"Brianβs other companion was Rita Harris, a NEMS employee. Sheβd been at Great Charlotte Street several months when a deep friendship dropped into place at the companyβs annual staff dinner-dance, Christmas 1959. He seems to have confided in her from the start: βHe was not a very happy person. He was so lonely. He said no one was really happy but that one should aim to be reasonably content. He admitted he was a homosexual and talked about it frequently: it used to make him very depressed. He hated himself for it, and never remembered being any other way.β
The intimacy of Brianβs revelationsβhis need to confide, and hers to listenβstirred something. Love developed on both sides, though it wasnβt consummated. He spoke to Rita of his private life using the record-business term βnew releasesββhe once wrote saying, βThe New Release has stopped selling. Trouble is that having sold quite well for quite a time, itβs difficult to clear away bad stock.β (This sounds like a longish relationshipβBrian had precious few of these.)
Through staff appointments, Brian kept friends close by. Ray Standing, another Great Charlotte Street employee, saw a pattern: βI think there were nine blokes working at Nems at one time and only three of us were straight. The Walton Road shop was OK because that was his dadβs store, but when Brian opened up in town thatβs when they started to flock in, so to speak. - Tune In, Mark Lewisohn
gummygunk
blakekathryn
snowghoul
ellievsbear
yousharknotpass
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
stormborns
romaincrisis
