July 2008 - Theatre news this month...

Watch Tom's acclaimed play Marcinkus online

June 2008 - Theatre news this month...

Go Irish: The Purgatory Diaries of Jason Miller
by Tom Flannery and Rodger Jacobs
June 6,7,13,14 2008
Actors Circle
1256 Providence Road
Scranton PA
570 342 9707

April 2008 - The newly designed Blog opens for business.
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RUMINATIONS FROM THE VALLEY makes it's debut. If possible, I'm getting even more liberal. New newspaper column-length posts M-F.

Tom's Colorblind: The Katrina Monologues will be presented by the Black Box Theatre in Maryland. Eight Performances Only! March 27 to April 6, 2008. Thursdays - Saturdays at 8:00 PM & Sundays at 3 PM. Click for more info.

March 2008 - Tom has just completed a trilogy of full length plays. The so-called "Holy Trilogy" are searing works dealing with hypocrisy, abuse, guilt, and redemption. They are not for the faint of heart.

I. Hands in the Dark
II. McKenzie McDermot
III. Ash Wednesday

Flannery is currently adapting "McKenzie McDermot" for the big screen.

Anyone interested in the trilogy should contact Tom directly. Productions in Pennsylvania are in the works now.

January 2008 - FACING SUDAN is now available on DVD. Winner of best documentary at the Illinois International Film Festival and the 2007 Landlocked Film Festival, the film features a soundtrack by Tom Flannery and Lorne Clarke. The DVD includes 12 deleted scenes, director's commentary, plus a brand new bonus song by Tom Flannery. You can purchase the DVD here.
November 2007 - WarSongs....a SongWeek.com compilation, is now available.

WarSongs
available now!

Tom has added a new song to the upcoming DVD release of the award winning documentary Facing Sudan. The film recently won best documentary at the Illinois International Film Festival.

The song I Want To... is currently available on Tom's MySpace profile.

Tom has co-written a song called "MIA" with British singer/songwriter/guitarist Neil Luckett. He provided the lyrics and Neil took it from there....putting them to a gorgeous melody. You can download a free mp3 of the song here.

Neil Luckett

Tom Flannery's award winning play "The Katrina Monologues" will be performed at Bowie State University in Bowie Maryland on November 7th and 8th. More info here.

Flannery's play "The Last Thoughts of Gino Merli" begins a whirlwind tour of 14 Pennsylvania area high schools beginning Monday, November 5th.

October  2007 - Flannery is currently working on a new play.....a series of vignettes and monologues for 2 assorted female characters. The working title is "One Day", and he hopes to see it reach the stage sometime in 2008.

Tom is currently working on a full length new record....his first batch of songs since 2002 not featured on songaweek.com. The collection is being called Love in the Present Tense and will feature 10 brand new compositions....all written and recorded in less than 2 weeks. It will be available for $6.99 via download only. Stay tuned for the official release date coming soon.

UPDATE

Love in the Present Tense
available now!

August 2007 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

GINO MERLI - THE HEALING HERO, a 40 minute docudrama, premieres on WVIA-TV on September 20th. Adapted from the one man play by Tom Flannery, it intercuts WWII footage with 4 scenes pulled from the play....which span the last afternoon of Merli's life. For more information visit the film's web page here...

July 2007 - Tom's acclaimed play "The Last Thoughts of Gino Merli" returns for another engagement this summer. Click here for the dates and times.

Time to eat and pay some bills. Songaweek.com is now asking .99 cents per download. This went into effect on 7/5/2007. All of the back catalog online is still free. "After 4 years, over 200 songs, and 1 million downloads, we're finally out of beta", Tom said. Please help support Flannery and his music.

April 2007 - Get Tom's first 3 releases digitally. Perfect for your IPOD. Only $9.99 for each CD or just download your favorite tracks  for 99 cents per. Check out the revamped store...

March 2007 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

Facing Sudan - The Soundtrack

Now Available on CD or via digital download
More info..

February 2007 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

January 2007 - PRESS RELEASE..

The Old Brick, Scranton’s newest theatre, is proud to present an encore production of the original, one man show, “Marcinkus”. Provocative, thought provoking and often times humorous, “Marcinkus” made its regional premiere in 2006 at the Arts YOUniverse. Written by local playwright and Scranton native Tom Flannery, directed by local theatre veteran Paul Winarski and starring perennial favorite Greg Korin, “Marcinkus” recounts the life and times of one of the most notorious figures in the history of the Catholic Church.

