Back to the ‘Day the Music Died’
By: Nancy Dunham
Special to The Examiner
January 12, 2009
 |
| The Smithereens come to town for a show at the State Theatre in Falls Church Friday. -- Courtesy Photo |
WASHINGTON — When Pat DiNizio, frontman for The Smithereens, appears at a tribute to Buddy Holly on Feb. 2, rock insiders expect such music royalty as Sir Paul McCartney and Graham Nash to join him.
DiNizio has never made a secret of his admiration for Holly, yet is taking it to a new level in the next few weeks. First there is the February tribute at Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, the last place Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson performed before a fatal Feb. 3, 1959 plane crash. Then there is DiNizio’s solo album, dedicated to Buddy’s music.
“In those 50 years [since Holly died] we lost something that will never come back again,” said DiNizio. “Buddy meant something to us and said something to us and we want to say something back.”
DiNizio’s latest CD — Pat DiNizio/Buddy Holly — is slated for release on Jan. 27 on Koch Records and features 11 songs from the Holly catalog. A new album of original Smithereens music is slated for release April 7 followed by the band’s CD rendition of the classic rock album “Tommy” by The Who scheduled for May 7 release.
These new CDs follow two Beatles tributes. With all of these glances back at rock history, one wonders what DiNizio and his bandmates are trying to tell us.
“I was a tremendous fan of both,” said DiNizio, noting U.S. promoters often compared The Beatles and Holly. “And when they came around, it turned the world upside down.”
In paying tribute to Holly and The Beatles, DiNizio took extra care to approach the music with some reverence but not to delude listeners into thinking it is a recreation. The sound, he said, is pure DiNizio.
“If you do faithful live renditions of the songs as [audience members] remember them you hit them where they live and take them back in time to where they lived,” he said. “It is a total experience, a sensory overload experience where they feel like kids again.”
Yet DiNizio, the Smithereens frontman, realizes fans want to hear his classics and he promises the show will have a good mix of old and new material.
If you go
The Smithereens
Where: State Theatre, Falls Church
When: 7 p.m., doors, 9 p.m. show Friday
Tickets: $20; 202-397-SEAT; ticketmaster.com; 18 and over show
“This is an evening with The Smithereens,” he said. “There will be a good mix from all of our albums.”
