Jacob Leonard McGee

Jake McGee (Jacob Leonard McGee) (born February 3, 1978) is an American writer, actor and filmmaker. McGee first made his mark as a freelance journalist, and then editor for Get Underground and Kotori Magazine , but more recently has earned praise as an actor and filmmaker.
Early life
McGee was born in Akron, Ohio, and raised by his father in rural Suffield, Ohio, though he spent a good amount of time with his family in Pittsburgh, PA. When McGee was 15 his father remarried, and they moved to Hartville, Ohio, where they lived until 2000. McGee then moved with his father to Brady Lake, Ohio, and lived there until 2004, when he moved to Kent, Ohio. In 2005, he moved to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where he stayed until 2007, at which point he moved to Lakewood, Ohio.
From a very young age, McGee's father and grandfather helped develop McGee's taste for creative cinema and storytelling. His earliest influences ranged from Rod Serling to Edgar Allan Poe to The Weekly World News.
Writing
McGee won praise in elementary and middle school as an abnormally creative and versatile writer, crafting wild stories around otherwise monotonous class assignments. In 1990, at age 12, he wrote a 63-page short story called "Mr. Rodriguez: The Story of an Unfair Teacher," a science-fiction tale that followed the relationship between student & teacher over decades, as the student tortured his oppressive teacher, and the teacher sought reprieve. Despite the catalyst of this story being a real-life incident between McGee and one of his teachers, the story was generally praised by the rest of his teachers and school.
In 1996, he won placement in the Ohio Civil Rights Writing Competition, for his essay titled "My Generation," which is a scathing take on growing up in the 90's. In 1997, McGee went to the University of Akron to study English Composition.
In 2001, McGee started writing for Privy Magazine, doing music reviews and band interviews. He quickly gained recognition and praise for his approach of intertwining fictional stories into his reviews and interviews.
This- McGee's first published interview- was quickly picked up for syndication within the world of online music journalism. This also marked McGee's mastery of conducting interviews, which he'd maintain with pieces on sundry musicians, artists, filmmakers, activists and politicians.
In a nod to Edgar Allan Poe, McGee went on to use reviews of movies and music as a platform for his own thoughts, from simple fiction to expressing his own take on social issues.
In 2002, McGee started writing for Get Underground, and quickly established himself among the first wave of "citizen journalists." It was here that McGee met Bob Freville, and the two would continue to collaborate for years.
Eventually, McGee became Get Underground's first Music Editor. Among other accomplishments, he interviewed D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay (of Run-D.M.C.) in August, 2002, providing one of the final interviews of Jam Master Jay before his murder.
After building one of the Internet's first multi-dynamic music sections (which featured interviews and reviews alongside music galleries that the musicians had access to), McGee stepped down as Music Editor to focus on writing. In 2003, he covered the Sundance Film Festival, and became one of the first journalists in Festival history to provide daily coverage.
True to form, McGee's coverage of the Festival- "Pepper Spray and Art of Storytelling"- rode the line of fiction and reality. The fact that he produced the piece on the spot- adding a new, 1,000-word chapter every day for the 11 days of the Festival, based on actual events of the respective day- won him praise from Sundance as well as his colleagues. When he returned to cover the Festival in 2004, he saw the trend of daily online coverage a common thing (ala. blogging), and decided to instead take time to write a comprehensive piece focused on the working of the press and the festival, which he titled "Intrepid Aspirations."
McGee ran scores of notable pieces in Get Underground, which explored social injustice as well as the world of music and art. "Tapeworm," his piece on the battles between the RIAA and file-sharing sites Napster and Audiogalaxy, remains one of his most heavily-syndicated pieces, followed by "Reefer Madness Redux ," an in-depth article on the prohibition of cannabis. McGee quickly earned a name for defying rhetoric, and standing in firm support of free speech, especially when it countered the typical attitude of the magazine.
He also ran several legendary interviews in Get Underground, including pieces with Bobby Seale, Ralph Nader, Max Cavalera, Richie Havens, Sage Francis, Neema Barnette, and Wayne Ewing, among others.
In 2004, McGee was hired by Record-Courier, to produce a weekly page targeting the student population of Kent State University and surrounding Kent, Ohio. McGee's page quickly became a hit, and was credited with making the Monday edition of the newspaper the week's best seller, a strange and unusual feat for a newspaper. Though McGee would later chalk up the majority of his pieces to "advertorials," they still maintained his reputation of weaving fiction and comedy into otherwise commonplace reporting.
Also in 2004, McGee started occasionally writing for the Pittsburgh City Paper, interviewing bands such as Black Moth Super Rainbow and Clutch.
In 2005, Wasim Muklashy (who had taken McGee's spot as Music Editor for Get Underground) launched a print component of Get Underground, called WAV Magazine. Muklashy asked McGee to be a part of the new venture, and McGee ran his first piece in the magazine's 2nd issue, an interview with Ralph Nader. By the next issue, McGee was a regular contributor to WAV, and by the time WAV changed its name to Kotori, McGee was an Associate Editor.
