Robert Burns and Bairns
Two Worthy Causes
One Worthy Group

With less than four weeks to go things are really hotting up for the dedicated group of International Burnsians organizing the Burns Benefit Concert at The Oran Mor Venue in Glasgow. At the end of the night on July 28th co-beneficiaries, The Yorkhill Children's Foundation and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum will each receive a share of all ticket sales which are £12 each.

Performers at the benefit, all for no personal fee, include the official "Robert Burns" of Homecoming 2009, Impersonator Chris Tait, musician Mike Ogletree from Simple Minds, west coast wonder-band The Skunnered whose "Good Morning Glasgow Town" has had over 200,000 web-hits, Glasgow's very own Eilidh Grant, counter-tenor Gari Glaysher and many more.

"We are so excited to be able to raise funds for such worthy causes in the name of Robert Burns." said Rosemarie Rounce-Rigou, one of the organizers. "With such a talented cast of world-class performers we expect a high turn-out and healthy checques for Yorkhill Children's Hospital and The Burns Birthplace Museum."

Yorkhill Children’s Foundation, whose aims are to provide the ‘extra’ services and pieces of equipment that make a child's stay in hospital that little bit easier, has grown steadily since its inception in 2001, raising £319,000 that year to £2.5 million in 2008-2009. "Donations such as this one are the vital contributions that help us to continue and develop our work," said a Yorkhill spokesperson. "anything that improves the care given to sick children is an investment in all our futures."

The National Trust for Scotland has taken the lead in creating the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum with a target to complete the project in 2010. "Burns is central to Scotland's life and culture and is widely regarded as a Scottish icon." notes a spokesperson for the National Trust. "We are creating a new world class Robert Burns Birthplace Museum but we still have 3.8 million to raise to meet our target of 21m. This donation will contribute to the preservation of Robert Burns legacy for future generations to come and brings us closer to realising the project on time."

So, not only an evening of world-class entertainment but also an investment in the future health of our children and the continued legacy of our national poet. The concert at Oran Mor on July 28th is an opportunity to contribute to two worthy causes made possible by one worthy group, that would doubtless meet with Burns's approval.

With his latest CD, "Songs, Chiefly In The Scottish Dialect by Robert Burns and Mike Ogletree", Simple Minds and Fiction Factory drummer Mike Ogletree has a new fan at the US Library of Congress in Washington DC. After reviewing Mike's unique funky/reggae versions of the Burns classics Jennifer A. Cutting, Folklife Specialist from the Library of Congress had this to say:

"What an inventive project. "To a Mouse" ends up working very well with a dance groove; "A Man's a Man" works well with the Reggae treatment; but if I have favorites, I suppose they are "Scots Wha Hae" and "The Deil."
Congratulations on the publication of your CD.
I will make sure that one copy goes over to our Recorded Sound division with a recommendation that it be added to the collections."

"It is truly an honor," said Ogletree now living in New York, "to have the fruits of my musical collaboration with Burns evaluated in such a positive way and added to such a prestigious body is like a dream come true."

With a second Burns album in the works and set to perform live at the Oran Mor venue in Glasgow on July 28th Mike, a devoted Burnsian is spreading the Bard's immortal message ever further and wider.

A brief history on Burns' inspiration and the origin of Ae Fond Kiss reveals how appropriate it is to the typical tragic Operatic paradigm, it's a real tear-jerker:

Burns, a bachelor at the time, having been rejected by the father of his Ayrshire beloved, Jean Armour, had struck up a platonic, if intensely intimate, relationship while residing and working in Edinburgh with one Agnes Macelhose. She, the wife of a wealthy Scottish businessman with interests and domicile in Jamaica, lived in Edinburgh under the tutelage of an Edinburgh clergyman forcing Burns and her to conceal their identities and relationship by using the pseudonyms Sylvander and Clarinda in their correspondence.

Deciding to consolidate plans for a future career as a farmer and a tax collector Burns left Edinburgh, returned to his home in Ayrshire, where he finally won the hand of his sweetheart Jean Armour with paternal blessing, then moved and settled down in Dumfries, Scotland. Apart from a few letters his relationship with Macelhose was over.

Alone in Edinburgh Macelhose decided to travel to Jamaica and join her husband whereupon Burns, reacting to the news, wrote the words to Ae Fond Kiss. They never met again, though Macelhose, still unhappy with her marital relationship returned to Scotland.

This angst ridden tale is further told by reading some of the yet extant correspondence between Sylvander and Clarinda. It is the perfect story line for opera and through the wonders of crossing genres and styles it also works as a story of forlorn love in reggae.

................

Let Life Love You

This song is an invitation to experience the living
meditation that is happening right now all around and through us. If we ARE
anything at all we are awakened witnesses to life and the miracle of its
unfolding. Enjoy the ride.


