Lauren Wayne, Crobo

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Lauren Wayne is General manager and talent buyer for Crowbo, the company that owns and operates the State Theater and Port City Music Hall. They are also the exclusive live concert promoters for the new outdoor music venue at Thompson's Point. Thanks for coming in today.

Lauren Wayne:

Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You really are a very busy individual. And it just continues to expand from what I can see, it has.

Lauren Wayne:

We've been pretty fortunate over the last seven years since we opened the state to continuously expand. So it's been pretty exciting for us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I remember the state as being some of what of a sketchy.

Lauren Wayne:

Oh yeah, excuse me. It was pretty sketchy. It shut down I think in the 90s after it was a porn theater. I mean, if you consider that sketchy. Some people just think that's normal.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I think back in the 90s it still was a little sketchy.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah, no, it was. It was. Yeah. So it shut down. They reopened it as a non profit. The people who are who owned it and operated it and so they tried to do that for a few years and it just failed. I came on board when what was then known as Dawn Law Company, which is now kind of morphed over the years in the Live nation, as nationally known were the exclusive promoters at the state. But when I was there, we never owned or operated. There was an owner, there was a renter, and then we rented it from the renter. So there were three people who were kind of involved in the theater who weren't really dumping any money into it. So we did concerts there off and on for a few years, and then the city shut it down in 2006 because it was in extreme disrepair. I changed jobs. I'm going off here. Sorry, you're not even asking me questions.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

No, you're still answering the same one.

Lauren Wayne:

Okay, good. That's a good answer. So I changed jobs and I came on with the company. Now with whom I'm with whom with whom, who I'm with. Whatever. I'll just leave that dangling out there. And they signed the lease in 2010, got me on board. And then we renovated it after the landlord actually had dumped a lot of money into it. So I think all in all it was like a 1.4 million dollar renovation.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And it's really become kind of a focal point for Congress Street.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah, it's going to become even more a focal point when we finally get our new marquee up. I'm sorry. To Portland for the staff and the plywood that's been up for the last couple of weeks. It really has. I think, you know, it was a really great time for us to come in music wise. And with the growth of the city, the way that it started and the way that it's continuing to do that. So it's been pretty exciting to kind of have your hand in that and watch it grow and be a part of it. And we do about 90 on average concerts a year there, not including what we do down the street at our club. So it's. Yeah, it's busy. It's a good focal point and it's nice. And to see like the. The growth and the renovation of the building and the street, you know, beyond High street has been pretty awesome since we opened.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It seems like whenever somebody starts paying attention to a building or a venue of some sort that other people around it, it almost gives them inspiration to do the same thing.

Lauren Wayne:

It does. It really does. And so since we've been there, you know, we've had a bunch of restaurants that have opened up on that block. There's been bars, there's the Jewel Box. Blue's been there a while. So it's been really cool because that whole block was in relatively pretty bad disrepair. And now it's like, you know, one of my favorite places to be.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How did you come to be doing the work that you do?

Lauren Wayne:

That's a good question. I did not go to school for it. I had no experience. I just really love music. I went to school for history and journalism and I don't use any of it. Just kidding. I use journalism. Him a Little bit. And I just kind of met somebody when I was hanging out at the Skinny back in the day. And he knew a guy and he introduced me and this person happened to be Jim Ahern, who was then with the Dawn Law Company. And he was looking for a marketing coordinator and he hired me and that's how I got into it. So it's really all who you know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you know, I do think that's an important point, especially given what you are currently doing.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah. Which was working at AAA and FedEx.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So wait, that's very interesting that you had. You would kind of start off in a fairly mainstream corporate structure and then by some, I guess, luck of association, you found your way into something that really fit you very well.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah. And it wasn't what I was doing with FedEx and AAA was not. I was working, obviously for huge corporations, but I was packing planes and, you know, being a dispatcher. When we, my friends and I moved to Portland, it was on a whim. We were from Sedona, Arizona. We came out, we visited, we fell in love. We signed a lease a week later. And I knew I didn't. I went to a relatively conservative. Yet, you know, I guess whatever. I'm not going to say the name. I went to a relatively conservative college. And so most of my friends out of college went right for it. And they got the financial analyst jobs and they became lawyers and they went for. To work for big corporations and start head families. And I knew that just wasn't what I wanted right away. And I knew I wanted to wait for something that really felt right. And I'm really glad I did because it really paid off.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How did you end up at a conservative college in the first place?

