mainMAN

May 5, 2021
Interviews Poet, Entrepreneur and Radio Host Main MAN - McKain Entertainment Network

BY KYESHA JENNINGS MAR. 17, 2021 6:30 A.M

Today’s digital landscape has radically shifted how we consume information and listen to music. With multiple mainstream streaming platforms a click away, radio is no longer our only source of information and entertainment.

The shift away from mainstream radio has led to a surge in podcasts and podcasts listeners. According to Forbes “in 2020, an estimated 100 million people listened to a podcast each month and it’s expected to reach 125 million in 2022.” Across the Triangle, hip-hop creatives and journalists have tapped into this genre-focused medium, and contributed to that boom—especially, when it comes to music. Below, find a few of the area’s dopest hip-hop-focused podcasts.

Radio Unfriendly

Hosted by mainMAN

Where to Listen: WHUP 104.7FM, WAVE 87.9FM, Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Currently nominated for 2020 Podcast of the Year by Yes! Weekly, Radio Unfriendly is hosted by the self-proclaimed “unfriendly neighborhood mainMAN,” the moniker of die hard, true school, hip-hop head Jermaine Monroe.

“The show spotlights Carolina hip-hop heads and educates listeners about the art form,” Moore says. Radio Unfriendly was inspired by his love for the underground radio programming of the ’90s. Instead of complaining about the missing gap in today’s radio, he set out to create his own platform.

“I knew that I wanted it to be raw and gritty and street unlike mainstream radio so I am very intentional about the people I invite to be guests on the show,” he says. “My vetting process is an intense background check for dopeness. I consider myself a Golden Era extraordinaire.”

Targeting a mature demographic of 30+, Radio Unfriendly, now in its third season, has amassed 13,000 monthly listeners. The show plans to eventually shift its content to YouTube, with the goal of prioritizing visuals and broadening its fan base. - Indy Week

BY MARY HELEN JONES GREENSBORO
PUBLISHED 2:30 PM ET JAN. 27, 2021

GREENSBORO, N.C. — When Amanda Gorman took to the stage during President Biden's inauguration, people all over the country were taken with her poetry.

What You Need To Know

Local poet Jermaine Monroe says he knows there are many young poets around the Triad, and hopes Gorman inspires them

Gorman became Los Angeles' Youth Poet Laureate at age 16 through a program put on in part by the public library

Greensboro librarians hope that connection helps people realize talent can be found anywhere, and how many resources the library provides

In the Triad, both poets and librarians celebrated her accomplishments.

Jermaine Monroe is an artist and poet who runs workshops for kids and judges high school and college slam poetry competitions.

He says Gorman's rise to prominence is an inspiration; a young Black woman who is at the forefront of poetry.

He doesn't think she's alone as a young person involved in poetry.

“They’re out there, but maybe this will be the icing on the cake per se. I think it was already a large group of youths who understand poetry, now, because of slam poetry and performance poetry and spoken word. It’s becoming more and more closer to the forefront," Monroe says.

Another group of people inspired by Gorman were librarians, like Chris Fox of the Greensboro Public Library.

Through a program put on in part by the Los Angeles Public Library, Gorman became Los Angeles' Youth Poet Laureate at age 16.

Fox says that connection shows how important public libraries are to helping provide free resources that help nurture talent.

“The fact that Amanda Gorman came through the libraries is just very validating for all the folks who would come to our poetry programs here because we’ve got, there’s an Amanda Gorman in your neighborhood somewhere here in Greensboro. You might not have heard of her yet. You haven’t heard her work, but she’s out there working and writing, and she’s probably used a library resource at some point to do research for her work," Fox says. - Spectrum News 1

Featured by Jasmine Mallory Jan 2021

“I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you,” poetic words spoken by the legendary icon Bill Withers, who wrote and sang a host of soulful songs in the 1970’s that have stood the test of time, including “Lean On Me” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” His songs are often used on the big screen and covered by multiple artists ranging from Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin, Mick Jagger, Dianna Ross, to Barbara Streisand and many others. The three-time Grammy Award winner, who withdrew from making music in 1985, wrote some of the most memorable and extraordinary songs of our lifetime.