Don’t miss the chance to explore this fascinating character! Show dates are Feb 2nd, 3rd, 9th & 10th at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $10.00 and can be purchased by calling #347-3713. The Old Brick Theatre is located at Rear 126 East Market Street, Scranton, PA. Free hot and cold hors d’ouvres after the show at Stirna’s Restaurant next door. 

Article about the play recently appeared in the Chicago Daily Herald. Read it here.

December 2006 - It took long enough, but we're finally up on MySpace.com. Check it out here.

Some new live video posted. See Tom performing Feel Like Coming Home from Song About a Train.

The production of the feature-length documentary, Facing Sudan is nearing completion. Slated for official release in January 2007, this film gives us an in-depth look at the facts and issues surrounding the ongoing genocide in Sudan.

Created by the film maker, Bruce Janu of Bell Book & Camera Productions, the film features an original soundtrack composed by Tom Flannery and Lorne Clarke. The film is slated for its first public screenings in April of 2007. Stay tuned for more news!

November 2006 - Live concert video now available on Google video. Live from WVIA-FM studios on October 9th, 2006. Watch it now

Tom's play Anti-Depressants, an evening of 4 one act comedies, debuts. Directed by John Morris and produced by the Bracken Theater Company. Starring (l to r) Joe Palumbo, John Schugard, Kelly Clisham, and Karen Padden.

October 2006 - The Scranton Public Theatre to perform 2 of Tom's one act plays. Click on the logo for the details..

September 2006 - Tom and Lorne Clarke are beginning to compose a new song cycle, this one dealing with clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Titled "Hands in the Dark", the cycle is scheduled to be complete by December of this year. It will then be handed over to SNAP, a survivors support group for victims. As always, as the songs are completed they will be posted on Songaweek.com

May 2006 - It will be a busy summer for Flannery the playwright. No less than 4 of his plays are scheduled to be produced in the coming months. These include..

Last Thoughts of Gino Merli - presented by Scranton Public Theatre as part of their 2006 Jason Miller Summer Theatre festival. Play opens on July 15th. Starring Michael Fallon and directed by Bob Shlesinger.

Marcinkus - Directed by Paul  Winarski and starring Greg Korin. This one man show will premiere in August and also be filmed for possible theatrical release.

August 4,5, 11,12, 2006 @ 8pm
Arts Youniverse, 156 S. Franklin St.
Wilkes-Barre Pa.
reservations: call 606-4668 or 736-6741
Tickets are $10.00

Nixon's Last 15 Minutes - Part of a traveling show of 8 short one act plays. In will play in and around Northeast PA at various locations this summer.

Colorblind: The Katrina Monologues - The Bracken Theatre will present Tom's monologue play on the 1st anniversary weekend of Hurricane Katrina. All proceeds will benefit the Red Cross.

April 2006 - Songaweek.com surpasses 400,000 downloads. Days of 500/750 downloads becoming more and more common.

March 2006 - Tom's play of vignettes, "5 Women", premieres at the Peg Fassett Performing Arts Studio at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock PA.

February 2006 - Just discovered Splendid Magazine's review of "Hurry Home Early - The Songs of Warren Zevon". They write the following about Tom's contribution to that disk...

Tom Flannery['s] bone-chilling version of "Boom Boom Mancini" marks the disc's pinnacle. Whereas Zevon's versions paint Mancini as a modern-day folk hero, Flannery's haunting vocal delivery gives the boxer's story a terrifying, stone-cold killer interpretation.

January 2006 - You can watch 3 of Tom's one act plays from performances captured during the Jason Miller Summer Theater Festival during the summer of 2005. Check it out.

December 2005 - Tom's acclaimed 2002 release, the solo acoustic Drinking With Nick Drake, is now available via download. For free! Merry Xmas! Go to the download page by clicking here. Hurry up though. It will go back on sale soon....
..

The acclaimed solo acoustic DRINKING WITH NICK DRAKE is now available via download. For FREE! Merry Xmas and thanks for your continued support.

SongaWeek.com has passed a quarter of a million downloads. Not too shabby considering our peers thought we were crazy back in 2003.

