Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist Patrick Michael DiNizio was  born in Plainfield in 1955  and died in Summit in 2017 at the age of 62. He was also an actor, film producer and politician. He started The Smithereens in 1980. He was also fond of playing solo. In 2000, he toured in the living rooms of his fans for five months, inviting many of them to his own backyard in an effort, as he said, “to break down the walls and barriers that traditionally have separated artists and audience.”  There will never be anyone like him again and we wish he would have won his New Jersey Senate seat but he only garnered 19,312 votes.