The Smithereens At Sam's Place

THE SMITHEREENS AT SAM'S PLACE by Dave Persails

June 22, 1997

It had been two years since the Smithereens last visited Houston, Texas, so this time a good sized crowd came out to meet them.

Photo by Clarence Persails

As band members took their places and strapped on guitars or adjusted drums, lead singer Pat DiNizio hoisted his shiny new Epiphone Casino and tuned up. He stepped to the microphone, and announced, "Before we start, in case you're confused, our bass player Mike, who got married, took the summer off. So, please welcome from Waxahachie, Texas, Jamie Hoover on bass!" But wait, isn't Hoover from North Carolina? Pat later admitted to the ruse. He's been telling that joke at all points on the Smithereens' mini-tour, substituting a different city and state, depending on where he was!

With that out of the way, Pat took one glance at Babjak, and shouted "Jimmy, go!" The mostly-Jersey rockers launched into Only A Memory, by now a standard show-starter, and segued smoothly and without pausing right into War For My Mind.

Just before the latter song's bass riff, Pat shouted again, this time toward the replacement-reen, "Hoover!" Jamie played a better than passable rendition of the line made famous by Mike Mesaros.

Alternating for lead guitar, it was Jim's turn, and Pat shouted "Babjak!" This ping-pong game of heavy rock solos proved the band had shaken off any dust that may have settled over the past couple of years.

They pounded into Everything I Have Is Blue, and then Pat broke the opening set to rap with the audience. "Right on, people! And welcome to the Smithereens Show. By the way, say 'hi' ...from the Garden State of New Jersey, on the drums, please welcome Dennis Diken!"

Dennis did a fancy drum fill, prompting Pat to say "Thank you Dennis. I must say it's been an honor playing with you all these past seventeen f*ing years, thank you!" Dennis answered by giving Pat a rim shot.

Pat carried on with the banter. "We're gonna do one more song from our RCA album, the fabled A Date With The Smithereens. Dennis kicks this one off -- this is called The Long Way Back Again To Your Heart, ladies and gentlemen." Dennis took his cue and opened the song.

Feeling the effect of the Texas heat, the lead vocalist called for another microphone. "This one's all wet," he said. "I'd like to go back to the year 1986. I was only 16 when we put out our first album, ladies and gentlemen." That earned a few more rim shots from Dennis, and a hoot or two from the crowd. "And this is from that fabled disc called Especially For You."

After that song, the Smithereens proceeded to perform Groovy Tuesday and Behind The Wall Of Sleep, both of which are songs from that "fabled" album. Then it was time for more "Pat chat."

He noticed the venue's marquee, and he pointed it out to the audience. "As the sign said" he explained, " 'The Smithereen'. I told them once, I told them a thousand times... 'Smithereens' here [above], 'Puppet Show' here [below]."

Pat continued working the crowd. "Several years ago we put out an album called 'The Smithereens Blow Up.' It was a pun, and it was meant to be funny, but no one got the joke. Especially our record label! You know what I say? F* 'em!" With that fine introduction, they played Over And Over Again (or as Pat called it "Over And Over And Over And Over Again").

Once again, Pat introduced the music: "We'd like to go back to the fabled Green Thoughts album, ladies and gentlemen." He was interrupted by someone requesting Cigarette. In perfect form, Pat retorted, "Cigarette was not on Green Thoughts, it was on Especially For You, my son." Keeping with the butchered titles, Pat called it "I Drowned In My Own Tears."

Next, Pat announced the title track from the same album. "Hoover's never done this one," Pat said. "Are you up for it?" With a nod from the new kid on the stage, they were off and running again.

Mr. DiNizio introduced the next song as "a track from the fabled Smithereens 11 album." He got the song title right, too, as they played A Room Without A View. It's still great to see and hear this song live as it showcases Dennis' talents on the drums.

The singer introduced the next number, also from the "fabled 11 LP," as "Yesterday's Girl." This song has evolved into an extended call-and-response jam between guitar and bass, and the crowd enjoyed participating, as well.

The next song they played is usually reserved for the acoustic set of their shows. On this night, there was no acoustic set, but Pat gave in to the fan who had been requesting Cigarette all night. Pat said, "we could do that song, but I don't know if Jamie knows it or not." Jamie nodded again. Pat yelled back, "I bet you five bucks you don't know it!" Jim chimed in, "Will you give me five bucks if I know it?" The Houston crowd chuckled, and was treated to a rare electric version of the Smithereens' classic. The crowd joined in, and Pat even thanked them "for sharing." Oh yes, Jamie did know the song. It was Jim Babjak who admitted, "I just lost five bucks!"

A couple of Smithereens singles followed: Top Of The Pops, and then a song from the fabled lost Smithereens album A Date With The Smithereens which Pat called "I Was Miles From Nowhere, Baby."

Jim wailed hard enough on that last song to break a guitar string. He didn't have another guitar ready to go, so Pat sang a brief impromptu New York, New York. Having decided better of it, he instead played a slowed-down, bluesy version of Blues Before And After, This off-the-cuff rendition was worth the price of admission alone! Jim got a new string just in time to finish the song with his bandmates.

Finishing up were the standard Reens rockers House We Used To Live In and Blood And Roses. Only one number was played for the encore, A Girl Like You, but the crowd left smiling.

The evening's set was obviously very familiar to the audience gathered at Sam's. They sang along with nearly every word of every song. Next time around though, we'll all be looking for something from a new fabled Smithereens album!