Twentieth Anniversary of Bethel's Fiddler's Brawl

REVISED COPY

March 6 marks the
20th anniversary of one of the area's most enduring music events, The Fiddler's
Brawl, to be held at Whitlock's Restaurant, 273 Greenwood Avenue in Bethel.  This anniversary will be made
more special by the playing of three violins, as provided by Bethel's own 8th
generation resident Dave Morgan, who will bring the violins to the show for
Howie Bujese, kingpin fiddler in the event for 20 years, to play.  The
violins were made by Mr. Morgan's great grandfather, Byron Morgan, for his children
in about 1900 right on Grassyplain
Street. The Morgan heritage includes
Fairchild Morgan who served as Bethel’s
fist selectman from 1873 to 1874. 
Fairchild Morgan was the father of the violins’ creator, Byron. 

The violins will help celebrate the unique musical event, brainchild of Bethel's "Music Man" Billy Michael, who
recruited award winning musician Howie Bujese of Bethel
to be the anchor fiddler, along with Steve Negri  and Larry Deming, also of Bethel. Also in the starting line up of the
show was Bethel’s
Bob Christopher, a well known and well celebrated fiddler, who stayed with the
show until his death at the age of 88 a few years ago. The event has attracted popular
musicians from all areas. many of whom stayed with the show for most of its 20
years.

The audience is
attracted to the spontaneous music (no rehearsals) and the show offers young
musicians an opportunity to join in and test their music ears. In addition to
his own expertly executed renditions of songs, Mr. Bujese is on hand to guide young
players in the "aural" tradition of learning music by ear.  He
and Mr. Michael warmly welcome new players every show and intend to continue
doing so for a while to come.