Watching: 8 1/2

POSTED FROM BROOKLYN, NY AT 12:57 AM

L'équipe

Motivational tools...





POSTED FROM BROOKLYN, NY AT 3:10 PM

Throwback

Found this near Hackensack, NJ on my way to an awesome vintage furniture shop. I'm updating some apartment elements in Brooklyn. Hackensack is caught in a serious time-capsule. This old time Sears logo was just the start of it...really odd, like off the set of "Back To The Future."

....Now music.

-Alex



POSTED FROM BROOKLYN, NY AT 11:46 AM

I Laugh Everytime

24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE: GEORGE EPSTEIN


POSTED FROM BROOKLYN, NY AT 11:41 AM

Brooklyn Heights

I grabbed a coffee and croissant this morning and walked down to the Brooklyn Heights promenade. I do this pretty often. The view of the City is pretty spectacular and it always reminds me about the control and freedom of my days. Seeing the skyline is both amazing, gorgeous, intimidating, and comforting. But, it also is relieving to me that I am able to view this skyline while also not being trapped within it doing something that doesn't make me happy. Music does not always give me happy days nor is writer's block a comfortable thing to experience, but at the end of the day I know that it's all on me and it's all up to me. Having choices is what makes that walk to the promenade important.

And, some music usually comes of it.

-Alex

POSTED FROM BROOKLYN, NY AT 11:35 AM

Good Coffee

Exhibit A:

I have been perfecting great coffee for some time now, both espresso and regular coffee. My morning is never complete without a French Press. I can even go so far as to say that the French Press has been the apparatus that sparks musical inspiration.

P.S. I'm rebuilding my studio in my new pad located in Brooklyn Heights. I finally found the coffee press buried in a box of microphones.

-Alex


POSTED FROM BROOKLYN, NY AT 10:29 AM

Food Network

Ok, don't get me wrong, music is my life. But, when am I getting my own show on the Food Network? As displayed by the evidence below I have made a wonderful breakfast that could easily be sold for $14 at a posh Manhattan eatery at brunch.

Poached Egg with Black Truffle Cheese and Paprika on a Baguette


Much Love,
Alex

Re-vamped UK Site & Vimeo

There's spanking new re-vamped and renovated UK/Europe site. More news soon, new music coming, thanks for the patience dear friends. For now, check out the new www.alexnackman.co.uk

In addition, there is a new page at Vimeo:
www.vimeo.com/alexnackman

All love,
Alex

POSTED FROM NEW YORK, NY AT 2:58 PM

NYC Relocation

So there has been major construction going on at my apartment in Brooklyn. It's been absolutely terrible. I wake up at 8am with a drill bit in the my skull and dry-wall dust wafting into my lungs. So I've relocated to the upper west side temporarily to get sleep, peace and quiet, and have the slightest possible chance to write some music...

Good things coming.

-Alex


______________________
www.alexnackman.com


POSTED FROM NEW YORK, NY AT 3:23 PM

Beach Thinking, then Trembling

Peaceful today in Santa Monica. Then, apparently and unbeknownst to me, there was a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Mexico that apparently was felt in L.A. I was lying on the beach near the PCH and felt nothing. Very weird.

-Alex

POSTED FROM SANTA MONICA, CA AT 7:03PM PST

Film Today

Re-watching Scorsese's "Mean Streets" right now...please tell me you've seen it. "Mook."

-Alex


POSTED FROM LOS ANGELES, CA AT 6:47 PM

L.A.

'ello peeps...i'm back in Los Angeles this weekend. Partly for some time with my younger brother (and terrific screenwriter at USC Film School) as well as for a much needed spacial change from Brooklyn for some new songwriting inspiration. I've got to change scenes every now and again to gain some perspective. During Christmas this past year, snowy New Hampshire became my oasis. This weekend, it'll be L.A.-- a town I'm pretty familiar with, but still want to find a root to grab onto.

Had some breakfast this morning in Los Feliz at Mustard Cafe and have been catching up with my brother. We're going to visit one of his film shoots tomorrow morning in Hollywood and I might check out a few of my favorite vintage music shops as well. Though I need to be very careful there. I should leave all my credit cards at home lest I get too tempted to make another large pruchase.

I'll keep you updated on some new song ideas and some new moods I might stumble upon here in L.A. It's a city I certainly don't feel as connected to as New York, but one that I've grown fond of after many shows and many visits over the years. I think we'll hit Umami Burger tonight. So good.

-Alex

POSTED FROM LOS ANGELES, CA AT 5:50PM

Staples of My New York Diet

As a life-long New Yorker, I have certain NYC staples of my diet that must be met on a weekly basis. Now, given that I cannot in good faith and in good health go to Katz's Deli everyday for Reuben sandwiches, I must have other options...

MOTORINO PIZZA
BROOKLYN, NY
heaven.

-Alex

POSTED FROM NEW YORK, NY AT 8:31 PM

w.b. yeats

as i write and think i remember:

"Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."

-William Butler Yeats
---------------
-Alex

POSTED FROM NEW YORK, NY AT 4:18 PM

Writing stumbles

I started writing a couple new songs today at my apartment. The melodies are slowly shaping, but lyrically, I feel odd. I was playing with a few ideas for lyrics, but I honestly began to not quite believe myself in what I was saying and writing. It's a weird feeling and even stranger to admit. I feel these writing-ruts sometimes and it's hard to talk my way out of them. It's like I am in a room that I want to leave, but I can't find the door.

