Surf Ballroom announces Texas man, rock ‘n’ roll fan as new CEO
By MARY PIEPER – Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa (TNS)
When Brian Luallen was growing up, he listened to Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry records every night.
Naturally, when he learned the nonprofit North Iowa Cultural Center and Museum was looking for a new CEO for the Surf Ballroom, “It took me about five minutes to start working on my cover letter,” he told the crowd at the Surf Friday morning during the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce quarterly coffee, where his hiring was announced.
Luallen said the Surf post is his dream job.
“I am an absolute rock ‘n’ roll history nerd,” he said.
But his qualifications go far beyond that, according to Chelsy Snyder Anderson, a member of the North Iowa Cultural Center and Museum.
For the past five years, Luallen has been the CEO of Fair Park First, a nonprofit organization that oversees operations of oldest and largest state park in the country. Fair Park is the home of Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas, and other venues, including a music hall.
Anderson said Luallen not only has nonprofit experience but also knows all about booking bands.
“He has everything we are looking for,” Anderson said.
One of the items on the checklist the North Iowa Cultural Center and Museum had for the new Surf director was “someone who could be a mentor to us and take us to the next level,” she said.
With the new Music Experience Center opening in early July and the creation of the Surf District, “we really need to get the word out there about the Surf and let the world know and really create the Graceland of the Midwest that we always wanted this place to be,” Anderson said.
For the past several weeks, Luallen has been working remotely from Dallas with Laurie Lietz, who has been the executive director at the Surf since the venue became a nonprofit organization.
Lietz is leaving to pursue other endeavors, according to the North Iowa Cultural Center and Museum board member Jeff Nicholas.
“We just want to thank her,” he said. “She has been a huge part of helping us take this facility where it was when we started (the nonprofit) in 2007 until today. She is very passionate and dedicated. Anybody who has ever worked with her loves her. We will miss her dearly.”
Luallen, who was on a brief visit from Dallas on Friday, plans to move to Clear Lake in mid-January.
“It’s going to be great to be part of this community,” he said. “Everyone has been welcoming. I am excited to plant some roots here starting in just a couple of weeks.”
In an interview with the Globe Gazette, Luallen said the Surf is “very important to the evolution of American music.”
“This venue is tied so much to the consciousness of a moment in time in 1959,” he said.
Early rock ‘n’ rollers Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens all performed at the Surf on the night of Feb. 2, 1959, just prior to the plane crash after midnight near Clear Lake that claimed their lives.
A big focus for Luallen during his first six months at the Surf will be preparing for the opening of the Music Experience Center, which he said will be “a world-class, cutting-edge immersive experience that I think is really going to excite people.”
The center will give the public yet another reason to visit Clear Lake, according to Luallen.
The streetscape that is part of the Surf District project “is going to be absolutely beautiful,” he said. “There are some surprises yet to come, some further announcements for other attractions and amenities that are going to round out that experience.”
The North Iowa Cultural Center and Musuem board of directors has wisely focused on making the Surf Ballroom a destination spot, according to Luallen.
“They have selected amazing partners, and it is just wonderful to be a part of that,” he said.
Luallen is looking forward to the annual Winter Dance Party, which begins Jan. 29.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said. “I’ve wanted to come to it for years and unfortunately other obligations never allowed that.”
(c)2024 Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa
Visit Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa at www.globegazette.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
