Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has paid tribute to The Smithereens’ Pat DiNizio:
“RIP Pat DiNizio, a kind and generous soul with a gift for writing the big, aching hook. Once I went to buy a piano in NYC, and when I found the one I wanted, I went to find the clerk. Returning, I found Pat at the same piano. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked (we’d met many times before). He said, smiling, ‘Why, I’m buying this piano,’ as a sad key was twirled about. And honestly, it wasn’t such a winner, the soundboard was thin and the keys were floppy and we agreed our mutual attraction was simply affordability.
Still, a tug of war ensued, as technically Pat had already made the decision to purchase whereas I’d simply asked for a price. Relenting, Pat said, ‘You take it, you’ll get more use from it.’ And being kind he meant it, this being the instrument I’d write my song ‘Eye’ on just a few weeks later. The twang in it forever tied to Pat.”
