Re: Klezmer! - Fact or Fiction? OT reply

[Joel Bresler <jbresler...>]

Since you mention Bill Monroe in passing, I thought listers might like to 
read about his graciousness, generosity of spirit (and yes, forgiveness...)

Happy birthday, Bill!

Joel


---

To: BGRASS-L (at) lsv(dot)uky(dot)edu
From: Udmacon (at) aol(dot)com
Subject: [78-l] William Smith Monroe, born 13 Sep. 1911
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 07:04:53 -0700

In honor of William Smith Monroe's 89th birthday today (in Fiddlers' Green),
I am passing along a beautiful story from Murfreesboro TN's Tom Christy. Tom
and his wife Gloria are the backbones of the town's venerable Uncle Dave
Macon Days.

Here 'tis:

I remember a concert I helped arrange years ago at John Battle HS
 > in Bristol TN where Bill Monroe was the featured artist. I was on
 > WETS-FM, Public Radio from Johnson City at the time, playing old
 > time and bluegrass, and so was the host MC.
 >
 > What I remember most from that concert was how gracious and
 > kind Mr. Monroe was to his fans. One in particular, an older man
 > with lots of teeth missing,  was so nervous about meeting him that
 > he accidentally spilled the hot cup of coffee he was carrying on
 > Bill's shirt and into his instrument case.  Everybody kind of gasped
 > in shock and stepped back a bit, but Bill just took it in stride.
 > Somebody handed him a roll of paper towels, he quickly wiped off
 > his mandolin and shirt (in that order) and went right on smiling,
 > assuring the man he was OK, not to worry about it.
 >
 > The old man had been telling Bill how he loved to sing with his
 > records, how often they'd helped him get through his job (he'd been
 > a factory worker, he told me later, now retired.)  Later in the
 > evening, when Bill was on stage, he called the guy up on stage
 > with him to sing with him on one, and he was actually pretty good!
 > The guy just beamed.  When the song was over, Bill put his arm
 > around him and motioned for the audience to applaud, which they
 > did, wildly.
 >
<snip>

 >We join you in
 > missing this great artist and gentle benefactor of the some of the
 > sweetest music ever made.
 >
 >   Tom Christy

At 01:01 AM 9/12/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Please, please... I guess it's hopeless to ask, but could we keep the list
>to discussing music and not who credited what when.

<big snip>

>Bill Monroe would never be caught in a public
>forum slagging anybody, much less folks who really deserved it. He
>recognized that there is little gained in dragging anybody down to shine a
>little
>on them.



Joel Bresler
250 E. Emerson Rd.
Lexington, MA 02420 USA

Home:           781-862-2432
Home Office:    781-862-4104
FAX:            781-862-0498
Email:          jbresler (at) ma(dot)ultranet(dot)com

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