MJ and June

Oh boy.. Death..  

It's so final..  all the stuff going on that I've railed about with crapotus and the Boy Scouts takes a back seat to sadness when people who have been important in our lives die.  Friends die.

June Foray was almost a hundred and her health had been slipping with time.  Her friend, David Nimitz was there for her day and night, a comfort. Ninety nine.. and counting.. she'd have made it to a hundred in a few weeks.  She was a pistol.  She listened.  Not all of our friends listen..  Her fame as a voice artist in the hey day of Daws Butler, Stan Freberg and Mel Blanc is legendary.  I was fortunate to be on the edges of all of that.  So long, June.

Michael Johnson was a Colorado guy.  I met him in college and had him on a radio show I hosted on KYOU 1450 AM in Greeley, Colorado.  It was clear that this eighteen year old kid had something special. He was a double music major at Colorado State College and well on his way.  We touched base from time to time after college and I worked with his brother, Paul, in Denver for a short time. In 1966 we connected again in Barcelona where he showed us the city and we spent a day getting really sunburned on the Costa Brava.  

So.. Michael is gone.  His music is all over the net and his early albums are on CD.  His early folkie work still sticks with me, though he moved on into country and some crossover stuff later.  This is one of his old tunes that presents some basic philosophy..  

Rooty Toot Toot For the Moon! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYttaL_AHLw&list=RDbYttaL_AHLw

He covered "You Have to be Carefully Taught" from South Pacific in a short simple riff.  He played his own composition "Hills" the first time he appeared on The Other Side of Day on KYOU.  The guy was gentle and kind and I am so sorry that I didn't find time to track him down to just chat one more time.  The world is better for his having been in it.  

Ditto for the amazing talent of June Foray. MJ's gone too soon and June.. she was in it to the end. 

Thanks to the fates for drawing me into the sparkling circles of these two amazing talents.

Michael Sheehan

July 27, 2017

Glendale, CA