From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Mar 1 21:08:24 2018 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2018 21:08:24 -0800 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on why "Being Boring" wasn't more successful as a single Message-ID: <1693b87b-be80-b334-b150-d1085fc94840@geowayne.com> Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks what you believe to be the primary reason for "Being Boring" not being more successful as a single, despite it being one of the Pet Shop Boys' most highly regarded songs among fans and critics alike. If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your choice from the options provided right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and launch a new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a superb weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From the.ackermans at juno.com Sat Mar 3 12:28:32 2018 From: the.ackermans at juno.com (Don Ackerman) Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2018 20:28:32 GMT Subject: �Being Boring�: the Path to a Pop Elegy - Wall Street Journal Message-ID: <20180303.142832.26674.0@webmail05.vgs.untd.com> ‘Being Boring’: the Path to a Pop Elegy A teenage invitation and a Zelda Fitzgerald quote inspired Pet Shop Boys’ nostalgic memorial to a friend https://www.wsj.com/articles/being-boring-the-path-to-a-pop-elegy-1519741800 By Marc Myers Feb. 27, 2018 9:30 a.m. ET The Pet Shop Boys’ “Being Boring” was released in November 1990 but never became a Billboard pop hit in the U.S. Yet the song had a significant influence on electronic dance music and today is considered a cult classic. Recently, the song’s co-writer, Pet Shop Boys’ lead singer Neil Tennant, and the song’s producer-arranger Harold Faltermeyer discussed its evolution. Three of the band’s remastered albums—“Please,” “Actually” and “Introspective” (Parlophone)—will be reissued on Friday. Edited from interviews. Neil Tennant: My feelings weren’t hurt. After [Pet Shop Boys co-founder] Chris Lowe and I performed at Tokyo’s Budokan arena in early July 1989, a Japanese reviewer wrote, “The Pet Shop Boys are often accused of being boring.” The words “being boring” took me back to the early ’70s and an invitation I had received to the Great Urban Dionysia Party in Newcastle, England, where I grew up. On the invitation was this adaptation of a 1922 Zelda Fitzgerald quote about a flapper friend who had died: “She was never bored because she was never boring.” Thinking of the invitation and quotation reminded me of a close friend who had died of AIDS four months earlier at age 34. He had organized that teenage party. I immediately began writing lyrics to a song I called “Being Boring.” “’Cause we were never being boring / We had too much time to find for ourselves / And we were never being boring / We dressed up and fought, then thought: ‘Make amends’ / And we were never holding back / or worried that / time would come to an end.” The first verse was about those parties and finding the invitation with the Fitzgerald quote: “From someone’s wife, a famous writer / in the 1920s / When you’re young you find inspiration / in anyone who’s ever gone / and opened up a closing door.” The second verse was about me leaving Newcastle on the train to study in London in the early 1970s. I assumed I was never going to move back: “I’d bolted through a closing door / I would never find myself feeling bored.” By then, Chris and I had sufficient lyrics to begin writing the music in a little studio in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1989. The third verse would have to wait until we were closer to recording the song. Chris and I shared a love for songs by Stock, Aitken and Waterman. They’re a British songwriting team who wrote dozens of huge pop dance hits, including Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and Kylie Minogue’s “I Should Be So Lucky.” When Chris and I wrote the music for our chorus, we used a variation of a satisfying chord sequence that Stock, Aitken and Waterman sometimes used: A-flat, B-flat, G-minor 7 and C-minor. We also wanted our song to be elegiac rather than a rave, but we didn’t want it to be a dirge. Elegiac music is more effecting when it’s uplifting, creating a happy-sad feeling. In May 1990, we began to record our album, “Behaviour.” While we were at producer Harold Faltermeyer’s Red Deer Studios in Munich, Germany, I wrote the last verse on a typewriter. It was about traveling the world in the 1980s as the Pet Shop Boys, recording in Munich and wishing my friend who had died was still here: “I never dreamt that I would get to be / the creature that I always meant to be / But I thought in spite of dreams / you’d be sitting somewhere here with me.” The demo Chris and I created on our synthesizer was our rehearsal for the recording session. We brought the reel to Harold at his studio. Harold Faltermeyer: When Neil and Chris first came to me, they played me their demo. Neil was a great lyricist and Chris was highly informed about trends in cutting-edge music and fashion. They said, “We want your expertise in analog synthesizers.” To the average ear, a synthesizer is a synthesizer, especially back in the late ‘80s. But there are big differences. Early digital synthesizers had a simple sequence of operations to emulate various sounds. Analog synthesizers give you much more flexibility to experiment and customize what