Instruments - Part 26

 Oboe

The ancestor of the oboe was the shawm, a double-reed woodwind instrument that was popular in the medieval and Renaissance periods.  We've previously seen the painting above, part of Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, c. 1500, in which the guy in the center has a recorder stuck up his ass.  The large instrument on his back running diagonally across the picture is a shawm.

This is Nude Study of a Seated Youth with Shawm by Julies Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1822.

This is Nude Shepherd Boy Playing a Shawm by Hans Thoma, 1897.  By this time, the shawm had long been obsolete.  In the 17th century, the modern oboe appeared, but it was called the hautbois (French for "high wood").  In French, hautbois is pronounced OH-BWAH, and in English the name got corrupted into oboe.

Above is a modern oboe.  The principal difference between the shawm and the oboe is that in the oboe, the two reeds that produce the sound are completely outside the instrument.  The reeds are in direct contact with the player's lips.  The position of the player's lips and tongue, called embouchure, is extremely important and has a huge effect on the sound of the instrument.

Surprisingly, I couldn't find any other photos of nude oboe players.  However, the phrase "pink oboe" is a slang term for the penis, and I found a couple of pink-oboe-related videos that I think you'll like.  The video above was described as a concerto for pink oboe.  I added the accompanying music from the three movements of Mozart's oboe concerto.

We close with a video demonstrating the critical importance of embouchure, or the position of the lips and tongue, when playing the oboe.  In this video, a guy named Tony is playing the pink oboe of Dan Fisk.  This video shows closeup views of Tony's embouchure.  Pay attention, and you, too, can become an expert oboe player.

I added the accompanying music from the slow movement of the violin concerto by Samuel Barber.  Although it's a violin concerto, the slow movement starts with this gorgeous passage for oboe, in my opinion among the most beautiful music ever written.  So, ravishing music by a great American gay composer for a scene of gay ravishment.

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If you're an unashamed male and you have nude photos of yourself or your male buddies playing a musical instrument (not necessarily the pink oboe) that you would allow me to use in my blog, please email them to unashamedmale@gmail.com. I'll keep you anonymous if you want. Don't send photos that you found on the Internet. It's you I'm interested in! Thanks. -Larry

World Naked Bike Ride - Part 35

 Philadelphia Juggler

At the 2015 WNBR in Philadelphia, this guy caught my eye.  He was juggling in Drexel Park, where the riders gathered before the ride started.

This guy is definitely an unashamed male.  Not only is he stark naked in a public park, but he's attracting as much attention to himself as possible by juggling.  It looks like he's only juggling two balls, but I think there's a third one up in the air.

Now he's preparing to juggle four balls, ready to launch one of them with his foot.

Juggling four balls is much harder than three balls, but this guy knows what he's doing.

He was back again at the 2016 Philadelphia WNBR.  Here, he's getting three balls to juggle.

And there go the three balls.

But that year he also brought some juggling clubs for a little variety.

Here he is in 2017.  The biggest difference is that he let someone paint him, which seems to be a popular thing at the Philadelphia WNBR.

And here he is again in 2018.  At first he looked different, but I think he just grew a beard and put on a little weight.  He has the same body hair pattern.  How many naked jugglers can there be in Philadelphia with the same triangular patch of chest hair?

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If you're an unashamed male and you have nude photos of yourself or your male buddies in a World Naked Bike Ride that you would allow me to use in my blog, please email them to unashamedmale@gmail.com. I'll keep you anonymous if you want. Don't send photos that you found on the Internet. It's you I'm interested in! Thanks. -Larry

Ads - Part 31

 Brian Atwood

Brian Atwood is an American designer of women's shoes, born in 1967.  First he was a model.  In 1996 he was hired as a designed by Gianni Versace in Milan.  In 2001 he came out with his own line of shoes.  That's him above getting a tan in Mykonos, Greece.

Atwood is gay.  That's him with his husband, Dr. Jake Deutsch.  They currently live in New York.

Atwood loves high heels, and I mean high, like the ones above.  He also loves nude men, and he likes to combine the two in his ads.  This is model Aurelian Muller helping to attract attention to Atwood's 2012 line of shoes.

Here's a black high-heel boot, part of his 2014 collection.

In 2015 he held an event publicizing his book called Pumped, a coffee table book with photos by Tony Duran.  This annoyingly choppy video was released to promote the event.

This is one of the photos in the book (disclosure – it was a bit dark, so I brightened it).

Another photo from the book.  

Yet another photo.  Are we beginning to see a theme, nude men in high heels?

Another nude man from Pumped, holding the shoe instead of wearing it.

A variation on the theme.  Atwood posted this on his Instagram site, with the caption, "Is that a pump in your pants, or are you happy to see me?"

Atwood continues to use the combination of high heels and nude men.  This photo is from 2017.

We close with this quote from Brian Atwood on his Instagram site.

Events - Part 34

 Mr.  America - Part 2

We continue our look at Mr. America winners.  Contestants wear skimpy briefs but are not nude.  However, many of the winners, understandably proud of their bodies, have posed nude outside the contest.  Above, Dick DuBois was Mr. America 1954. I got the photo from Men From Back Then.  Thanks, James!

