October News

From Gene Burnett

There have been a few delays getting my new album “Better Off Broken” up on my site…minor stuff involving the graphics…which should be worked out soon. I’ll keep you posted.

Fall is fast arriving here in Southwest Oregon…temps are getting cooler…the first leaves are falling…days are getting shorter and with daylight savings time coming at the end of the month…it’s easy to feel that summer is over. But there are some warm days left and I’m not  breaking out my winter coats just yet.

T’ai-Chi tip of the month: Don’t sit for any longer than 20 minutes at a time. Even if you just take a short break to stand up, check your posture and then sit back down…or take a short walk around the room or area you are in…any break from continuous sitting is good for your body and overall wellbeing. Try it.

A few new videos this month…the usual Rogue Poetry Slam stuff as well as one Nature and one T’ai-Chi video. See links 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, October 5^th, 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 October 7th, 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 third annual “Songs Of Fall & Falling”, so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems, covers or originals, that mention or are in any way related to Fall (the season) or Falling (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, November ^4th, 2015: ”5^th Annual Political Songs”.

Saturday, October 17^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.

Tuesday, October 20^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.

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 Crooked Love and like all my other albums (31 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

Three New Rogue Poetry Slam videos:

Free Range Chicken (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Undiscovered (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Make Something Beautiful (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

One new T’ai-Chi video:

T'ai-Chi Balance Kicking & Striking Drill

And one new Nature video:

Five Minutes In The Life Of Lithia Park's Wild Turkeys

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 1200 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 





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

Give Up On Your Dreams

Or At Least Be Flexible About Them

Whatever you think you want or need, whatever your dream is, I can guarantee there's more to it than you think there is. Lots more, and it's not all good.

They say, "Never give up on your dreams." and "Never settle for less than what you want." But I say, Be willing to give up on your dreams if they're not realistic...Be willing to settle for less than what you want if that's all you're going to get...Be willing to revision your needs as preferences. 

If all your dreams came true exactly as you dream them...If you got everything you want exactly as you want it...your life would no doubt be awful. That's because you don't know what the Hell you really want or need. None of us do. We have ideas. Fine, have ideas. Go for what you want. Head in the direction of your dreams. But give life some room to dance with you. In fact, give it a lot of room. In fact, consider life to be the "lead" and you to be the "follow" in the big dance of life and things will be much, much better.

The Tao Te Tching says: Know the yang side, but keep to the yin side. In other words, know how to set goals and work towards them…but listen to the results you’re getting and be willing to change or adjust your plans and direction to suit your inner sense of rightness.  

Expecting life to unfold on your own terms, needing things to come to you in specific forms, is a recipe for disaster, disappointment, bitterness, pain and trouble. The open-ended dance with life will bring you to places far better than the ones you dream of. You will not be in charge but you will not be a cork floating on the ocean either. You will be like a surfer who does not own or control or disrespect the wave, but instead follows it, surrenders to it, and uses it to express her deepest creativity and soul.

Imagine paddling out to a wave with a plan in mind...a dream...a desire to ride it in a very specific way to a very specific place...pretty dumb right? My point exactly.

Surf the waves or fight ‘em. The choice is yours.

Taoist Motto

Get it undone.

Taoism, at least my version of it, is about noticing where I'm using too much force, that is to say "doing things", and instead seeing if I can use less force, finding ways to do things that don't require force and don't feel like consciously doing anything in the usual sense of the word. It's tricky because consciously trying not to use force is actually forceful. It's more like developing a knack for letting the forceful actions go rather than suppressing them with still more force. These natural un-forced actions are called "wu-wei" or "non-action" in Chinese. "Get it undone" is using the word "undone" more in the sense of getting a knot undone or in the sense of getting things unblocked, rather than in the sense of getting a job undone...It's more like releasing things that are held in place with force or conscious action and letting them become undone so they can "do" themselves.

What did the Taoist say on his deathbed?

"If only I had done less..."

September News

From Gene Burnett

I’ve had a busy month finishing my new album “Better Off Broken” which should be up on my site within a few weeks, as well as getting ready for the big movie sale I’ll be having soon. So only one new video this month and it’s right here at the top of the page. I’ll just leave “new videos” links up from last month. See below.

And…I’m going to repeat this news from last month: I’m in the process of getting out of the hard copy business with my various creative endeavors.

I’ve already set it up so you can only get hard copies of my books through amazon or iUniverse…I put my Water Study Chi Kung DVD up on youtube where you can watch it free…I set up my Poetry page at my site so my two books of short poems are now available as free downloadable pdf’s…and soon the option to purchase hard copies of my albums will be gone as well. So if you ever wanted a hard copy of any of my albums, now would be the time to buy one.

To be honest, I don’t really sell that many hard copies of anything I do and I’m tired of keeping all the supplies that are necessary to do that…blank CD’s, books, mailing supplies, printing for 30+ albums, jewel boxes...I’m de-cluttering in other areas of my life too.

All my music will still be available for downloading free or with a donation at my site, I’m just letting go of selling hard copies on line. With new albums, I’ll make small runs in those little cardboard sleeves that I’ll sell or give away locally, but when the run is done, it’s done.

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 September 2^nd, 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 second annual “Country (ish) Songs” night, so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems that are in any way “country (ish)”. Hell, you can just do a song that’s about the country…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, October ^7th, 2015 ”Songs About Fall & Falling”.

Monday, September 7^th, 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...

Saturday, September 12^th, 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!

Tuesday, September 15^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.

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 Crooked Love and like all my other albums (31 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 “Crooked Love” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my latest album:

Crooked Love Playlist

My “Doubles Hitter” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my previous album:

Doubles Hitter Playlist

A couple of videos from the annual Bob Dylan’s Birthday Bash at The Wild Goose here in Ashland:

Up To Me (Dylan Night at the Goose)

Man Of Peace (Dylan Night at the Goose)

Three Rogue Poetry Slam videos from the June slam:

All I Can Do (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Dude Just Got Too Greedy (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Catalyst (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

One new Poetry Slam video from the July slam:

Everybody Knows But You (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

And one new T’ai-Chi video:

Taking Pushes While Practicing Solo Forms

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 1200 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 





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