2017 claims Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens

dmn23

dmn23

Duller than cardboard
Motherfucker, goddammit. I'm getting so tired of waking up to this kind of news.

I still regularly listen to The Smithereens and I will bare-knuckle fight you if you try to tell me Green Thoughts or Especially for You aren't two of the greatest power pop records ever recorded. Rest in peace Pat, and thanks for the music.

 
Bummer. I know he has had health problems, but...

I saw them perform at the 8 x 10 Club in Baltimore in the 80s when they were first breaking into radio play. It was a great show from a great band. RIP. :(
 
Damn it. I'm so glad I got to see them a couple of years ago. They still put on a great show even though Pat looked rough. The Smithereens along with REM took me away from hair metal. When I heard "Only a Memory" for the I learned you didn't need spandex or hair to sound bad ass.
 
I’m not sure why this bummed me out this morning when I saw it. I was never a big Smithereens fan but their music was always there in the background and it was always pretty good.
 
Great band and great musician.

Fun tidbit: back in the late '90s (?), long after their fane had peaked, a friend of mine was working the front desk of a local hotel they were staying at. Apparently Pat was dissatisfied with something, and pulled the "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?!??" card.

My friend was not impressed.
 
Damn!!!! I loved their (his) songs, lyrics and sound back when they were current. They were a law school staple for me. In fact, I drunkenly crawled up on a stage in Portland, OR with them, wearing their concert T (that I still have), and air guitared around with them. They were super cool about it, and I just hopped back down into the crowd. And yeah, I was that guy. But the point is I really connected to their music, which I took as being creatively driven by Pat.

So yeah, that bums me out a lot. Very sad to hear. Rest in peace.
 
CBHScott said:
Fun tidbit: back in the late '90s (?), long after their fane had peaked, a friend of mine was working the front desk of a local hotel they were staying at. Apparently Pat was dissatisfied with something, and pulled the "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?!??" card.

My friend was not impressed.
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That's too bad. The first time I saw them was on the 11 tour but I'd been on board since Especially for You. I ended up meeting them after the show and getting them to sign a poster and they couldn't have been cooler. They invited me to get a beer with them but I had a big economics final in the morning.

I saw them a few more times throughout the late 90s and '00s. Pat's appearance had changed radically but they still sounded great.

 
CBHScott said:
Fun tidbit: back in the late '90s (?), long after their fane had peaked, a friend of mine was working the front desk of a local hotel they were staying at. Apparently Pat was dissatisfied with something, and pulled the "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?!??" card.
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Why no, no I don't :embarrassed:

Always sad to hear of a musician passing on :( but I'm not sure I've ever listened to The Smithereens. No, seriously.
 
Jbird said:
Why no, no I don't :embarrassed:

Always sad to hear of a musician passing on :( but I'm not sure I've ever listened to The Smithereens. No, seriously.
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They may not necessarily be Jbird music and that's fine. But they were a little jewel of a band that got lost in the tide of everything else that was going on in the 80s and 90s. Fantastic hooks, great fusion of melancholy and pop sensibility with a huge nod to bands like Big Star and the British Invasion stuff.
 
dmn23 said:
That's too bad. The first time I saw them was on the 11 tour but I'd been on board since Especially for You. I ended up meeting them after the show and getting them to sign a poster and they couldn't have been cooler. They invited me to get a beer with them but I had a big economics final in the morning.

I saw them a few more times throughout the late 90s and '00s. Pat's appearance had changed radically but they still sounded great.

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Yeah, Pat was super cool. When I saw them, the venue lost power with about 15 minutes left in the set. There was a fire around the block and for some reason, the fire department shut down the power to the whole block. The venue got quite and Pat said the band would go upfront and hang out and play some acoustic songs. Pat knew a ton of the people in the crowd by name. In between songs, he'd see someone and say "Hey Jeff, how long has it been? The State Theater show in '13?" They obviously were very appreciative of their fans.
 
Jbird said:
Why no, no I don't :embarrassed:

Always sad to hear of a musician passing on :( but I'm not sure I've ever listened to The Smithereens. No, seriously.
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This was probably their biggest hit. But they aren't really your thing

 
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