In August, 2005, McGee travelled to Woody Creek, Colorado, to watch the funeral of Hunter S. Thompson, who had become one of his favorite and most influential writers (although McGee adamantly insists he goes out of his way to not copy Thompson's style). During this trip, he learned that his page in the Record-Courier had been canceled, due to budget cuts in the paper.
In 2006, McGee launched a series of attacks at Clear Channel Communications in Kotori, loudly criticizing their suppression of musical creativity for commercial and financial gain. "Live Nation is a Minion of Evil" covered Clear Channel's attempt to fool the public by simply changing the name of its live event branch, and was instantly praised for its fearless delivery of the facts. McGee followed that up with "Corruption on High," which exposed Clear Channel's political connections and how that played out in their outdoor advertising. "American Sodomites" further looked at Clear Channel's political ties, and warned of how the media conglomerate was bringing the United States close to a government-controlled form of media.
McGee also provided Kotori with lengthy interviews with historian Douglas Brinkley, gonzo artist Ralph Steadman, filmmaker Wayne Ewing, and many more.
Unfortunately, the realities of the publishing industry hit Kotori hard, and by 2007, the magazine was forced to strictly be an online venue. However, during this time McGee continued to see publishing success, with his interview with Anita Thompson running in The Village Voice. He also began a short-lived stint writing album reviews and band profiles for Cleveland Scene.
In 2008, Kotori managing editor Micah Lashbrook stepped down, and McGee took his place soon after. Kotori then absorbed Get Underground, and McGee oversaw the transition and marriage of the publications alongside Muklashy.
In August, 2009, McGee helped launch "The Kotori Show" on XSite Radio. The first part of the show was mainly a musical format, and handled by Muklashy and JT Taylor. The 2nd half of the show was meant to be a hybrid of sketch comedy and NPR style interviews, which McGee tackled with longtime friend and collaborator, Bob Freville. Freville actually produced the first show by himself, and it was a 10-minute preview of what was to come. The next show, Freville and McGee produced, and it featured music and a few sketches, as well as an in-depth interview with Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo.
The first "official show" was launched on August 15, 2009. For the next show, which aired on August 29, 2009, McGee interviewed PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk.
However, the stress of running a Los Angeles-based publication from NE Ohio, combined with McGee's desire to make movies and his overall disgust at the lack of impact for his efforts, forced him to step down from his position in September, 2009.
Movies
In 2004, Bob Freville approached McGee about playing the lead role in Of Bitches & Hounds, a bizarre love tale that Freville had penned with McGee and Melissa King (McGee's girlfriend) in mind. The story was about a woman- Patience- who buys a man- The Pooch- as her "pet," in her quest for happiness.
Never one to shy away from controversy, McGee took the role of The Pooch, and ultimately ended up co-producing the movie along with Freville. Of Bitches & Hounds was shot in Kent, Ohio, in the summer of 2004. However, it wasn't completed until 2007, due to several devastating attempts at hiring editors, who would ultimately take months to do nothing. They finally secured James Neyman as editor, and the movie was completed in September, 2007.
While the film saw no distribution other than one public screening and running on Google Movies, McGee's performance was widely praised as groundbreaking and stirring. He also proved himself as an extremely competent producer, taking charge of securing all the music for the movie's soundtrack and score, as well as securing all the locations in the film.
In late 2007, Neyman asked McGee to play the lead role in his first outing as director, in The Slasher, a horror/thriller Neyman wrote with Kurt Broz. McGee's depiction of Edison Gorsky earned rave reviews, for his chilling yet subtle portrayal of a man on the brink of insanity.
The Slasher wrapped up post-production in 2008, and made its world premier at the 2009 Indie Gathering Film Festival in Cleveland, Ohio, taking 3rd place for Best Horror Feature.
In 2008, Freville and McGee collaborated again, this time for a "mockumentary" they called Garbagehead. The concept was to make a movie about two writers who were struggling with various forms of addition, as well as taking a stab at society's obsession with celebrity, by having the writers acting like they're more famous than they really are.
McGee and Freville basically played exaggerated versions of themselves, and they each wrote & directed their respective halves. While Freville's portion was essentially people talking into a camera about Freville, with a few "dramatic reenactments," McGee's side was a scripted story, with various actors, settings and action taking place.
Ultimately, both Freville and McGee saw the project as a failure, and after it was completed in 2009, they made little effort to promote it, and instead focused on other projects. Nevertheless, McGee's segment showed his spark as a screenwriter, and managed to entertain, especially with the cameo section that includes legendary artist Ralph Steadman talking in annoyance about McGee.
In February, 2009, Broz and Neyman wrote The White Russian, a crime noir film following the clumsy adventures of Detective Pinkerton. They asked McGee to play the role of Vegas Lou, a soldier of fortune that Broz envisioned resembling Raoul Duke. While McGee had thus far made a point to not emulate Hunter Thompson, he dove into the role of Vegas Lou, donning aviator glasses and singing Bob Dylan.
While the role was a small one, Vegas Lou was such a hit that Neyman and Broz decided to make him the main character in the sequel to The White Russian. In July 2009, they came up with Irish Car Bomb, and started production in October 2009.
Irish Car Bomb focuses on Vegas Lou, as he goes on a murderous rampage throughout Northeast Ohio, trying to find Detective Pinkerton.

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