Thankfully, her job is not.
Wayne, 34, works from her home in Portland’s West End, making sure that the acts Live Nation brings to Maine have an audience when they get here. She handles the media buying, issues press releases, creates radio promos, gets out fliers and even makes sure the tickets go on sale when they’re supposed to. Wayne also maintains contact with agents, production managers and tour managers to ensure everything’s in place when the talent arrives, and she settles 90% of the shows, which means checking in to see that things are running smoothly and paying everyone at the end of the night.
At the local level, Wayne also buys talent for clubs like the Big Easy and books acts at the White Heart, a club she particularly enjoys working with due to its focus on local musicians. “There’s a lot of talent in Portland, which is unusual for a town this size,” she says.
One of the perks of her job is that Wayne gets to attend lots of great events for free. She also has the opportunity to meet many performers, though she doesn’t go out of her way to do so. At the Civic Center, performers tend to get in and out quickly and there’s so much space that over the course of a night she might never find herself in the same room as the talent. When the State Theatre was operational, however, everyone was right on top of each other backstage, so Wayne frequently met the performers. Gillian Welch, she recalls, was particularly kind and down to earth, refusing to sit down to dinner until everyone else could join her.
In addition to her work with Live Nation and clubs like the White Heart, Wayne also works with the Portland Music Foundation (portlandmusicfoundation.org), a local non-profit whose mission is to “organize, support, nurture, and promote the thriving music scene of Portland, Maine.” The PMF serves as a resource for musicians at every stage, whether they are just starting out or have already produced four CDs, offering educational workshops, informational panels and in-depth sessions on topics like publishing, recording, writing press releases and handling every aspect of a gig from load-in to load-out.
While online clearinghouses already exist for hip hop and electronic artists in Portland (mainehiphop.com & wepushbuttons.com, respectively), PMF is for musicians from every genre. Started by Adam Ayan in the spring of 2006, it is operated by a volunteer Board of Directors of which Wayne is a member. It’s a natural fit for Wayne, as music has always been one of her passions and she has been immersed in the Portland music scene for nearly seven years now. What might surprise people, however, is Wayne’s other passion: history.
“I was a history and journalism major at the University of Richmond,” Wayne says, “and I’m a gigantic Civil War buff.” In fact, for a couple of years now, Wayne has been working with local musician Darien Brahms to transcribe more than 100 personal letters written during the Civil War era by a New Hampshire soldier to his wife. The letters have been passed down through Brahms’ family over the years and have become a fascination for both Wayne and Brahms. “It’s one of our favorite things to talk about,” Wayne says. “In fact, I’m glad she’s not here right now, because that’s all you’d hear.”
But despite her love of history, Wayne doesn’t see herself giving up her career in the music industry anytime soon. While it can be stressful at times, like when a show’s not selling well and she’s up at 3 am trying to figure out what to do about it, she loves her work — even when she has to promote groups she isn’t particularly fond of.
“That’s the beauty of music,” she says. “Everybody loves it. So even if the show isn’t your favorite thing, it’s still someone’s.” Wayne’s personal preference is for old school country — she’d love to resurrect Waylon Jennings and have him play a BBQ in her backyard — but she listens to a little of everything, and she enjoys settling shows for Live Nation regardless of who’s playing.
As she puts it, “When you walk into a Civic Center with 5,000 fans screaming for a band you don’t like, it still makes you happy.”
— Belinda Ray