you want. The results also are much warmer. >From their demo, I could hear where the musical journey was supposed to go. The first thing I did with Chris was create a drum loop. We used classic analog drum machines—the Roland TR-909, the TR-808 and TB-303, which had great bass sounds. I started the song with a strings pad that opened faint and grew louder. I created this sound with a Roland Jupiter-8 analog synthesizer. I added five or six layers for a dense texture. Mr. Tennant: I recorded my vocal on two separate tracks, an octave apart—one high and the other low. Then we took those and double-tracked them so there were four voices of me singing. I recorded my vocal softly, to give it a confidential and dreamy quality. My four tracks became a single ethereal vocal. Mr. Faltermeyer: For the song’s melody played throughout the song, we used a combination of FM synthesizers—an Oberheim OB-8 and a Jupiter-8. Then we used the Synclavier II for the harp glissando. It was a sample from a real harp. We used it in several places to signify when the song’s narrative was moving backward or forward in time. Mr. Tennant: Chris and I returned to London. At SARM West Studios, we mixed the song and overdubbed additional elements with engineer and producer Julian Mendelsohn. Dominic Clarke, our programmer, began fooling around with a plastic tube he found in the studio. When he swung it around over his head, the wind caught the plastic lip and made a hypnotic sound that went up a fifth as he swung it faster. Julian recorded Dominic swinging the tube and we added the results to the song’s synth intro. I’ve always loved the guitar’s wah-wah effect made famous on Isaac Hayes’s “Theme From ‘Shaft.” At SARM, Julian brought in J.J. Belle to play guitar. His “wakka-wakka” sound made the song sort of funky. Mr. Faltermeyer: Once we had J.J. Belle’s wah-wah guitar recorded, I took one of his licks and used it playing backward just after the drum loop starts during the introduction. I kept Belle’s reverse lick subliminal throughout the song for coloration. My goal was to integrate a weird sound that was difficult for the listener to identify. Throughout the song, I had the synth texture grow denser behind each verse so that by the third verse, it feels like a full orchestra Mr. Tennant: When we finished the album, we asked Bruce Weber to direct our “Being Boring” video. When we met with Bruce, Chris and I had some complicated idea about Latin gangs in New York filmed in black and white. To his credit, Bruce listened patiently. Then he came up with the idea of renting an empty house in the Hamptons on New York’s Long Island and filming fashion models preparing for a party and the party itself. It sounded about right to us. Blimey, the record company hated the video. I don’t think they were pleased with the naked guy in the beginning or flashes of the couple having sex at the end. But the video looked very beautiful and had the right atmosphere for the song. “Being Boring” was never a huge hit but somehow people either discovered the song or heard about it from people who already loved it. During our tour in 1991, when we performed in L.A., our manager told us Axl Rose, the lead singer of Guns N’ Roses, was outside our dressing room. When Axl came in, he said, “Man, why didn’t you play ‘Boring’?” We thought it was too gentle a song to be performed live in the States. We obviously were wrong. I think Christopher Dowell, my friend who died of AIDS, would have liked the song and the video. Christopher was larger than life. He studied drama and dominated our group of friends. He was gay but we weren’t lovers. I admired his self-confidence. “Being Boring” is a memorial to him and our friendship. ____________________________________________________________ Constant Fatigue Is A Warning Sign– Here's The Simple Fix gundrymd.com http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5a9b05a6de5475a615f0st02vuc From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Mar 3 21:21:07 2018 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2018 21:21:07 -0800 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on why "Being Boring" under-performed as a single Message-ID: <9f47cb63-dca1-0e60-656a-cf9088cbef2a@geowayne.com> I've posted the final results of my poll of the past week, in which I asked my site visitors what they believe to be the primary reason for "Being Better" somewhat "under-performing" as a single. And the choice that received the most votes was: * "It didn't sound very much like the Pet Shop Boys that people had come to know and expect," picked by 25.1% of the voters. