August News

From Gene Burnett

Work continues on my second album of 2014, tentatively titled “Crooked Love”…This one will feature several duets and trios with musicians I jam with regularly around Ashland. I’m not used to working with other musicians and this process happening over months instead of a few days, but I’m getting used to it. So far so good!

We’ve been having an extra hot Summer and after a pretty dry Winter, forest fires are on everyone’s mind around here, especially when we get a chance of thunderstorms. I recently got out of the heat for a T’ai-Chi vacation/retreat weekend at the coast with some of my Seattle and Ashland friends. It was much cooler at Bandon and we all had a fantastic time. Some video links are included below.

My wife Samarra spent most of this year out of town, helping her dad out with some important organizing and de-cluttering up in Seattle. This is the longest we’d been apart in 20 years but she was doing good work and it was a good time to do it. Now she’s back and we’re catching up and sorting out the next phase of our lives together which may very well include graduate school for her. Our relationship has been a long conversation about how we can best be true to ourselves and still stay together. For two pretty independent and stubborn creative people, it’s kind of a miracle we’ve made it work so well for so many years. The conversation continues…So far so good!

Several new videos posted this month…see the links below.

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

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.

Recorded Music

My newest album is called “Doubles Hitter” and like all my other albums (30 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 “Doubles Hitter” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my latest album:

Doubles Hitter Playlist

“Three-Legged Dog”, featuring Mandy, a wonderfully happy dog:

Three-Legged Dog

I came in first again. Three more Rogue Poetry Slam videos of me reading my lyrics:

Take Me Down Mosaic~(Rogue Poetry Slam)

Fuck The Sun~(Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Let's Get High (And Lie Under A Tree)~(Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Six new Open Mike videos with impromptu band:

This Heartache Sucks

Home On The Range

Carnegie Hall

Self-Pity Motel

Beast Of Burden

If It Isn't Blue

Six new T’ai-Chi videos:

T'ai-Chi Cane Practice

One Leg Exercise

One Leg Exercise-2

Lead With Your Heart

Weaknesses Into Opportunities

Partner Form and Free Play with Joel Hartshorne

Five new Nature videos from the Oregon Coast:

Boat Sculpture 

Shrimp Runs For It

Osprey On The Oregon Coast

Feeding The Seagull

Angus The Happy Dog

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 just passed the 900 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 




Upcoming Shows:

Saturday, August 2^nd, 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!

Monday, August 4th, 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 6th, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of each month. This month's theme is our third annual “Songs Of Summer” so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, originals or covers that are about or mention anything to do with Summer`. 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 town. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm. 

*A heads up for next month: Wednesday Septemer 3rd, 2014: “Songs About Work and Working”

Sunday August 10^th, I’ll be performing from about 6:45pm until 7:15pm at Grizzly Peak Winery as part of the Jackson Fuel Committee’s 4^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.

Tuesday, August 19^th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Northwest Pizza and Pasta 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.

Wednesday, August 20^th, I'll be playing at The Wild Goose. Just me solo from 8-11pm. Friendliest bar in town. Never a cover at The Goose. I usually play here on the Third Wednesday of every month.

Saturday, August 23^rd, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.

Saturday, August 23^rd, I'll be playing at Paddy Brannan's Irish Pub with The Graceful Losers, a.k.a. my good friend Robbie Lindauer backing me up on guitar and whoever else we can scare up for the gig. I’ve decided that whenever I play with other musicians in anything like a band setting, we will be called “The Graceful Losers”. We play from about 9pm 'til around Midnight. Stop by for a pint and some music. I've always liked the friendly and fun vibe of this place. One of my favorite places to play.

For more info on 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.  

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

Investing...

In Loss.

If you're going to get better at anything, you have to "invest in loss", as we say in T'ai-Chi. That is to say, you have to give up some of your previous status and skill in order to master the next level. You have to be willing to be a beginner again.

Top dog 8th grader becomes a freshman...

The player who makes all the "one shots" in pool, suddenly misses them because now she's trying to control what the cue ball does after she makes the shot, so as to set up the next one...

Guy who can overpower people with strength in Pushing Hands suddenly gets pushed over a lot because now he's trying to find better angles that require less force and he's not as good at this...