November 2005 - Tom has completed a number of songs, including a rare instrumental....for the upcoming documentary Facing Sudan. Filmmakers hope for a 2006 release.

October 2005 - Blogging has become a daily thing lately.  If you are a Republican proceed at your own risk.

September 2005 - Colorblind - The Katrina Monologues is now available. All performances of this brand new play will benefit the Red Cross hurricane relief effort.

And some brand new live audio and video is available here. Many thanks to good friend and fellow troubadour Shawn Z for putting it together.

August 2005 - A new short play is now available online. Read Guys Who Hug in Bars (if you are courageous enough).

July 2005 - Tom's new play Politics, Sex, Booze and the Theater premieres as part of Scranton Public Theatre's Jason Miller Summer Theatre Festival. More information is here.

June 2005 - A new short one act play by Tom called The Explaining Marriage Seminar will premiere onstage at the Little Theatre in Wilkes-Barre PA on July 16th. More info is here.

April  2005 - Hurry Home Early - The Songs of Warren Zevon, a compilation CD from Wampus Multimedia, is set for a late summer 2005 release. Tom's solo acoustic version of "Boom Boom Mancini" is featured, and the title of the CD comes from a line in that song.

March 2005 - Tom has completed the first draft of "The Old Age Examiner", a historical play commissioned by the state of Pennsylvania about the beautiful and historic "endless mountain" region of Wyoming County. Plans are to premiere the play in October of 2005. Stay tuned.

February 2005 - Songaweek.com passes 100,000 downloads!

January 2005 - God and the Ghost of Woody Guthrie is currently in rehearsals for its upcoming revival at the Showcase Theatre in Exeter PA. Shows on Feb 17,18,19,24,25,26 and 27.

December 2004 - The new and improved blog is now available at www.tomflannery.com  Also, www.songaweek.com is now approaching 85,000 downloads.

Washington DC based singer/songwriter Lisa Moscatiello just cut a version of Tom's song Miner Boy. Get the mp3 here.

November 2004 - Audience recording of Tom and Lorne Clarke's 10/30/2004 rally for the Kerry Edwards Ticket. Get it here.

October 2004 - Tom plays an October 16th show with Ramblin' Jack Elliot in Bethlehem PA, part of a day long Woody Guthrie tribute called Ramblin' Round. He is scheduled to conduct an afternoon workshop and play a 45 minute set in the evening. Evening concert begins at 7:30pm

September 2004 - A brand new short play! The wild Non-Partisan Pub is now available!

August 2004 - As promised, free download of a live 2004 performance at WVIA-FM studios now available. Get it here.

Just announced....Tom's play Fight Like Hell 'till You Get to Heaven: Moments With Mother Jones will be performed as part of the UFCW Local 23 Labor Conference in Washington PA on October 4th, 2004. The incomparable Agnes Cummings will star.

July 2004 - Two brand new short plays have been added to the Prose section of the website. Check out Nixon's Last 15 Minutes and Folson Prison Blues.

Tom will be performing a live radio concert on WVIA-FM in Pittston PA on Monday, July 19th. Free audience seating is available for a small studio audience. Call (570) 655-2808. Show starts at 8pm. We hope to post some live tracks from the show soon. Stay tuned.

June 2004 - Tom's tribute to Ray Charles is now available. Listen to Brother Ray here.

May 2004 - Tom's musical tribute to Woody Guthrie is now online and available at SongsforWoody.com .Ten songs about or inspired by Guthrie. Available only online, and of course it's totally free. Woody wouldn't have it any other way!

April 2004 - Tom's latest play is now available online. As a special feature to the Rwandan Song Cycle website, his monologue play Rwandan Eyes is available in full for the first time. Get it here.

March 2004 - A Rwandan Song Cycle is now available. Tom joins songwriter Lorne Clarke in creating a suite of songs dealing with the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. April of 2004 marks the 10th anniversary of the catastrophe.

February 2004 - Just announced that Tom's play God and the Ghost of Woody Guthrie will be part of Exeter Pennsylvania based Showcase Theatre's upcoming 2004/2005 season.

January 2004 - A new "MP3 of the Week" section has been added. Just check the top of the main page. Every Monday Tom will rotate a song from his huge catalog. It may be brand new, or something written years ago. Be sure to check it out. 

