Instruments - Part 4

French Horn

We continue our survey of musical instruments with the French horn.

The horn was originally exactly that: an animal horn such as a cow horn (above).  Animal horns are still in use today.  The shofar, usually made from a ram's horn, is used in Jewish religious observances such as Rosh Hashanah, which is being celebrated today.  (To my Jewish friends: sorry, I couldn't find any pictures of a naked man with a shofar.)

Man-made horns date back at least to the Etruscans.  These early horns were the ancestor of both the trumpet and the French horn.  We saw the example above in our post about the trumpet.  It's from an illustration in a medieval manuscript.  The fact that one little guy is blowing his horn or trumpet into another little guy's butt is presumably a Medieval joke.

In the trumpet, the metal tube is the same diameter for most of its length, flaring near the end.  In the horn, the tube gradually gets wider for much of its length, flaring to be very wide at the end.  This gives it a different sound.  The next step was to bend the long flaring tube into a coil, to make it more portable, as seen above.  This meant it could be carried while riding a horse.  Thus was born the hunting horn.

The instrument above is called a natural horn because it has no keys or valves to change the pitch.  The player can play a limited series of notes that are natural harmonics, just like a bugle.

In the early 1800s, horn makers in France and Germany added valves that the player could control with his fingers (above), which allowed all the notes of the musical scale to be played.  The French version used piston-like values similar to a trumpet, while the German version (above) has become standard today, using rotary values controlled by levers.  Thus, the instrument that people call a French horn is really a German horn.  Confused?  For this reason, professional musicians just call it a horn.

The photo above shows how wide the flared mouth of the instrument is, which has a lot to do with its sound.

Finally, this giant horn was labeled on a website as a Wagner tuba, an instrument invented by composer Richard Wagner, but it looks more like a helicon tuba.  Both are actually large horns, not tubas.  The Sousaphone is another instrument that's basically a large horn, but we'll see Sousaphones in a future post.

Until then, stay horny!

Events - Part 12

Southern Decadence

Southern Decadence is the gay little brother of Mardi Gras.  It's held in New Orleans over Labor Day weekend.  This year, it was cancelled due to the spike in Covid cases, and even without the pandemic, Hurricane Ida would no doubt have forced cancellation.

In normal years, like Mardi Gras, there are parades and parties, but our interest is in the street activity.  Like Mardi Gras, people on New Orleans' ubiquitous cast-iron balconies get a supply of beaded necklaces.

Like Mardi Gras, people in the street expose themselves to people on the balconies, like this guy ...

and this guy ...

and are rewarded by a necklace thrown down from a balcony, like this guy.  The difference is, at Mardi Gras, guys flash their dicks and girls flash their boobs for admirers of both sexes in the balconies.  At Southern Decadence, it's all gay.

Like Mardi Gras, you can tell who has flashed the most by counting their necklaces.

Some guys seem to be flashing more for the sake of flashing than for the balcony viewers, like this guy ...

and this guy.

This trio, two of whom seem to be wearing only towels around their waists, are definitely more into exposing themselves for the cameras than getting necklaces.

Sometimes the guys in the balconies show off a bit, too.

Public sex is illegal, but with so many gay guys pulling out their dicks, it happens, sometimes somewhat discreetly ...

and sometimes not so discreetly.  But something tells me this guy wanted to be noticed.

Happy Labor Day!

Vintage Military - Part 14

World War II - Solomon Islands

While the Army was recapturing New Guinea from the Japanese, the Navy and Marines were recapturing the Solomon Islands, a string of Japanese-occupied islands to the east of New Guinea.  Guadalcanal, which we've already seen, was the first.

After Guadalcanal, the adjacent Russell Islands were seized without opposition.  An allied base was constructed there as well as a training center and staging area for future operations.

(Photo by LIFE photographer William Shrout.  These LIFE photos were not published in the magazine.)

Men training on the Russell Islands were able to take advantage of the beaches.

(Photo by LIFE photographer William Shrout)

Of course, swimsuits were unnecessary.

