Update, Nov 13

Hi there! I don't think my blogs get that much traffic so that's why I haven't really posted in a while. Sometimes I just get in the mood to write and I checked my (I don't even know what to call it... Dashboard?) Profile. I guess that I have two followers at the moment. lol! I'll take it! You've gotta start somewhere huh? Well that gives me a little more motivation to keep up with the blog.

So I guess there are a couple topics to cover; one is.. I'm really flattered to have my own fan club! It is run by a friend all the way in Brazil. (Thank you Claudia) officialbensharkeyfanclub So that's an honor! It let's me know that people care enough about my music to take their own time to promote me and that's really encouraging. Claudia also created a myspace fan club and a facebook fan club aswell.

You might have heard that I recently went to the studio to record a few acoustic originals the LP is titled Try As I Might;

1. Actually
2. Try As I Might
3. Won't You Come Back to Me
4. When I Think of Love
5. Sway (cover)

I really would like to get these up on itunes so that they're available for everybody. The issue I'm having is that I would love to have all five up and ready... but I am trying to find out how to get rights to "Sway." The second thing that's holding things up is a photoshoot. I'd love to take some nice pics for the CD.

This wasn't the whole purpose for the studio session though. I really did it to send out to publishers and record labels as well as talent management. the thing that is holding that up is CD duplication. What is holding the duplication up is the fact that I need some photos and a design. Soooooo..... I really need to get off my arse and get some photos taken.

There is a lot of work that goes into this biz.. I wish things were easier. I'm coming to realize that I'm more of an artist than I am a businessman. Today for example.. I could have taken my lunch break from work and looked up some contacts to send my songs out to.. but instead I am working on a new song. LOL! I really wish that there were more hours in the day.. But I'm sure that a lot of us feel that way.


Other news: I was written up recently in a local magazine "6 degrees magazine" I'm Shocked! I don't know if it will get me more exposure or not but we'll see.. any press is good press. The thing is (here comes my vanity) I don't like the expression on my face for the photo. It was after work and I was tired. LOL! The article was brief but very good! It covered both my art and my music;




" Armed with a "deep-rooted love for the city" of Detroit and an overflowing amount of artistic ability, Benjamin Sharkey is ready to leave his mark on this town any way he can. An avid artist in both the visual and musical sense, Sharkey became a YouTube sensation by nearly topping the 2 million total video views mark and has more than 5,00 subscribers tuning into his
original and cover performances, featuring most notable his keyboard and acoustic talents.Sharkey is confident he can reach his peak as an artist housed in Motown and maintains this optimism despite the problematic economic times facing the state. " I see Detroit as a place for the opportunity to start something big. This city raises some pretty amazing and talented people. Unfortunately a large amount of them leave the city. I don't want to be one of them; I have faith in the city and i see it's potential. "playing into that belief is the impressions his patrons leave with him after experiencing one of his paintings or musical pieces. "It's nice to know that a part of me will play a part in their daily lives and I helped make their environment more authentic to their Being."

Alright well there is more to share but I should get back to work so I will share more later. I hope everyone is well. Stay tuned!

-Sharks

Welcome! So for the past few months I have been working with some friends of mine to open a really cool shop in Royal Oak, MI. (Suburb of Detroit) I've designed the logo and the design of the flyers. What I'm really excited about is that I was able to do a painting for their amazing store. There really isn't anything like this place in Michigan. It's the first of it's kind, I mean, there are lots of shops here but nothing that is as hip and edgy as this. If you're ever in the area, you definitely need to check it out. The Annex has everything accessory: Hats, Jewelry, scarfs, and shoes. It even has accessories for your home: Frames, mirrors, coffee table books and candles. Not only does it have cool inventory the interior is amazing and was designed to feel like "home."


I consider myself to be pretty lucky to be a part of this store. It really is a breath of fresh air for the area. Annie Leblanc and Dougie Schwartz (Owners) really had the most creative input of the store, but I definitely added my two cents and then some. The painting above the mantle is the first of a series of paintings that I plan to finish hopefully in spring '09.

Detroit River Days

Alright so I was thinking about what topic might be interesting to cover. I'm afraid that I might bore some people. However blogs aren't really for those who are easily bored now are they? :,)

So I am going to be performing at the Detroit Fireworks Celebration. The auditions were a couple months ago.....

Not sure of the date but it was really rainy outside. I took the afternoon off at my job to go to the audtition. I practiced all the way there in the car, as I usually do. I usually have high expectations of how these things will be. I knew that it was going to be in a mall so I pictured the auditions being on a stage which was exciting for me. I really like singing for a crowd, I don't know why but I just perform better that way. Well those expectations were really high, because when I got there, it was really kinda funny. So there were two audition areas, which were facing each other. While waiting, This guy came up to me and asked "Are you that guy that sings Buble on Youtube? I'm a subscriber!" I said "yes, I'm Ben, nice to meet you." and I wished him luck on his audition. This was cool! It really hits home when someone spots me in public, just cause it seems like the net and reality are two different worlds. They collide when I meet someone that I've only met online. So anyway, back to the audition, I noticed that the louder singers drowned out the quieter ones. So I made sure that when I sang the whole mall would hear me. hehehe! But anyway, I sang "Ain't too proud to beg" by the Temptations. I must have done something right because a few days later, I got a call back.

The Second Audition....

I was called in to come to the news station. I didn't quite know what to expect this time. So I tried not to foresee anything. There were a few people ahead of me, and one behind me. I'm not the type to just sit there waiting. I'm a little shy in front of the camera, but I like entertaining, and making people laugh, so I started joking around with the others. They were cool, but I was mostly focusing on what was going on the other side of those big tall metal doors. So I auditioned with John Legend's "Heaven" and also Michael buble's "Me and Mrs. Jones" By the time I was done, I was really happy with my performance. However, a week or so passed and no call. So I just told myself to forget about it. It wasn't the first time I didn't get a call back. I just figured there might have been someone better or I didn't make the right song choice. My phone rang with an Unknown caller. I normally don't answer these because It's usually blockbuster hounding me. :) To my surprise, it was channel 4!!! I made it to the top 5!!


So ever since then we've been in rehearsal once a week. On Friday is our (the top 5) first performance, Parts of it might be televised which would be nice to see, although I don't know if I'll be put on or not. But I'm really excited / nervous / anxious for Monday.

Alright so now you're up to date with the Detroit River Days Performances, I'll try and post a video of the performance by Tuesday.

Thanks for reading!

Intro

I'm not sure how you ended up here... Maybe you stumbled across my blog or you did a search for me. You might know me as bensharkey the youtube singer. Well, when I'm not singing or working... sometimes I like to just chillax a bit and write down my thoughts. Although, in the past, I haven't been very consistent in doing this. I started a blog on myspace and have a few posts there but I hardly go on myspace anymore so it's hard for me to keep up with writing a blog.

What do I want to get accomplished here? Well, that's a good question. I guess writing down thoughts is a good way to separate one's self from his/her life and look at things from a different perspective. I've always believed that writing is another form of expression and it's a good way to let things out without bottling things up. Plus, there are things that I would like to share with readers and other bloggers.