Born on July 4, 1938, in the small town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, Bill was the youngest of six children. He was raised in nearby Beckley, in coal mining country where his father, William Withers was a miner and his mother Mattie (Galloway) Withers was a maid. His father died when Bill was only 13 years old.

After graduating from high school, Bill enlisted in the U.S, Navy. He saw it as his ticket out of coal mining and the Jim Crow South where he experienced racism at an early age. He served for nine years in the Navy, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs.

In 1967, he moved to Los Angeles and self-financed his demos while working as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, IBM and Ford. He went around performing in clubs at night. He refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry. Ironically, he was laid off from his factory job a few months before “Just as I Am” came out. After the album’s release, he recalled, he received two letters on the same day. One was from his workplace asking him to return to work. The other was from “The Tonight Show,” where he appeared in November 1971. “Ain’t No Sunshine” became a major hit off that album unexpectedly.

After leaving the Sussex label and joining Columbia Records, Bill often found himself clashing with label executives who called him difficult due to creative differences. Bill felt they were trying to change him into someone he was not. In 1985, after the release of “Watching You Watching Me” he was done with the music business. It was much later when he performed at the inaugurations of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

On March 30, 2020, he died from heart complications in Los Angeles, at age 81.

NOTABLE WORKS:

Ain’t No Sunshine (1971, song)
Grandma’s Hands (1971, song)
Just as I Am (1971, album)
Use Me (1972, song)
Lean on Me (1972, song)
Still Bill (1972, album)
+Justments (1974, album)
Making Music (1975, album)
Naked & Warm (1976, album)
Lovely Day (1977. song)
Menagerie (1977, album)
Bout Love (1978, album)
Just the Two of Us (1981, song)
Watching You Watching Me (1985, album)
AWARDS & HONORS:

Three Grammy Awards
Rock In Roll Hall of Fame
Grammy Hall of Fame
ASCAP Rhythm & Soul – Heritage Award
Songwriters Hall of Fame
West Virginia Music Hall of Fame
Rhythm & Blues Foundation – Pioneer Award
Honorary Doctorate, West Virginia University
Middleburg
Rock In Roll Hall of Fame
Grammy Hall of Fame
ASCAP Rhythm & Soul – Heritage Award
Songwriters Hall of Fame
West Virginia Music Hall of Fame
Rhythm & Blues Foundation – Pioneer Award
Two NAACP Image Awards
Honorary Doctorate, West Virginia University
Honorary Doctorate, Middleburg College

REPORT THIS AD

QUOTES:

I write and sing about whatever I am able to understand and feel.
And, I’ll paint your pretty picture with a song.
I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you.
When you have a talent you know it when you’re five years old– it’s just getting around to it.
SOURCES:

billwithers.com
nytimes.com
en.wikipedia.org
http://www.rollingstone.com
apnews.com
RECREATE CREDITS:

Recreate Model: Jermaine Monroe aka MainMan
Recreate Photographer: Jasmine Y. Mallory - ReCreate

By Rodger Mullen
Staff writer

Posted Feb 20, 2020 at 10:01 AM
Before a recent installment of Art Meets Life at The Sweet Palette bakery and performance space in downtown Fayetteville, host LeJuane “L.J.” Bowens had some instruction for the crowd.

Or rather, a lack of instruction.

“You can clap, you can say, ‘Go ahead,’ you can make a face like you’re constipated, ...” Bowens said. “What I’m saying is, you can be yourself here.”

“Anything goes” is the order of the day at the monthly performance series, which has been a part of the downtown arts scene for about four years.

That can mean poetry or it can mean music. It always means plenty of audience interaction and a chance to get to know the artist being featured.

Held at 7:30 p.m. the first Friday of each month at the Person Street business, Art Meets Life has been attracting crowds since Bowens and Sweet Palette manager Adam Crawford came up with the concept.

Bowens said the idea was to provide something new in the local arts scene.

“We met at the now-defunct Rock Shop (club) over cupcakes and beer,” Bowens said. “We wanted to come up with an idea to do an open mic that was different from the other open mics in Fayetteville.”

