Portland Makes Beautiful Music in 'Blue Fiddles'

Blue Fiddles Official Trailer from Benjamin James on Vimeo.

Lisa was just left by her husband…for a man. Bree struggles with emotional swings that she attempts to channel into poetry while rejecting the advances of her (much) older boss. Sam hitch hiked into town with her deadbeat boyfriend and doesn’t really care about anything but is still willing to be there for Bree and Lisa. The three women met while seeing the same therapist and have since struck up an unlikely yet rewarding friendship.

These are the three lead characters in the upcoming independent web series Blue Fiddles. Beautifully shot in Portland and Forest Grove Oregon and written by actress Nena Botto, this series skillfully interweaves the lives of three complex, quirky, and ultimately damaged women as they try to support themselves through each of their life changes. Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, they are not.

Says Botto: “The name (Blue Fiddles) is a description of the three women, and how they feel about life. Blue is a melancholy feeling and color. And a fiddle is a fun instrument. If one thinks of themselves as an instrument, then the people that come into their lives are musicians. It’s poetic, left to interpretation.” Though the series isn’t all doom and gloom, an important theme of the series is the ability to laugh through pain and to lean on those around you for support. It’s message is ultimately a hopeful one.

The real magic of the series is its ability to tap in to feelings that not only as women but, more importantly, as humans have all felt at one point or another but to explore them it in a way that is individual to each woman. When Bree turns down an opportunity for a relationship because “it would just end anyway”, we remember a time we let potential love pass us by. When Sam looks up in annoyance and desperation at the large house she is cleaning for some extra cash, we remember back to that soul-sucking job we once had to do just to get by.

The show takes its time and with a first season of three episodes that clock in at 23 minutes, the biggest problem with the series is that it just isn’t long enough. But hopefully the timely production of a season 2 will alleviate that situation because there is much more to be explored in these womens lives…and if the story has done its job, we’ll be rooting for them.

Blue Fiddles will premiere on January 25th. If you are in the Portland area, you can attend the premiere of the full first three episodes of the series, also on January 25th at 7:00 at the Hollywood Theater. The series is produced by Benjamin James and stars Nena Botto (Lisa), Alisyn Shaw (Sam), and Belinda Schramm (Bree). You can find out more about the show at the show’s website