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In part 1 of my interview
with Pat Dinizio, we found the Smithereens front man pondering
the fate of America. This is because Dinizio's own fate will
be left up to the people of New Jersey. Should he convince
them to do so, Dinizio will be their next Senator. The outcome
may have been determined by the time you read this.
Dinizio is first and foremost a man of passion. His beliefs
are firm and well justified.Dinizio is of the new breed of
politicians who believe America should be given backto the
people from the government, that government should be a tool
for the people,rather than the other way around. It's hard
to disagree with a man who can back everythinghe says, doesn't
evade questions and truly believes in his vision.
Dinizio told us he was leaving the reform party to join Jesse
Ventura's Independenceparty, but as of yet, it doesn't appear
that an official announcement has been made.This of little
consequence, really, as his ideals are true to the ideals
that foundedboth parties.
Free Trade
Because we're in a free market economy, shouldn't business
owners be allowed to conductbusiness with any other business
or country they choose?
"Yeah, well, it depends on how you look at those things. If
an American corporationthat's making a billion dollars a year
figures out through the efforts of one oftheir bean counters
that they can make 1.1 billion by down sizing, a nice word
for'firing', 25,000 employees and moving that business to
Mexico or China, who's gettinghurt?
"Look at it this way, we're exporting these jobs and industries
to these othercountries and we're paying these people virtual
slave labor wages and enslave them.The money's just going
into the hands of these greedy corporate executives. They'renot
spreading the wealth. I'm a capitalist, I just believe the
system is inequitable.
"A friend of mine who worked at Verizon, Bell Atlantic, went
on strike. Thechief CEO there got a $16 million bonus for
the past year and then they offered theemployees a raise...
3.3% spread over three years. Are you kidding me? What's fairand
what's not? Who's speaking up for those people? That's what
this campaign isabout. It's about the working class people
in America who feel like they don't havea voice."
How would being a Senator effect a CEO's salary?
"That's something I have to figure out when I get there. I
think the in beinga Senator, first, you have to have the empathy
for the average American, the averageAmerican who puts in
their 40 - 50 hours a week and is happy living here, knowingthat
they're getting screwed but still persevering. In light of
that, you have tohave empathy for the people who are hurting,
you have to care about the country,you have to be on a crusade.
I believe that it cannot be looked at as 'another job'.It
can not be a stepping stone to power and opportunity. You
really have to do theelected public service, that's the word
I choose, that truly reflects the will ofthe people, that's
not going to be influenced by corporation, someone who is
invulnerableto that. That's where I believe I come in. I don't
care about that stuff. I careabout doing the right thing."
Drugs
Have you taken illegal drugs in the last 25 years?
"Yes, I have. I don't know anyone who hasn't. God bless anyone
who hasn't takendrugs.
"We were rock stars for 20 years. We did everything that rock
stars should andshouldn't have done. And that's a fact and
I'm not going to stand here and tell youI was an angel, but
that being said, everything I did in my life brought me to
thepoint that I'm at. It made me who I am for better or worse,
and I believe for better.
"What America is about is giving people a way back. It's about
redemption. Wouldyou condemn somebody for doing a few stupid
things in their life and not give themthe opportunity to move
on and do great things for their country?"
How do you feel about first time offenders who are given
lifetime sentences for sellingmarijuana?
"I think it's a little extreme, don't you?
"This is a subject that I haven't given much thought to, because
really, it'snot in my life. It's not something I think about
because I don't do those things.So, it's not preeminent in
my mind when people ask me about drugs and legislationor legalization.
We need to take a look at legalizing medicinal marijuana.
Certainly,we need to take a look at that. In terms of the
other stuff, I really don't know.We've got enough vices as
it is. Although, you talk about 'Well, we could legalizeit
and look at all the tax money and the tax money could go into
helping people gothrough rehab and all that'. Therein lies
madness. Drugs equals madness equals...the old ways are a
death trip, brother. If medicinal marijuana can help certain
peopleand it's controlled, then it's worth looking at and
don't quote me and say that Isaid that I'm in favor of it,
I said it's worth looking at.
