From Gene Burnett
Our summer forest fire smoke seems like a thing of the distant past…replaced
by beautiful fall weather here in Southern Oregon. What a pleasure it is to
breathe fully again. My voice has also recovered and I’m well into the process
of recording this year’s new album. Should be done and up on my site within a
month or so. I will, of course, keep you posted.
Outdoor gigs are winding down…one more Lithia Artisans Market
show this month, weather permitting…and one more shot at The Green Show as the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival. My last one was smoked out. Fingers crossed this
one (October 11th) isn’t rained out. It’s a great outdoor stage,
newly remodeled, great sound, and though it is late in the season, there could
potentially be hundreds of people there. We will see…
The park is going to be doing some major work on the bandshell
where I teach most days. This will likely take a few months and during that
time I’ll be teaching in a few alternate areas near there. The main issue is
rain. There’s only one other covered area in the park and it’s not ideal. So
when it’s raining I might have to reschedule or cancel a lesson or two. But no
worries. I’ve had free rent at the shell for going on 20 years. I can put up
with a few months of inconvenience. I work with what I have and try to find the
least forceful way around obstacles. It’s all part of the Taoist “What would
water do?” idea.
I was recently a guest on my friend Mark Arinsberg’s podcast.
Mark’s a great eccentric guy who seems to know just about everyone in town.
He’s a graphic designer, drummer, taxi-cab driver, international traveler, and
now podcast host. Here’s a link to the cast page. Just scroll down to episode
nine. I think you will enjoy our conversation. Citizen 44
I posted some new videos this month: 5 new T’ai-Chi videos, 1 new Nature video,
3 new Rogue Poetry Slam videos, and several new music videos from my 2010 album
“Brand New World”. I’ve also been putting together some youtube playlists
featuring songs from other past albums including “live” and Rogue Poetry Slam
versions. See links below in the Videos section of this post.
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 October 2nd,
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 8:00-10pm
Wednesday October 4th, 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”Country
(ish) Songs” so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs
and poems, covers or originals, that are country (ish) 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 community events. 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 1st, 2017: “7th Annual Political Songs”
*A heads up for next month: Wednesday, November 1st, 2017: “7th Annual Political Songs”
Saturday, October 7th,
weather permitting, from 11:30am-1:30pm,
I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's
Market, behind the Plaza
in Ashland. Come support local music and art!
Wednesday, October 11th,
I’ll be playing the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival Green Show from 6:45-7:30pm, outside OSF “on the bricks”. This
is probably the best gig in Ashland, certainly my best show of the year. The
whole area has recently been remodeled and it’s even more audience friendly
than it used to be. My earlier Green Show was cancelled due to smoke. Only rain
can stop this one. Fingers crossed.
Tuesday, September 17th,
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, October 21st, from 10am-Noon, my good friend Jesse
Biesanz and I are hosting a Hacky Sack session outside Caldera Tap House on
Water Street in Ashland. We’ll be under the overpass. This usually happens on
the third Saturday of every month but this month we’re doing it on the 2nd
Saturday. 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 Caldera rain or shine. The overpass provides shelter from the rain and once the circle gets going, you’ll be plenty warm regardless of the weather.
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 Caldera rain or shine. The overpass provides shelter from the rain and once the circle gets going, you’ll be plenty warm regardless of the weather.
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
All of my over 30 albums are 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
5 new T’ai-Chi videos:
1 new Nature video:
3 new Rogue Poetry Slam Videos:
1 new Music Video Playlist with
several new music/cloud videos:
Plus…
Youtube Playlists featuring songs
from previous albums including “live” and Rogue Poetry Slam versions:
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 2000 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.
"Head" and "Boot" (devoted to our two gerbils RIP)
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 8 or 9 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
