Pet Shop Boys

I later learned that my new coworkers assumed I was gay when I moved to Miami. After all, I took a flat on South Beach, had never been married, and loved Pet Shop Boys. I make no apologies for loving Pet Shop Boys. As the lead singer, Neil Tenant, put it, to paraphrase, "Some day people in the future will look back on this time in history and think it odd that individuals were judged by their sexual preferences." I've always been a champion of personal liberty, including gay rights, but it was really the musical genius that drew me to Pet Shop Boys. So enamored by their melodies was I that in 1997 I flew on a whim to London to attend their performance at the Savoy Theatre. Having planned to sight see in England for the next two days, instead I bought two more tickets from scalpers at a healthy price and saw the band perform three nights in a row. It was the last three nights of their tour. I briefly met both Tennet and Chris Lowe and got autographs as they entered the hall before each performance. How I became to know and love their music started, like most Americans, with their single West End Girls in the 1980's. But unlike most of us on this side of the pond, I was curious enough to buy the album Very in 1993. That was during my formitable years as a software developer, and I listened to that record over and over as I worked through the night.