At a typical Art Meets Life session, the first half of the show is given over to the audience. Anyone is invited to come to the microphone and perform a poem, song or monologue.


The atmosphere is welcoming. People of all levels of talent and experience are encouraged to do their bits.

“It’s safe,” Bowens said. “Nobody’s going to demean or say anything in a negative way.”

After that, the guest artist is introduced. Bowens conducts a question-and-answer session with the guest that he likens to what host James Lipton would do on the “Inside the Actors Studio” show.

“It’s art, but it’s also getting to know the life of the artist,” Bowens said. “You’re allowed to get a chance to meet the person behind the art.”

On a recent evening, dozens of people filtered into Sweet Palette for the monthly set. The special guest was Jermaine Monroe, a spoken-word artist who performs under the name Main Man.

The guests were a mixture of first-timers and longtime Art Meets Life participants.

Tiffanie Williams was visiting for the first time. She said she heard about the program on Facebook and came looking for “grown-up, clean adult fun.”

“It’s something different,” Williams said. “I didn’t know they had this in Fayetteville, and I’ve been here five years.”

Ed Owens is an author and spoken-word artist who performs under the name Spirit Wolf.

“The main thing I noticed when I came in the first time is how they embrace the artist,” Owens said. “The audience is welcoming. Even if they don’t know you, they welcome what you’ve got to say.”

Gwendolyn Simmins said she is a writer but calls herself “reclusive,” and said she doesn’t like being in front of a microphone.

“I enjoy people who have the guts to stand up there and do,” Simmins said.

Standing in front of a brick wall where paintings by local artists hang, Bowens welcomed the crowd.

He encouraged spectators to be vocal, whether that meant cheering, clapping or snapping fingers. The only requirement was to keep it positive.

Bowens then turned the mic over to any guest who wanted to get up and share.

One performer did a monologue about the beauty of black women’s hair. Another recited a piece about the experience of being transgender, and another spoken-word piece centered on the topic of white privilege.

Then, Bowen brought Monroe — Main Man — to the stage. He quizzed him about everything from his concept of God to how he got his start as a spoken-word artist.

“It’s therapy for me when I write it, and it’s therapy for other people when I give it away,” Monroe said in answer to a question from Bowens about his creative process.

Monroe, who lives in the Greensboro area, is a winner of spoken-word and poetry competitions. He hosts a radio show called “Radio Unfriendly” and directs M.A.D.E., a youth leadership program.

In front of the appreciative crowd, Monroe delivered animated, energetic raps that touched on the ubiquitous nature of technology, graffiti and other subjects.

Earlier in the evening, Bowen said Art Meets Life serves a dual purpose for the people who attend.

“People show up not only to get entertained but to get edified,” he said. “Edification and entertainment — that’s what it’s all about.”

Staff writer Rodger Mullen can be reached at rmullen@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3561. - The Fayetteville Observer

January 2020

The Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poetry Series is pleased to announce this year’s 12 emerging poets. In the eastern region, Kalaiya Corbin (high school), Raleigh; Jo Ann Hoffman (adult), Beaufort; Kelly Jones (adult), Tabor City; and Leslie Sexton (adult), Winterville, will work with Distinguished Poet Anna Lena Phillips Bell. In the central region, Hausson Byrd (college), Greensboro; Adeja Cheek (high school), Durham; Valeria Macon (adult), Fuquay-Varina; and Jermaine Monroe (adult), Greensboro, will work with Distinguished Poet Dasan Ahanu. And in the western region, Jane Mary Curran (adult), Asheville; Audra Gibbs (high school), Marion; Danielle Hutchinson (high school), Sylva; and Emma Grace Stokes (middle school), Morganton, will work with Distinguished Poet Ricardo Nazario y Colón. - North Carolina Poetry Society

By Sayaka Matsuoka - December 31, 2019

The room grows hotter.

