G R A N T S H A R K E Y . C O M

The HIVE Mind

So, I'm buying this bookshop in Hythe, Southampton...UK. It's a lovely little shop. It's called Chapter One and it has been my local bookshop, run by my friend Jackie, for years.

Jackie is leaving so she can spend more time seeing the world, so I've bought it off of her. It's a good deal as far as I'm concerned. She's created a stunning business that does really well. In Hythe.

On top of what Jackie has already established, I'm going to be opening the shop up for writer's groups, book clubs, art groups...anything we can think of, to get a bit of an artist's community feel to the place. It's very exciting.

But something has already happened that made me feel strange about the next chapter. I high-fived someone the other day, during a conversation.

I didn't think that much of it. It was just a high-five. Me and the guy I high-fived probably reached some sort of conclusion about some sort of junk we were talking and I high-fived him as a means of congratulation. 

He went away.

The other day, a woman came in and said to me 'Oooh, I know you! You HIGH-FIVED MY HUSBAND!'

(never before has a high-five ever been a topic of marital discussions, I swear)

Apparently it was a little frowned upon by the Hythe community. Even though, as I often point out that the way Hythonians say 'Hythe' it usually sounds like 'HIVE' - HIGH FIVE - HI-VE. Makes sense to me to high five in Hythe. 

So from now on, I'm going to high-five everyone. And maybe do some gang knuckle touching. 

Hello HIVE. I'm here! :) 

The Bookshop!

Signed the lease this week!

Summary of the past week.

Town crier tweeting.
Thermal cookers.
Maths tricks with eleven.
Nice new faces.
Good writing.
Nine Black Alps.
Best. Concert. Ever.
Reinstallation of laptop.
Winchester.
Winning conversation wars.
Healthy erections.
Funny gig.
Massive drum kit.
Zoya at TED.
Motorboated
donated motorboat
Haircut installed
Dial a digger.
Borborygmy.
Motorboated someone else.
Nipple was licked.
Sonic Boom Six
Nobbly knees laughter.

I have a good life. :)

What a night!

Toupe played the Railway Inn, Winchester last night. It was a great night of hanging out with the guys and some friends. Plus the loveliness of a great crowd.

Also met a wife outside. Etc etc etc.

I really like gigs where don't soundcheck and just hang out with each other before hand. Not sure what it is about it but it makes everything about getting on stage and playing seem completely unrehearsed. The jokes just pop out.

Had a discussion afterwards because a friend heard someone say that it must be scripted. Sometimes I wish it was! :)

Should have taken more pictures with the crowd but only took one all night. :)

Blogging from the iPhone.

Not sure if I can get used to this or not. Had a couple of attempts and something work related gets in the way before I can send it to typepad.

However, things are peachy at the moment. Had a few gigs with comedy and Toupe. Went fogging and failed. Had a great weekend at the Heads with lunatopia and Fairport Covention. not to mention the iPhone sucking me in to the land if Fieldrunners and BeBot.

Also work on sorting out the take over of Chapter One is going well. I have my credit card machine sitting next to me.

Go grant.

I am Fracesca

Found this at the Heads.

Thank you!

The old copies of Hands flew out, thank you very much! They should be arriving in the next couple of days!

Now on to lovely, new things! More soon...

I've got a big dilemma with my lame legged Emma...uh-huh, oh yeah... (BAND OF SKULLS ALBUM REVIEW)

One of the best things about seeing Emma over the weekend was a cheeky rip of the Band of Skulls new album, baby darling doll face honey before it comes out. Luckily, I haven't got a CD drive on this little netbook, so there's no chance of me leaking it on the internet. :)

As we sat, talking and smoking, Emma had her injured ankle up on a stool. She had injured it on the video shoot for I Know What I Am in Toronto, on a trampoline. She's so rock and roll...etc etc...

But here is my dilemma; I wanted to write a review of the album for them to use and also include the duel purpose of writing something hilarious for Emma to read about her music to make her leg better. To do that, I was going to be honest and offer all sorts of cynical opinions about minute details that usually get over looked. Be a real areshole.