"And then there's the whole hemp industry. People can make
a lot of money fromthat and I think they did a long time ago.
Hemp was manufactured routinely. I don'tknow much about it.
I'm not the authority on it, honestly. I need to do a lot
ofresearch on it, because it's something that should, but
hardly ever enters my consciousness,because I never think
about it. That kind of stuff is not a part of my life. "
Road Rage and Traffic Problems
Is traffic a part of your life?
"Traffic is anathema to me. I have arranged my life so that
I'm on the roadas infrequently as possible. Unless I'm on
tour and I'm driving myself all aroundthe country. I tend
to travel at hours of the day when other people don't."
Are you a road rager?
"Of course I'm not a road rager. I've seen and experienced
road rage comingat me, and you really have to keep a lid on
your emotions. There seems to be a wholenew breed or generation
of angry driver out there and it may not necessarily be theirfault.
Here in New Jersey, the infrastructure was created for traffic
50 years ago.When most families had maybe one car, at best.
Now, just about every family has threeand four vehicles Roads
cannot accommodate that amount of traffic. There needs tobe
a severe and carefully thought out revamping or restructuring
of the infrastructure."
The Internet
Napster: Who's wrong?
"Well, you answer the question. You're asking a musician who
lives generally on royalties from catalog. Review copies of
(The Smithereens latest album, "God Save The Smithereens")
went out a month or two before the album was officially released
in stores and on the internet, it was on Napster before it
was released. Going on Napster and using it continually is
tantamount to me walking into 7-11 and loading up a bag of
groceries and leaving and not paying, then going in again
an hour later and getting two more bags and coming back and
coming back and filling up my bag without any pay back at
all. Plain and simple, it's stealing.
Now, the kids out there love it because they think they're
screwing the systemand that may well be, because everybody
like to screw the system, especially whenyou're young, before
you become part of it by default. And that's understandable,
that's human nature and that's the nature of youth to want
to do that.
I thought it was brave of (Metallica drummer) Lars Ulrich
to take a stand against Napster and put his career in jeopardy.
They lost a lot of fans because of that. On the other hand,
Metallica is not necessarily effected by Napster the way young
bands are. A young band that may have potential gets put on
Napster or Gnutella and their career could be over before
it starts because people are downloading rather than buying.
Why pick on musicians? Music is a beautiful thing, it a universal
language that gets people through the doldrums of their day.
It makes people happy, it gives them sustenance People need
music, it heals. That being said, it's one of the most beautiful
of things that you can have in your life and, properly done,
it uplifts and enriches our lives. So, you've got people like
me trying to achieve that kind of thing and trying to make
people happy and uplift them through song and at the same
time make a living. If my music was going to be free to everybody
in the world that wants it, then I should be able to go and
buy the new apple computer, I should be able to get it for
free. My snow tires should be free. When I go to the movies,
I shouldn't have to pay for a ticket. If I want to watch cable
TV, I shouldn't haveto pay for it. Why should I pay for my
internet provider? I'm not paying for my music.
Here's the bottom line: When somebody downloads one of my
songs from Napster,they're messing with my ability to put
food in my child's mouth, to feed my daughter,to pay my bills
like everybody else. They're stealing from me. I can't put
it anysimpler than that. It's very personal to me.
I'll give you an example, I did one of my living room tour
shows in Columbia,South Carolina and this well meaning individual
walked up to me, who was actually mighty drunk at the time
and I was kind of handling him with kid gloves. He was alittle
past the sobriety limit or the civility area. And he said
to me, 'Pat, God Save The Smithereens, the new album
is the best thing you ever did.', and I said,'Man, thank you.
I'm really touched. I'm glad to hear that.', and he goes 'Yeah,bro,
downloaded it off of Napster. It sounds great.
Of course, I wanted to give him a lecture. Not unlike the
lecture I gave in 1986 to the brother in the dormitory at
the college in Charlotte, North Carolina. He said, 'Pat, I
picked up Especially For You, your first album. I bought
the first CD the day it came out and everybody in the dorm
loves it. All 30 of my friends here taped it.'. I said, 'Well,
thank you for spreading the word but let's have a little chat.
