Mike McGee
Mike McGee
Genres: spoken word, poetry, brilliant, slam poetry, under 2000 listeners
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About Mike McGee
“Mighty” Mike (Michael Matthew) McGee (born January 12, 1976 in Fort Campbell, KY) is an American slam poet and self-described “stand up poet.” McGee has spent most of his life in and around San Jose, California where he started his career in spoken word, poetry slam and performance poetry in 1998. McGee's extensive touring has brought his stand up comedy infused poetry to most of the known spoken word and poetry slam venues throughout the U.S., Canadian territories and provinces. He is one of the first American poets to perform at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in France. He performed a revised version of his popular poem Like on a fifth season episode of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry on HBO. He is a contemporary of Anis Mojgani, Derrick C. Brown, Jack McCarthy, Andrea Gibson, Buddy Wakefield, RC Weslowski, Geoff Trenchard of the Suicide Kings and Marc Bamuthi Joseph. McGee was born with the neural tube defect Spina Bifida and was never expected to walk or talk as an infant. In 2003, McGee co-founded the Vancouver, B.C.-based "talk-rock" trio, Tons of Fun University with Shane Koyczan and C. R. Avery. Their debut was before a crowd of 15,000 at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, July 2004. The trio has since toured extensively throughout Canada, performing primarily in music festivals. In 1999, McGee helped form Bleeding Edge Spoken Word, under the directorship of then friend and roommate, Aahz. In two and a half years, the two released 33 compilations of contemporary American spoken word. The label is now defunct, but it achieved a very notable goal in releasing modern poetry albums on CD before very many labels had. In 2001, McGee started his own imprints – 3XMsound and 3XMpress – in order to produce and release his own compact discs and chapbooks. Along with various local and regional poetry slam titles, McGee is the first slam poet to win both the American National Poetry Slam Individual Grand Championship, in 2003, and the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship, in 2006. McGee's successes in poetry slam competition have helped cast a shadow on his lackluster beginnings at the San Jose Poetry Slam and throughout various San Francisco Bay Area amateur comedy open mikes. McGee found it hard to connect with audiences and audiences found it hard to enjoy his performance style. In 2001, after three years of competing at the San José Poetry Slam, McGee finally earned a spot on the slam team and went to his first National Poetry Slam held that August in Seattle, WA. He then returned to the National Poetry Slam with the same team in 2003 (where he topped the Individual category) and 2004. McGee has stated, “I didn’t get the crowd. I had to stop and listen to them listening to the performers before I could go back up there and give them what we both wanted.” The nickname “Mighty” inadvertently came from McGee himself, with blatant promotion from fellow poet and writer, Geoff Trenchard. In 1997, McGee became interested in the internet, however, he was unable to acquire a simple email address without numbers in it, so mightymikemcgee@ was the only acceptable alliteration. Trenchard agreed and used it publicly until it caught on with friends and audiences. It has become the standard introduction for him by hosts and emcees prior to most performances.
Taken from Last.fm
351 listeners · 4,994 plays via Last.fm