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new survey for the week ahead asks when, to the best of your recollection, was the last time that you "evangelized" for the Pet Shop Boys -- that is, you tried to convince someone else of how good they are, or perhaps even tried to "convert" them to a fan. So please take a moment to make your choice right there on my home page. Thanks to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all have a great week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Mar 8 21:20:28 2018 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2018 21:20:28 -0800 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on the last time you "evangelized" for PSB Message-ID: <25437de1-4461-5a50-a565-9ccfe5770b27@geowayne.com> Hey there! Tomorrow (Friday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks when was the last time (to be best of your recollection) that you "evangelized" for the Pet Shop Boys -- that is, tried to convince a non-fan how good they are, or perhaps even convert them into a fan? If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your selection right there on my home page. (If you're not sure, please take your best guess.) On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and kick off a new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Mar 10 22:07:05 2018 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2018 22:07:05 -0800 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on the last time you "evangelized" for PSB Message-ID: <07d16cea-d700-37a2-603a-37c22ec890be@geowayne.com> The final results are in for my poll of the past week, in which I asked my site visitors when the last time was that they "evangelized" for the Pet Shop Boys -- that is, tried to convince somebody how good they are or perhaps even convert them to fandom. And the response chosen by the largest number of voters was: * "Within the past year," picked by 22.4% of the voters. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar, or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new poll for the week ahead is a little more like a "game" even than usual. I'm using the internet meme "1 Has 2 Go," which has been adopted and popularized lately by "Billboard" magazine, which often plays it with celebrities. Known as "the game of impossible choices," the concept is simple: present people with three admittedly wonderful things and ask them to choose the one that they would "throw away," with the understanding that they could then "keep" the other two. So I'm asking you to "play" this week with three PSB studio albums. Of course, narrowing them down to just three is a daunting task, the results of which I'm sure will displease many of you. I've chosen what I firmly believe -- based on a good deal of experience, not to mention online research -- are the Pet Shop Boys' three greatest classics, the ones most generally acclaimed among fans and critics alike: "Actually," "Behaviour," and "Very. The rule is that "1 Has 2 Go." You get to choose the "loser," at least when compared to the other two. So please take all the time you need to mull this over and, when you're ready, make your choice right there on my home page. Maybe it will indeed be a tough choice for you. Maybe not. Meanwhile, thanks to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I wish you all a terrific week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From the.ackermans at juno.com Sun Mar 11 07:12:17 2018 From: the.ackermans at juno.com (Don Ackerman) Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2018 14:12:17 GMT Subject: [Introspective] A Ballet Score? Not Such a Stretch for the Pet Shop Boys - New York Ti mes Message-ID: <20180311.091217.10229.1@webmail06.vgs.untd.com> Always sharing what I find about the PSB. #FansHelpingFans! PSB forever! Don A Ballet Score? Not Such a Stretch for the Pet Shop Boys By GAVIN EDWARDS MARCH 7, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/arts/dance/the-pet-shop-boys-most-incredible-thing-charlotte-ballet.html CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When he was 8, two decades before he became the singing half of the British pop duo Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant wanted to be a ballet dancer. The Royal Ballet had visited Newcastle, England, where the Tennant family lived, so he saw “Giselle” and (he thinks) “Coppélia.” He was so impressed, he checked out “Teach Yourself Ballet” from the library and attempted to learn at home with his younger brother. “We used the radiator as a barre,” Mr. Tennant, now 63, said on the phone from London. The impulse, though, didn’t last. “I moved on and decided I wanted to be an actor,” he said. “And then I thought I might have the potential for being a pop star.” Photo Chelsea Dumas and Josh Hall, of Charlotte Ballet, rehearse a scene from “The Most Incredible Thing.” Credit Mike Belleme for The New York Times That last career choice turned out well. In 1986 the Pet Shop Boys, his partnership with Chris Lowe, hit No. 1 in the United States with their debut single, “West End Girls,” and the group went on to release 13 studio albums of literate, melancholy dance music. Mr. Tennant never mastered the grand plié, but he didn’t give up on the ballet altogether: “The Most Incredible Thing,” with a Pet Shop Boys score and choreography by Javier de Frutos, has its American premiere on Friday with Charlotte Ballet here. The Pet Shop Boys have always been interested in theater and the classical arts, name-checking Debussy on the 1988 single “Left to My Own Devices” and in 2004, scoring Sergei Eisenstein’s silent film “Battleship Potemkin.” When they decided to write a ballet, Mr. Lowe was reading Hans Christian Andersen stories and was struck by one about a king who offers half his kingdom and his daughter in marriage to the creator of “the most incredible thing.” Mr. Tennant said composing a ballet score wasn’t a huge transition: “We’ve always written dance music. That means club or pop dancing, but nonetheless, it’s dancing.” They aren’t the first pop musicians to explore the possibilities of concert dance, but “The Most Incredible Thing” was unusual in its ambition. “It’s not like three-act narrative ballets