SHORT TAKES : New Kids Wins Boston Awards

BOSTON — The five Boston-bred heartthrobs of New Kids on the Block won act-of-the-year honors Thursday night at the city’s version of the Grammies, the Boston Music Awards.

The frenzy-stirring idols of the bubble-gum set also won in the pop single and video categories, for “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)” and “Hangin’ Tough,” respectively. “Music is all about expression and feelings, not about long hair and smoking marijuana,” New Kid Donny Wahlberg told the teeny-bopper-dominated crowd that turned out to see the boys from Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. Among the other big winners: Aerosmith, Bonnie Raitt, and Pat Metheny.