We ended 2025 on a high note (or a Hugh note?) with our review of Song Sung Blue, featuring a cameo from multitalented global superstar/song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman. So what better way to start 2026 than by pulling back the curtain on the Milwaukee connections that inspired the recently released biopic?

For that, we called in a special guest: local filmmaker Jimmy Sammarco. He was instrumental (pun very intended) in the original Song Sung Blue documentary that brought the story of musical couple Mike and Claire Sardina — aka Lightning & Thunder — into the spotlight back in 2008. In his role as director of photography, he saw the ins and outs of the whole production, including a bombshell cease-and-desist order from Sony Music and an unlikely savior from one of the godfathers of grunge.

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