Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Allen.
Hi Mike, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have always been a live music fan, and when we moved to the Wake Forest area in 2003, I saw there was no venue for live, original music. It took me a while to have the time to start a music series, but I did in 2017. The Wake Forest Listening Room started off with me carrying sound equipment around to coffee shops and having musicians play for tips. I did get my own space a year later under a cafe in downtown Wake Forest. That lasted until COVID, then we closed for a couple of years until I was offered a permanent space in part of Page 158 Books, our indie bookstore. Today, we do a show pretty much every Friday year round with the exception of July and holiday weekends. I am now booking local, regional, national and international artists. Our room seats 120 max and I have build a dedicated audience.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The music business in general is not for the faint of heart. Luckily, I don’t rely on the WF Listening Room for income. I have a day job as an advertising creative director and writer. I do the live music series as a hobby and labor of love. But every show is a roll of the dice as far as ticket sales. You just never know what kind of turnout you’ll get. The Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill) is blessed with a huge number of live music events every week, so you’re competing with that – and also with people sitting at home watching Netflix. But we pay our artists well and they love the “listening room” vibe where they’re not competing with conversations and TVs with ESPN.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Professionals, I’ve spent 40 years in ad agencies or in-house creative departments as a creative director and copywriter on accounts including American Airlines, Bank of America, JCPenney, Subaru and many others. I’ve won creative awards on a local, national and international level. But as I wind down my career, I’m looking forward to putting more time into the music series and my energies into activism – food insecurity, mental health and addiction, homelessness, fighting discrimination and fascism, supporting LGBTQ+ rights, etc. I have organized many benefit concerts for causes I believe in and plan to continue that.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I am an avid biker – mountain biking and road biking. I have two kids in grad school – both currently working on Master’s degrees and one of whom will be pursuing a PhD. One fun fact is that when I was at UNC, I got to guard Michael Jordan for two pick up basketball games. It did not end well. On a professional note, I wrote the first American Airlines campaign after 9/11, a campaign I’m still incredibly proud of. You can view it at mikeallenwrites.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wakeforestlisteningroom.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wflr2024/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wflisteningroom
- Other: https://mikeallenwrites.com
