Frank Wakefield - Happy 80th Birthday Bill Monroe - with David Grisman

10 days before Bill Monroe's 80th Birthday Celebration in Bean Blossom, Indiana, Frank Wakefield returned to the SF Bay Area for a reunion with his bandmates David Nelson and Tom Stern...I was booked to go to Bean Blossom and I asked the two mandolin titans to play Happy Birthday on their mandolins...and then the early 90's Canon Hi-8 camcorder wouldn't power up and roll the tape...I kept begging for a pause; the players were getting antsy and impatient...after a full minute or two, the tape started to roll and I told them...without one second of pre-roll for the leader tape to wind around, they started instantly when they saw the red light, so the beginning was cut...however I think we can all agree that this clip is a jewel...at Bean Blossom on Monroe's 80th, I borrowed a TV from an RV backstage, ran an extension cord, placed the TV on a lawn chair, connected the camera for playback of the Hi-8 tape (this meant I couldn't record the reaction)...at twilight, myself, Sam Bush, Morris the Missouri bluegrass videographer, and a few others corralled Monroe over to the TV where he watched, listened and LOVED the gift his proteges had sent him....now it's time for it to be seen by all who are interested...it is followed by a few songs from a different night in Berkeley at the old Freight and Salvage stage...there will be much more Wakefield material posted in the not-too-distant future....this clip will be removed and reposted in proper context, in terms of which show it was recorded at...time for everybody to finallly see it !!!

[@factotumted]

Thank you ❤

[@susiefairfield7218]

Thank You 💕 HBD Bill