Story

The time is 1966. The place is Washington, DC, and the story is the top DC rock band, The Hangmen, playing for thousands of fans, including famed poet Allen Ginsburg and Robert F. Kennedy and family. Here they appear on the cover of the Washington Star Sunday edition.

The five-person band played for schools, universities, and notables like the Kennedy family at Hickory Hill, VA, and many District of Columbia embassies, parties, and festivals. The Hangmen was arguably the biggest pure rock group ever to come out of Washington DC. One of the songs they played was The Girl Who Faded Away.

More than a half a century after the above picture was taken, Daly, who had since become a well-known music business executive, went to Portland OR, to visit the widow of his old bandmate, Tom Guernsey. Guernsey was one of the co-writers of The Girl Who Faded Away and his passing from ALS was a particularly sad event for Daly. Before the Portland visit and Guernsey’s death, his wife gave Daly, her long-time friend, a special, but an old and scratched, black “acetate” music disk copy of Tom’s song. It was the very last original physical copy that Tom had left behind. The Girl Who Faded Away was now in Daly’s hands, more than a half a century after the song had last played on the radio.

Meanwhile, meeting face to face in Portland, Daly found out the widow, now in her 80s, was still working for a living. Daly, as her longtime family friend, conceived of a memorable way to directly help her. If circumstances could be created to publicize the Girl Who Faded Away, there might be an opportunity to have the tune become current again. If the song became better known, Daly reasoned, it might be used on the soundtrack of a cable series or drive a re-recording by a current big-name music artist. All up-to-date and profitable uses. All these money-making opportunities for the song would go to, and be a great benefit for, his old bandmate Tom Guernsey’s widow.

How to do this? Answer: Make a music video to re-show the world the song. Tell its story and show the world that The Girl Who Faded Away, miraculously, had not Faded Away.

The film creation process happened swiftly, almost by magic. The widow introduced Daly to a local Portland cinematographer and film editor whom Tom had worked with on some little-known film experiments, the last effort called The Girl From California.

Daly and Brent Heise hit it off on the phone, and they proceeded forward. Throughout, it was a combination of music and film. Tom Guernsey’s ex-bandmate Daly came with deep expertise in the Hollywood music business, is a hit songwriter, and before that, had experience as a musician and artist. Daly’s history also included experience as a film director with a prior nationally award-wining documentary Most importantly for this story, however, George Daly had known Tom Guernsey as a brother in a band. Also on the film side, the talented Heise came from a deep professional video background and also had already worked with Guernsey. Heise knew and deeply respected him, was inspired by him.

Objectively, Daly and Heise were two perfect people to team up to create a music video to celebrate a special song and a special man. Their working together with Tom’s widow became a beautiful pairing of the past with the present using music and film. The team knew Tom Guernsey and knew his spirit. While he was no longer here, they still loved him as much as if he was working along side them, which is what Daly and Heise essentially did.

Now with the work done, and film awards coming in from the four corners of the globe, the story of The Girl Who Faded Away proves that fidelity to a dream and working with talent and love can make for vivid, lasting art. The art, in this case, as memorable and beautiful as the story of a long ago rock band, music and undying friendships.