If you're 30 friends each let 30 of their friends tape it
and this happensin every dorm in every college in the country,
then the band that you really love called The Smithereens
will not have a second album. It's as simple as that. And
we won't be able to do this for a living and you won't ever
be able to go and meet us again.'. So, that's the bottom line.
On the other hand, I don't believe the internet should be
controlled or taxed.There's a five year moratorium on it,
so there's not gonna be tax. You know the governmentis just
sitting there, waiting in the wings to see what happens with
this experiment. It's like what Ghandi said, and it's on my
website, 'Unrestrained individualism is the law of the jungle.
People have to learn to put limits by themselves on their
own social behavior.', and the people are misbehaving on the
internet. These pedophiles are praying on young children who
are innocent. There are con people, con men or con women,
who are bilking people out of fortunes. There are business
that aren'tlegitimate that are ripping people off. If this
continues, if people are slanderingand inventing whole untruths
about other individuals online, then somebody's going to come
in, brother, and shut it down. And then you're not going to
have the internet, it's not going to be other people, it's
not going to be that real democracy thatit is now, because
people abused it and they didn't respect each other. That's
what'sgoing to happen. Unless people get on the mark and start
doing the right thing andstart showing respect for other human
beings, as they're not doing with somethinglike Napster...
it's disgraceful, it's not respectful. It's ripping off another
humanbeing. Napster is another thing that's leading us down
that slippery slope intogovernment intervention and control
of this beautiful thing called the internet.And it's going
to happen. They're waiting for it to happen, they want it
to happenand if people don't wise up and start behaving properly,
it's going to happen. Youknow it is. Nobody wants it to, but
it may happen sooner than later if people don't start putting
limits on their social behavior.
I'm not a big fan of the notion that my daughter can go on
my computer and in a heartbeat, be exposed to the most horribly
depraved images imaginable off the internet. I'm not a fan
that it's out there."
That the internet is out there or that kind of accessibility?
"That that kind of thing is so readily available, where kids
can see it. Evenwith the so-called blocking and privacy devices,
they find a way.
It's part of what we talked about before. I believe that kids,
children should at least have some semblance of the innocence
of childhood for a small portion oftime. I think kids are
growing up way too fast these days. Childhood is a beautiful
time and an innocent time and we, as responsible adults, need
to protect kids fromthat type of thing. I don't think they're
emotionally ready, and they're not.
Again, I'm not a huge proponent of censorship, but in that
regard, I mightconsider it. Bestiality, child porn? C'mon
man."
Right. Who needs that.
"Well, I don't know if you're putting me on when you're agreeing
with me..."
No. I totally support the first amendment and I believe
that people should be able to do whatever the hell they want,
but there need to be some sort of accountabilityand responsibility
on this.
"Right. Accountability and responsibility are good words.
That's why I have a big problem with Hollywood in terms of
them being in denial of the endless amountof rotten, misinformation
that they're sending people. It's not helping. We're not helping
the culture, they're not helping society and it's all in the
name of greed. Because if you pander to the worst base instinct
in people, people will go for itand that's not good. I think
you need to nurture people, give them something that'sa little
more spiritually uplifting and not get them down and fill
them with feeling of corruption and depravity. I just think
it's not good. It's not good for our countryand for society
as a whole. It didn't exist for many, many years and now we
haveit. Are we any better for it? I think not. I think we're
worse for it. That's justmy opinion. A lot of people will
argue against it. And again, it's starts in the home. You
can control your kids all you want and keep them away from
that stuff,all they have to do is go to the neighbors house
and see it."
When the senate was established, the idea was that any working
man could be a partof it and spend a couple years of his life
helping to make his country a better place.The government
was not built upon making career politicians. Somewhere we
lost that.Through the exploitation of our government by special
interest and self serving politicians,our collective interest,
faith and understanding in politics has been chipped at, leaving
a raw center. Dinizio is certainly idealistic and he may be
striving for an impossible utopia, but if the country lacks
politicians searching for that idealworld, it's a sure bet
we will never get anywhere near it.
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