Ray Routledge was Mr. America 1961.  I got this photo, taken by physique photographer Dave Martin, from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!

For several years, the IFBB (International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness) held a competing contest, also called Mr. America.   Larry Scott was Mr. America 1962 in the IFBB contest.

Reg Lewis was Mr. America in the 1963 IFBB contest.

Returning to the original contest sponsored by the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), Chris Dickerson was Mr. America 1970.  He poses nude in the video above.

Jim Morris was Mr. America 1973.

Some of you may prefer this view of him.

Tony Pearson was Mr. America 1978.

Next time: Mr. Universe.  Stay tuned.

Vintage Military - Part 36

 World War II - Iwo Jima

As U.S. forces continued advancing toward Japan, Japanese resistance became more ferocious and fanatical, fighting to the death rather than surrendering.  The next island targeted by Admiral Nimitz' forces was Iwo Jima, twice as close to Japan as Guam.  The battle raged from Feb. 19 to Mar. 26, 1945.

Above, Marine Sgt. George Wetzl of Little Falls, Minnesota gets clean during a lull in the fighting.

LIFE war photographer George Silk accompanied and photographed the U.S. troops on Iwo Jima.  Here's a shot of some bins being used as bathtubs by the troops, part of a photo set called "Fighter Pilot."  These photos were not published in the magazine.

In the same quonset hut, Silk photographed the pilots getting massages.

Now, turn over.  Ahhh, that feels good!

From a Marine's personal photo album, we see a fellow Marine showering with "hot sulphur water."

We end with a short video clip from the National Archives showing Marines bathing in hot springs on Iwo Jima.  I'm guessing these hot springs were the source of the "hot sulphur water" for the shower in the previous photo.

Casualties on Iwo Jima were horrendous.  Nearly 7,000 Americans died and 20,000 were wounded.  Of the Japanese, only 216 were taken prisoner.  All the rest, an estimated 18,000 men, died in combat or committed suicide.

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If you're an unashamed male and you have photos of yourself or your male buddies naked in the military that you would allow me to use in my blog, please email them to unashamedmale@gmail.com. I'll keep you anonymous if you want. Don't send photos that you found on the Internet. It's you I'm interested in! Thanks. -Larry

Not the Same Old Song - Part 24

 Why Don't We Do It in the Road?

The 1968 Beatles song "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?," released on their White Album, was an obvious candidate for this series.  What makes my version not the same old song as the original is the gender of the participants.

"No one will be watching us," sings Paul McCartney.  No one except that passing bus or train with someone shooting a video through the window.

College Streaking - Part 35

 Princeton Nude Olympics

For years, Princeton had a tradition called the Nude Olympics.  It started before the 1974 nationwide streaking fad.  In 1969-1970, the first year of coeducation at Princeton, sophomore John P. Leidy, Jr. was known for streaking through the courtyard of Holder Hall, a dormitory quadrangle.  Other students joined him in races dubbed the Nude Relays.

By the 1980s it had become a tradition that on the night of the first measurable snowfall, sophomores would run naked around the courtyard of Holder Hall and would also throw snowballs and do calisthenics and pushups.  They called this the Nude Olympics.  The undated photo above shows students running in the courtyard, some painted with stripes to evoke Princeton's mascot, the tiger.

Above, students doing pushups in the snow in January, 1984.  These photos are all from the student newspaper The Princetonian.

Despite Princeton having been coed since 1970, only male sophomores participated in the Nude Olympics.  Apparently the women considered it too sophomoric.  Here's a group of Nude Olympians in January, 1987.

Here they are January, 1989.

The Nude Olympics bore no relation to the real Olympics.  This was not a contest or competition; it was just guys having fun.  Some more pushups in the snow on Jan. 8, 1991.

Over time, a few women joined in, though the crowd was still overwhelmingly male.  Also, it became an occasion for heavy drinking.  In the 1992 Nude Olympics, above, drunken naked students ran into town and broke a window at a restaurant, causing the police to get involved.

For the next couple of years, the Nude Olympics were much more restrained.  Above, students doing pushups on Jan. 4, 1994.

Nude Olympians in the Holder Hall courtyard on Jan. 9, 1997.

Eventually the rowdy behavior returned.  During the Nude Olympics in January 1999, above, ten students required medical attention for alcohol consumption and injuries.  Out of concern for student health and potential liabilities, the university banned the Nude Olympics, and it has not been held since.

We end with a video clip of the Princeton Nude Olympics, part of a "video yearbook" of the class of 1986.  The video is not great quality since it was taken at night.  We see the students in the courtyard doing jumping jacks and pushups, playing "wheelbarrow" with each other, and generally celebrating being naked.

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If you're an unashamed male and you have nude photos of yourself or your male buddies streaking that you would allow me to use in my blog, please email them to unashamedmale@gmail.com. I'll keep you anonymous if you want. Don't send photos that you found on the Internet. It's you I'm interested in! Thanks. -Larry