Tango dancer who's been doing it for a couple of years and feels like hot stuff suddenly realizes that to get to the next level, he must start all over with a deeper study of the most basic moves...

Even if you're not that ambitious and don't care if you get better, even if you're like me and are just hoping to not get worse, it still helps to invest in the loss of yesterday's body as you grow into the one you have now. I am always a beginner with the body I have now. Cursing the loss of the old one doesn't help, except as a momentary venting of energy. Then it's back to being a freshman again.

I always loved the story of the Japanese martial art master who asked to be buried with his white belt on… 

July News

From Gene Burnett

I’ve started work on my second album of 2014, tentatively titled “Crooked Love”…This one will feature several duets and trios with musicians I jam with regularly around Ashland. I’m not used to working with other musicians and this process happening over weeks instead of a few days, but I’m getting used to it. So far so good! I’ve recorded a handful of solo songs, one trio song is done and two duo songs are done. Slow but steady…

Summer is coming but not quite here in full force, we’ve had a little rain and some cooler temps which is good because we are in a drought around here and the later the heat comes on the better. Outdoor shows are starting to happen too. See below if you’re in Southern Oregon.

My wife Samarra has been out of town for several months, helping her dad out with some important organizing and de-cluttering up in Seattle. This is the longest we’ve been apart in 20 years but she’s doing good work and this is a good time to do it. With luck, she’ll be back home in mid-July. I’ve certainly missed her a lot, but I’ve enjoyed my solo life as well and am definitely staying active and creative.

Several new videos posted this month…see the links below.

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

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.

Recorded Music

My newest album is called “Doubles Hitter” and like all my other albums (30 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 “Doubles Hitter” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my newest album:

Doubles Hitter Playlist

Me “live” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Hip-Hop Open Mike playing my song “Save Your Breath”:

Save Your Breath

“Three-Legged Dog”, featuring Mandy, a wonderfully happy dog:

Three-Legged Dog

“Color Me Grateful”, a new song, not on any albums yet:

Color Me Grateful

New “Sky Videos”:

At The Time

Let It Spin

Proud Of My Work

Where Will You Sleep Tonight?

I came in first this time. Three more Rogue Poetry Slam videos of me reading my lyrics:

Grown-up Little Girls (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Fuck You Up (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Too Something (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Two new T’ai-Chi videos:

Taking Breaks From Training

T'ai-Chi Basic Steps

One new Nature video:

Ashland Creek in the Evening

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 just passed the 900 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 




Upcoming Shows:

Wednesday July 2nd, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of each month. This month's theme is “Stones or Beatles!“ so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems by either band or that reference either band or are about either band. Hell, you can play a song about actual stones or rocks or beetles. 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 town. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm. 

*A heads up for next month: Wednesday August 6^th, 2014: “Third Annual Songs of Summer”

Friday, July 4th, weather permitting, from 12pm-2pm, I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's Market, behind the Plaza in Ashland. Come by after the parade and support local music and art!

Monday, July 7th, 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...

Tuesday, July 15^th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Northwest Pizza and Pasta 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.

Wednesday, July 16^th, I'll be playing at The Wild Goose. Just me solo from 8-11pm. Friendliest bar in town. Never a cover at The Goose. I usually play here on the Third Wednesday of every month.

Saturday, July 19^th, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.

Friday, July 25^th, I'll be playing at Paddy Brannan's Irish Pub with The Graceful Losers, a.k.a. Me and whoever else I can scare up for the gig. I’ve decided that whenever I play with other musicians in anything like a band setting, we will be called “The Graceful Losers”. We play from about 9pm 'til around Midnight. Stop by for a pint and some music. I've always liked the friendly and fun vibe of this place. One of my favorite places to play.

Saturday July 26^th, I’ll be playing a set before the Tommy Emmanuel show at the Britt Festival’s new Performance Garden Stage! I’ll be there from 6pm-7:15pm. This new stage looks great, can’t wait to try it out. Really looking forward to this one. For ticket information: https://www.brittfest.org/performances

Saturday, August 2^nd, weather permitting, from 11am-1pm, I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's Market, behind the Plaza in Ashland. Come support local music and art!

For more info on 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.  


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

Doug Stanhope

Plays Medford Oregon, June 2014.

