62 years old. Damn.

The Smithereens were one of America's greatest power pop bands (in that Cheap Trick, Big Star, The Knack air).I had the pleasure of seeing the band live three times, and a few years back saw Pat do an acoustic set at Seminole Coconut Creek Casino. We met him after the show and he was the paradigm of gracious and cool. I mentioned that I had first seen The Smithereens 23 years earlier at a performance at Brandeis University, and he cocked his head at me and said, "Are you kidding? You don't even LOOK 23!"

Fucking charmer, that dude.

He loved, among many other things, The Beatles and Turner Classic Movies. My kinda guy. RIP Pat DInizio. An amazing singer-songwriter. 62 is entirely too young. Today will be a blue period.

Sad. I loved the band and their sound, power-pop at its best. When I played in a cover band back in the 90's, we played more Smithereens songs than any other act (they were easy to learn, but still a blast to bang away at).

RIP

A great NJ guy. He was just posting on Facebook the other day. RIP Pat.

wow, that sucks. I enjoyed these guys back in the day...

Wow. I know he wasn't in great shape, but that's still a shock.

What a great band the Smithereens were.

Power-pop songwriting at its finest. 62 is way too young. I'll be spinning some Smithereens this weekend in Pat's honor. RIP and thanks for all the amazing music you left behind.

This is sad news. The Smithereens were playing at the House Of Blues in N.O. years ago and my wife and I had tickets. We went early and Pat was walking through the restaurant and stopped to talk with us. He was very nice and friendly. We ran into him the next morning coming out of Virgin Records. he stopped again and told us about his conversation with Bill Murray (we saw him in the audience) and how Murray acted like a jerk backstage. I met him several times later at the Fest for Beatles fans. He was always great to talk to and very pleasant. He will live on through his music but will be missed.