However, I just can't seem to do that. It's perfect. And more importantly it's a brilliant piece of art.

I'm one of these guys that immediately clamps down on anyone trying to be cool without any substance or passion or integrity. It's the fact that Matt, Russell and Em have substance and passion and integrity that makes them cool.

It's an honest album. The playing isn't perfect, the singing is genuine. Every note is hit (I won't use the term 'from the heart') but from the flesh of the band. Rippling sinew and muscle of a prize fighters from the 30's. With the calm, cold light depression/excitiment of seeing a sunrise on your own in a country you're not familiar with. (I like that feeling - it's a reason to live in my book).

One thing I will say that they can use for some press, it's the perfect album for home working, late night chill out 'all back to mine' sessions, radio bliss and festival headliners. They suit every situation you can put them in.

As I'm listening to the album for the third time since the weekend I'm reading about how the Sun is relatively inactive at the moment. I'm perfectly aware of where I am on the planet and what I'm going to do under that peaceful sphere just as 'Fires' is playing. I'm not melancholic, I'm completely joyful about it. It's such a hard feeling to describe, it's close to euphoria. It's closer to frustration at want to do everything at once. I get it sometimes because the universe sometimes makes a little sense.

Usually the soundtrack doesn't matter that much when I get like it...but this time...it does.

Ooh, PATTERNS! :) [boner] - it's been my favourite song of theirs for years now. Live and recorded, it's a beast of a song that you want to devour you over and over again. {/boner]

Hope the leg gets better at the speed of light, Em. :)

Last EVER 10 Copies of HANDS - SALE NOW ON!

My novella, HANDS, will no longer be published and printed in it's current form. This is a good thing as it's going GLOBAL baby. Details to follow.

Having sold a couple of copies this weekend at gigs, I'm now down to the LAST TEN.

That's 490 sold.

So now I'm offering to sell the last ten, signed if you want (just email when you purchase with what you'd like) with free postage and maybe some other nick-nack I can find.

I'f you've already bought and read the book then thank you sincerely for your support. If it wasn't for the people who are still excited about little stories about Hands, then this book wouldn't be making the moves it's making now.

If you haven't got it - then this is your last chance to get one of the original bindings of the book that I've had so much nice feedback about. These won't be sat around for much more than a week. So act fast!



HANDS - by Grant Sharkey - £5.00GBP

Read the first chapter on PDF HERE.

Thanks again!

A bit more Band Of Skulls!

I'm a lucky boy.

So I few months ago I mentioned that my friends Band of Skulls are doing really well for themselves. Having been iTunes single of the week last week and skipping around North America filming video for their first single, I Know What I Am, they've now touched down back in the UK.

Emma, who's always been the coolest artist you've never met, sprained her ankle during the video shoot, so she's welcoming the break between now and the beginning of June when hopefully they'll be announcing some killer tour dates. She was resting up the other night in Southampton so I popped round to see her.

It was so good to see her. She showed me the artwork for the album (jaw-dropping designs painted by her) and a few animations that their creative team have come up with. Not to mention loads of photos of their sexy teams of people in LA, Toronto and in the UK.

We drank coffee until we had headaches, smoked cigarettes and chatted about all the exciting things that are about to happen (I'll tell you mine later).

But one of the most exciting things is that I'm planning to go up to London this friday (24th) and interview the band before their free show at Cargo.

When Russell, Matt, Em and I seem to talk amongst ourselves, we seem to talk off in interesting tangents, so I'm going to podcast it if I can get used to the software on this netbook in time.

On top of that, I've lit my cigarettes recently with Band of Skulls branded matches. They're so cool.

Email me at info at grant sharkey dot com if you want any questions asked.

Subjects already in the pot are about how mentioning Ed O'Brien in a weblog about the band has led to some interesting internet speculation in Japan, bizarre PR campaigns and the deliciousness of New York City.

If you don't know them yet, you will. Check them out.