Festivals - Part 4

 Bull Island

The Bull Island rock festival in 1972 has been described by some as the worst rock festival ever, although there are other candidates for that prize.

Originally named the Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival and scheduled for Labor Day weekend in 1972 in Chandler, Indiana, a tiny town near Evansville, it was set to feature a galaxy of rock stars like the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, the Allman Brothers and Black Sabbath.  A crowd of 55,000 was expected.

Only problem: less than a week before the event, the town got a court injunction barring the event from happening anywhere in Indiana.  The festival promoters found a geographical loophole: a place called Bull Island that was actually a peninsula (not an island) next to the Wabash River that separates Indiana from Illinois.  Because the river had changed course, this piece of land, though on the Indiana side of the river, was legally part of Illinois.  But since it couldn't be accessed from Illinois, it was for practical purposes outside the law.

So that's where they held the festival, which then became known as the Bull Island Festival.  Problem solved, right?  Wrong.  When Labor Day weekend arrived, a quarter of a million people showed up – 5 times as many as anticipated.  Food and water were scarce, and sanitary facilities were inadequate, though drugs were plentiful.  And rain turned the festival grounds into a muddy pit.  Many of the musicians cancelled.  Still, there was always skinny-dipping in the Wabash River (above).

These photos, from the Rice Library of the University of Southern Indiana, were taken by Sonny Brown, photographer for the Evansville Courier newspaper.  Unlike many other photographers of rock festivals, Brown seems to have had no problem photographing male frontal nudity, like this photo, called "Half-dressed man by the Wabash River" ...

and "Naked man by the Wabash River" ...

and "Naked man drying off after skinny-dipping in the Wabash River" ...

and "Man playing with dog in the Wabash River" ...

and another view of the man playing with the dog.

So, was it really the worst rock festival ever?  Although some musicians cancelled, Ravi Shankar, the Eagles and Santana performed in the rain, and despite the miserable conditions, somehow most people who were there remember it with nostalgia.

Vintage Athletes - Part 5

 Derek Sanderson

Derek Sanderson (born 1946), hockey player for the Boston Bruins, is the subject of this series of photos taken in 1970 by LIFE photographer Arthur Rickerby.  None of these photos appeared in the magazine.  Here he is in the Bruins locker room (note the naked guy in the background).  Derek is wearing his protective cup.  Want to see what's underneath?

No problem.  I don't know who that is in the helmet, but that's Derek completely nude in the background.  Want to see him closer up?

That's nice, but could the photographer aim a little lower?

That's better ...

Perfect!  If you're wondering what Bisto is, it's a British brand of instant gravy, also sold in Canada.  Derek is Canadian, and that's Derek's dad on the left.  He looks so proud of his son, and neither father nor son has the slightest concern about Derek being photographed naked.  Now that's unashamed!

Weighing In - Part 4

Bobby Hunter

Bobby Hunter's story is unusual.  In 1967, at the age of 16, in Charleston, South Carolina, he got into an argument and stuck a knife into a man who later died.  Bobby was sentenced to 18 years in prison for manslaughter.

Hunter was small but scrappy.  In prison, he was mentored by a prison guard and taught how to box.  What's unusual about that?  Well, he was so good at boxing that, with the warden's permission, the guard took him to compete in boxing matches outside the prison.  By 1971 he had won the national flyweight championship.

LIFE photographer Ralph Morse took these photos of Hunter in January, 1972.  None of them were published in the magazine.  Hunter was 21 years old and was considered a shoo-in for the American team at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.  The idea of having a convict on the Olympic team was controversial, though.

Here's Bobby Hunter weighing in.  His mentor arranged fights for him anywhere he could, so this was undoubtedly not an official title fight, hence the casual atmosphere.

This isn't an official weigh-in, just checking his weight.  But the photo is a bit dark.

Through the magic of Photoshop, we can brighten the photo.  Now we get to see how Hunter measures up in more ways than one.

Unexpectedly, Bobby Hunter lost in the Olympic qualifying trials, so he never joined the Olympic team.  However, the next year, 1973, he was paroled and got out of prison.  He had a short boxing career, and we then lose sight of him.  But his moment of fame was captured by these photos as the convict who could have been an Olympic contender.

Miners - Part 4

South Africa

The gold and diamond mines in South Africa produced fabulous wealth for their white owners.  The black mine workers were exploited even more than miners in other countries.

This series of photos was taken by Robert Harris c. 1883-1888.  Now in a collection at Yale University, they document what was called the "Kimberley Searching System" for searching diamond mine workers for hidden diamonds after they came out of the mine.

The worker is completely naked.  His arms are raised to make sure he's not hiding anything in his armpits.  Note that the searcher, also black, is also naked except for a shirt tied around his waist.

Examining the mouth.  The searcher is holding a candle to reveal any diamonds by their reflection.

