Pat DiNizio - Smithereens

Pat gave me two of his most famous and photographed guitars when he came to Houston to play a couple of private concerts for my company and family in November 2004.

Orange 1990 Gretsch "Rancher" model # 6022 acoustic guitar. (ser. # 898022-18). Pat bought this guitar in 1990 (see receipt below) and played it on the albums "Blow Up", "A Date With The Smithereens," "God Save The Smithereens," and his solo release "Songs and Sounds." The guitar is mentioned and pictured in the liner notes of "Songs and Sounds."

Pat used the "Rancher" on Smithereens tours from 1990-2004, and on his solo tours from 1997-2004. He played this guitar in the video "Yesterday Girl" that was filmed in the south of France in 1990.

My November 2004 Concerts

Misc. Images of the Rancher *

( Click for a video of Pat playing this guitar )

Black & white 1986 Rickenbacker 350 "John Lennon" style guitar. (ser. # L 25481). This is Pat's original Rickenbacker used to record the Smithereens albums "Green Thoughts" and "11", and his solo album "Songs and Sounds." Pat used this guitar nightly on the Smithereen's first two tours. Pat said that he always used this as his back up tour guitar in the later years.

Pat plays this guitar in two videos: "Blues Before and After" and "Drown In My Own Tears." (He even holds the guitar by the strings with his teeth in the "Drown" video.) The guitar is mentioned in the liner notes of "Songs and Sounds" and appears in two photos in the booklet inside the "Attack of the Smithereens" CD.

Misc. Images of the Rickenbacker *

1986 Fender Stratocaster. (ser.# V018457) (I got this one from Pat in Dec. 2004)

Pat DiNizio's words about this guitar:

My original Fender Stratocaster probably has even greater & more important significance in terms of the history of the band, Patrick. As I mentioned during the weekend, it was purchased at Matt Umanov's guitar shop in Greenwich Village in NYC in mid-to-late 1986, and while used at times on the "Especially" tour, has been my main guitar both live on tour and "in-studio" with The Smithereens since the recording of the "Green Thoughts" album in 1987. With the exception of half the guitar solo (Jimmy), it is the one & only guitar featured on the studio recording of "Only A Memory", "Spellbound", "House We Used To Live In", and many other tracks from that LP (Jimmy had a severe mental block, so I was forced to do virtually all of the guitar work on that album, believe it or not!). I wrote all of the songs for "Green Thoughts" & recorded all the song demos for that album with this Stratocaster, and used it along with the Rickenbacker you now own as one of the two guitars featured on the sold-out "Green Thoughts" tour. It was also the main guitar used during the recording of the "Smithereens Eleven" album, the only guitar used live during the 15-month tour in support of that album, and also was the primary studio guitar used to record the song "A Girl Like You" (we used the Rickenbackers in the videos exclusively, but they weren't the primary studio guitars used) and was used on all the tracks of that album. It was used and featured on national TV when we appeared on "Saturday Night Live", "Arsenio Hall", "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and many, many other television shows. It was also used
extensively on "Blow-Up", "A Date With The Smithereens", "God Save The Smithereens", and my solo album "Songs and Sounds", as well, and has been used by me at every concert The Smithereens have done since 1989. I believe that this is the guitar most closely associated by the public with me in terms of my role in The Smithereens."

Misc. Images of the Strat *

1961 Fender Jazzmaster. (ser.# 79156) (My brother, Mike, got this guitar from Pat in Dec. 2004)

Pat DiNizio's words about this guitar:

     "Although the wonderful Rickenbacker Electric & the Gretsch Rancher Acoustic you now possess were both highly visible, very important guitars in terms of the history of live and recorded The Smithereens, I truly consider the Fender Jazzmaster and the Fender Stratocaster to be the "Holy Grail" of all Smithereens guitars (with the exception of Jimmy Babjak's Red Rickenbacker, of course!), and let me explain why.

     The Fender Jazzmaster has a long history to it.   When my first cousin Louie Esoldo owned it (he bought it brand-new from Rondo Music in Union, New Jersey in 1961 and sold it to me in the late 1970's), he used it for a short time while playing with the FIRST famous band from my home town of Scotch Plains, NJ that achieved national prominence and had two huge mid-60's AM Radio hits ("Younger Girl" & "Mr. Dieingly Sad" on Kapp records) called The Critters.

     In terms of The Smithereens, it was used at the very first show we ever did, and was my main stage guitar for the nearly six years it took us to get a record deal. I used it to record all of the original song demos & also used it exclusively when we were legendary songwriter Otis Blackwell's (writer of "All Shook Up", "Don't Be Cruel", "Return To Sender", "Fever", "Great Balls of Fire", "Handy Man") back-up band in 1984 and recorded two LPs and toured with him. It was pretty much the only electric guitar (with the exception of borrowed a 12-string Rickenbacker) that I used on our first album, "Especially For You", is featured prominently on all of my guitar solos on that album, and was used for the majority of our highly visible & successful first national tour in support of "Especially"- It was always in the studio with me, and has been used on some level on virtually every Smithereens album. So it has a fairly rich history. It was retired from live performance after the "Especially" tour."

Misc. Images of the Jazzmaster *

Pat gave me his custom made leather jacket that he wore in every concert during the early years of the Smithereens. (Perfect fit!) Pat also brought the alpine hat that he wore in the "Yesterday Girl" video and on the Smithereens "11" tour. He bought the hat in Germany.

Pat's boots from his first two tours. His personal "11" tour varsity style jacket and cap. After Pat's show at my company, he signed his banner and a new guitar to hang on the wall there.