Lauren Wayne:

It was kind of liberal, but not really. It's in the south in Virginia. And I knew that I wanted to go back to Virginia. I was born there and a lot of my mom's family's there for history. I'm a big Civil War buff and I thought I was going to go either be a historian or a television broadcast journalist. But while I was in school, I realized when you're a broadcast journalist, you cannot have opinions on the air and you need to be relatively neutral. And that was very, very hard for me. So I had gone down the road long enough where I finished the degree, and then I was concentrating now more on the history. And then when I got to college, I was like, what the. I don't know. And so I just moved out west and just kind of figured out some stuff, had Fun. Did a lot of hiking.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Sedona is actually a pretty magical place.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah, I didn't hit there first. I landed in Albuquerque, so I lived there for two and a half years, and I was a recycling coordinator. So I would go buy big box stores, cardboard bales, and I would negotiate the price for cardboard bales at places like Target and Walmart and the big box store. And then my brother at the time lived in Santa Fe. He moved to Sedona. He has ties in Flagstaff, Arizona, for college to start a garbage and recycling company. And I moved there in 1998, I think, or 99. And I was his recycling driver. So I would drive a big truck and sort recycling and run into big gates when it was icy and take down some trees with a big box trailer.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it's not the magic of Sedona that caused you to reinvent yourself?

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah, it definitely wasn't. Yeah. Wasn't the magic wasn't helping that truck? No, but it's. It's definitely a magical place. And I try to get back there every year. He and his wife still live there, so we go back for about two weeks every year. We can.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What was music for you when you were younger? What did you sing? Did you play instruments?

Lauren Wayne:

No, I did. I played the piano. I started late. My parents never pressured me into an instrument. And then when I was 13, I just decided that I wanted to play the piano, and I'm really glad I did. I. I practiced for three years, and I think started at a time where I was interested and stayed with it and was pretty okay at it, and then that kind of just tailored or tickered off. My mom's family is a huge music family, so we would go to, like, a beach vacation every other year, starting when I was maybe 8 or 9. And my uncles, my parents. My mom has four brothers and a sister, and all the uncles are musically inclined. So they brought out their guitars and we'd sing Crosby, Stills, and Nash. And that's really what got me started. And then I've just really always. This sounds so cliche, but for me, it's, like, been a huge part of my life. I mean, it can set your emotions. It can change your mood. You know, One of my favorite things to pick me up if I'm feeling down. It's just to, like, get in the car and drive with the windows down and like your favorite songs. It's just. It's magical, really. And I knew I wanted to do something with it. I just didn't know what it was. But it was not gonna be on stage, I'll tell you that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is already hard enough, so why not on stage?

Lauren Wayne:

I don't. That's just not. I'm not really into that. It's not for me. Like, I don't really getting. Getting up in front of people and.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how would you have been a broadcast journalist?

Lauren Wayne:

Well, on TV it's a different thing. Like, if you don't see them, they don't exist. But on stage is a totally different thing. And it's a hard, hard life. It's a really hard life. And it's. Yeah, I always knew that was not for me, but I never actually knew that there was a whole nother side of it. Like, a lot of people who I work with now and who are with the company or with my parent companies, you know, they grew up in that and they knew right out of college they were doing this in college or do you know, they were hanging up posters for shows and they were promoters. And I just. I never knew that there was that side of the business. I just never thought about it. And then when I found out that there's this whole other side of the music industry, I knew that was for me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What is it about that side of the music industry that you find so appealing?

Lauren Wayne:

I think for me it was figuring out that you could have a part of putting on a show, because I always loved going to concerts, and I still do. It's harder to get to ones that we're not doing right now, but that when you're at a show, how much, you know, you change as a. Either, like, if you were there working or you're there enjoying the show, or you're on stage or your guitar tech or your promoter. It's just this feeling of a, like, connection and being part of a tiny community within a community. And I was like, I really kind of. That's cool to be a part of that. It's cool to help put it on. And then it's like, really cool when you're there and kind of looking around, being like, oh, my God, I had a totally. A big part of making this happen for everybody. And that's really cool. It's a nice feeling.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What are some of the differences that you've found between putting together a show lineup for the state, for example, and Thompson's Point?

