From Gene Burnett
My latest album “Thunder Moon” is now up on my site. I hope you
give it a listen sometime and let me know what you think. It’s available for
listening and downloading free or with a donation along with all my other
albums here: Musical
Recordings Page
On a
whim I decided at the last minute to enter the NPR Tiny Desk Concert Contest.
This is a thing NPR does every year. In order to enter you have to submit a
fresh video of yourself playing an original song…there has to be a desk in the
video as this mirrors the way musical acts are featured on the “Tiny Desk
Concert Series” on NPR…you can’t be signed, you have to be “undiscovered” as
they put it and you have to be over 18. When I read the rules I thought
immediately of my song “Undiscovered” and recorded a video of me singing it
with my feet up on my desk. This turned out to be harder than I thought! It’s
not a good position for the diaphragm, especially when you have a lot of lyrics
to sing. But I managed to pull it off after several false starts. It’s very
unlikely that I would win this thing, which is just as well, because winning
involves flying to Washington DC and I haven’t been on a plane since 1999 and
hardly ever travel, but, I am hoping to get a little exposure and maybe turn a
few more people on to my music.
Warmer weather is coming to Southern Oregon and that means teaching outdoors is a bit more pleasant, we have more and more tourists here in Ashland, and I have more outdoor shows. But…this being Oregon, winter is probably still packing a few more punches. We have had snow in April in the past but as I write this it’s 70 degrees outside and I’m heading out soon to play a late add gig at the Lithia Artisan’s Market, so no snow today.
My
wife Samarra is finally back home after helping out her dad for a few months in
Seattle. She was supposed to fly to NYC to do a workshop and visit with my mom,
but she got rear-ended just a few days before she was supposed to leave and
while she wasn’t hurt badly, she did sustain enough whiplash to have to cancel
that trip. She’s been getting lots of bodywork and is making a good recovery.
It’s great to have her home. She’ll be doing a couple of short trips in the
next few months, including going to NYC, but no long trips in the forecast. She’s
going to be teaching a tango class this month…her first since she stopped to go
to grad school a few years ago…and this time I’m going to be taking the class.
I don’t think I’ll ever become a serious tango dancer…but I am hoping to learn
the basics and be able to dance with Samarra without embarrassing either of us.
We will see…
I only posted a few new videos last month, one Music and two
T’ai-Chi. See links below in Videos section.
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 April 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, in
honor of April Fool’s Day will be “Songs About Fools & Foolishness” so
musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, covers or
originals, that mention or are about this theme 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, May 2nd, 2018: “Songs About Animals”
*A heads up for next month: Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018: “Songs About Animals”
Saturday, April 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.
Saturday, April 21st,
I’ll be opening
for “The John Dough Boys” at Hearsay in
Ashland. This is a new venue for me and I’m looking forward to it. JBD is a
popular local band and this should be a fun show. And, I might have a special
musical guest playing with me…Show starts at 9pm.
Saturday, April 28th,
I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing original
music from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.
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.
A note on monetization: I won’t be able to monetize my videos
on youtube anymore. Monetization seems to be an option youtube wants to reserve
for bigger more ambitions channels. I’ve always had mixed feelings about having
ads on my videos, so to some extent, this is actually a bit of a relief. On the
other hand, it was nice to make a little money from my videos and nice to think
of “views” as adding slightly to my income. But such is life. I’m happy to be
rolling free and clear of ads. With the help of some savvy facebook friends, I
was able to ad this paragraph to the descriptions on all of my videos at once:
I hope this video has been helpful to you or touched you in some way that leaves you a little better off for having watched it. This is not a big time channel and I have no plans for it to become one. I’m too small to have ads on my videos and I’ve always had mixed feelings about them anyway. If you would like to support and encourage what I do here, you can make a donation to me directly via paypal. No donation is too small, (or too big!) and all donations are very much appreciated. https://www.paypal.me/GeneBurnett
I hope this video has been helpful to you or touched you in some way that leaves you a little better off for having watched it. This is not a big time channel and I have no plans for it to become one. I’m too small to have ads on my videos and I’ve always had mixed feelings about them anyway. If you would like to support and encourage what I do here, you can make a donation to me directly via paypal. No donation is too small, (or too big!) and all donations are very much appreciated. https://www.paypal.me/GeneBurnett
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
2 new T’ai-Chi videos:
1 new Music video:
Album playlists:
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
