What In The World Has Ellis Been Up To?

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post – almost 3 years, in fact. But I haven’t been sitting around doing nothing all that time. I’ve been quite busy. And that’s what I’m going to share with you today: some of the stuff I’ve been up to over the past couple years. But first, for those of you who don’t know who I am, let me tell you a little about myself.

Hi! My name is Ellis Michaels and I like to think of myself as a writer/musician/comedian. However, the things I’ve been called the most in recent years are “influencer” and “content creator.” While I don’t particularly like those terms, they are technically accurate – I do create content and I do have some influence over the opinions of my listeners and viewers. But I create stuff because I enjoy creating. I have no desire to influence anyone to do anything except maybe listen to my music, watch my videos, and read my books.

Music

Over the past few years, my focus has been almost entirely on creating music and making videos. A few months ago, I released a full-length album called Denihilism that I’m incredibly proud of (and sick of after working on it for so long lol). It’s 12 tracks of raw, unapologetic chaos inspired by punk rock, metal, and other genres that I’m a fan of.

If you like those genres and songs about nihilism, class struggle, existential dread, and other fun topics, give it a listen if you haven’t already. Denihilism is available everywhere music streams (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.), as a digital download from Bandcamp, and can even be purchased as an actual, physical CD. Buying one helps to support me and I appreciate every single purchase with all my heart.

I created Denihilism from scratch, start to finish, all by myself. I wrote, recorded, mixed, mastered, and produced the entire album in my basement studio that I built a few years ago. It is quite literally 100% DIY. Though far from perfect, I’m incredibly proud of Denihilism. It took almost an entire year for me to put it together. But now it’s done and out in the world. Additionally, I recently released a single from the album, All Night Long, which features the previously unreleased track All Day Long as a B side. All Day Long’s verses are in a 10/8 time signature for all you math-rock nerds out there. It’s my first attempt at writing something not in 3/4 or 4/4. I hope you like it!

Comedy

The other creative endeavor I’ve been spending my time on is making videos. For the past 1 ½ years or so, I’ve been putting out music-related comedy videos on YouTube under the name MusicBSharp. Originally, I started MusicBSharp in the hopes that it would turn people on to my music. While that plan hasn’t exactly worked out great, lots of people seem to love my comedy videos and sense of humor in general. So, I’ve been consistently releasing music-related comedy videos on various social-media platforms. And every month, they get millions of views, especially on TikTok.

In addition to the MusicBSharp comedy videos, I also launched musicbsharp.com, a shop that sells tee shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and other music-related merch. All products are of the highest quality and priced reasonably. And every order, no matter how big or small, helps to support me and my creative endeavors. You can also find all the same awesome music-related merch in the MusicBSharp TikTok Shop. Whether you’re looking for a gift for a friend or just something for yourself to make that friend jealous, you’ll find what you’re looking for at musicbsharp.com or in the MusicBSharp TikTok Shop.

Personal

If I’m being totally honest, the past year or two of my life hasn’t been great. Things could definitely be worse – and they have been in the past. So, I’m thankful that things aren’t as bad as I know they could be. Still, the past couple years have been a struggle in a lot of ways.

Financially, things are hard right now. I’m sure that statement’s true for lots of you, as well. But right now, I’m just scraping by and worry about money a lot. That’s why every single CD purchase, every digital download, every book of mine you buy, every video you watch, every song you listen to, every donation you make, and every new member who subscribes to my Patreon helps me out immensely. I can’t even begin to tell you how much your support means to me. Even if it’s just buying a tee shirt or streaming my music, you’re helping to ensure that I’m able to keep doing what I love doing so much: creating.

If you like my music, videos, or writing and want to help support me but don’t have the money to buy a CD, book, shirt, or whatever, there are a few things you can do. Here they are in order of importance (1 being the most, 4 the least – but they’re all important, really):

Share – share my music, videos, and/or books with family and friends who you think will like them. Or share in online groups/forums you think may like them.
Comment – leave a comment even if it just says something like “Cool video!” The more comments a video gets on YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms, the more views it’ll get
Follow/Subscribe – follow me on Spotify and TikTok, subscribe to my YouTube channels, etc.
Like – like one of my songs or videos? Then hit that like button. Similar to leaving comments, the more likes a video/song gets, the more people it gets pushed to.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate it if you do any of the above. Do it all and I’ll love you forever 😉 I just want you to know that, from the bottom of my heart, whether you make a direct donation to me via Cash App, buy a Denihilism CD, order a tee shirt, or simply share my content with others and comment on my videos, I appreciate you more than I could ever put into words. But that won’t stop me from trying: My sincerest thank you from the top, bottom, left, right, and center of my heart.

Last year was filled with financial and personal setbacks. I had to finally say goodbye to my beloved Nissan when the transmission died. Between that and other work it needed, it made more sense to just trade it in. So that’s what I did. And now I have a 2nd-generation Toyota Tacoma that I absolutely love. But the unexpected expense nearly drained my savings. Between having to buy the truck and 2 other bank-account-draining events I experienced last year (which I won’t go into), right now I’m in rough shape. Money is a constant concern and I hate it. I’m sure plenty of you can relate.

On a more positive note, my son now has his license and a truck of his own. He’s in his last year of high school and works full time. I couldn’t be prouder. He also does MMA several times a week and also goes to the gym with me. I know I’m biased cause he’s my son but, I gotta say, he’s really turned out to be a remarkable young man. Nothing has ever made me prouder than he makes me every single day of my life.

Health

The last thing I’ll briefly touch upon is my health. As many of you know, I was diagnosed with a rare illness called Behcet’s Disease several decades ago. It’s caused all sorts of problems for me over the years. However, the past few have been relatively mild. I still have occasional skin issues. Though I can sometimes feel the larger veins in my legs and abdomen getting inflamed, since permanently going on a blood thinner, I haven’t experienced any new clots. My joints, however, continue to get worse. With all the meds (and plants) I’m on, I’m able to function normally most days.

Considering I haven’t had any major symptoms like vision loss or more blood clots over the past few years, I’m happy. But the disease definitely isn’t in remission. I can still feel it at play in there, doing its inflammatory thing. Hopefully, between the blood thinner and immunosuppressant, the really awful symptoms will remain at bay. For those of you who are interested, I wrote a memoir about living with Behcet’s called Finding Happiness Through Pain and Embarrassment: My Life With Behcet’s Disease – A Memoir.

Lastly, my mental health hasn’t been super great – but it hasn’t been terrible, either. I find myself stressing about money a lot more than anything. While I’m not the super-depressed-and-anxious mess I was a decade-or-two ago, I will admit that I have been in a mild funk the past couple years. And the winter months are always especially hard for me. But I know that spring’s right around the corner, so I’m keeping my chin up.

Last year I didn’t spend nearly as much time outside as I would’ve liked to due to everything going on in my life at that time. Hopefully, this spring/summer I’ll get to the beach more. That in and of itself will guarantee better head space. Hmmm… Maybe that’s why I’ve been in a funk for a while now. I only went to the beach once last year since I didn’t have a vehicle for a while. Perhaps I just need some sun/sand therapy. I think I’ll make it a point to spend lots of time at/in/on/near the ocean this year.

All things considered, I’m alright. And I’m optimistic about the future. But this past year was the worst one I’ve had in over a decade. Oh, there’s one more thing worth mentioning that plays into my mental health big time. In October, a woman I dated a few years ago passed away from an infection after having back surgery. But she wasn’t some random woman I dated. We were together for nearly 2 years and was the first (and only, to date) woman I’ve fell in love with since my son’s mother. I’ve dated a lot of women since me and my kid’s mom split up, but this one was special… very special to me. Even though we broke up years ago, her death hit me really hard. I could easily write 10,000 words about how I feel, but I’ll leave it at this: When I found out, I was devastated for a couple weeks and could think about nothing else, followed by many, many weeks of intense sadness. I’m still sad and expect to be for the rest of my life, though each day gets a little better.

But at the end of the day, life goes on. Don’t get me wrong: I’ll never, ever – not for a second – forget her. And I’m forever grateful for all the time we spent together, all the incredible adventures we shared, and all the wonderful memories we created. But I’m not one to dwell on the past. I’m looking ahead to the future and, in spite of plenty of reasons not to be, I’m optimistic about it.

Conclusion

So, in a nutshell, that’s what I’ve been up to since my last post. I’ve been busy creating music and videos pretty much all day, every day. It’s a grind and, right now, it’s a struggle financially. But I’m hoping that my efforts will eventually get me to where I want to be. I have no desire to be super rich. I just want to make enough from my creative endeavors to be able to support myself and do the things I want to do.

I’m done with the 9-5 grind. I did that for decades. I’m done trading my valuable time and energy for scraps of money while my labor makes some rich a-hole even richer. That’s why I left the 9-5 world 5 years ago and, in many ways, they’ve been the most fulfilling years of my life. But they’ve also been some of the hardest cause, let me tell you, creating content – whether music, videos, or books – is a real grind. It’s a lot of work. But it’s also far more fulfilling (in most ways) than any job I’ve had.

Speaking of books, some of you have asked me if I ever plan on writing any more books. The answer is an unsatisfying “maybe.” I’m honestly not sure. I may. In fact, I probably will at some point. But I don’t have any definite plans as of right now.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading. You’re awesome. I hope your 2024 was better than mine and I hope your 2025 and mine turn out to be spectacular. If you’ve done any of the things I mentioned above to help support me, a million thank yous! And if you end up doing any of those things now, a million thank yous to you, too!