Lauren Wayne:

There's so many different things about it. The one thing that I feel really grateful for is that I've been on the ground floor of all three venues that we own and operate. And so you have you're pretty much directing what happens and that's a big thing for me. The State is totally different. It's, you know, it's four walls. The infrastructure is there. It's a building. You're not bringing in sound and lights every, every show. In terms of the, the booking, it's not too, too much different. It's really kind of what we do. We have certain genres that we are more comfortable. We call it talent buying for. And yeah, it's not, it's just the money is much larger at Thompson's Point because the infrastructure is not there. You're, you're, you know, building and breaking down and so it's a lot more financially risky. But in terms of like the lineup, it's not, It's, I'm, I, you have to have a high risk tolerance for this job. You have to have a really high risk tolerance for Thompson's Point. So there are stuff, you know, that I'm not going to be taking a risk on there, but fortunately that stuff we can always bring to the theater. And I think most agents and musicians understand that they don't want to be put in a situation where they're uncomfortable, where undersells and there's only a thousand people at a 5,000 capacity venue. That's not going to make them feel good and I don't want to put them in that position. So that's another part of the job too. It's a lot of loyalty and trust. You know, the trust that the agent, the musician has in us as promoters to make them feel good and put on a great show and the trust that we have in them that they're going to come, they're going to show up on time and they're going to like nail it for everybody. Because it's a huge responsibility when you sell either 800 tickets or 1800 tickets at the state or 5000 to 7000 at Thompson's Point. Like you, you've done everything you can to the best of your ability and the best way that you can up until the show day. And then when the musicians get on stage, you're kind of like, okay, play, please, please don't walk off stage after three songs.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What about people like our producer Spencer Albee who does Beatles Night every year?

Lauren Wayne:

What?

Lauren Wayne:

I've heard all about it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about that relationship, that ongoing year after year relationship with a local musician and his group that have also been really all over the United States and maybe all over the world.

Lauren Wayne:

We'll say the United States no, it's. I mean, the relationship I have with Spencer is definitely special, but it's something that we, you know, for lack of a better word, cherish the relationship with us and local musicians. It's not something we get to do a lot at a venue as large as the state and especially at Thompson's Point, but when we can, we love to do it. It's been amazing, both personally and professionally, to watch Spencer do what he's done with both his own music and with the music of the Beatles. And to be a part of this growth and all the nights is amazing. It's one of my favorite nights of the year. If I ever leave for Thanksgiving, I make sure that I fly home in time for Beatles night. It's that awesome. And just that feeling when you're in the audience, it's like the best night of the year for your local musicians, either on stage or like all around you. It's an amazing sense of community. Everybody's there. You're either seeing like your best friends on stage play music or you're surrounded by your best friends enjoying the music. It's like it's something that cannot be repeated. It's awesome. Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This summer, Spencer also took part in a larger performance with Guster and with Ghosts of Paul Revere. And so that's another interesting example of a local and national international talent.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah. Yes. So there. There will be occasions when a national artist doesn't. We call it tour with a package. So when they're touring with a package, they usually create their own experience on stage, which also means bringing their own support and opening bands. There are times when national artists ask us to put on local or regional acts, which is. We love when we get those emails and calls. And Guster, you know, because they have local ties to the community with Adam and Lauren and being half of them are from Vermont, they really get it and what Portland is all about. And they were very, very interested and wanted to create a music festival weekend mini festival that really incorporated not only, you know, local businesses and retail, but local musicians. And that was a really. I don't know if you guys went to the other things going on around town, but those guys were tired after that weekend. They did a lot. But that day with Spencer on stage and one of his bandmates is actually one of my co workers, McCrae Hathaway. So that was really cool for us to see him up there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It was also a fun crowd. We were there with our kids and our kids are all older, in their 20s. The youngest is 16. I don't think she was there that night. But it was nice to be able to see other people in the community who were there for different reasons. Some people were there because they remembered when Guster started out at Tufts. So 20 years ago or whatever it was.

Lauren Wayne:

25.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

25 years ago.