Another searcher examining the mouth of another worker.

Examining the feet for anything hidden in a crack or cut.

The worker has to retract his foreskin to show there's nothing hidden in there.

No hole is left unexamined.  Robert Harris did not take these photos as a crusading journalist to expose wrongdoing.  On the contrary, DeBeers hired him to take the photos to be used to instruct the searchers how to search the mine workers.

This searching process was expensive (in lost productivity) and ineffective; very few diamonds were ever found.  But it was continued as a way to help keep the miners in their place.  After 1919 it was replaced by using X-rays, in which diamonds fluoresce and are highly visible, which continued through the 1950s.  Today the miners are still searched, using full body scanners.

The other humiliating procedure that miners had to endure was a monthly medical examination, also conducted completely naked.  Here, miners are being herded as a group through a series of doctors and offices.  The photo is from House of Bondage, 1967, by Ernest Cole, a black photographer who smuggled his photos out of South Africa.

Another photo of miners lined up for medical examination.  This 1967 photo is by Peter Magubane, another pioneering black South African photographer who had to conceal his camera, often inside a Bible, to get his photos.

This 1943 photo by LIFE magazine photographer Hart Preston shows miners being weighed during a medical exam.  The naked monthly weighings and medical exams were not evidence of concern for the well-being of the miners.  Rather, they were a way to detect workers suffering from tuberculosis, who were then promptly fired.

COVID-19 - Are We There Yet?

COVID-19
Are We There Yet?

You know how annoying it is when kids keep asking "Are we there yet?" on a trip.  Well, I feel the same way about people who want to lift COVID restrictions too soon.  Yes, I know we're all tired of this pandemic.  But we're not there yet.  Meanwhile, what can you do?

1. For now, keep social distancing.  Here, Laurence Barnes, known as FKK lad, is showing us how to dress for those Zoom conference calls.  I love how even his T-shirt isn't an inch longer than necessary.

2. Get vaccinated as soon as you're eligible.  You'll just feel a prick in the arm, not like the guy in this vintage drawing by Etienne, who is anticipating a prick in his butt.

3. Wear your face mask, even if you're tired of it.  This video shows Tim Schieff wearing his mask in London last July.  Unfortunately, the original soundtrack for Tim's video was an anti-mask diatribe, so I replaced it with a clip from a clever YouTube video "Wear a Mask" by Noah Lindquist, a parody on "Be Our Guest", which you can see here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltjBT_TuUVA

4. But don't be like Tim.  Wear your mask on your big head, not your little head.  Be like these dog walkers in San Francisco.

Are we there yet?  No, but if everyone does their part, we'll get there.

Photographers, Part 5

 Leslie Jones

Leslie Jones (1886-1967), above, was a photographer for the Boston Herald-Traveler newspaper from 1917 to 1956.  He photographed anything and everything that happened in Boston.  Because his work was news photography, it included almost no nudes, but he did manage to photograph a few.

This is called "Lifting weights in the buff."  The photo was only dated in the range 1934 to 1956, presumably from an album with that date range.

This is called "Men in various stages of undress," also dated 1934 to 1956.  It shows men enjoying drinks in a locker room.  Note that two of the men are wearing suits and ties, and three are completely and casually naked.  These guys are prime examples of my blog theme "the unashamed male", because they are not ashamed to be naked in a locker room, and why should they be?

This is heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer in 1935.  The photo is called "Max Baer in the shower before he took a powder against Braddock," the fight where he lost his heavyweight championship.

Boston Red Sox players showering at Fenway Park in 1937.

Another view of the Red Sox players in the shower at Fenway Park in 1937.

We end with "Jockey being dressed," 1939.

Calendars - Part 2d

 Veterinarians

This is the last in our series of veterinarian calendars.  The Aussies seem to love naked calendars almost as much as the British.  This one, called Vets Uncovered, is put out by veterinary students at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia.  Its proceeds are donated to various charities each year.

The 2017 calendar supported a rural mental health charity called Tie Up the Black Dog.  This photo shows Aussie mates, because everyone needs a friend.

This was called "how to treat a lame horse."  Queensland vets don't just treat dogs and cats.

Posing on a piece of heavy equipment.  Too bad they're concealing their own equipment.

Trying to get a photo with a black-headed python in 2020.  Apparently the snake had other ideas.  Eventually they got the final calendar shot with it draped across all three of them.

Part of a promotional video for the 2017 calendar.  Like some others, this calendar featured both male and female naked students.  I edited out the naked females, but a few clothed females remain.  The song Lucky in Love was the original video soundtrack, and I think it's appropriate.  I bet after this photoshoot, a lot of these guys got lucky.

Calendars - Part 2c

 Veterinarians

Perhaps spurred by the success of their Scottish counterparts, the Royal Veterinary College in London has also started producing a naked calendar.  Sales of this one fund research and development of improved animal care.

