jake nannery

Studio C, Redmond, Washington

I count the delays as time to gain focus.
In the interest of ‘First things first,’ however, a lot of other ducks have had to get in line
(In spite of the fact that they eat for free at Subway…)
My ‘real world’ job is going well. I almost lost it (twice) due to budget cuts, but I’ve been kept on. I’m grateful for this.
I’ve moved out of the U.District, and am up north now. This is the first time I’ve ever lived in the state of Washington and outside of King County. A strange, but exciting, experience.
The band has been working together about once a week. I can’t express enough how grateful I am for Mike and Ramon’s time. They’re about as busy as they are talented. (actually, they’re about twice as talented as they are busy… but that’s my estimation which is yet to be quantified.)
We’ve put together a few new tunes in the last month that I are going to glow.
I can’t get parts out of my head, and I can’t wait to put them down and share them all with everyone.
We’ve even made a few new friends through www.ReverbNation.com this month, too.
Drew Piston invited me to open for him this Thursday at the Victrola Cafe on Capital Hill, and I’m stoked at the change to share the stage with such a gifted musician and songwriter.
Mason Reed is comin’ back to town. and with three shows in the Seattle area (Ballard, Bremerton, and Levinworth) You really shouldn’t miss him. His musicianship and stage presence are second to none.
That’s the latest, really. If busy is good, then things are good.

amor fati,

-j-

Studio C, Redmond, Washington

just came across this … thanks to Steve Watkins (of LA’s Backdrifter) for live-streaming from his space-phone…

Sadly, he couldn’t catch the whole set … I think his space-phone went apollo-13 on him…

Studio C, Redmond, Washington

Between work, the upcoming tour to California, dog sitting, and all the commitments I’ve made in my social life, I’m swamped.

Every time this happens, the voice of Prince Humperdink from ‘Princess Bride’ echoes in my head:

“Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I’m swamped.

…then i laugh at myself.

Truth is, this thing wouldn’t come together at all if it weren’t for everyone else.

Thanks to Mike for handling accommodation. I can’t say it enough, and I’m thrilled by the thought of camping my way down the coast, sleeping among the redwoods, dry flush toilets…

Thanks to everyone who’s offered space on their floor to the three of us. I hope to be able to repay the generosity and hospitality of each and every one of you some-day.

Thanks to the friends and loved ones of Mike and Ramon who are in the background, cheering them on.

Thanks to the bands we’ll be sharing a stage with, the bartenders we’ll be ordering our drinks from, and the booking agents / promoters who are giving us the chance. We won’t let you down.

I’d like to apologize in advance to anyone i may over-look, drop the ball on. I really don’t mean to, and to give evidence of how distracted i am right now (and a good laugh), I walked into a closed glass door the other day. Face First. ‘Bong!’

I simply wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, and was thinking about everything else.

I guess that’s it. Now I’ll go finish my taxes, mail out my insurance forms, and chip slowly away at this giant project of a week.

amor fati,

-j-

Studio C, Redmond, Washington, USA

Seems that someone snuck a low-fi recording device into a closed rehearsal Mike, Ramon and I were having at the 808 and caught a snippet of the new chart ‘Goodnight September.’ You can give it a listen over there on the right-hand side of the page in the music-player (it’s the 3rd song down.)

I really like this song. More than that, I really like what Mike and Ramon have added to it.

After Friday’s show, the three of us sat down and started talking about the direction our group will take (Apart from Southerly in two weeks…)

Things you can expect to see? More horns, experimentation, and yes,electric guitar.

I hope you enjoy the snippet. If my sources are correct, this recording is from the first rehearsal we had after I’d come back to the States, and the Boys had just learned the tune. The offender has been properly reprimanded (read: rewarded) with a bottle of tequila and a pitcher of Beer. I think they’ve learned their lesson.

amor fati, and enjoy the story.

-j-

Ramsgate Ranch, Los Angeles, California

On Friday night I was introduced to Eric Littman through a mutual friend.

We played guitars, drank beers, cussed, swore, and generally meshed real well.

I wanted to share some of what we did…

When I Left (Live @ RgR Ft. Eric Littman)

amor fati,

-j-

you’ll notice that i normally don’t capitalize titles… or ‘i’s’ for that matter.

but this is serious business…

Thirsty Dog, Auckland, New Zealand

It’s been a pleasure sharing the stage with the Snake Charmers, and Sara-Jane. I will truly miss this crew.

Sara-Jane and I covering Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery.” Having never heard it before, and never rehearsing it together, Sara-Jane took it to a whole new (and meaningful) place. Thanks for listening and watching, and Amor Fati,

-j-

Criterion Hotel, Napier, New Zealand

I’ve been on the road here in New Zealand for a few days new.

there’s a comfort in heading off in the direction of a horizon, one that you can reach.

no longer contained on an island.

but there’s a limit. even here, off of Waiheke.

A ‘go no further’

While the horizon is larger than where i’ve been, it is smaller than what i grew up with, and… confined. even the great expanses of the Hauraki planes, those endless fields distantly bordered by pale-purple serrated mountains, feel hemmed in.

In Oklahoma there was no end to the sea of earth.

