 Welcome to CTM member highlights. I'm Leslie McVane and today my guest is Will Atheridge from the Portland downtown district. Hi. Hi, thanks for having me on. Well I'm excited because we're going to talk about music today and the Alive at Five series. Let's talk a little bit about why this August 7th concert that's coming up is special. Sure. Well this summer we partnered with the State Theater right here in Portland, they're the premier concert venue at St. Paul State of Maine and they're bringing the Spirit Family Reunion which is a nationally touring act from New York to play for Alive at Five so I'm really excited to have this band perform. Well and they're really roots music and really exciting. They used to play in the subways in New York. Yeah, they really have that classic folk sound. They still gather all around a single microphone, a lot of harmonies, a lot of banjo and it should be a really great experience. Well it should get Monument Square really hopping and dancing and all ages. Yeah, this is a really great event. It starts at five p.m. so you got to work, you picked up your kids, bring them down to the square. It's of course a free event. We also will have the State Theater sponsored beer garden set up there so if you want to get a cold drink you can do that and of course all the Monument Square businesses so it's a great opportunity to come down, enjoy some music, enjoy the great summer weather. And remember to bring your I.D. if you want a beer. Yes, exactly. We do have our security personnel check-ins. No matter what your age. Now they will not be the only band playing that night. The opening act will be the Ghost of Paul Revere. Yeah, so it's been really important for us to showcase our local music that we have here since you have such a great local music scene. I think that's one of the nice things about the 11 at 5 series. We're bringing people not only from out of Portland but also showing you know we have great music going on right here. They also, Ghost of Paul Revere, played at the Oldport Festival as well. Well and they've got a huge following. Yeah, I think for their CD release I think they just sold out Port City Music Hall. And people are traveling distances to hear them. Yeah, I mean it's great that we have a band literally right down the street that has such a great audience. And coupling them with the other band, it's just going to be a mob scene that night. We certainly hope so. I hope you have an in with the weather man or whoever's in charge. I've been pretty lucky so far. We had such great weather when we did the Oldport Festival weekend that hopefully haven't used to pull my luck at this point. Yeah, I don't think so. Now this collaboration with the State Theatre is new this year? Yes, the first time we've done it before 11 at 5 was essentially just a PDD one event but we figured we have this great resource here, this great talent that really knows how to bring great bands up here. So we said why not make this into a partnership. They're really excited to do it. So we're hoping to see great success this year and something that we can build and even add more shows next summer is what we'd really like to see. And the series that you collaborate with the State is called something different from Alive. Well Alive at 5 is still with the State Theatre but we've also started an Arts Alive series which is just PDD sponsored. And this is, it also takes place on Thursdays in Monument Square. So on this Thursday, July 24th, we have a Rosa Noreen and Doc Barbie and Rosa is a local belly dance performer and instructor. So she'll be not only belly dancing but maybe even instructing a few people if you want to get in on the accident. I know Rosa and she's fabulous. And she'll be performing with Doc Barbie which is a Middle Eastern music group. And then on July 31st we have the Portland Symphony Orchestra is bringing their tune-up main quartet, so just a four-piece quartet. And they'll be performing again for free right in Monument Square. It's the Portland Symphony Orchestra's 90th anniversary this year. So they're doing different sort of mini concerts all over. And to introduce an audience that might not necessarily go to the symphony. I think it's great and I think the variety you're offering the city is terrific. Now if people want to find out more they can contact you. Yeah, the www.portlandmain.com is the source of information for all these events and for everything we do at PDD. And if there's a cancellation due to rain or something that would be posted on that site. And I encourage people to check out our Facebook page since we do a lot of information there as well. So they can friend you on Facebook. And in the case of the Alive at 5 event, if there is a rain it will be moved to Port City Music Hall. So it will still go on. Terrific. Good to know. And it'll still be free. It'll still be free. It's still going to drink. Alright, well I'm looking forward to it and I hope our viewing audience will all be there with their dancing shoes on. Thank you Will. Thank you.