come along every day of the week,” Mr. Tennant dryly noted. Photo Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, performing in 2016. The Boys have always been interested in theater and the classical arts. Credit Jason Koerner/Getty Images Mr. Tennant and Mr. Lowe did “Battleship Potemkin” in eight-bar sections, as if constructing a pop record. Now, working with a scenario written by the playwright Matthew Dunster, they pushed themselves to write longer melodic lines, each Pet Shop Boy revising and extending the work of the other. Continue reading the main story “The Most Incredible Thing” had its debut at Sadler’s Wells Theater in London in 2011. (Its limited run sold out and received an Evening Standard Theater Award.) But the lavish multimedia production proved too expensive to tour and hasn’t been performed since 2012. Justin Peck, also inspired by the Andersen story, made a one-act dance for New York City Ballet, with a score by Bryce Dessner of the National. When Hope Muir, the new artistic director of Charlotte Ballet (formerly of Scottish Ballet), was looking for interesting family fare, she negotiated the revival, with most of the same creative principals but scaled down slightly. Some changes have been made. Instead of the 60-piece symphonic orchestration, the Pet Shop Boys’ electronic score will be used. And projections of shadows that Mr. de Frutos had conceived as a tribute to Pilobolus Dance Theater now actually have been done by Pilobolus (and will be shown on film). Photo Mr. de Frutos working with dancers of Charlotte Ballet. Credit Mike Belleme for The New York Times On a recent Tuesday in Charlotte, a man with a bald head and a mischievous expression slipped off his sneakers to lead two dozen dancers through a rehearsal. This was Mr. de Frutos, 54, who was revising his choreography for the American production. He was working on a scene involving Josh Hall as the clockmaker and Chelsea Dumas as the princess who wins his heart, guiding them through a dance in which they are reunited and the princess proposes marriage. Caught up in the emotion, Ms. Dumas waited too long to pivot her body and missed a cue. She apologized to Mr. de Frutos, who reassured her: “It’s absolutely fine. It’s about getting the right feeling.” He grinned. “Now feel it faster.” “Acting is action,” Mr. de Frutos likes to tell the dancers. He has taught them that when their movements tell the story, they don’t have to do anything with their faces. Photo Anson Zwingelberg, center, rehearsing “The Most Incredible Thing.” Credit Mike Belleme for The New York Times ”You write what you want it to be, and then you listen to the actors and they lead you in a different way,” he said on a break from rehearsal. In his studio at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation, where he is an artist in residence, he sat on a couch he had painted with a Maya Angelou quotation. When he’s not busy choreographing, he makes visual art. “London is a place where the national sport is pigeonholing,” he said of his dual career. “I don’t like pigeons and I don’t like holes.” Mr. de Frutos, born in Venezuela, has worked with one foot in the mainstream (British revivals of “Carousel” and “Cabaret,” the pilot for “Game of Thrones”) and one foot in the avant-garde (“London Road,” a documentary musical about the murder of five prostitutes, which he largely choreographed to the dialogue). Although he made his reputation dancing in the nude, his most notorious piece was “Eternal Damnation to Sancho and Sanchez” (2009), which depicted pregnant nuns and the electrocution of a deformed pope, leading to audience walkouts and the cancellation of a planned BBC broadcast. “Those were the works that I needed to make at the time,” he said. Still, he bristled when the worried producers of the British production of “The Most Incredible Thing” reminded him once too often that it was going to be a family ballet. They “made me feel like they were putting this in the hands of somebody that didn’t understand what a family was,” he said. Despite that background, he says he is less cynical than the Pet Shop Boys expected; they learned to respect his romanticism. Mr. Tennant said that the first time he attended a performance of “The Most Incredible Thing,” he burst into tears, overcome by the emotion of the ballet and the knowledge of how much work had gone into it. Remembering the moment, Mr. Tennant confessed he was starting to tear up again and said that the Pet Shop Boys found the ballet all the more remarkable because they weren’t onstage for it. “I’m looking forward to sitting in the theater in Charlotte and seeing what it sounds like,” he said. The Most Incredible Thing March 9-18 at the Knight Theater, Charlotte, N.C.; 704-372-1000, charlotteballet.org. A version of this article appears in print on March 8, 2018, on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Yes, a Ballet Score From a Pop Duo. Images: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/03/08/arts/08PETSHOPBOYS2/merlin_134778096_9f67cfec-c209-472a-ad7a-3eb2d377d3c0-master675.jpg https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/03/08/arts/08PETSHOPBOYS3/merlin_134778150_cc28fb7f-365e-4bd3-aa40-e5741cd78c37-master675.jpg https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/03/08/arts/08PETSHOPBOYS5/merlin_135103359_cf4f7ab7-4453-4473-86ce-da2b7c630288-master675.jpg