Rock Academy Announces Expansion with Second School Opening in Orange County, NY; February 4th YMCA Benefit Concert Gives Back to New Community

For immediate release Press and media queries: Abbe Aronson, [email protected]

Woodstock, NY – Now approaching its fourth year in business with nearly 140 students at the flagship location, The Paul Green Rock Academy (PGRA) is moving ahead with an expansion plan to open additional schools in and around the tri-state area, beginning with Location #2 in nearby Orange County, NY next month.

The new school, dubbed “The Hobbit Hole,” is located at 21 South Street in Washingtonville, NY, just over an hour away from the Woodstock location.

As a way of introducing PGRA to the Orange County community, the upcoming “Best Of Season” fundraising concert that Rock Academy presents thrice a year, will be held at the nearby Middletown High School on February 4th, with proceeds going to the Orange Country YMCA Strong Kids program.

“We’re particularly excited about this Best Of Season show because the Middletown High School auditorium can hold nearly 1,000 people, so it will be an amazing way to introduce Rock Academy to our new community and give parents and kids a chance to see our kids in action while we raise money for the local YMCA and its really great programs,” said PGRA co-founder Paul Green.

Jason Bowman, music director for the PGRA who is overseeing the February 4th event (which begins at 6 p.m. for a charity auction and new students’ interactive open stage), added that this show immediately co-mingles the current Rock Academy students with new and potential students from the Orange County community, as stage production for the show will be overseen by GIR – “Get It Ready” Techs – a mentoring/internships program at Middletown High School that puts student technicians in vital roles at events and empowers them to take on more responsibility and authority.

“The GIR team is so excited to work with us to put on a great show and we can’t wait to invite the entire community over to see our new school,” added Bowman, who said that two open houses at the new location on South Street are scheduled for Sunday January 29th and February 11th, respectively.

ABOUT THE PAUL GREEN ROCK ACADEMY: Founded in 2013, The Rock Academy was established to continue the work Paul did at School of Rock...teaching fine young musicians to play rock music by having them play rock music on real stages for real rock audiences. Under Paul's tutelage, the School of Rock toured extensively, playing festivals such as Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and the Zappanale festival in Germany, and such legendary venues as The Roxy, CBGBs, and Carnegie Hall. They were often joined on stage by such rock luminaries as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, Jon Anderson of YES, and Slash of Guns N Roses. Since opening in Woodstock, regular rotating guest stars who have played and guest taught students include Aaron Freeman (AKA Geen Ween) Gibby Haynes of The Butthole Surfers, Kate Pierson of the B-52s, Fred Armisen, Scott Ian of Anthrax, John Ashton of The Psychedelic Furs, Andy Shernoff of The Dictators, Brendon Small of Metalocalypse, the surviving Zappa Mothers of Invention and the list goes on. In 2016, the PGRA touring showband divided and conquered the world, with a mini-summer tour in Los Angeles that included Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme and Craig Goldy from Dio along with an reprise appearance at Zappanale in Germany; for 2017, the group already has been asked to return to Zappanale, this time as a headliner band. ,