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‘14 Years Ago’ – 1999 ‘Hottest Accordionist in America’ competitionby Rob Howard |
The Accordions Worldwide news for the week ending March 26th 1999 included a report of the ‘Hottest Accordionist in America’ competition, an imaginative event that was good publicity for the accordion. The winner was Zydeco button accordionist Dwayne Dopsie, from Louisiana. The links will take you back in time to see what this was all about. Warm Welcome for Hot Accordionists – USA Contributed by Faithe Deffner, President of the American Accordionists' Association It was "Welk Salutes the Accordion" day in Branson, Missouri on Thursday, March 25th, by proclamation of the Mayor. That's the BIG day when the five finalists of the "Search for the Hottest Accordionist in America" played off. The five finalists, selected from over 150 entries were: Terri Conti (New Jersey), Dwayne Doopsie (Louisiana), Phoebe Legere (New York), Tim Padilla (California) and Jason Stephen (Missouri). The search for the "Hottest" has attracted huge publicity, ranging from the front page of the Entertainment Section of "USA Today" newspaper to the opening monologue of Jay Leno's Tonight TV Show. The NBC-TV Tonight Show covered the final of the red-hot accordionists' competition, along with ABC Good Morning America and CBS Sunday Morning. Among attending media people was a New York Times reporter doing a feature for Sunday's Entertainment Section. CBS TV camera and news crew were at the airport to greet arriving contestants and film for their Sunday Morning Show. Accordions Worldwide has its North American representative Kevin Friedrich on the spot and a full report of this exciting event is on line. What a fantastic promotion for the accordion. Great work by the AAA, their President Faithe Deffner and the Welk Organisation. Such positive promotion of the accordion deserves all our support. – Wayne Knights, Editor |