Gary Thompson: 'Song Sung Blue' sprung from a biker convention

FILE THE award-winning documentary "Song Sung Blue" under the heading Only In America.

It's a movie about husband-and-wife Neil Diamond/Patsy Cline impersonators that had its roots at a biker convention, where filmmaker Greg Kohs was collecting footage for a film he was making for Harley- Davidson.

In the middle of a zillion bikers, he and his crew heard the sweet sounds of a Diamond standard floating in the air, and, convinced it was Neil himself, went immediately to investigate.

"We heard 'Sweet Caroline' and went hauling off across the fairground," said Kohs, a top commercial director and former NFL films hand who still makes his home in South Jersey.

What they found was Mike Sardina, stage name Lightning, who makes his living singing note-perfect imitations of Diamond tunes in the Midwest, mostly at small venues in the Milwaukee area.

This was serendipity for Kohs, who grew up in the Midwest and had happy memories of attending his first concert - Neil Diamond - at age 11. He was instantly fascinated with Lightning, and saw him as a potential subject for his first feature documentary.

The more he got to know Lightning, the more convinced he became.

Lightning, it turns out, was part of a unique mom-and-pop operation called Lightning and Thunder - Claire Sardina is the Patsy Cline impersonator.

Kohs spent the next eight years immersed in their lives. That's a lot of time to devote to a novelty duo, but "Song Sung Blue" developed into much more than that (it recently won both the jury and audience awards at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City).

What could have been a simple, sentimental profile of a kitschy regional act turns into something much more substantial.

Events in the personal lives of the Sardinas form a tumultuous narrative, and Kohs creates an ever-deepening psychological profile of the couple - are they following their dreams, or, as time passes, selfishly clinging to a delusion of wider fame?

It's an open question to the viewer, although the movie is alive with sympathy for its subjects, with whom Kohs became very close.

"I really felt a connection with their ambition, their persistence. It's the idea that anything's possible. I related to that," he said.

Lightning and Thunder stick to their guns despite near-catastrophe and plenty of doubters (some within their own families).

It's a stance Kohs understands. He's won awards making commercials (for clients like Nike, McDonald's, Wal-Mart), and he's had his chance to make Hollywood movies - a music video for Adam Sandler ('The Lonesome Kicker') evolved into an offer for a feature comedy.

Kohs turned it down (Sandler eventually did as well; it became "Joe Dirt") because its broad sensibility didn't feel right to him.

"Song Sung Blue," on the other hand, hit just the right note.

"I've always wanted to tell a really compelling story," he said. "And this is one." *

"Song Sung Blue" screens at the Philadelphia Film festival at 9:30 tonight at the Prince Music Theater and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Ritz 2.