Ronnie Polaneczky: A musical record of us on 9/12 awaits rediscovery

HOW LONG has it been since the nation reeled from the shock of terrorists using four commercial airliners as human-filled bombs on the United States?

Long enough that 18,000 leftover music CDs, created after 9/11 to honor those who perished aboard Flight 93, near Shanksville, Pa., are gathering dust in a music-producer's warehouse, doing no one any good.

"In the music business, you destroy old CDs and write it off as a loss," says Tony McAnany, who in early 2002 released Let's Roll: Together in Unity, Faith and Hope, a collection of mostly original songs performed by Chaka Kahn, Yo-Yo Ma, Wynonna and a dozen other big names from an eclectic cross-section of artists.

"But I want the CDs to inspire more people. The messages of the songs really do speak to what it is to be American."

If that sounds syrupy, McAnany can be forgiven. Because the story behind his CDs really is wonderful.

McAnany, 44, a former Sony Music executive, is a New York-based music producer with a bunch of credits to his name, including Oscar nominations and Grammy and Tony awards.

He's also a churchgoing husband and father in Mercer County, N.J., which is where he met Todd Beamer back in the mid-'90s. He and Beamer, a software executive, were part of a handful of men who met every Friday at 6 a.m. for breakfast, to discuss matters of importance to them: family, career, God.

Says McAnany, "He was a very positive, life-loving guy. A great husband, father of two little boys with a baby on the way. He had everything going for him. And he would do anything for you."

On the morning of 9/11, McAnany was riveted to the TV, watching coverage of the attacks on the United States, when a member of his breakfast group called to say that Beamer had been on hijacked Flight 93, which had crashed in Pennsylvania.

McAnany was both heartbroken and proud to learn the now-legendary tale of how Beamer had shouted "Let's roll!" before he and others rushed the cockpit, bringing the plane down in Shanksville.

"Forty people died, but they kept the terrorists from flying into the Capitol," says McAnany. "They saved so many lives."

He was particularly awed to learn that Beamer and others had recited the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm before taking action.

"Those prayers are about trust and surrender," he says. "Those prayers gave them courage to do what many of us would have been too scared to do. I'm overwhelmed that they had the strength to be who their prayers claimed them to be."

In the weeks afterward, McAnany, who is also a composer, didn't think that he had it in him to create music inspired by Flight 93. But then, at a 9/11 memorial service, he says that he looked into the face of Beamer's toddler and so clearly saw Beamer's eyes looking back at him, he felt compelled to put pen to paper.

The resulting song, I See You In His Eyes, became one of 18 songs he wrote, co-wrote or compiled for the Let's Roll CD that he produced and financed in honor of Flight 93's heroes.

The album is a wild mix of frothy pop, country, contemporary Christian, restrained folk, riveting soul and moving classical tunes - a hard-to-categorize blend of earnestness and heartache utterly emblematic of where we were as a country on 9/12.

After production, the artists embarked upon a two-month, 20-state bus tour of the United States to promote the CD. At first, proceeds supported the newly formed Todd Beamer Foundation, founded to support children and others traumatized by 9/11. Soon, though, the group funneled proceeds into charitable organizations in the towns where they performed.

The trip, says McAnany, left everyone breathless with appreciation for this country.

"We were part of this very American, 'Let's roll!' kind of spirit," he says, "where people just wanted to be there for one another. There was no divisions of race, gender or class. I think we need to always remember that that's who we really are."

Of the 120,000 or so CDs that were produced, thousands were given away as inspirational gifts, and many more sold, to raise nearly $800,000 for charity. Today, about 18,000 CDs remain. Public interest in them has understandably slackened.

And so they sit, in a warehouse, their fate up in the air as the country passes another anniversary of the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor.

McAnany would like to change that. And I'd like to help him by inviting Daily News readers to visit McAnany's Web site, www.letsrollmusic.com, where you can purchase the Let's Roll CD or any of its individual songs. All proceeds will support the creation of the Flight 93 National Memorial, to be erected at the Shanksville crash site.

"After 9/11 is when we saw what this country is really about, and that's why I can't destroy these CDs," says McAnany. "They're what we're all about."

E-mail polaner@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2217. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/polaneczky. Read Ronnie's blog at http://go.philly.com/ ronnieblog.