I am a T'ai-Chi Teacher and Singer/Songwriter living in Ashland, OR. Please visit my site: www.GeneBurnett.com for more info about my teaching and music. At my site I have over 30 albums of songs available for downloading free or with a donation. This blog is dedicated to musings about what I like to call "The Unforced Life" and newsletter posts about what I'm up to monthly.
About 3 weeks ago, I decided to experiment with
not using caffeine. I wasn’t using a lot…a laughably small amount really…but I
am very susceptible to drugs of any kind…so while my dose was always small, the
effects were always big. I drank a cup of green tea in the morning and cup of
green or black tea in the evening, with occasional sodas or coffees when I was
playing a gig or out for the evening. But the effects on me were equivalent of
3 or 4 times that amount for a normal person. If I drank a triple espresso, I’d
probably end up in the ER. ;~)
In any case, it’s no longer an experiment. I like
it so much, I’m not going back. At first I felt a little tired, but actually,
it wasn’t so much that I was sleepy tired, or physically tired, I was just more
relaxed and calmer, more settled into myself. I thought, “I’m not low
energy…this is just me at 58, minus stimulants.”
Now, 3 weeks in, I feel significant improvements
in every area of my life…I notice more, breathe more deeply, connect with people
better, and I sleep better. I feel much more in touch with my body. I don’t
feel so much push to go forward…instead I feel more pull to look sideways while
I go forward. Everything seems deeper and more…3-dimensional…like I can feel
and sense into my own weight and weight of other people and objects better.
It’s nice to know how tired or energized I actually am rather than tweaking
myself like a machine from the outside. I don’t miss it at all. And I’m not
going back.
I’m not saying this is the best or healthiest way
to go. I have no idea what works for other people. And there are studies
showing health benefits from drinking coffee. But if you’re at all curious, I
would recommend at least taking a week or two off and seeing how you feel. For
me it’s like I’ve been living a bit on my toes and now I’m more back on my
heels. And I really like it.
My new album “Better Off Broken” is now available for downloading
free or with a donation at my website. Just click here: BOB
T’ai-Chi tip of the month: Stand quietly for a couple of
minutes…before and after you do any activity. It could be a T’ai-Chi practice
or a yoga practice or a heart to heart talk or watching a movie or doing a
shift at work. Just take a minute or two and listen to your body…notice what’s
tense and what’s relaxed…what you can feel and what you can’t…what feels good
and what feels off…notice your mental state…how calm are you?...how restless
are you…notice your emotional state…are you sad? Or mad? or fearful? or happy?...just
notice how you are. And then do whatever you were getting ready to do. Then,
when you’re done, stand again and notice the same things. The point is not to
analyze or correct anything. The point is just to take notice of how you are
before you do the activity and how you are when you’re done. I find it’s really
a great practice. It improves my body listening ability…it helps me savor and
consolidate any positive effects of the activity…it helps me notice any
negative effects of the activity. And it helps me transition in and out of the
activity, particularly if the activity is a T’ai-Chi practice session. I want
to go in conscious of what I’m doing and leave the same way. I want my daily
life to be more like my T’ai-Chi form and I want my T’ai-Chi form to be more
like my daily life. This practice helps me do that.Also, I almost always notice things I wasn’t previously aware
of. Try it, you might like it. If you’d like any tips about standing, please
watch the video above.
Not too many new videos this month: Three new Rogue Poetry Slam videos and
three 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:
Wednesday March 2nd, 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 “Breakup
Songs”, so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and
poems, covers or originals, that either mention or are about breaking up in any
way whatsoever. 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, April 6th, 2016: “4th
Annual Songs About Fools & Foolishness”
Monday, March7th,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.
Thursday, March 10th,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, March
15th, 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, March 19th, 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. (10 voluntary pushups if you do)
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
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…)
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.