Lauren Wayne:

Crazy.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. And then there were other people who are friends of Spencer, other people who are friends of Ghost, of Paul Revere and other people, you know, so everybody had kind of a different reason for being there, but it felt very homey.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah. And that's something that, you know, with the artists and with all the people involved, something that like we pride ourselves on at any of our venues, just creating one a safe space, but a space where you feel connected and that you belong, which is something that's really important to me and my staff. As soon as you even just buy the ticket, your experience throughout the whole process, if you have questions, if you go online, if you call us on the phone, and then when you give the, you know, the ticket to the ticket scanner, when you walk into that venue, we want you to feel happy, we want you to feel connected, we want you to feel, I know this is cheesy, but this is what we want. We want you to like hug your neighbor if you want to or like do a dance. Like, it's very, very important to us that you have that good of a time at any of our venues. And that's really what music is all about. It brings people together. And when you're there for those three hours, you should have like the best time of your life. And we want to help you have that experience.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's an interesting thing for me now as a parent of 20 something year olds that to experience that they have the same musical taste. And sometimes that I do because it used to be my parents listened to something when they listened to their albums on vinyl. And then I listened to my cassettes, I guess because I was a little bit too young for eight tracks. But now with itunes, there's so much crossover that it's funny to know that other people, like your children, can like the same things you do.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah, I mean, I love Ninjago music because my 5 year old loves it. Just kidding. I don't really like it, but that's what he's listening to. Yeah, it's cool. I. Well, obviously streaming has just changed the way people are getting their music out and the music business and labels and all that. I think it's amazing and some one of the best things. I'm not a musician though, So I don't have to deal with licensing fees other than paying what we, you know, do at the venue. But it's, it's just bringing it to more people faster. It's also, you know, can be a con if you're trying to, like, keep up with the latest and greatest. But I don't think most people are trying to do that anymore. They just want to discover something new, what they like. But I remember in terms of, you know, bringing the generations together, my parents used to have a beach party every year when we lived in Georgia. And it was. They used to ship in sand. So all the whole driveway was filled with sand. It was like a neighborhood beach party. And they played 60 shag music in Motown. And I love now 60 shag music in Motown. I never listened to it as a kid because I'm like, gross. They're dancing. But now it's like, you know, Motown music is where it's at.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, is there also something about the emotions associated with the group that you're with at the time? I mean, you talk about these events with your family, with your parents, and how that has created this emotional tie to that music. Is this something that you are trying to capitalize on somewhat in these venues?

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah, I mean, obviously we're, you know, we're a for profit business and we're not interested in losing money. So, yeah, there's something to be said. We, you know, it's not all fun and games and music and I have to DO P&L's and flash reports and a lot of Excel spreadsheets. And that is the downside of it. But the upside is, you know, not seeing any red on the Excel sheets. So. Sure. I mean, you know, in full disclosure, no, we do not want to lose money, but we're very good at what we do. And what we do is good times and it's all working out.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We talked to Bill Ryan, the owner of the Red Claws, about his time at Oxford Plains Speedway. And one of the things he talked about was weather and how that was just such a big part of every conversation because of course, their events are all outside. So this must be some, at least some part of the conversation when it comes to Thompson's point.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah, of course it's a huge stress, but you just have to kind of let it go because what are you going to do? We're promoters and we've decided to do an outdoor amphitheater, and that's all you can do. You just hope that the weather is going to be good and There are things in, you know, in place that will help us if we get rained out. We have weather insurance. We subscribe to a weather forecasting service that's tailored to wherever you are with lightning strikes and radiuses and all that. So I mean, you know, an example is Alabama Shakes. This year we had a sold out show. It sold out in a day with 75, 100 people coming and it was forecasted for storms. I literally like was looking at a computer screen the entire like 48 hours leading up to the show and on the show and my eyes the next day were like bleeding. It ended up working out great. We started the show a bit early with the support and the Alabama Shakes ended up doing an encore and finishing the set just when lightning struck. So then we had to evacuate the venue. So yeah, it's weather plays a big part of it, but you can't control the weather. So you just kind of gotta smile and hope that the Alabama Shakes get an encore in.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It seems like Portland has been able to attract some pretty impressive names maybe in the last 10 years, probably before that, but it seemed like there was a little bit of a downturn. When I talked to Carol Noonan from Stone Mountain Mountain.

