By Jason De Leon

Record-Courier staff writer

With over a million views on his personal Web sites, Brent Simon, of Mantua, has reached "cyber celebrity" status.

Simply by using his personal Web site -- www.nerdpunk.com, www.myspace.com and www.youtube.com, this 28 year-old musician has already made television appearances. The Internet has been the key for Simon"s vastly growing popularity.

"A lot of people in Portage County are in the dark about the capabilities of the Internet," he said. "I find it surprising when people don"t use the Internet. There are unaware of the untapped resource that it is."

He was interviewed on G4TV, a video gaming cable network; Canoe TV, where he aired a world exclusive premier of his hit -- Space Camp; and London"s Channel 4, on the show "This is a Knife."

He is currently completing his first album for distribution. On his Web sites he features songs and a documentary called "Brent Simon - The Brentumentary" created by Jeff Finley of Cleveland.

"I am quite surprised at how many views there are," Simon said. "It is more than I expected there to be. It keeps growing and growing and I don"t really know how far it will go. I was somewhat disgusted at first about the documentary, so many people seeing this half naked guy walk around his house."

The documentary features footage of a day in the life of the infamous Simon.

"It was kind of a random event," he said. "I was at the Long John Silvers/Taco Bell in Kent and my cousin, Dan and my friend Jeff were looking for a video project. I told them "it was a little weird, but if you want to I guess so.""

The documentary has since received 74, 709 views to date on the Internet and has caught the attention of late night talk show hosts, Jimmy Kimmel and Carson Daly.

Kimmel"s staff has contacted Simon to be featured in a talent showcase, he said.

"They take regular people and stick in front of a camera for two minutes and make a fool of themselves and I am okay with that," Simon said.

He also has been contacted by Daly"s staff to participate in a pilot episode for "Its Your Show," on NBC, he added.

He will make his first solo keyboard/synthesizer appearance at Club Khameleon, in Kent, on Dec. 7. Simon, a self taught musician, learned to play on his parent"s organ as a kid.

While residing in Mantua, Simon works at his family"s grocery store, Hayletts" Foods.