Listen Live Music has been a volunteer-run source for great music in Macungie since its founding in 2009. Though programming slowed down in 2016, new Chair Chelsea Lyn Meyer has worked hard with a dedicated team to get some interesting events on the 2017 slate.
Val Minett and Amilyn Lanning launched Listen Live with the aspiration to create an intimate listening room and to give up-and-coming artists a place to perform. After a debut performance of Rory Block's blues guitar, they were soon organizing acts for Upper Saucon's free Concertsin the Park, as well as “Writers in the Round” events with multiple singer-songwriters taking the stage at the Macungie Institute.
With the torch passed to Meyer, expect a few joint events between Listen Live and her own nonprofit, Power Chords. As a young musician on the open mic and local venue circuit, Meyer was frustrated by the performance options. “I was in a pop-punk band all through high school, playing bars and clubs, and there weren't really a whole lot of venues that were drug and alcohol free or that our friends could come to,” she says. With her mother's help, Meyer started Power Chords at the age of 19 to give young people a safe venue to share their music.
Meyer grew up around musicians like her dad, who was in a local cover band for almost 30 years, and when her mother turned her on to Green Day, she knew she wanted to write her own pop-punk music. She plays regularly at places like Steel Pub, Grumpy's BBQ and hosts a weekly open mic at Leather Corner Post in Orefield. Her long involvement in the local music scene and Listen Live is the reason that she was asked to take over, and the coming months will show how this cozy venue develops.
Macungie Institute | 510 E. Main St., Macungie
610.966.6419 | listenlivemusic.org