Abandoned pairs of cheetah-printed flats, black-leather ankle boots and red high heels lay strewn about in between the rows of chairs at Bethel AME Church. In front of the stage, barefooted women, men and children dance vigorously to the sound of eight beating drums, their arms and legs flailing to the rhythm, their bodies giving off a collective heat. They move individually, yet their kindred joy brings a sense of connectedness, their colorful, dashiki-inspired garments creating melted blurs of rapturous color.

This is Kwanzaa in Greensboro.



“Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday,” says Dawn Hicks Tafari, one of the co-founders and the public relations coordinator of the Greensboro Kwanzaa Collective. “Kwanzaa is a celebration of African-American culture.”

Born out of the Black Power movement of the 1960s, Kwanzaa is a relatively young holiday. Created by black separatist Maulana Karenga, the celebration takes place over the course of seven days, from Dec. 26 until Jan.1.; each day represents a different principle and symbol. Seven candles on a menorah-like candleholder, called the kinara, are lit in observance each day.

“Kwanzaa provides a guidebook,” says Hicks, who has been celebrating the holiday since the late ’90s. “These are seven principles that have helped African people over time. It’s about: How can we be stronger?”

The principles include the ideas of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

Jermaine “Main Man” Monroe performs during the celebration (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)

As a child, Hicks grew up celebrating Christmas. And despite having attended Kwanzaa celebrations before, it wasn’t until she met her ex-husband that she began to seriously think about celebrating herself.

“We both expressed interest in learning more about African-American culture,” Hick says. “We wanted to grow with our African-American culture and spend time reflecting. We shared this idea of not getting caught up in the capitalism of Christmas; people go broke, people go into debt, the message gets lost. Kwanzaa is about cultural pride and community service and self-love and social justice and reflection.

“A major part of Kwanzaa is asking: Who am I? Am I who I say I am? and Am I all I ought to be?,” she says. “It’s more intentionality.”

Hicks wears a bright yellow, floor-length dress that wraps jagged stripes of orange and teal around her body. She joins the group at the front of the room, her feet bare, her long locs gathered in a bun atop her head tight enough to keep them out of her face as she begins to dance.

The community gathering at Bethel AME church on Dec. 28 marks the 10th anniversary of the Greensboro Kwanzaa Collective’s celebrations in the city. When Hicks and her co-founders Niajallah Hendrix-Wilson and JamillahNeeariah Nasir started the citywide celebrations in 2010, they picked up where other Kwanzaa enthusiasts had left off organizing the holiday years ago.

“I’ve been celebrating since the 1970s,” says Dianne Bellamy-Small, a Guilford County school board member and former Greensboro city councilwoman.

Bellamy-Small, along with others in the community, is credited with helping initiate Kwanzaa celebrations in Greensboro in the ’70s and into the ’80s. When she first began introducing the holiday, she remembers people’s difficulty with pronouncing many of the Swahili words and fully understanding the meanings of each of the symbols and principles. So, she and others hosted workshops to educate the community on what the holiday represented and how to celebrate it.

“It’s so important for us to understand the importance of passing down our history and our culture,” Bellamy-Small says.

Wearing a green, orange and blue patched jacket and a red, yellow and green cap, Bellamy-Small sits in the back corner of the church room, signing a seemingly never-ending stack of Christmas cards.

“I dress like this every day,” she says. “But some people don’t feel comfortable looking like this all the time.”

She points to the clothing and the diverse hairstyles of many of the attendees — who number more than 100 — in the packed room and explains how the holiday creates a space for black community members to fully immerse themselves in and celebrate their blackness without fear of ridicule or harm.

“It’s about the community,” she says. “It’s about identifying with a group of people that look like you; it’s beautiful.”

As the sound from the drums on stage echo throughout the space, Bellamy-Small explains how she celebrates both Christmas and Kwanzaa because they aren’t mutually exclusive. She notes how she keeps her kinara displayed throughout the year.

“You’ve got to practice these principles all year long,” she says. “Kwanzaa is principles; it’s something you live by every day.”