On Sunday June 22nd, 2014 comedian Doug Stanhope appeared at “The Whiskey Room” in Medford, Oregon. When I first heard about this show, I could not believe that Doug was actually going to do it. I never dreamed he’d ever play Medford and since seeing him “live” was on my comedy bucket list, I figured I’d have to travel to Portland or San Francisco if I was ever going to check this one off. And since I hate to travel I figured this was a long shot.

I knew he was booked to play Portland on the 25th, but I just couldn’t work it out to be at that show…just way too much time and driving for me to deal with…So when I got a late night email from a friend and fellow Stanhope fan that he was coming to Medford, (I live in nearby Ashland), I was elated and immediately bought a couple of tickets (only $25 each!). Soooo glad I did.

My buddy Neil and I are huge Stanhope fans and were there plenty early to get the best seats we could get, which turned out to be right in front of the stage. We saved a couple of seats for my other friend Scott, the one who first told me about the show, with his friend Ian. So when they showed up much later, they were able to join us up front. Neil and I had gone out for sushi before hand, had a few beers and other uh…edible herbal intoxicants and were feelin’ no pain when the show got started.

The musical opener turned out to be my friend Maurice Woodard the “One Man Band” who did an hour with his keyboards and electric guitars. It was getting noisy and what with the acoustics of the room (not very good) and the general mood of anticipation and partying, it was not easy to listen, but we did take in his general vibe and smiled as he went through his usual fantastic vocals and well-known Soul and R & B classics.

A word or two about the room itself. It is a large room but not what you’d call a roomy room. The space is interrupted by numerous big screen TV’s, spinning light effects which cast patterns and laser dots everywhere, and there's an elevated loft in the back of the room which is basically a very deep balcony with very few decent views of the stage.  It also has very high ceilings which make the sound kind of boomy and…just weird. The stage is in the front left corner of the room and there’s a huge multi-paned window looking out on the street that’s right to the side of the stage. This window has no covering and faces West so there’s actual sunlight on the stage until the sun goes down. So in short, not a very good room for comedy, to say the least. And not at all the kind of room Doug was probably used to playing.

So we’re hanging out, listening to Maurice as best we can and Neil points out that Bingo, Doug’s girlfriend is over by the bar. He tells me that she’s really cool and he’d had a few words with her. So I went over to get a coke and while I was there I struck up a conversation with her. I started with, “Man I cannot believe that Doug is playing here.” To which she replied, “Neither did we!” It seems Doug was very very pissed off about the quality of the venue, the stuff they’d failed to come through with in the Green Room, the sound system, just about everything about the place. As she put it, “He’s going to come out on fire.” She even hinted that he might be having trouble getting a drink. She was indeed very cool, relaxed, and we chatted nicely for a bit.

After a little while longer I went back to see if I could buy Doug a drink, since we were at the front table. I followed Bingo out to the back patio where she went through a metal gate into a sort of parking lot back there…I opened the gate a bit and there she was, talking with Doug. I said, “Hey man, we’re in the front row, can we buy you a drink?” Doug smiled and said, “No thanks man, I’m good.” So that was that.

Doug had an opener with him…Andy Andrist. He was from Eugene and very funny. Vulgar for sure, but funny as hell. We really liked him a lot. We were planning on buying his DVD or CD, but given the way the evening ended…this turned out to be impossible.