(Photo by LIFE photographer William Shrout)

The island of New Georgia was taken in fighting from June to August, 1943.  These are Marines on New Georgia undressing to bathe

The Treasury Islands were taken in October, 1943, and an airfield was built to assist in attacks on the Japanese base at Rabaul on the island of New Britain to the north.  This photo from the National Archives shows Marines enjoying a shower at the Treasury Island base.

The next major island captured was Bougainville.  This photo from the Australian War Memorial shows troops of the 2nd field regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, unloading ammunition from an LCT.  Note that some of the troops worked naked.

Another photo of troops unloading supplies at Bougainville.  Working naked in the water was purely practical; that way your uniform didn't get wet.

After Bougainville was captured, it also became a base to attack the next major target, the Japanese base at Rabaul, as this 1944 British Pathé newsreel clip explains.  At the end of the clip, some naked American and New Zealand airmen are shown enjoying a brief holiday on the beach.  Note that showing rear views of naked men in a public newsreel, and even a distant frontal view of a guy wading toward the shore, was perfectly OK.  Somehow, we have become much more prudish than people were in the 1940s.

Ads - Part 9

Jawbone Bluetooth Headset

This 2008 commercial for the Jawbone bluetooth headset has no nudity, but it's worth watching.  Two women are in a bar when a rugby team bursts inside.  The rugby players are noisy, rude and disruptive, until one woman answers a phone call with her Jawbone device, and then suddenly we're focusing on what the rugby players are doing in the background.

Artists - Part 12

Edmund Haakonson

Edmund Haakonson is a gay artist in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  In high school in rural Alberta in the 1980s, after another gay youth was severely beaten up, he was terrified and remained closeted.

He came out in college at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, a larger city where it was safer to be gay.  The image above was untitled but appears to be a self-portrait.

He paints, but he is best known for sculpture, which he teaches at the University of Alberta.  Above is a terra-cotta relief from 2015-2021.

He seems to have a thing about satyrs and fauns.  Above, a satyr or faun sticking out his tongue.

This piece is called Innocence Never Possessed.  

And this one, called Self-Help, looks even less innocent.  But after all, satyrs are known for being horny (excuse the pun).

But this bronze sculpture may be his finest piece.  Called Slapshotolus, a play on the ancient Discobolus or discus-thrower sculpture, it was created for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, to be displayed at Pride House, a place for gay and lesbian athletes.  It depicts a modern version of the athlete, namely, a hockey player.

Haakonson says, "I've kept the body nude to acknowledge that connection with ancient Greek art. The nude form symbolizes purity, innocence, and truth. I chose the hockey player because, well, it's Canada. Come on ... Even though ancient nude art makes sense to us, and playing hockey makes sense, the combination of the two is funny."

Beach Bums - Part 7

 Wearing Only Sunglasses

Today, some guys at the beach wearing only shades.  You have to admit it's a good look on him.  Of course, anything would be a good look on him.

This guy is wearing a watch in addition to his sunglasses, but I'm not counting that.  Besides, you're probably not looking at the watch.

Likewise for this guy's jewelry.

These guys are wearing sunglasses – you just have to look a little lower

And we close with this guy wearing shades in both places.  There's probably a story there.  Holding them for a friend?

World Naked Bike Ride - Part 13

 Beanie Cap Guy

Sometimes a WNBR rider stands out in the photos of the event, whether it's because he's attractive, or there's something distinctive about him, or both, like this guy at the WNBR in San Francisco in 2011.  He's instantly recognizable because he's wearing a beanie-type cap, sunglasses, shoes and socks, and nothing else.

His cap looks like the colorful type worn by guys with dreadlocks, but he doesn't have dreadlocks.

But if it's a fashion statement, I approve.

He posed for photos with other riders.  Here he is with another guy who stands out from the crowd.

And here he is with two other guys and two girls.  Did the girls not get the memo about the "naked" part of World Naked Bike Ride?  All the guys certainly did.

He and another guy are about to start riding.

We end with the only photo I have of him without the cap and sunglasses.  I'm guessing it was taken after the ride, and he's giving it a thumbs-up.  He looks quite different without the cap and sunglasses, but that's him.  Do you think he looks better with the cap or without?