Lauren Wayne:

Yep.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

She was saying that, you know, there was a little bit of a lull where there wasn't a lot of live music. But now even out in Western Maine, she's able to capitalize on the fact that people really are enjoying live music again.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot to that. There's a lot of different parts. I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, the more active live music is in a city or a market, the more stuff you're going to. Sorry. Going to be getting. We have a. I think we've played a big part in that. Just with the State Theater being open, you know, no band wants. Any developing band wants to come and play a small venue like Port City but then have nowhere else to play, the bigger that they get. So with, you know, places like Portland House of Music and Blue and one Longfellow, you have the ability to get these developing bands in there, eventually get to Port City, you know, and their goal one day is to play the State Theater at 2000 Cap. It's a, it's like the sweet spot in venues and. But then the more activity you're getting through Portland, you know, agents and other musicians are taking notice. So they're like, wait, that band played there? I want my band to play there. And Carol Noonan is doing awesome things out west, and there's some wineries now up north, and it's great. Cellar Door brings in these, like, amazing acts. It's cool and it's really great to, you know, we're not. It's not a competition. We know that. I mean, I know that I can't be doing this without the smaller rooms in town. I just can't. And for me, you know, I owe them when somebody comes to me. And it doesn't necessarily fit in any of our fabric in our venues, you know, to say, hey, there's this awesome room down the street. You want to check it out? But yeah, the more activity I think a city, a city gets or a market, it's just going to get better and better and better. So there was that dry spell when the state closed, and it was awful. And then when we opened even that fall in 2010, it was real hard to like, remind agents and musicians that, okay, Portland was a viable market. It's not been for four years. It's been pretty dark. Give us a chance again. And then, you know, that was seven years ago. And now, you know, it's a lot. It's not a lot of reaching out anymore. It's a lot of taking calls and emails about agents being proactive in getting their bands through Maine, not just Portland.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What would you say your biggest challenges in this industry?

Lauren Wayne:

One of the biggest challenges that I think we've done pretty well with is, you know, we're what we consider a tertiary market. So it's a small market. I mean, when you think that Portland's only what's about 65,000 people, but the surrounding suburbs are 300,000, that's small. When we're doing 250 shows a year, and that's just our venues, and then you have all the other venues. So one thing that we've really tried to do is, you know, these bands are making so much more money in primary and secondary markets that their ticket prices are a lot higher. So they've. It's really been training, like the bands and the agents. Like, when you're coming to Portland, I can't have a hundred dollar ticket. I can't even have a $75 ticket. You know, it's got to be an Elvis Costello for that, for that high of a ticket price. So we've kind of inched, you know, we started out relatively inexpensive, and then you, you know, you inch your way up until people are, are used to it. Plus, you know, people are doing better than 10 years ago. And this the growth that the city has seen is definitely helping that. So our average ticket price now at the state is like $35, when it used to be 25. And that's a big challenge that we had, but it's working out. Another challenge is just I am so grateful for my staff. Just putting on a show is really difficult, and I, you know, do the buying and the marketing, and then basically, you know, have a lot of trust and loyalty in my staff to put the show on. And they go through some really challenging times and aspects with doing a show, and they don't get a lot of the credit, and they're amazing. So, you know, that's. It's 250 shows a year. That's a lot of shows. And we're a small crew, and the. The women and men who work for us in production and the bar and just general staff, it's just. It's amazing. So thank you, guys. You know, you always say you can't do it without each other, but you. I literally can't. Like, if I just booked and marketed a show and sold the tickets and then walked away, there wouldn't be a show. Yeah, there's all kinds of challenges, but whatever. We take them one day at a time, really. And then your show is ending, and then you're on to the next show.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, this has really been a pleasure.

Lauren Wayne:

Oh, thanks for having me this conversation.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've been speaking with Lauren Wayne, who is general manager and talent buyer for Crowboat, the company that owns and operates the State Theater and Port City Music Hall. And, oh, thank you, by the way, for bringing Delta Ray in. Love Delta Ray. You're welcome to Delta Ray.

Lauren Wayne:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Great group. They are the exclusive live concert promoters for the new outdoor music venue at Thompson's Point. I appreciate your time.

Lauren Wayne:

Thank you.