After Andy finished his set, he introduced Doug and out he came, indeed, on fire. Wearing an orange sport coat and orange plaid pants, the first thing he said was, “I have no one but myself to blame for tonight’s show…” He then proceed to tear the venue a new one…going after the sound system…the “Champagne Room” in the back with its sticky floors…the huge window with sunlight pouring in…“Nothing can be funny in this kind of light!”…at one point he even climbed up the wall of window panes…he said the balcony/loft thing was like playing a prison…there were actually a couple of couches right up on stage with him and on one of them sat an elderly couple who he said were pretty much trapped if they didn’t like his act…he had fun with them throughout the show and even bought them shots at one point…He came out with a huge plastic jug of “Popov” vodka which he drank from in a tall glass and had Bingo bring him some other shots from the bar as well…He said several times that he really didn’t want to be there and that if he drank enough, he would likely forget he ever was…in between ragging on the venue and how bad he felt the show was going…all hilarious by the way, the crowd was howling…he did some of what I presumed were his latest bits…all funny as hell…a great piece about how he cannot get sponsors for his act…even Popov vodka (which he called “hobo plasma”) turned him down…kids with cancer…the TV show “Locked Up Abroad”…and a few other choice bits that I can’t recall right now…All the while getting drunker and looking at his watch and talking about making it through his allotted time…we laughed our asses off and felt like this was really a rare treat…not just his stage act but Doug right there in real time dealing with something he was really pissed off about and riffing on it. Kind of like a combination of his stage act and just hanging out with him being funny at a party. I’m pretty sure he hadn’t played a venue like this in a long time. It might have reminded him of his early years and set him to thinking “Jesus Christ, how long have I been doing this and I’m back here?!?” In any case, it was great to watch him take all of this and turn it into his art, into part of his act. As I said, a real treat. At one point he started fumbling in his jacket looking for his “notes”…I think he had a few more bits for us…but he couldn’t find them…so he just sort of said, Fuck it…and tossed the big vodka jug to his doorman, jumped off the stage, crawled and rolled over the very front table by the door and literally ran out the front door where Bingo and “Jim” and whoever he was traveling with no doubt had the engine running and left. Not to be seen again! An epic closing, I thought, to a great evening that my buddies and I will never forget. (I even grabbed a souvenir from Doug’s area.)   ;~)

Everything In This World Is So Unlikely…

And Yet, Here It Is. 

At least for a moment, until it becomes something else. Look around the space you are in right now. What are the odds that everything around you would be in this exact configuration at this particular moment in time? And yet, here it is. Every single thing that exists sits at the top of a giant pyramid of lucky breaks. 

My grandfather told me this story shortly before he died. His father, my great-grandfather, was a very quiet man. My grandfather hardly ever heard him speak. And yet he had a way of letting it be known what he was thinking and how he was feeling. One night when my grandfather was a young man, he brought a young lady home to meet his parents. I guess at some point in the evening he looked over at his father as if to say, Well, what do you think? His father just gave him a look with a very slight disapproving shake of the head and he knew that this girl was not for him. Shortly afterwards, he brought my grandmother home to meet his parents and this time his father gave him a slight, almost imperceptible nod that said, This is the one.

If it wasn’t for that little nod, I would not exist. And yet, here I am. 

Love Or Money?

If I Can’t Have Both, I’ll Take Love…

I read about a study where they asked people, What percentage of your work time is filled with doing what you feel you do best? The average was pretty low. Many people reported that they never got to do what they did best at work. And there was a correlation between a higher percentage and how much people enjoyed their jobs, regardless of what the job was. Like cab drivers who were good with people and good drivers and got to do both all day long were happier than cab drivers who were really good at playing the drums and never got to do that at work. I well understand that there are economic needs and forces here, so I don't mean to put down the drummer-cab driver. He has to do what he has to do.

Very early in my life I realized a few things: 1. that I had a strong need to enjoy what I was doing in order to put much energy into anything 2. that I enjoyed things that didn't seem to make much money 3. that I had a very low ability to tough it out and override 1. and 2. just to make money, and 4. that a typical middle class life (house, kids, car, etc.) would be difficult for me to pay for given 1. and 2. So...I kept my expenses to a minimum...had a vasectomy when I was 29...and kept looking for a way to pay for that relatively modest life by doing something that I loved. I've never made much money, and I have had some real angels in my life who helped support my efforts, but I've never been late for the rent or other bills and I'm still somehow afloat. And...I get to do what I feel I do best...Teaching (T'ai-Chi) and making music...100% of my work day. But I also do without much of what my generation would consider "success".

I think a lot of people would be happier if they set their economic sites much lower...had fewer kids or waited longer to have them...drove a funkier car or better yet got a bike...jettisoned a lot of the stuff they think they "need" which they actually only need because they work so many hours at jobs they hate...and focused instead on finding the kind of work they really enjoy, regardless of what it pays, and building relationships with like-minded people. My experience is that people who are poor but enjoy what they're doing and have a solid community of friends are much happier than wealthy people who don't like their jobs and are socially isolated. And of course, if you can do both, more power to you, but I think that comes more from following "your bliss" and finding there's money in it, than it comes from following the money and finding there's bliss in it.