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Asheville Western Film Festival; November 13-15, 2008
Topic Started: Nov 6 2008, 07:05 AM (510 Views)
shelbyvinje
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Lee Meriwether fan
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Asheville Western Film Festival
November 13-15, 2008

Guests include Luciana Paluzzi, Bond girl from Thunderball.
Marlyn Mason
Gil Gerard

www.cometwesterns.com/filmfest.htm

I will be attending like many others, see you there!
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Tal Chotali
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In the past, they have brought in some interesting guests, but this convention should probably be renamed. Most of the stars who appeared did not have many western credits in their careers.
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shelbyvinje
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Most of the Western Conventions are stretching what they can. If an actor or actress played a role in any western, even a one-time guest shot on a TV western, they figure the actor or actress qualifies. They cannot get Buster Crabbe or Lash LaRue to return, so it's the next best thing. But watching B-westerns in a room with a hundred others and wandering the vendor room is worth it for me. Watching a western with a crowd of people who appreciate the classics is like watching Laurel and Hardy in the same fashion - try to watch one at home by yourself and it's best shared and treasured with others.
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Tal Chotali
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I've attended a number of western conventions on the East Coast. My favorites have been Knoxville, Memphis, Williamsburg and Charlotte. When Harold Smith died, that was the death of Knoxville. Harold and his friends got Bill Witney several times and other Republic standouts like Tom Steele, Rex Allen, many of the Republic leading ladies and other great guests. Charlotte used to have a great show and line-up, but over the last few years someone other than the original group has been doing the booking and the attendance has fallen off dramatically. This year the Charlotte fest was held in Winston-Salem, NC and the hotel arrangements didn't measure up to the former location in Charlotte at the Hilton at University Place. The only thing that got me there was knowing the a man named Campbell always comes up with a b-western gem or two that I haven't seen. Most of the viewing rooms in the hotels might hold as many as 30-40 folks, but I haven't seen any that would hold anywhere close to a hundred.

Its true that the great draw of these festivals was the chance to meet some of your old heroes and you can't stop time and bring any of them back. I know that the bookers at Williamsburg and Memphis still manage to come up with some interesting guests and I'm sure the folks at Asheville are clearly doing their best too. Hope you have a great time.
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Mantan
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I quit going to the Memphis festival after they moved their location 1st to a love-shack hotel frequented by crack who-errrr-excuse me- prostitutes out near the airport and later across the Tennessee state line to a casino hotel in Tunica (formerly known as Sugar Ditch, Mississippi) and then back northward closer to Memphis in ...I can't remember ... either Southaven or Olive Branch, Mississippi ...one of those towns in Desoto County I do my best to avoid.
I don't go to no Northwest Mississippi ...except for the wife's film and camera work-outs down in the Delta south of Clarksdale & clear down to Alexandria, Louisiana and all other places in between.

I used to love attending back when the Memphis Western Film Festival was held at the Holiday Inn downtown on the South Bluffs overlooking the Mighty Muddy and later to the downtown Albert Pick Hotel. Never missed those. I saw Charles Starret and my 1st Durango Kid western there, met Jock Mahoney, Clayton Moore, a stoned Lash LaRue, and got to pal around with a very, very damp Elisha Cook, Jr. who stayed in the cups for three days running and wet the sofa in the interview room. Watched as a grumpy Pat Buttram sat down in the mess Elisha had left and laughed out loud when Elisha feigned innocence. Saw Rex Allen breeze through in between filming car commericals for an advertising firm in Nashville and watched Ben Johnson slay the ladies with his old time "aw-shucks" gentleman-wrangler manner.

I agree - in those pre-vcr days there was nothing like watching a B-western or a rarely seen serial chapter in a crowded viewing room.
I really, really used to love and look forward to that festival -but that was many years ago. I'm grouchier than that now.
Edited by Mantan, Nov 10 2008, 11:43 AM.
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Sgt King
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Thanks Mantan for sharing highlights from some of the actors. Wish I would been attending the shows back then.
Also wish more Balconeers would share what some of the stars said or did at past conventions. Love to hear that stuff!
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Tal Chotali
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Sgt.,
I'll try to provide a few highlights of some I've attended soon.
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rodney
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Yeah, I love hearing stories of the hey-day of the conventions. I still think that we've got some fun ones ahead though.
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shelbyvinje
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There are fun days ahead and will be as long as attendance is positive. People like to post negatives on the internet on a repeated basis and sadly, that can do more harm than hurt. There are plenty of conventions are superb and growing every year. But the growth is the result of so many people willing to promote the event(s) by passing out fleirs at other events, inserting fliers with mail orders and offering links and writeups on web-sites.

As for Memphis, I stopped going when it got so small it was ridiculous. Ray Neilsen runs Memphis and once he took it over, the attendance started dropping. I have heard from more than half a dozen vendors that Neilsen isn't nice to the dealers. This past year Larry Stoltz took over the vendor room, rose the price of the tables and moved vendors to different tables from the ones they had in years previous. Two vendors said they may not return next year because the Stoltz issue made the convention worse.

Last I attended Memphis it had less than 100 people total. Worse, I asked a vendor this past weekend how it was because he was there and he said attendance was half of last year's!

This year Memphis has a great lineup thanks to Boyd Magers, but I don't think that's going to help matters much. I have seen many conventions with a great lineup of stars and the attendance still flopped down.

There are MANY conventions that are much larger than Memphis and more fun. Winston-Salem, Williamsburg, MANC and Cinevent.

I just returned from the Asheville Western Film Festival in North Carolina. Four vendors less than last year but one was due to death and three due to financial issues. Vendors said they did just as good as they usually do if not better regarding sales.

Movies were a highlight. Nothing like watching a B-western from 16 mm. Gil Gerard was in company with females that ranged from Police Academy to James Bond. I purchased a few hundred dollars worth of DVDs from my favorite vendor. (Vendor that cheated me out of $20 for the Bowery Boys some months back was not resolved -- see the Bowery Boys entry.) I finished my Whip Wilson movie collection, and two dozen more Johnny Mack Brown movies. I haven't sat down to begin reading the Hopalong Cassidy book by Francis M. Nevins yet, but I plan to soon. Bought my copy from Packy, who is also responsible for Ed Hulse's Zane Grey book. Ed is on the Balcony message board -- hi Ed!

This new Hoppy book is so new it's not yet on Amazon. But the back of the book offers reprints of the financial records from Boyd's personal papers!!

One interesting highlight was a Tim McCoy movie that supposedly has two versions out there and I got the rare one. Looking forward to watching that one Tuesday night.
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