Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2004 12:40 PM
Subject: RE: Say Yes to Michigan

Dear Dan

Thanks for your email. Due to the heavy volume of
inquries, we are unable to respond personally to every message sent.
Therefore, we hope you will instead enjoy a free can of vegetable and
tomato soup, which is being sent to your office right now.

Just kidding. Here is my response about the Michigan outtakes. They were a
gesture of generosity for a certain time, but when I decided to put
Michigan to vinyl, I thought it would be an even better gesture to make them
exclusive to that format, as a way of supporting those who continue to
cultivate a respect for the highest quality of recording. Personally, I
find records clumsy and high maintenance. But I have to say, when I heard the
test pressing of these songs on vinyl, it was like listening to the record
for the first time. If it is up to me, every subsequent vinyl release will
have bonus material, even if I have to continue releasing double vinyl. It
is a beautiful format. It is just something I feel compelled to support,
as well as crosswalks for blind people and AIDS medication/education for
South Africa and shoping at the local hardware store that sells curtain rods for
27 cents more than Bed Bath & Beyond. I'm willing to take the financial
risk.

I'm sure someone somewhere has posted those outtakes on the web. I had
them up for months.

There is no new CD for this year. I'm working on some stuff for next year.

Sufjan


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Subject: Say Yes to Michigan!
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 14:49:11 -0400 (EDT)

Hey Sufjan,
I'm a huge fan, and a while back you had six MP3 outtakes from
Michigan(!) on your website that I never got a chance to download.
I'm dying to hear them, but your site now says that they are only
available on the Michigan Vinyl LP. I can't find this anywhere,
and even if I could it would be no good to me because my record
player is kaputt. 

But seriously, aren't they available anywhere else?

And just out of curiosity, is there a new Sufjan CD in the works for this
year? Seven Swans is already going to make my top 10 list for this year.

dan.