"All the young dudes

carry, the news "

- Mott the Hoople

The number one musical group in England is Scissor Sisters. They have a platinum album, open concerts for Elton John and sell out their individual shows. The group of Americans will soon return to their home country with the excitement and enthusiasm that greeted the Beatles.

Their musical leader and producer is Scott "Babydaddy" Hoffman, of Lexington . Scott's parents, Phil and Nancy Hoffman, are dear friends of mine.

My connection to Scott was being invited to his Bar Mitzvah. Although Scott's thank you note is worth a lot of money on EBay now, the Bar Mitzvah was an important point in my life for another reason.

It was the first Bar Mitzvah I had ever been invited to. I had managed to make it through my first 30 years without much exposure to religions and cultures different than my own. The Hoffman's invited me to share ones of their faith's most precious rituals. The Bar Mitzvah marked a turning point in my life and many the friends I have made since that Bar Mitzvah are from a different religion or culture than mine. The Hoffman's broke down a barrier in my life.

In a recent Lexington Herald interview, Scott described his parents as conservative. A young rock star might think that but they are liberal and open minded.

Phil is a medical doctor. In fact, he is my doctor and the model for what every doctor should be like. He is calm, caring and knows his stuff. I've never waited more than 30 seconds in his lobby for an appointment and his staff are all first rate. The medical profession would be well served to study Phil and operates like he does.

Nancy has served in many political campaigns and on boards of civic groups committed to social justice. I've attended so many events with Nancy over the years that my wife refers to her as the other woman in my life. (When I need to call Dr. Phil at his office, I found that identifying myself as his wife's boyfriend gets me immediately past the receptionist.) She is devoted to all three of her son's and very active in their upbringing.

I've left out one tidbit about Scissors Sisters. Three of the men in the group, including Scott, are openly gay. Their music draws on other gay or bi sexual performers such as Elton John, David Bowie, Queen and the B-52's. Their sexuality is an important part of their act. One of their best songs, "Take Your Mama Out" is a about a gay man coming out.

I'm sure that Scissor Sisters shock some people but rock and roll has always been about pushing the envelope of social acceptability. Elvis Presley shocked audiences of my parents era just as David Bowie and Alice Cooper did when I grew up. Scissor Sisters puts out a very unique sound that draws on the music of the 70's with a modern twist. One of the first hits was a remake Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" to sound like a Bee Gees song. It is really good.

Phil and Nancy are the perfect parents of a son who is breaking down social barriers. They have spent their lives fighting prejudice and social injustice and now their son is making a statement with his music.

Each year at his first football practice, coach Bear Bryant used to have his players call home and thank their parents for raising them. Bryant believed that people don't get to high stations in life without help. As Hillary Clinton said in a famous book, "It Takes a Village."

Scissor Sisters unique sound is built on the talents of Scott and the other group members but that genius was encouraged by two loving parents. Nancy and Phil could not be supportive. In fact, Nancy 's picture is in the video for "Take Your Mama Out" (both the videos I have seen are innovative and well done) and it was noted in a Boston paper that Phil regularly monitor's the band's message board.

"Babydaddy" is very lucky to have the mother and father that he has and they are part of why he is headed for tremendous success.

Don McNay is President of McNay Settlement Group where no one has any cute nicknames. He is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text9332 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com