To learn more about the Greensboro Kwanzaa Collective, follow them on Facebook @GSOKwanzaaCollective. - Triad City Beat

December 1, 2019 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

mainMAN and Kirby Heard, y’all! Let’s kickoff this Orange County Arts Commission series with one of North Carolina’s finest emerging spoken word artists and WHUP radio host, and one important voice in North Carolina bluegrass, advocating for greater equity for women in the art form. Two powerful NC artists and even finer advocates for more inclusive communities. Refreshments provided–join us for an incredible Sunday afternoon of word spoken and sung!

Date: December 1, 2019
Time: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Event Categories: Free, Literary, Live Music
Event Tags: Culture, free, Local Artists, poetry

Organizer: Kim Lane
Phone: ‪(919) 283-8826‬
Email: emergeyall@gmail.com
Venue: Orange County Main Library
137 W. Margaret Ln, Hillsborough, NC 27278
Phone: 919-245-2525 - Visit Hillsborough NC

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT! December 1 at 2:00 will be here before you know it. Today, more about Main Man, our featured poet and spoken word artist. Main has emerged onto the North Carolina (and national) spoken word scene and quickly garnered widespread respect and accolades. He is: a Member of the Piedmont Triad's W.O.R.D Society, and has been named 2019 Bloc Award Poet of the Year. Additionally, he was the 2017 Wordplay Grand Slam Poetry Champion & 2019 Detour Grand Slam Champion.

Artist, mentor, radio host, and advocate for arts in our schools, Main's performances challenge, invigorate, and educate. They inspire us to be our best selves...and to elicit that in others. You can visit him online at mainman.link

Sunday, 1 December, 2:00, Orange County Public Library (Main Branch, Hillsborough.) Look forward to seeing you there! - WHUP 104.7 FM

February 9, 2019
Save The Arts TVs Nakesha Writes Interviews Artist Main Man Monroe!!!
Striving Artist event in Winston Salem!

visit: www.savetheartsfilms.com - Save The Arts TV

Spoken Stories • Aug 22, 2018 By Endlesswill

Endlesswill, 2016-2018 Hillsborough’s Poet Laureate, brings today’s stories to life through powerful music and poetry performances of contemporary artists. Spoken Stories will bring new worlds to the ear through the blending of lyrical hip-hop, R&B, and spoken word performances. Enjoy an hour filled with beats, ballads, and laughter as Endlesswill draws out how each artist began their journey, their creative process, and their relationship to music and poetry.

Our guest is Jermaine "mainMAN" Monroe is an Artist/ Activist/ Poet/ Emcee/ Painter/ Author/ Playwright/ Illustrator/ Designer, the Founder/CEO of mainATTRACTIONs, a Multimedia Marketing Firm, the Founder/EnVisioneer of mainTAINment, a production company, the Executive Director of the Greensboro School of Poetry, a Nonprofit Afterschool Collective that teaches literacy & life skills through poetry & Hip-Hop, the Program Director of M.A.D.E., a neighborhood youth leadership program that empowers teenagers to career development, a Member of W.O.R.D. Society, an artistic conglomerate of writers, the 2017 Greensboro Wordplay Grand Slam Poetry Champion and host of the Gatekeepers Slam​ With musical artists, T. Walker. - Spoken Stories

Monday, December 18, 2017 at 7 PM – 8:30 PM

Celebrate rhythm and rhyme every third Monday with an open mic session for all area poets. Share your own work or read your favorite poem. This month our featured poet will be Jermaine "mainMAN" Monroe. mainMAN is a spoken word artist, painter, and playwright. He has won several poetry slams along the east coast and as far as Texas and was the host of the Wordplay Slam. The location for the winter months, we will meet inside Central Library. Join us! Questions? Contact Beth Sheffield at 336-373-3617 - Greensboro Public Library

A digital reproduction of the original printing - Issuu Triad City Beat

By Lauren Barber -November 30, 2017

Soft R&B filled the intimate space as patrons filtered in, taking seats along a booth-lined wall or glossy, black-leather sofas, some with bottled beers and others with the night’s cocktail special, “Word Play,” in hand. Warm ceiling lights set the scuffed-up, raised stage and a lone mic aglow.

