Instruments - Part 5

Bagpipes

We continue our series about various musical instruments.  Today, the bagpipes.

A little while ago, I saw this photo in the blog Sicko Ricko's Crap, which inspired me to make today's post.  Thanks, Rick.  This bagpiper's name is Paul.  His necklace reads "Paulywog."  We'll see more of him later.

The instrument consists of a bag that holds air plus two or more pipes.  Air is blown into the bag by the piper, as shown here.  One pipe, called the chanter, is played by the piper's fingers and produces the melody.  The pipes have a double reed like an oboe, giving them a sharp, piercing sound.

The other pipes, called drones, each produce a continuous unvarying tone, which gives the instrument its distinctive, and to some people irritating, sound.  This set of pipes has three drones.

Here's Paul again.  His bagpipes uses a bellows, which he operates with his right elbow, to pump air into the bag.

Bagpipes can be very loud, so they are best played outdoors, like here at Burning Man.  The loud, piercing sound also makes it a good military instrument, famously used by Scottish army units, since it can be heard over the din of battle.

Of course, most bagpipers are not naked.  But Scottish bagpipers traditionally wear kilts.  That gives us the opportunity to see what's underneath if a gust of wind comes along, like here ...

or here, at the Tartan Day parade in New York City on April 6, 2015.  It was a charming if unintentional reenactment of Marilyn Monroe's famous subway grate scene in The Seven Year Itch.

We end with a video clip of piper Paul playing at the Seattle Hempfest in 2015.  At the end, he was forced to get dressed by two spoilsport security guards.  You could say, "Piper's peter piqued a pair of picky peepers."

Aside from the security guards, everyone else clearly liked what they saw.

Events - Part 13

Crossing the Line

Crossing the equator on a ship, known as "crossing the line", has long been an event that merits an initiation ceremony for sailors who have not crossed the equator before.  In the British Navy, it dates back to at least 1768, when Captain Cook's vessel crossed the equator.  First-timers were ducked into the ocean three times.

By 1832, on Charles Darwin's famous voyage aboard HMS Beagle, the initiation was presided over by "King Neptune" in costume, a custom that continues to this day, and the hazing had become more pronounced.  Darwin was one of the first-timers, called "griffins".  Darwin recounted how he was blindfolded and placed on a plank; then his face and mouth were lathered with pitch and paint and scraped off with a rough piece of iron; then he was dumped into a large bath of water, ducked under, and finally escaped.  The drawing above of the Beagle's crossing the line ceremonies was made by the ship's artist Augustus Earle.

The crossing the line tradition was adopted by the Australian, Canadian, and U.S. navies, where the initiation hazing was sometimes more extreme.  In the U.S., sailors who had already crossed the line were called shellbacks and those who had not were called pollywogs.  In 1929, above, on the USS Canopus, a submarine tender, a shellback is painting a naked pollywog's body.  The favorite substance for painting pollywogs seems to have been a mixture of lampblack and grease.

Another 1929 USS Canopus photo shows a naked blindfolded pollywog getting a haircut.  Often the hair would be cut into a bizarre pattern like a mohawk or worse.

A final 1929 photo from the USS Canopus shows a naked blindfolded pollywog.  Is there something sticking out of his rear end, or is it just the hand of the guy standing closer to us?

George Hollister Foote, Torpedoman's Mate on the submarine USS Narwhal, kept photographs of his line-crossing initiation in 1940.  Above, a naked sailor awaits hazing.  The caption for the photo was "Sea pig."

In a second photo from Foote's album, a pollywog has to crawl through a gauntlet of shellbacks while being sprayed by a firehose

These initiations were not limited to Navy ships.  The photos above and below are from the SS Charles H. Windham, a "liberty ship" in the merchant marine in World War II.  Above, a pollywog's stomach and genitals are being painted with grease.

Then he gets a shot of grease up the ass with a grease gun.  I have to say this is unusual.  I haven't heard of that being done on other ships.

A more typical initiation is shown in this video of the crossing of the line of the USS Marblehead in 1939.   The naked pollywog has some black glop poured over him, is dumped into a trough of water where he is ducked, manhandled and paddled, and then runs the gauntlet of shellbacks paddling him.

Despite all that, most sailors were proud to have undergone the initiation, treating it as a male bonding ritual.  The widespread acceptance of this hazing is apparent in this 1945 Coca-Cola ad in Boys Life magazine.  Though the ad doesn't show the nudity that was common in these initiations, it does show a pollywog getting a bizarre haircut (apparently a reverse Mohawk).

The ad says, "It's a fine old custom – the good-natured initiation of those who cross the equator for the first time.  In much the same spirit of good-natured fun, people everywhere respond to the fine old invitation Have a Coke."

Vintage Military - Part 15

Finland 1942

The fight of the Finns against the invading Russians continued throughout World War II.  But not even a war can stop Finns from enjoying their saunas, as seen in these photos from the amazing Finnish World War II photo archive SA-Kuva.

A soldier entering a rustic sauna in February 1942.

A more civilized sauna in Santahamina in February 1942.  The Finnish military academy was in Santahamina, so these are probably cadets.

Fetching water for the sauna, to pour over hot rocks and generate steam.

