![\"Johnny](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/V7BRUUSKEQI6FPVZNOIVLDPDJI.jpg\")
Johnny Marr (left) and Morrissey from The Smiths pose together in the storeroom of Rough Trade records in London in 1983. Redferns<\/p>\nOn Saturday, Savastano \u2014 the curator of a virtual gallery called the Smiths Museum \u2014 will present a one-day exhibition at his alma mater, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band\u2019s third album, \u201cThe Queen Is Dead.\u201d The show will feature more than 250 items (artwork, clothing, ephemera) spread across 13 exhibits, as well as the massive 40-foot backdrop that accompanied the band on its 1986 tour.<\/p>\n
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Savastano is expecting visitors from across the country and beyond. It\u2019s a testament to the ongoing appeal of the band that changed his own life, he said recently.<\/p>\n
As an incoming college student, he\u2019d already cycled through several musical obsessions, including Boston hardcore and \u201cbackpack\u201d hip-hop, when his roommate told him he\u2019d just seen a new movie called \u201c500 Days of Summer\u201d (2009). The soundtrack included a couple of songs by the Smiths.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found this band I think you\u2019re really going to like,\u201d said the roommate, Ben Cabrera.<\/p>\n
Johnny Marr (left) and Morrissey from The Smiths pose together in the storeroom of Rough Trade records in London in 1983. Redferns<\/p>\n
The Smiths, who only toured and recorded together for five years (1982-87) before an acrimonious breakup, were known for their post-punk ingenuity and the dramatically morose delivery of their one-of-a-kind singer, the mononymous Morrissey<\/a>. Upon hearing the two Smiths songs on the film soundtrack \u2014 \u201cThere Is a Light That Never Goes Out\u201d and \u201cPlease, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,\u201d both ballads that showcased Morrissey\u2019s sad-sack persona \u2014 Savastano quickly found a kind of happiness he\u2019d been seeking, immersing himself in a lifelong project to document all the details about his new favorite band.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were periods when I was listening to nothing but the Smiths for months straight,\u201d he recalled. <\/p>\n Over the past decade, Savastano has amassed a meticulous collection of Smiths artifacts. On the day we visited, the apartment he shares with his partner, Susan Shian, was crowded with plastic bins, awaiting the trip to Worcester.<\/p>\n Amid the apartment\u2019s explosion of houseplants, a row of vintage Smiths T-shirts hung from a garment rack. On a large tabletop across the room, by Savastano\u2019s state-of-the-art sound system, lay a stack of oversize subway posters from the band\u2019s promotional campaigns, for which Morrissey often sourced photos from old magazines. <\/p>\n Savastano recently acquired a complete collection covering nearly 40 years of the monthly British publication Films and Filming, in which he identified multiple instances of images Morrissey hand-picked for his band\u2019s memorable artwork.<\/p>\n Nalinee Darmrong was 17 when she first saw the Smiths perform live, in 1985 in her hometown of Washington, D.C. She met guitarist Johnny Marr<\/a>, who offered to add her and her friends\u2019 names to the band\u2019s next show in New York City. She went on to attend 35 Smiths shows. <\/p>\n \u201cI was there when they broke up,\u201d she said on a phone call. \u201cI was devastated. I kind of shut down for a long time.\u201d <\/p>\n Years later, Darmrong revisited the black and white snapshots she took while traveling with the band. She published a book of her Smiths photographs in 2016. <\/p>\n She met Savastano in Manchester a few years ago, when a charitable organization unveiled a mural dedicated to bassist Andy Rourke, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2023. The mural was based on one of her photos.<\/p>\n Darmrong will be on hand this weekend to help her friend celebrate the exhibition. Savastano, she said, is \u201cvery kind and patient, and he\u2019s cognizant of the Smiths\u2019 legacy. He preserves every memory objectively, and not for gain.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in his apartment, Savastano demurred. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a believer that things like this should be shared with the public,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cDan gets into the nitty-gritty,\u201d said his partner, Shian, with a smile. \u201cHe\u2019s kind of like an archeologist.\u201d <\/p>\n When Savastano first began sharing his collection online, he called the project \u201cThe Smiths(onian).\u201d He changed the name after receiving from the D.C. institution \u201ca cease-and-desist packet this thick,\u201d he said, holding his thumb and index finger a few inches apart. <\/p>\n Today, he mostly shares his Smiths archive through the Smiths Museum Instagram page<\/a>. Just as he discovered his favorite band more than two decades after they dissolved, Savastano is excited to see new generations of fans fall down their own rabbit holes. True to form, however, he\u2019d rather not take credit.<\/p>\n \u201cMy little cousin is 16,\u201d he said, \u201cand she\u2019s a diehard fan \u2014 through no fault of my own.\u201d<\/p>\n THE SMITHS: THE QUEEN IS DEAD 40th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION<\/p>\n Presented by the Smiths Museum. At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Alden Memorial Hall, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, Saturday, June 20, noon-6 p.m. Tickets: $15 (children under 12 free). eventbrite.com<\/a><\/p>\n James Sullivan can be reached at jamesgsullivan@gmail.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GNBBEXVTPAI6PPNJKRWRZQADK4.jpg\")
The Smiths.<\/p>\n