Paul Reed Smith Receives Honourary Doctorate
Paul Reed Smith, founder and managing general partner of PRS Guitars,
has received an honourary doctorate of public service from Maryland’s
Washington College. The degree, which was in recognition of Smith’s sig-
nificant achievements as an innovative and creative thinker, was presented
by Washington College President Sheila Bair during a public ceremony in
April 2017.
Smith was recognized for both the success of PRS Guitars and also his
new company, Digital Harmonic, which marries art and science with
developed image and waveform technology.
“Paul is a remarkable example of entrepreneurial spirit; a kid builds
a guitar in high school woodshop and ends up as managing partner and
founder of the third largest guitar manufacturer in the U.S. Many would tell
you that the company makes the best electric guitars that have ever been
made,” said George Spilich, a professor of psychology and director of the
Cromwell Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington College – who
also owns a PRS guitar.
For more information, contact PRS Guitars: 410-643-9970, [email protected], www.prsguitars.com.
Documentary on The Hip’s Final Tour to Hit Canadian Theatres
& TV
A film about The Tragically Hip’s emotional past year will be hitting Cana-
dian theatres in the fall and, later, broadcast across the country on CTV.
The documentary chronicles the lead-up to the band’s instantly-iconic
Man Machine Poem Canadian tour in 2016, which followed frontman
Gord Downie’s terminal brain cancer diagnosis.
CTV, which produced the film, says viewers will be given a unique
and exclusive perspective into The Tragically Hip’s world through intimate
moments, behind-the-scenes and onstage footage, personal interviews
with the band and close friends, as well as reactions from their devoted
fans from across the country.
In a clip shared online, Downie recalls, “In the first rehearsal, I’m
not sure what to expect and it’s, ‘Oh, wow,’ because I actually couldn’t
remember a damn thing. I think they were all waiting for me to decide.
I said, ‘Yes, I’m definitely doing this’ because I think if I didn’t do it, I’d be
crushed and I don’t want to go out like that. I wanted to say ‘thank you’
face to face to face with everybody.”
Commissioned by Bell Media, the documentary is set for a fall theatrical run, distributed by Elevation Pictures, ahead of its television
premiere in late fall on CTV.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau & Ruth B Join MusiCounts at Ottawa
School
Music education charity MusiCounts has announced the recipients of the
2017 MusiCounts Band Aid Program. As part of the announcement, Sophie
Grégoire Trudeau was joined by JUNO nominee Ruth B to unveil $10,000
worth of instruments for St. Elizabeth Elementary School’s music program
in Ottawa. This year also marks the 20 th anniversary of MusiCounts, and the
organization will distribute $720,000 in instruments to 88 music programs
in schools nationwide, making it the largest instrument allocation through
the program to date.
“Music is a special medium that has the power of building bridges
between strangers. It’s a global language we share and one every child
should have the opportunity to learn. When children are given the oppor-
tunity to play music, school becomes a place for creative expression and
collaboration. Congratulations to this year’s recipients and a special thank
you to MusiCounts for their great work over the past two decades,” said Grégoire Trudeau.
For more information, contact MusiCounts: 416-485-3135, [email protected], www.musicounts.ca.
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