Inside a sauna, soldiers beat themselves with bundles of birch twigs to stimulate the circulation.

After working up a sweat, you run outside to cool off, as seen in this rare color photo from April 1942.

If there's no lake to jump into to cool off, you can rub yourself with snow ...

Or just jump into the snow ...

Or if you're young, like so many soldiers were in World War II, you might have a naked snowball fight.

We end with this 1942 video of three guys running out of a sauna and cooling off in a stream.

Ads - Part 10

FitMit AOK

FitMit is a fitness app for smartwatch and cellphone from AOK, a German health insurance company.  This 2016 German commercial features a naked guy in a mixed-sex fitness center.

Note the sequence at 14 seconds where a bearded guy is checking him out as he walks past.

Artists - Part 13

Freek Weidema

Freek Weidema is a Dutch artist.  After studying at Artibus, the academy for visual art in Utrecht, he worked as an interior architect, but switched to painting and sculpture in the early 1990s.

He is fascinated by the naked male body, and he has specialized in depicting male nudes.  Above is Beach Boys.

This is Daniel eretto (Daniel erect).

A 2018 sculpture of Daniel in the same pose.

This is Geurte Jan, 2004.  Geurte seems to be one of his favorite models.

Geurte Jan was the model for Jongen met voet op paaltje (Boy with foot on post), 2018, above.  Unlike Greek and Roman sculptors, who represented the penis as a pert little nub (anything larger was considered vulgar), Weidema shows it like it is.

A rear view of the same sculpture, Jongen met voet op paaltje.

This is Duiker (Diver), 2018.

Many of Weidema's sculptures show people in realistic, ordinary poses.  This is Man met leren jack (Man with leather jacket), 2018.

A rear view of Man met leren jack.

We end with Man met hondje (Man with dog), 2018.  You can see many more of his paintings and sculptures on his website http://freekweidema.nl

Beach Bums - Part 8

Black's Beach

Black's Beach, San Diego, is located beneath the bluffs of Torrey Pines in La Jolla.  It's officially part of Torrey Pines State Beach.

This 1976 photo shows nudists celebrating the second anniversary of legalization of nudity at Black's Beach.  For several years in the 1970s, Black's Beach was supposedly the only legal nude beach in the U.S.

The fourth annual celebration, in 1978.  Limbo low!

The Goodyear blimp is not crashing.  It is descending past the bluffs on the other side of the parking lot.  It was in San Diego for a golf tournament in 1984, and whoever was piloting the blimp apparently wanted to get a closeup view of the nude beach.

Actor Christopher Atkins on Black's Beach.  He is best known for his debut role in The Blue Lagoon, in which he appeared nude.  It seems he is not shy.

The northern part of the beach is clothing-optional.  You can see the cliffs in the background.  But you probably weren't looking at the cliffs.

It's a very scenic beach.

Black's Beach has some of the best surfing in Southern California, due to an undersea canyon that funnels in the waves.  In our previous post on surfing, we saw a nude surfer at Black's Beach.  Here's a video from Active Naturists showing the late Kirill Tokarev, one of my favorite unashamed males, surfing at Black's Beach.

(Note: I shortened the video, cutting out non-surfing scenes such as the hike down the trail to the beach.)

World Naked Bike Ride - Part 14

London 2021

The World Naked Bike Ride in London was postponed this year from the usual June date until August.  Here are a few photos from the event.

Lots of people turned out, including this guy on a unicycle.

Posing for a photo in Hyde Park before the ride.  A few riders wore masks, but very few.  At least it was an outdoor event.

Another rider before the event.  Like many nude events, WNBR emphasizes inclusivity.  You don't have to have the body of an Olympic athlete.  All are welcome.

And here, a friend is making him feel welcome, if what he's pointing at is any indication.

Another unicyclist on Waterloo Bridge.

I must say that the way he fits (or doesn't fit) on the seat looks uncomfortable.

We end with some smiling riders.  There were several other WNBR events this year besides London.  We'll see them later.

Festivals - Part 12

Glastonbury

Glastonbury is Britain's largest music festival.  Officially, it's not just a rock and pop music festival, but a festival of all performing arts, including dance, comedy, theater, circus and cabaret.  It started in 1970 as the Pilton Festival, but it became a major rock festival in 1971.  That was the era of hippies, so of course some attendees were naked (above).

Another 1971 photo.

The festival was revived and became annual in 1981, with occasional "fallow" (skipped) years.  I have no idea what these 2002 festival-goers are protesting, but they certainly have the right idea to attract attention.

British comic Keith Allen performing karaoke with his pants down in 2002 (unfortunately pixellated).

The festival grounds are extensive.  These 2005 attendees are at a feature called the Stone Circle, the remains of a megalithic monument.  Stonehenge is only about 35 miles away.

Nudity is not rampant at Glastonbury, but it still occurs.  These runners were seen at the 2010 festival.

Sometimes the same guy keeps showing up naked.  This guy at the 2008 festival has a sign "Go green, go naked."

Here he is at the 2010 festival.  The person who posted the photo referred to him as "the naked man," so he may have had a reputation at Glastonbury.

Here he is at the 2011 festival.

Again at the 2011 festival.  The person who posted the photo commented "Only at the Stone Circle can you see a naked man walking around like it's normal."