The good news is that I've been in this place before. I recognize it. It usually takes a day or two to find my way. It's frustrating, but not new. It's not exactly writer's block per se because the words and melodies are flowing. Rather, it's a "lack of writer's credence" or something like that. If I talk about love, I don't feel like I really mean it. If I talk about things that bother me, I don't feel compassion for myself. I compare it to an actor whose actions on stage seem perfunctory. It's all just sort of grey. Nothing is defined or committed. There doesn't seem to be conviction or color in the words I am writing, despite those same words having meaning in other songs I've written that I love.

Alas, I'll keep pushing.

-Alex

Film: Crazy Heart / Jeff Bridges

I saw the new Jeff Bridges film "Crazy Heart" last night with my brother in New York. I had been really eager to see this film because it was sort of an indie project that nearly didn't get a distributor once it was completed. Jeff Bridges, one of my all time favorite actors, is just so incredibly real in this film about an old country singer/songwriter still trying to make it and keep success going. It was a wonderful film with a lot of themes close to me as a touring artist and songwriter. Some of it was comical in its "relatability" for me, while other parts were sad because I know the feeling of being on the road and being lonely, low on cash, and wondering if you're pursuing the right path...in the end though, it's about the music and what it does to you.

See this film.

-AN

POSTED FROM BROOKLYN, NY AT 7:13 PM

Photos from the wilderness (sort of)

Some photos from New Hampshire where I was able to be reclusive, drink wine, stay up very late, and hone the new songs...

-Alex









POSTED FROM BROOKLYN, NEW YORK AT 2:48 PM

New Hampshire Notes #2

Been in the mountains for about a week. I can certainly admit that I did not come through the door and jump right on my guitar to write half a dozen great songs. It never works like that. I had to really get into a certain mood to feel good about working on some ideas. Finally, two days ago, I began to feel that "pull." It's a weird sense and attraction, like a magnet, to my instruments and notebook.

I have several strong ideas working right now and it's feeling pretty good. There is one tune in particular that I've been working well on, but I have not found a chorus for it that really clicks. The ideas are there, but it's not complete. The odd thing is I can almost feel the chorus coming, but I just can't seem to find it. Right now, it's a faint sketch in the distance. It's almost as if I am groping in the dark for something that I know is there. There is a particular combination of vocal melodies and guitar chords that will fit, eventually. At the moment, I have not been combining my ingredients in the right way to make this dish taste good-- and you just know when it tastes good.

The good news is, I can feel that the song is on its way. The ideas are floating there. It's a matter of pulling them down and assembling them into place, like a puzzle. Once the ideas of a song are settled and they fit together, I usually get a feeling in my stomach similar to that of being starving and then immediately sitting down for an amazing steak dinner at Peter Luger in Brooklyn. You can see the food right in front of you on the table that are you about to eat to fill your hunger. Have I provided enough analogies?

...More soon.

-AN



POSTED FROM WATERVILLE VALLEY, NEW HAMPSHIRE AT 1:21 PM

In New Hampshire

I have arrived to New Hampshire (White Mountain National Forest) and I'm hauled up in a ski bungalow with several guitars, microphones, computer(s), recording gear, books (novels), plenty of fire wood, wine, selected cheeses, guinness stout, jameson irish whiskey, and my songbook. New York is my home and my life, but having some time in reclusion is just what I need. The bustling of the City is what keeps me going, yet it can be that same bustling, which jumbles my thoughts, keeps me unfocused, and makes me anxious to get things done quickly in order to keep up. I have learned myself that "getting things done quickly" is never the right way, especially with songwriting and subsequent album-making.

So, I decided in November, around Thanksgiving, that I would leave my band behind in New York, temporarily, to travel to New Hampshire to really focus on flushing out my ideas and coming up with some melodies and lyrics that were well-crafted with the help of important elements like vino rosso and warm fires.

I built a grand fire last night, my first night, and it was while I was sitting there on the bricks with a glass of whiskey that I began to think clearly about the many song ideas I've put together since the summer. I was actually quite surprised that it was my eyes looking into the fire that led me to feel good about being in the mountains. Most of the time I hear something that inspires me. But, in solitude, I think one begins to draw from many sources because the man in solitude only has himself. There are no distractions. His "friends" become his eyes, hands, his thoughts, his ears. I know some of this sounds ridiculous and melodramatically poetic, like I'm some kind of Thoreau or Rousseau wanna-be. But, I can only explain what I feel. And, if those feelings yield great songs, then I will know what I write here in this blog entry is truth. If I come back to Brooklyn with a bag of frozen horse shit, then I will know this was all bullocks...But hopefully this will not be the case.

I have just made some coffee with cinnamon and have to attend to it. I'll keep you updated here as things progress this week and will add some more photos. I can say with all sincerity that I truly appreciate the love from you guys since being off the tour road while I've been working on this new album. It's been a longtime, but I decided I had to dedicate myself to getting something great out there for you...stay with me on this.

Much Love,
Alex


POSTED FROM WATERVILLE VALLEY, NEW HAMPSHIRE AT 12:28 PM

It's the rain

It's raining in New York, and cold. I'm sorry to evoke a Garbage song here, but I really am happy when it rains. Bad weather makes me think more and makes me more focused on those things that are important. I think I need to move to Seattle or London.

-Alex



POSTED FROM NEW YORK, NY AT 12:38 PM