Events coordinator Tiana Bryant hosts Word Play, a slam-poetry competition, the last Saturday of every month at the Artist Bloc, a gallery, coffeehouse and creative meeting space in Greensboro. True to the slam tradition, the night’s emcee, Jermain “Main Man” Monroe, sought out five members of the audience new to poetry slams to serve as judges. Those with freshly anointed powers rated the three-minute performances on a zero to 10 scale on small dry-erase boards. The lowest and highest scores are scrapped in slams for a highest possible score of 30.

Decked out in blue and orange garb, Main Man sacrificed himself as a trial run for the first-time judges, performing an aptly named poem “Sacrifice” about his first slam.




Slam poetry is as physical as it is literary. Nearly every poet began with their back to the crowd facing their backdrop, a burgundy curtain, collecting themselves before turning to deliver the piece, their arms conduits for sending energy to the audience.

Donning all-black attire, Jasmine Williams crooned the opening lines of “Amazing Grace” as prelude to mourning Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, tragic examples of black boys who “can’t outrun bullets” and questioned claims of social progress in America.

Ayanna Albertson, too, began in song. After a few lines of Etta James’ “All I Could Do Was Cry,” she recounted seeing her ex-boyfriend with another woman and shared a list of 10 truths about the healing process. She relied on everything from too much ice cream and blasting trap music to realizing that: “4. He wasn’t yours to begin with/ Faithful men cannot be stolen/ Happy homes cannot be broken.” Early on, Albertson demonstrated a masterful ability to oscillate between humor and solemnity, eliciting both laughter and empathetic “Mmh’s” from the crowd. Every poem’s final words packed a punch: “And remember — Adam needed Eve, not the other way around.”

Kisherra Day, who goes by “KD,” disclosed childhood abuse as she gently walked through the audience, compelling attendees to reckon with the trauma she still carries in her flesh, now two or three feet from their own. Though partially veiled by her baggy jeans and baseball cap, her vulnerability shone through.

Hausson Byrd started by addressing the plunder of black bodies through state violence rather than mining personal experience, but changed tacks in the second round. The death of his grandmother set him spiraling into the realization he didn’t know her well enough to write a poem for her funeral.

“The only time I can really grieve is on the stage/ The only time I feel like calling is when they’re in the grave.” Of all contestants, his delivery settled quietest on listener’s ears despite the weight of his words.

The righteously angry pulse of Jugo Alexander’s delivery matched the subject of his second poem, a eulogy of sorts from the perspective of Trayvon Martin as George Zimmerman followed him down the street before killing him. Alexander never confined himself to the stage, favoring movement throughout the room. Whether intentional or not, walking created a visceral association with the experience of his subject and Alexander’s height caused ceiling lights to illuminate his bleach-stained T-shirt and face as he gazed upward and closed with, “I am the light and I am Trayvon Martin.”

Emcee Main Man maintained a light mood between artists’ appeals to God and intimate disclosures without disrespecting the atmosphere. Between one round, he revived a jovial mood singing Guy’s “Let’s Chill” when he couldn’t get a Pandora station to work.[pullquote]Learn more about the Artist Bloc at theartistbloc.com.[/pullquote]

In the third and final round, Alexander delivered yet another ode to black women which, while lovely, seemed a bit hackneyed and veered toward confining black women to pedestals rather than celebrating their humanity. Byrd, though, looked to his future, considering how he might raise a son. Instead of pushing him into what Byrd considers the slave-like conditions of a football career, he would guide him towards academia and away from unhealthy conceptions of masculinity because “he is already good enough.”

Despite admirable performances, no one’s delivery quite matched up against the elegance of Ayanna Albertson’s measured cadence or the breadth of themes she explored.

During her championship encore, Albertson flipped the evening on its head and levelled with her audience about writing poetry about saving her ex-partner from suicide — no humor this round.

“Why is it that poetry has a way of healing everyone but the person who writes it?/ Uses just enough literary devices that you overlook the cry for help/ Consider it a good concept when a poet has a breakdown on stage/… I have learned that not all pain deserves this here platform/… But today, I have chosen not to trigger myself back into trauma, into depression and into grief for the sake/ of writing/ a good/ poem.” - Triad City Beat