Samantha Giustiniani is the Vice President of Education and Outreach at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank.
The Smithereens formed in Carteret,in 1980. The band consisted of Pat DiNizio (vocals, guitar), Jim Babjak (guitar, vocals), Dennis Diken (drums, vocal), and Mike Mesaros (bass).
Influenced by the Beatles and other British Invasion bands like the Who, Kinks, and Rolling Stones, they combined great hooks and melodies with Pat’s memorable lyrics.
After the release of two EPs in the early 80’s, the band followed with their debut album, Especially For You, in 1986. The album yielded two hit singles – “Blood and Roses” and “Behind the Wall of Sleep”. The Smithereens issued a string of successful albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Green Thoughts (1988), 11 (1989), and Blow Up (1991). These albums contained hit singles such as “Girl Like You,” “Only a Memory,” and “House We Used to Live In.”
Following the untimely death of founding member Pat DiNizio in 2017, a scholarship was set up to provide an opportunity for promising music students with full or partial scholarships to the Count Basie Center Academy of the Arts, including programs in its School Of Music or Performing Arts, the Monmouth Conservatory of Music, the Jazz Arts Project, or any other future program that creates a formal partnership with the Basie Center.
Samantha joined Jim Monaghan to discuss the details of this year’s program.
For more information you can go to thebasie.org/dinizio
