Documentary Filmmaker Returns Favor, Makes Music Video for PA Band

July 27, 2012 - PRLog -- When Chicago filmmaker Bruce Janu started making his first documentary back in 2005, he needed music that could capture the tone of his emotionally charged film about genocide in Sudan.  Being self-funded, he couldn’t afford the lavish fees charged by music companies.

Then, as luck would have it, he stumbled upon a website run by singer-songwriter Tom Flannery from northeastern Pennsylvania.

Along with fellow singer-songwriter Lorne Clarke, Flannery had produced a song cycle about the genocide in Rwanda and told Janu that he could use several songs for free.  Although they lived in a different part of the country, they offered their services to write more if needed.

The songs fit so well with the film, Janu took them up on their offer.  Communication was mainly conducted through email and the occasional telephone call.  And the soundtrack to the award-winning documentary Facing Sudan was born.

The duo ended up providing over 16 songs for the film, including the centerpiece “Crayons and Paper” written and performed by Flannery.  The song highlights the climax of the film: images drawn by children from the genocide in Darfur.

“The music that Tom and Lorne provided was the backbone to that film,” said Janu.  “I couldn’t have made the film without them. They did everything pro bono.”

Flannery and Clarke would go on to provide more music for Janu’s follow-up documentary, Crayons and Paper.

Now, Janu is trying to returning the favor.

Recently, Flannery made the leap from solo acoustic artist to the lead singer of “Tom Flannery and the Shillelaghs.”  Their debut album, Teen Angst and the Green Flannel is a loud, guitar-driven romp through themes that are familiar territory in rock and roll:  youth, alienation and love.

“It’s great hearing Tom turned up a bit,” said Janu.  “He’s been wanting to do some pure rock and roll for a while.”

Janu decided to produce a video for the album’s first song.  Anthony Fragale, a junior at John Hersey High School in suburban Chicago makes his debut in the video as “Jimmy.” The song is “If I Only Knew” and is about adolescent love gone bad, a theme that runs throughout the album.  For the video, Fragale laments the loss of his girlfriend “Annette” and tears pages out of his journal that bears her name.

They filmed the video in mid-July when temperatures in the Midwest were in excess of 100 degrees. “It was hot,” Janu said.  “Really hot.  I felt sorry for Anthony as he had to sit in the hot sun and do a lot of walking while lip synching to the song.”

Although the video was created on a shoe-string budget, Janu hopes that the video gains exposure for Flannery and his band.  “Tom is one of the most prolific and talented songwriters I know,” said Janu.  “And this album certainly is better than most of the stuff you hear on commercial radio.”

In the years since the making of Facing Sudan, Janu and Flannery have only met once in person.  They keep up with each other through social media.  They even share the same birthday.

“Hopefully, someday Tom will become a rich and famous rockstar and I can film a tell-all documentary about the rise of the band,” Janu said with a grin.  “I know Tom really wants to smash a guitar on stage and I want to be there to film it.”

Next month, the band is throwing an album release party and will feature the video for “If I Only Knew.”

And Janu is not ruling out a sequel.  “There are a lot of great songs on this album,” he said.  “Perhaps Anthony can reprise his role for another song. Who knows?”


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http://www.theshillelaghs.com