“An Evening With…The Smithereens” LIVE! at the Grammy Museum Experience Prudential Center
By: Spotlight Central
Tags: Experience, New Jersey, Interview, Music, Rock

By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery

A crowd is forming outside Newark, NJ’s GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center this Thursday, October 24, 2019 evening as music fans line up to take part in a special NJ musical event — An Evening With…. The Smithereens!

The GRAMMY Museum’s An Evening With… educational series provides intimate, moderated conversations with iconic recording artists about their history, creative process, and current and future projects. The programs do not only include a conversation with the artist and an audience Q&A session, but often an exclusive live performance by the artist as well.

Past An Evening With… events at the Prudential Center have included Earth, Wind and Fire’s Philip Bailey and recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Zombies. A similar series — The GRAMMY Museum’s Spotlight Series — has offered comparable programs with Brandy Clark, a recording artist and songwriter whose compositions have been recorded by performers including Sheryl Crow, The Band Perry, LeAnn Rimes, and more, and Bobby Bandiera, former guitarist for Bon Jovi and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

The GRAMMY Experience doors open and we’re invited backstage to chat with the three current members of The Smithereens — Mike Mesaros, Dennis Diken, and Jim Babjak.

When asked about their Jersey roots, bassist Mike Mesaros declares, “Being from Jersey has served us well. We grew up with a blue collar ethic,” adding, “Being a part of a hard-working rock and roll band is a real Jersey thing.”

Drummer Dennis Diken continues, “This blue collar work ethic that Mike mentions has really influenced our attitude as a band. You see, people from New Jersey speak their minds,” suggesting, “Where there’s mostly meat and potatoes there, there’s also a little gravy on it, too! ”

Guitarist Jim Babjak also weighs in on the band’s work ethic when he says, “When we perform, we give it 100%. If we’re sick or a have a problem, once we hit that stage, it’s still 100% — no dogging it. We don’t ever just go through the motions.”

Babjak also talks about the genesis of tonight’s An Evening With… The Smithereens! appearance revealing, “I was here at the GRAMMY Museum for the Bobby Bandiera Spotlight Series experience and I liked the format so much, I thought it would be something The Smithereens could take part in.”

Lastly, we chat with the musicians about the announcement of their induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.



Comments Mesaros, “Being inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame is unbelievable, especially when you look at the company we’re in.”

Diken agrees noting, “When you think of the New Jersey company we’re with — Frank Sinatra, Abbott and Costello, The Four Seasons, Albert Einstein — it’s really amazing.”

Continues Mesaros, “And, you know, every time we play, I think back to our being kids rehearsing in Jimmy’s garage,” noting, “It makes us really miss our original lead singer and songwriter, Pat DiNizio.”

“ Pat’s songs for The Smithereens were extremely personal,” explains Mesaros. “When the fans loved his songs, he took it personally; to him, it meant they loved him. Pat was the kind of guy who always persevered — he believed in us and he never gave up — and he would have really loved this recognition.”

Following our chat, we make our way back into the GRAMMY Museum where white lights proclaim “New Jersey Legends,” a permanent exhibit which honors GRAMMY winners who hail from the Garden State. Items on display include the white beaded dress that Newark native Whitney Houston wore to the 1994 GRAMMY Awards, in addition to a tuxedo and captain’s hat owned by Red Bank’s own William James “Count” Basie. Memorabilia from additional New Jersey artists including Dionne Warwick, Wyclef Jean, Les Paul, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Bon Jovi, Queen Latifah — along with The Smithereens — are also on display.

Next, we’re treated to a traveling exhibit entitled Legends of Motown: Celebrating The Supremes which gives visitors a one-of-a-kind look at the life and career of one of the most successful American singing groups of the 1960s: The Supremes.

The exhibit, which runs through April 26, 2020, begins at the start of The Supremes’ career — when they were still known as The Primettes — and takes visitors on a timeline tour leading through the height of their success with Motown.

Featuring rare items from the personal collection of Supremes’ founding member, Mary Wilson, numerous artifacts can be seen on display including a trio of beaded pink gowns which The Supremes wore on the occasion of meeting Queen Elizabeth.

The various gowns and outfits come complete with photos of The Supremes wearing them, and look even more stunning in person than they do on film.

Rounding out the exhibit is a video of a conversation with Ms. Wilson which brings the history of The Supremes to life and helps transport music lovers back to the Motown heyday of the 1960s.

We take our seats inside the intimate GRAMMY Museum Experience performance space for tonight’s main event — a conversation and performance by three of the members of The Smithereens — Mike Mesaros, Dennis Diken, and Jim Babjak — along with singer/guitarist Marshall Crenshaw, who originally recorded with the group back in the 1980s and now functions as lead vocalist with the band at select engagements.

Mark Conklin — Artist Relations and Programming director for The GRAMMY Museum Experience — welcomes the audience to tonight’s event.

Greeting the packed house, Conklin says, “We host a lot of different types of acts here at the Grammy Museum, but for me, this is the coolest one so far.”