December 2003 - By request, you can now read some of Tom's unique prose online. Monologues, folk music stories, short plays, etc... new stuff added all the time. It's all here. Check it out.

November 2003 - Tom's song I Want a Job Like Garrison Keillor's is featured on the front page of the Prairie Home Companion website. Go here.

October 2003 - Tom's play God Bless Roy Campanella opens a limited 2 week run at the Hrabin Cultural Center in Jessup PA on October 17th. This is the 3rd distinct production of a play Scranton's Electric City calls "Remarkable...a play that has the power to evoke several layers of emotion."

September 2003 - Download an entire 1999 gig featuring pianist John Ginty. Get it here.

July 2003 - Check out the new Evening of One-Act Plays page here for information on the upcoming performances of 3 of Tom's one-act plays on October 3rd, 4th, 8th and 9th at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock PA.

June 2003 - Tom has submitted a song for the planned 2004 Warren Zevon tribute CD to be released by Wampus Multimedia. He chose to do a stark solo acoustic version of Zevon's Boom Boom Mancini. You can downoad the submission here.

May 2003 - Tom was asked to write a song for the upcoming Wyalusing High School graduation ceremony...a song that would celebrate that beautiful piece of Pennsylvania. He came up with Last Night I Saw Stephen Foster. Plans are in the works for Flannery to possibly write a one man show on the life of Foster for area schools. Stay tuned.

April 2003 - Hold onto your hats. Topical songwriting is alive and well. Tom and fellow singer-songwriter Lorne Clarke have begun SongaWeek.com, a brand new website in which they will write and post songs every week relating to topical matters of interest. There are a few songs already posted. This is a site you will want to bookmark and check often!

Tom's play Fight Like Hell 'till You Get to Heaven: Moments with Mother Jones will premiere on April 9th as part of National Library Week. Showtime is 6pm at the  Albright Memorial Library in Scranton PA. Call 570 348-3000 ext 3001 to reserve your free seat.

March 2003 - Tom is booked at this summer's Forksville Folk Festival, along with John Gorka on June 28th and 29th. Also, his play God and the Ghost of Woody Guthrie will be presented at the festival on the final night, followed by a set of Woody's music performed by some of the festival's musical acts. Tom will act as MC and perform.

Download the MP3 demo of Talking Black Lung Blues, featured in the PBS documentary A Dying Breath. Get it here.

February 2003 - New review of The Home Office Sessions Vol. I posted. Click here to read.

January 2003 - Tom was asked to contribute a song to an upcoming PBS documentary on black lung disease. He will be filmed performing his uproarious Talking Black Lung Blues at a local Irish Pub.on January 18th, 2003. The documentary is scheduled to air on WVIA 44, the PBS affiliate on March 3rd.

December 2002 - The Home Office Sessions Vol. I now available to download!!!  Long rumored....it's finally here. Thirteen new Flannery songs....lyrics, descriptions. Download the music NOW for only $7.00.

November 2002 - God and the Ghost of Woody Guthrie Flannery's latest play, in which he received permission from Woody Guthrie's daughter Nora to quote from her Father's writings, it currently in rehearsal (with Tom directing this time as well) and will premiere on 1/31/2003.

October 2002 - Tom has just completed a one-woman play on labor organizer Mother Jones. Called Fight Like Hell 'till You Get to Heaven: Moments with Mother Jones, it will star brilliant PA actress Agnes Cummings in the title role and should premiere in April 2003.

August 2002 -New review of The Anthracite Shuffle Posted 8/24/2002

August 2002 - Flannery's latest drama, The Spanish Lady premiered this August at the Showcase Theatre in Exeter PA. 

March 2002 - Drinking with Nick Drake is a remarkable collection of songs, recorded between power outtages at the Old Church in Lynn Pennsylvania on 3/10/2002.

Armed only with a borrowed acoustic guitar, a somewhat frenetic harmonica and a six pack of Pepsi Twist on ice, Flannery recorded the entire CD with no overdubs....all in a few hours. With good friend Lorne Clarke at the controls, Tom was determined to let the songs speak for themselves this time. The CD may well contain some of his finest songs, including the hilarious "Talking Stranger in New York Blues", already being heard on folk radio stations across the land.

The CD is available via mailorder only ("Columbia records can't afford me", Flannery says) and exclusively through the Kikomusic store