https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/03/08/arts/08PETSHOPBOYS5/merlin_135103359_cf4f7ab7-4453-4473-86ce-da2b7c630288-master675.jpg https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/03/08/arts/08PETSHOPBOYS1/merlin_134778060_73e61b60-134d-4b90-8386-f0ab6d72bd88-superJumbo.jpg -- ____________________________________________________________ Buckingham Confirms Unfortunate News risingstarnewspaper.com http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5aa5396e44d52396e2adast01vuc From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Mar 15 21:09:40 2018 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2018 21:09:40 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on "1 Has 2 Go" among three classic PSB albums Message-ID: <6841d396-4fa4-06e7-3a93-6157857e3a27@geowayne.com> Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks you to play "1 Has 2 Go" with three of the Pet Shop Boys greatest albums: Actually, Behaviour, and Very. All you have to do is decide which one you would "discard" in order to "keep" the other two. If that's a tough choice, that's the whole point of "1 Has 2 Go," the so-called "game of impossible choices." If you haven't made your choice yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your selection right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and launch a new survey for the next two weeks ahead (because other commitments will prevent me from switching to a new poll the following weekend). Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a superb weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Mar 17 22:10:01 2018 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2018 22:10:01 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on "1 Has 2 Go" from among three classic PSB albums Message-ID: <40d45078-daed-46a5-0246-9a0cf17c5bb0@geowayne.com> The final results are in for my poll of the past week, in which I asked my site visitors to play "1 Has 2 Go" with three classic Pet Shop Boys albums -- Actually, Behaviour, and Very -- deciding which one they would "discard," if they had to, in order to "keep" the other two. And although Actually took the lead in the voting early on and held it almost to the very end, the final outcome turns out to be a tie: * Actually and Very, both of which were picked by 35.3% of the voters as the 1 that has 2 go. To see the complete results (although there's really not much more to see), please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new poll isn't for the week ahead but rather for the next *two* weeks since other commitments will prevent me from doing my usual switch to a new survey next weekend. But I hope you'll like it. I'm asking you to pick what you consider to be the Pet Shop Boys' three *sexiest* music videos. Thanks so much to Andrew S. for suggesting this question (although I've modified it a bit; he proposed that you pick just the single sexiest one, but I'm making it a little easier for you by letting you choose up to three). Thanks as well to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all have a fantastic two weeks ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Mar 29 21:08:38 2018 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2018 21:08:38 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on the three sexiest PSB music videos Message-ID: <7fdf2739-8470-0c75-2639-b28c741563c6@geowayne.com> Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks you to choose what you consider to be the Pet Shop Boys' three *sexiest* music videos. If you haven't made your selections yet, please take a few moments to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your choices right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and launch a new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a great weekend -- a great Easter weekend for those of you who observe the holiday! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Mar 31 22:02:54 2018 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2018 22:02:54 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on the three sexiest PSB music videos Message-ID: <89ea6b28-002a-3f70-b7ee-afc50a7ce5d9@geowayne.com> The final results are in for my poll of the past two weeks, in which I asked my site visitors to pick what they consider to be the Pet Shop Boys' three sexiest music videos. And the three that received the most votes are: * "Domino Dancing," picked by 63.3% of the voters, * "Being Boring," chosen by 52.3%, and * "Paninaro '95," selected by 24.1%. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar, or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new poll for the week ahead is actually several questions rolled into one, all having to do with PSB tribute bands -- that is, performers who largely if not entirely devote their musical energies to paying homage to another particular act, in this case the Pet Shop Boys, performing their songs and/or in their style. I'm wondering whether you've ever seen a PSB tribute band, whether you think they did a good job paying tribute to them, and whether you agree with various statements regarding PSB tribute bands. Thanks so much to porkchopkid for suggesting this intriguing topic! And thanks to everyone who voted in my previous survey! I extend Easter greetings to everyone who observes the holiday, and I wish you all a very happy and safe week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm