John,

She is still in the contest for another week. The e-mail we sent out yesterday explains her stand. Thanks for all your help.

Deb Benko

Hello Everyone -

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who took the time to vote in "The Next GAC Star" Contest last week. It is a great feeling to know I have so many friends in my corner!

I was #1 or #2 all the way until the last night of voting. Since I had been on top all the way, hundreds of people were voting against me and I dropped like a rock. I realized that any contest where you can constantly vote against people just isn't a contest for me. The contest does run for another week, but I am not making a push
to win the nationwide vote. I'm hoping you all will just take the time to view my profile page a couple times a day (http://musicnation.com/music/katybenko).

This keeps my hits up, and will help keep me on the list of most popular artists. I've got three chances to potentially be chosen as "The Insider" pick, and I imagine the hits on my page will help me. I doubt I'll get it, but you just never know! While you are there click on the video for "A Soldier's Wife" (it has the red star next to it) and let it play for a few seconds. That will keep my media plays up.

I wanted to let you all know that I actually have a couple of live performances coming up. I've been on a performing hiatus (as most of you have realized) working on a bunch of things behind the scenes, like songwriting! I've put a mini recording studio in my basement and have been working a lot on the creative side of music.

One song I wrote recently is called "American Heroes". The response to it has already been amazing. We'll be going into the studio to record it soon. I will let you all know when it is up and available to listen to!

After that, we're probably going to make a video for "American Heroes" as well!
And speaking of videos - we're in the process of editing a high quality video for "A Soldier's Wife". It should be finished in the next week or so, so we will make sure you all get to see THAT when it's done, too!

Here is a list of my upcoming live
performances:

Thursday, July 17th - Washington Kastles Tennis Match
7:00pm - Katy will be singing the National Anthem prior to the match.

Thursday, July 17th - Kirkpatrick's Irish Pub, Dominion Valley 8:30pm – 10:30pm
Katy will be performing with Tom Smallwood and Jim Horton on the patio. Set will be moved indoors in the event of rain.
Kirkpatrick's Irish Pub
5351 Merchants Valley Square
Haymarket,
VA 20169
571-248-6635
http://www.kirkpatrickspub.com

Thursday,
July 24th - Kirkpatrick's Irish Pub, Dominion Valley
8:30pm - 10:30pm
Katy will be performing with Tom Smallwood and Jim Horton on the patio. Set will be moved indoors in the event of rain.

Kirkpatrick's Irish Pub
5351
Merchants Valley Square
Haymarket, VA 20169
571-248-6635
http://www.kirkpatrickspub.com

Saturday, August 9th - Countryside Summer Concert Series
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Free outdoor show! Bring your lawn chairs and blankets. Show is located in Sterling, Virginia, right off Route 7. E-mail katybenko@gmail.com for directions.

My father-in-law has been working at Kirkpatrick's and finally convinced me to come out and perform. I've missed it, so I figured, what the hey - hopefully some of you will be able to make it out! Also, Countryside is one of my favorite shows every year. The people are wonderful, and it's always a fun time!

If you need more information about any of the shows, such as directions or anything, please don't hesitate to e-mail us at katybenko@gmail.com.

Thanks again to everyone who voted - your support means the world to me! I'll be
in touch about the new "A Soldier's Wife" video and the recording of "American
Heroes". In the meantime, I hope to see some of you at the live
performances.

Musically yours,

Katy