Wh-oa-oa!  It's the new Weiser Films 'whole lotta fancy' Newsletter — inquiring fiddle minds want to know!  In yer inbox or on the website at www.weiserfilms.com/Newsletter/PreviewNewsletter/tabid/121/Default.aspx
Please copy, paste and forward the link to fiddlers and friends alike!

Documentary Film Update

Work continues on the documentary film we're making about fiddle music and the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest® in Weiser, Idaho.

Our video deck was under repair for a bit, but we're back up and running now.  Currently, we're going through footage as we continue to prepare for editing.

Thank you for your interest in this documentary film about fiddle music and Weiser.  We appreciate your support.  We'll keep you posted on progress in future Newsletters and on the website.

• Northwest Regional Fiddle Contest, Spokane, WA, April 14-15, 2007
• Fiddlers Frolics Texas State Championship, Hallettsville, TX, April 26-29, 2007
• Washington State Fiddlers' Contest, East Wenatchee, WA, April 27-29, 2007

All three contests feature superb fiddlers, great accompanists and expert judges, each a major stop on the road to Weiser and the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest® (June 18-23, 2007).

Pictured above are several of our favorite fiddle characters, all associated in one way or another with the Fiddlers Frolics in Hallettsville.  Champion fiddlers Roberta Rast and Wes Westmoreland flank guitarists and legendary fiddle accompanists (and brothers) Ray and Royce Frankin (in the middle, as usual?).

Check out the Weiser Links page on www.weiserfilms.com for a growing list of links to these and many other fiddle contests, fiddler conventions and fiddle festivals around the US and Canada and around the world.

Currently, we are featuring fiddle downloads from Evansville, Indiana-based fiddler Vi Wickam. 

Vi has taken top honors twice at the Indiana State Fair and has been a top 5 finisher in the Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama State Championships and the Grand Lake National Fiddle Fest competition.

Click:   Main Street Rag     or     Leather Britches

Fiddle downloads from Tony Ludiker, Weiser 5-time Grand National Champion, have been featured on www.weiserfilms.com since we launched in June 2006.  Next month, we'll feature new downloads from Tony.  Our thanks to Vi and Tony.

National Oldtime Fiddlers, Inc., which runs the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest® in Weiser, Idaho, this past Fall named Karen Penner new Contest Director.  A local Weiserite, Karen has been actively involved with the fiddle contest for the last three years. 

Layna Hafer, who preceded Karen in the role, retired after serving for 17 years.  Under her direction, the contest recognized many improvements, including the opening last year of a new, large campground area.  Sponsorships, workshops and annual volunteer kickoff campaigns, among other innovations, were all introduced during Layna’s tenure.

We join the fiddle community in welcoming Karen and thanking Layna.  We wish them both great success.

Check out new links on www.weiserfilms.com:

Be sure to visit the newly revamped website for the Fiddlers Frolics Texas State Championship.  Nice job, Hallettsville, website looks great!  The Wyoming Old Time Fiddle Association State Fiddle Contest has relocated to Thermopolis, WY, where it will take place on May 12-13, 2007.  The contest had been held in Shoshoni, WY for 33 years.

Let us know if there's an oldtime fiddle contest or festival coming up, a fiddle association, or something or someone with a website related to oldtime fiddle music which we ought to include on our Weiser Links page at www.weiserfilms.com.

Head to our website to a) join the e-mail list, b) register on the site, or c) make a purchase, to automatically enter our current DRAWING for a FREE Weiser Films Fiddle T-Shirt (click and check 'em out).

Enter today — odds guaranteed vastly better than Lotto!  Once you join, register or make a website purchase, you're in the pool from which current and future winners will be selected.

Winner of the current drawing to be announced in the 'Inaugural Edition' of the Newsletter (in time for Weiser).

Stylin' Ray Wood, Seattle area-based jazz and swing guitarist extraordinaire, won his FREE Weiser Films Fiddle T-Shirt in our first holiday drawing, at the end of 2006.

Our biggest update is this 'Preview Edition' of our new 'whole lotta fancy' Newsletter.  It's our goal to publish on a reasonably regular basis, sometimes in consecutive months and sometimes combining 2-3 months per issue.  All editions, beginning with this one, will be available on www.weiserfilms.com on the Newsletter page.

We have decided to delay for the moment introduction of the Player Of The Month feature which will spotlight people whose contributions to fiddle music deserve recognition.  We'll let you know in a future Newsletter when the Player feature begins.

We continue to improve the website as time allows, so stay tuned (fiddlers and violinists, alike).

BTW, thanks to James Mature, East Texas icon and father of guitarist and accompanist, Anthony Mature, for the most excellent pose up top.  We love that guy!  Caption contest anyone?