The horizon, curved to infinity in all directions, browned by the sun’s summer siege, whispered to me in echoes from it’s infancy, carried faithfully on waves of shallow valleys and gentle hills, giving evidence to it’s foreverness.
the young, abrupt Rockies behind me, guarding the great pacific, standing proudly, near-naked, and unchallenged, impressive in their continent-wide majesty are still dwarfed by the endlessness of this great middle.

At the other end of the infinite, the wise and aged Appalachia, while slightly more gentle in it’s ways, hid dark secrets and the shameful acts of it’s youth, deferring meekly to the Atlantic’s tantrums and seizures.

That is the land I grew up in. That is the land i am used to.

Every horizion in this new place leads to the sea. Every hill, the final inhale of this young place before it endlessly exhales blue infinity. Each peak a reminder that the land will abandon me whichever direction I choose, coming to an end in the crashing waves of unfathomable power on stubborn immobility.

In this place, the road becomes reticent, passive, forgetful of it’s own message. It is stunted, embarrassed, envious.

And still, in it’s own meek way, almost in spite of itself, it gives comfort. And most importantly, hope.

amor fati,

-j-

Hilltop Colony, Waiheke Island, New Zealand

So if you’re getting my dispatches via RSS you wouldn’t have noticed yet, but those of you who are visiting through JakeNannery.com have probably noticed a difference or two. I’ve even added a little Jumping Mouse to watch over the whole fiasco. While I’ll never be completely happy with anything I do, I am quite proud of the effort, and grateful for all the help that has gone into the new rev of my site, including the tiny little spots of spit-shine like our little friendly mouse up there. So thanks to everyone who i’ve asked for artistic direction, design input, code shortcuts, and quality spot-checks. I can’t say enough how much it means to me to finally have a site that i’m proud to give people the address to.

In recent news, I’ve teamed up with a producer and an engineer, and will be hiding away in a basement studio outside of Seattle for a few days at the end of March in order to record my first *actual* EP. I’ve even selected the five songs that I intend to record while I’m there. With the exception of ‘Patient Maggie.’ all the charts have been written in the last  year and a half, and I expect that some of you will be happy to see a few of these tunes on the list.
The songs will be:

• For Two
• Goodnight September
• Farewell
• Patient Maggie
• Got All Day
  and
• St. Valentines Sketch

I seem to have been attacked with a wave of creativity lately, and have been working on two *new* songs, which may or may not make it to the EP, depending on how they turn out in the next month.

In Local Events, those of you who live / work / play here in New Zealand and have a Friday night off, I’ll be playin’ a show with the SnakeCharmers on K road in Auckland, Friday February 26th! You can check the gig calendar for more info. I’m workin’ on setting up a solo show or two to hash out some new material on the kiwi’s before i make the trek across the pacific… fingers crossed…

Lastly, I have a tiny, little, eensy weensy favor to ask. I’ve gone and posted rough Sketches of  ‘Goodnight September’ and ‘For Two’ up on ReverbNation.com. If you wanted to maybe, I dunno, follow that link in the player to the right there (see it? right to the right over there… towards the top… right… a little higher… under the photo… yeah, that’s it…) and give a listen, I’d love to hear your input before Mike, Ramon and I go into the studio for these. Positive or negative feedback, constructive or dissasemblitive (is that a word?) criticism is always welcome, and encouraged. (especially ‘dissasemblitive…’ if you figure it out, let me know)

Don’t be shy about becoming a fan, or joining the mailing list. I’m fully believe that spam belongs in Hawaiian sandwiches or Spamburgers, and not in eMail boxes.

Thanks, everyone. I’m really excited (and kind of scared) for what lies ahead.

amor fati,

-jake-

p.s. with every post from here on out, I’ll make a concerted effort to include a photo, video or audio element of my adventures… just to keep it exciting… I know i tend to ramble and every now and again people need an intermissio… oh, look. i’m doin’ it now… here’s a picture of our latest fishing trip in the Hauraki gulf. We kept 10 fush… caught upwards of twenty…

Hilltop Colony, Waiheke Island, New Zealand

Apologies for the delay in correspondence. Things have been wild here for a while.
In the interest of moving forward, I’ll let that apology stand for most everything, including my inability to write, call, or leave the toilet seat down. Look, I’m working on it.

What I have done is update the site. Most of you would’ve noticed that, if you’re reading on www.JakeNannery.com, but to our friends over in ReverbNation, you’re only getting an RSS feed… so you woul… ok. I’m rambling.

To the point.

Big things are happening. Rocketed to #1 in the Auckland Folk Chart (thanks, ReverbNation.com!) and am #15 in All of New Zealand. Ironically I’ve only played a few shows, but apparently, as one friend put it ‘Kiwi’s like a good train wreck as much as Americans do…” well… thanks. I guess.

So, along with the chart-topping success, and new site, I’m stoked to announce that I’ll be joining Mason Reed on his Spring-tour to support his new EP “You Can’t Come Back From Heaven.” Go check out his site, buy him a sandwich… be his friend. Trust me, he deserves it.

Which means i’ll be back in the states. Those of you in LA, I’ll see you first… then work my way up the coast.

I’m also scheduled into a studio (of sorts) to put together a quick EP of my own, which i intend to have ready and for sale by April 2nd. Wish me luck.

Thanks again to everyone for their continued support and love.

amor fati,

-jake-