Let Life Love You

(A living meditation inspired by the words of Florian Schlosser)


(Slowly)


Tathagata

Tathagata

Tathagata

Tathagata

(Repeat)


Stillness be still

Rest come to rest

Softening that returns

To softness


Living as love

Feel the kiss of life

It is love that loves

So let it love you


Softly be the space and let life have you

Gently resting as complete wakeful passivity

Life can then entirely enter the system

We're replaced by the full force of life and love


Tathagata

Tathagata


We belong to life

We are for love.


Freely play

it's sweet melody

through us


Let life come in

Receive and release.


Kiss and touch

every place in us

it wants to

touch


Softly be the space and let life have you

Gently resting as complete wakeful passivity

Life can then entirely enter the system

We're replaced by the full force of life and love


Tathagata

Tathagata

Tathagata

Tathagata

(Repeat)

When we discover we are on the same page together what do we do? We share a silent goal, an unspoken destiny; forever hidden and forever manifesting itself right before our eyes.We share this vision. We share this light. The spiritual harmony with which we start gives us the strength and inspiration to venture outward to explore the physical and silent realms together.To what end?To become love.That is the goal of life and why love is such an important part of it.When the great Tantric teachings of the 1960's emerged in the form of 60's pop culture the huge earth-shaking message was "All you need is Love". A truly unifying and healing process was introduced to the planet. The killings of John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King Junior, Robert Kennedy and Malcolm X and the Vietnam War were efforts to distract us and deaden the spiritual awakening that occurred. In effect they strengthened the case and need to cease the idealistic rhetoric and actively pursue Love as a solution in this system. And current conditions only amplify that need increase that case.Who knew how?We all know.Instinctively.The simplicity with which we can love each other gets shrouded in complexity by charlatans and thieves. Avarice and greed corrupt and aberrate man's pursuit of happiness and send a subliminal message throughout society that the sensations of longing and reaching for love, for spiritual riches are wrong. Spiritual terrorism.Love is part of our being, our birth-right.As much as the ability to walk, talk and breathe,or the gifts of sight sensation and sound and more. Are all part of this package we call life, so too is the gift of love and the ability to love.But why? That this system may undergo the transformation it faces and we all may return to our native state,a home universe, informed, enrichened and ready for our next mission.This is called, knowing your true nature.

Hello and welcome

This is an invitation to visit the Robert Burns and Mike Ogletree Group page on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=6054&uid=39952812117/group.php?gid=39952812117
which has been created to provide a platform and an opportunity for creative artistic input from all, with the focus on Burns work and how his words are as relevant today as they were when he first spoke them.

As an example from my latest CD "The Kilmarnock Edition", Burns's poem Man Was Made To Mourn contains many simple truths that often get overlooked due to man's fascination with speed and the quick thrill. Yet the poem has as much bearing on current events as it did in the late 18th century when it was originally written. The phrase "Man's inhumanity to man..." while powerful and evocative in itself, takes on a whole new meaning when read in context with the rest of the words in that line - "Mans inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn". I use this line as the refrain in my version of the song, and think of it as the clarion call of the entire poem, an invocation for man to realize that we need honest human healing which will only occur through humane means and that violence only begets violence and more suffering.

I want to take this whole side of Burns, Burns the dreamer of dreams for a culture, Burns the visionary and invite artistic contribution inspired by his work which shows how his legacy endures and lives on in the hearts and minds of men. There are already hundreds of us doing just that so we are not lacking for input. It could be music, painting, photography, sculpture, dancing, video, acting, movies, theater, writing, blogging, poetry, recital, any "Art" but let's make it contemporary and a bit cutting edge. Let's bring Burns into the 21st century with style.

I'd love this group to be a sort of umbrella activity that covers all artistic and creative endeavor. A place for Burns enthusiasts to meet and share, communicate, co-create and learn and grow together. Continue his legacy. Any person, inspired by Burns and his work can create and contribute. Look at the many facets of the man and his life for inspiration, Burns the Poet, Burns the Romantic, Burns the Rebel, Burns - Voice of the oppressed, Burns the Prophet, Burns the Ploughman, Burns the traveller, Burns the Entertainer and on and on. We can organize contests and events in different categories to attract people's interest and get involved. And with the involvement of a sponsor who shares the enthusiasm for all things Burns we can tie the whole thing into the celebrations in Scotland next year with the goal of attending the festivities in Summer 2009.

Next year, 2009, marks the 250th anniversary of Burns's birth and in Scotland there will be a year of activities to honor and celebrate the man and his legacy under the banner of Homecoming Scotland. Contributions to this group and active involvement will allow each of us to participate online in one of the biggest global events of 2009, Homecoming Scotland.

So, let's just do it. It'll be fun, exciting and educational. I eagerly await your response and input. The best type of publicity by the way is "word of mouth" people talking to each other about something they like and encouraging others to participate. We can create a grass roots movement here which builds an enormous community of artists, dedicated to the Scottish Bard, Robert Burns, forwarding his message through our art in ways which honor and celebrate his legacy.

Join in, participate and educate.

Love, Mike