Last of the There Is A Breeze demos: See You Soon, written by brother Paul Johnson
He starts with the first few notes of Old Folks

https://youtu.be/eFHe5yvDpfo

Next: A Dream Within a Dream. Co-writer Jim Varsos (Hobo Jim) emailed me asking if I had this so this is for him. He said he hadn't heard it in years and it was the second song they wrote together (the first was "The Line").

https://youtu.be/SEHIYjw5uN8

Lastly: Closer to You. Written by Thom Schuyler, who also wrote My Old Yellow Car, People Still Fall in Love and co-writer of Life's a Bitch.
Home Demo '88

https://youtu.be/AEMpgfsF2Z0

Carl Franzen (On The Road fame) has published a short story. Here is the preface and cover image:

When I was little there was something my mother did that was befuddling. She’d get a letter in the mail and then let me know things that weren’t written in the letter. “How do you know?” I asked. 
She said, “You have to read between the lines.” 

Hmm. I wondered as I disapproved slightly. Why wouldn’t the person who wrote the letter put the words in the letter? Was she telling secrets? I never really answered the question. But the picture of me staring at those handwritten letters, with blue ink on crinkly writing paper, trying to see the magic words appear, remains. 

Before you begin to read these pages, let me first tell you what this was. It started as an email to my sister, now the late Joanne Grueskin, the first woman elected to the city council in Sioux City, Iowa. I wanted to tell her about a night in St. Peter, Minnesota where I had gone to see Michael Johnson in concert. I knew she’d be curious and could have written the basics, leaving it at that. But once I got started it was too difficult to call a halt to the process. To be fair, this is not completely about Michael. He is the permission, forming the bookends; the preface.

In between are stories of my concoction, and the not-so-frivolousmention of automobiles that allowed me to skip from page to page. The result is long enough for a chapbook, although I wouldn’t mind if you call it a letter. But not the kind my mother would get in the mail. I don’t skimp on details. Everything that needs to be said is said. Or is it? You’ll have to read between the lines to find out.



Carl doesn't want to sell these or upload it. He'll give it away to anyone who participates or contributes. For instance, he has an event at the Irreverent Bookworm February 4th. You just show up and ask him for "More Words Than You Can Shake a Stick At." It's a delightful read.

Almost done with the There Is A Breeze demos.

Study In E Minor

https://youtu.be/Cqgh9PMFyxU

Another of the There Is A Breeze demos. 1972 or 1973

https://youtu.be/2JEFzO5_mnQ

Written by Steve Gillette

Another There Is A Breeze demo. Hope you like it.

https://youtu.be/MJ2ZyA6spuE

I have CD copies and three hard drive back ups of all of Michael’s archives which includes the music, videos and photos. However I worried about what if there was a fire so I paid for a year’s cloud back which cost only less than $4 for 5 TB. Next year will be about $50, not too bad of a price. However, only about 2% gets backed up in a 24 hour period. So I’m only up to 40%. It would be nice to find a younger person to take this over in case something happened to me. Maybe someday his sons will want it.

Minuet is from MJ's 1967 home demos. I don't know the composer. He only had "Minuet" written on the box. I wish he had continued to perform classical pieces.

https://youtu.be/Jxu8niXLNPo

Garbage Can. Demo. The first concert recording I have of this is from 1971 and he continued to perform it so it's one of his longest performing concert songs. Gary Gauger thought this was a demo for his next album after Breeze. But since there are 3 songs on that tape which appeared on Breeze, i think it was a demo for that album, not FAYMM. I have many recordings/videos of this song but I had never heard it in a non-concert setting. Of course it's missing the "Guitar solo!" part. And the "If you think you've reached the bottom, just look down" prologue.

https://youtu.be/KibtOFcjnD8

Got You Covered w/alternate ending YT Audio. Which version do you prefer?

https://youtu.be/3GxLtz4o5e4

This is from a There is a Breeze "almost final" tape. Also included is Rooty Toot Toot For the Moon without MJ's laugh at the end, Pilot Me, My Opening Farewell, and See You Soon. I'm not sure there are differences between the almost final and the final. If anyone would like to give these a listen, please contact me.

Cindy just added my song sheet of "What Did I Do With You".  Thanks, Cindy.  Now on to the next one ...

Three new photos added to the Concert Photos 2004-2015 page.

Used with permission from Stephan Hoglund Photography
North House Folk School, Mountain Stage Radio show, September 2011, Grand Marais MN