 “Better Off Broken” and like all my other albums, 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

One New Rogue Poetry Slam video:

You Can Play Now (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Four new T’ai-Chi videos:

Talent vs Hard Work

Shoulder Strikes

T'ai-Chi Hacky Sack

Elbow Knee Connection Drill

18 new Music videos:

Free-Range Chicken

Better Off Broken Youtube Playlist 

One new Nature video:

Oregon Downpour

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 1400 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


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