A whole set of students are donning surgical gowns in the 2018 calendar.

2019 calendar.  There's no need to be sheepish.  Be unashamed!

Ah, getting out into the fields and the fresh air in 2019.

This 2019 calendar photo suggests so many bad jokes.  Like, this guy was going to go full-frontal, but then he chickened out.  Or you can make up your own joke about hens and cocks.

Tomorrow: An Australian veterinarian calendar.

Calendars - Part 2b

 Veterinarians

Not to be outdone by their rival Edinburgh, students at the veterinary school at the University of Glasgow, Scotland also put out a naked calendar.  Sales of this one are donated to charities providing treatment for pets of homeless people and people in financial difficulty.

This view from the 2016 calendar reminds us that Scottish vets deal with a lot of farm animals, not just dogs and cats.  James Herriot, author of the All Creatures Great and Small stories, went to this veterinary school at the University of Glasgow.  I don't think they did a naked calendar back in his day, though.

This and the other veterinarian calendars feature both male and female students.  I've concentrated on the boys, but, like this 2017 calendar view, you may see an occasional girl.  Just focus on the guy.  That wasn't so hard, was it?

Another view from the 2017 calendar.  Getting ready for an operation in those skimpy surgical gowns.

The pony in this 2018 calendar photo has a braided tail.  I bet you weren't looking at that.

In this 2018 calendar view, they're examining X-rays, but we don't need X-ray vision for what we're examining.

Finally, here's a promotional video for the 2016 calendar.  I've edited out the female students, because, as I've noted before, this is The Unashamed Male, not The Unashamed Female.

Tomorrow: Royal Veterinary College, London.

Calendars - Part 2a

 Veterinarians

The British love naked calendars on every conceivable subject.  Would you believe naked veterinarians?  We found so many veterinarian calendars that we have to present them over several days.  We'll start with the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, whose veterinary school is called – believe it or not – the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies, commonly known as Dick Vet.  I would love to tell you that the school was named after some British monarch's penis, but the truth is that was founded by a man named William Dick.

The calendar, called When Vets Undress, is put out by students at the veterinary school.  The 2020 calendar included these guys with birds of prey.  Unfortunately, like most of these calendars, they artfully conceal frontal nudity, so although they are Dick Vets, we don't get to see vets' dicks.

But here's a nice rear view from the 2018 calendar.  Like almost all of these calendars, the proceeds go to charities, in this case a charity run by the students that provides treatment for pets of homeless people.

And it wouldn't be Scotland without a lad showing us what's under his kilt.  This short clip is from a promotional video for the 2018 calendar.  The shaggy Highland cattle don't seem to be impressed, though.

Tomorrow: University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Artists - Part 4

Keith Haring

This could only be the work of one man, Keith Haring (1958-1990).  His style, featuring cartoon-like images of men, dogs, and other figures, all drawn as bold outlines, is instantly recognizable.

Haring, above, starting drawing as a child.  He went to art school in Pennsylvania, but dropped out and moved to New York.

There he found inspiration in public art like subway graffiti.  He began drawing with chalk in the New York subways on black paper that covered unused ad spaces (photo by Chantal Regnault, 1983).  Although this led to him being arrested more than once, his subway drawings, in his unique style, started becoming so famous that people would take them and sell them.  In effect, he had transformed graffiti into art, which eventually led to international recognition.

Another favorite medium was body painting, still with his unique style of bold lines and patterns.  Here Haring is painting Bill T. Jones in 1983.

Look carefully, and you'll see Haring, naked, who has painted his body and posed against a background against which he is perfectly camouflaged.  It reminds me of the "dazzle camouflage" used on ships in World War I and II to fool the eye by breaking up the outline, so an enemy wouldn't see it as a ship.  Photo by Annie Leibovitz, 1986.

Haring was gay and did not shy away from sexual images, though they have the same cartoonish quality as the rest of his work.  This self-mocking piece is called Self-Portrait with Juan, 1988.

When the LGBT Community Center in New York invited Haring to create a work in May, 1989, he chose to paint a mural in their men's room.  Perhaps he was harkening back to his days of creating graffiti in the subway as public art.  And, being a men's room, what was more natural than to cover the walls with sexual graffiti (but in his unique style, of course).

Haring called it Once Upon a Time.  This was at the height of the AIDS epidemic, and these images looked back to a previous carefree time of free love.

Another wall of the men's room.

And yet another view.  Is it obscene?  Yes.  Is it graffiti?  Yes.  Is it art?  Yes.

Even as he painted the mural, Haring was fighting his own battle with AIDS.  Nine months later, he was dead at age 31.  "I'm not having trouble facing the reality of death," he said.  "It is going to happen sometime.  If you live your life according to that, death is irrelevant. Everything I’m doing right now is exactly what I want to do."