It’s time for something new. For the past five years, we’ve looked inside at the works of one of the world’s most fantastic homosexuals, Mr. Bob Mizer, and while we’ll never lose our love for the King, all of this introspection is getting a bit tedious. So it’s time for us to look outside, to the ever expanding world of gay art and photography, to bring you up to speed with what’s been happening since the posing strap fell. From now on, you’ll get all the same sensational odds-and-ends about Bob and his contemporaries, sandwiched by the works of living, breathing homosexuals, who will no doubt one day warrant the same esteem afforded their predecessors.

To start our little journey outside the studio, we thought it only appropriate to introduce you to some of our favorite photographers of today. Herewith is our list of the Top Five Contemporary Homos With Cameras:

Continue reading ‘AMG’s Top 5 Contemporary Homos With Cameras’

Harry Bush – yes, that’s his real name – was certainly one of the most talented contributors to Bob Mizer’s Physique Pictorial. He may not have reached the mythic proportions of his contemporary Tom of Finland, but then fame has never been a good measure of an artist’s importance.

Finland’s man represents the hyper-masculine and often sexually aggressive, while Bush’s boy is innocence personified, even whilst engaged in the most lascivious of sex acts. His work is meticulously configured, creating in the minds of its onlookers a world of playful, precocious and perfectly sculpted young men, where sex could just as easily be replaced by a game of hop scotch or tag. No bones about it, Bush’s boys are hardly boys, at least in proportion, but they’ve got a decidedly youthful appeal. Despite massive members and sculpted muscles, seen only in the most dedicated and blessed of men, his figures harken back to a point in every homos life, before the seriousness, the sacredness of one’s sexuality took hold.

In memory of the artist, who still possesses the unique talent to turn men into boys, we present you with a gallery of our absolute favorite selections of Harry Bush’s contributions to America’s favorite old fag rag.

Gallery after the jump Continue reading ‘Harry Bush’s Physique Pictorial’

Doug Carter, Physique Pictorial, Vol. 35 Issue 1, pg 11

Those few and lucky souls who’ve had the opportunity to witness the AMG collection in its entirety know that there are some real freaks lurking in Bob Mizer’s portfolio. Take, for example, Mr. Doug Carter. This European-Indian hybrid, who hails from Phoenix, AZ., is an AMG anomaly. There’s nothing particularly special about his face, though it is cute, or his body, nice though it is, it’s not even the tattoos themselves that make Doug standout, it’s their positioning. From what we remember, there’s only one other guy in all of the AMG collection, who sports a tattoo on his cock, and he only went as far as the head. Doug here must have sat for hours while that magnificent dragon took shape on his shaft.

We’ve attempted to decode Mr. Carter’s Subjective Character Analysis, in order to give you a little insight into his bedside manner, but as it turns out, our resources are insufficient. Doug’s code, featured above, is just too complicate to be deciphered with the keys that Mizer left us. Despite the lack of a clear translation, we attempted to work with Mizer’s personal codes, and came up with a close match – “Gay and Proud” – but the lack of brackets at the ends of the two vertical arrows indicates the Mr. Carter was not down for doing it. To further throw a wrench in the works, the arrow sticking out at 2 o’clock, which usually indicates a macho posture, is completely absent from Mizer’s “Gay and Proud” sequence. A glance at the decoy code sheet – used for the purposes of throwing off the cops – uncovers a self-controlled, agreeable, though dominant personality, who is prone to suggestion, very affable, and ambitious. We’re more inclined to trust the former, but we’re going to leave this one to your interpretation.

What does Doug’s character analysis really say about him?

Last week we reported that Apple still sucks. What we didn’t know at the time is, they double suck. That is, Apple’s sweep of “sexually explicit” content – AMG’s Brasil Boys and Beefcake! apps included – is rumored to have come about as a result of pressure from a group of right wing Christian yahoos. The Parents Television Council, a self-proclaimed “non-partisan education organization,” had this to say about its campaign against supposedly pornographic iPhone applications:

Apple is allowing the sale of pornographic applications for the iPhone in its iTunes store, with the content then being downloaded onto the iPhone. Some of these applications are free to children and adults; and links to web sites that lead to even more explicit pornography are also given on iTunes. And even if teens do not purchase or download these apps, Apple provides samples of the pornography on iTunes for all to see. (Click here for a recent article on some of the salacious iPhone apps available.)

Yes, the folks at The Parent’s Television Council clearly have some issues to sort out – most notably their definition of pornography – but the truth is, it doesn’t really matter why Apple dumped a load of content that they already filtered for sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive content. What really sucks about Apple’s great clean out is its bias toward T&A. Yes folks, tits and ass pass the Apple test, but Bob Mizer’s shirtless muscle men are pornographic. While Apple dumped some 5,000 apps containing what they deem to be “overtly sexual,” apps from smut peddlers like Playboy and Suicide Girls are still taking up prime real estate in the iTunes store.

Now we’ve resisted saying it in the past, because, really, we had no proof. But this recent development, and Apple’s possible bending to Christian concerns is definitely a touch fishy. How does the saying go? If it smells homophobic, and tastes homophobic…

A few months back we reported that Apple sucks, well guess what? They still do. At the time, we were red in the face about the company’s arbitrary decision to reject an update to our Beefcake App – a mobile gallery of images that passed even the harshest censor’s standards in the 50s and 60s. Today, we’re a whole lot less shocked and really just over-it that they’ve dropped us from the App Store altogether.

In a polarizing sweep that should surprise no one, the cleanest name in computing, Apple, has reportedly dumped nearly 5 thousand apps from the iTunes store, leaving smut peddlers everywhere scratching their heads. One such smut dealer is AMG. The wholesome folks at Apple Pie computers had this to say about retroactively poo-pooing our PG apps, AMG Brasil Boys and AMG Beefcake:

The App Store continues to evolve, and as such, we are constantly refining our guidelines. Your application, AMG Brasil Boys, contains content that we had originally believed to be suitable for distribution. However, we have recently received numerous complaints from our customers about this type of content, and have changed our guidelines appropriately.

Passing the buck, eh? When all else fails, blame the consumer. Truth is, Apple’s uncomfortable with the idea that sex might somehow taint their sterile image. If they could have, they would have blocked these apps right out the gate. However, at the time, according to a friend of ours who worked in iTunes promotions, the review team for Apple’s apps was made up of a hand-full of people, and the sheer volume of submissions was overwhelming. Basically, there weren’t enough red flags, or referees, as it were, to raise all the red flags needed to keep Apples performance squeaky clean.

We have decided to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store, which includes your application.

Basically, our hands are tied. For now, we’ll be moving on to more expansive mobile technologies – keep your eye out for new AMG mobile capabilities soon – and reminding ourselves that everything’s going be okay. If this was high school Apple would be rocking one of those lame abstinence bracelets and rallying around the flag pole, and we’d be smoking cigarettes and giving blow jobs under the bleachers. Who’s the loser now?

It should come as no surprise that the fashion industry has once again mined the visual language of physique photography’s past to sell over-priced goods in an over-sexed consumer market. Likewise, there’s nothing especially shocking about Vivienne Westwood exploiting homoerotic imagery to sell clothing (remember that Tom of Finland shirt?). So what is it that makes these ads for Westwood’s new line of men’s underwear and accessories so unusual? It’s the combination of these images with the almost invisible message, “Leonard Peltier is Innocent” (lower left-hand corner).

Continue reading ‘Vivienne Westwood, Leonard Peltier & Bob Mizer?’

If your love for Bob and his band of merry misfits dates back farther than Reagan’s first term, than you might be familiar with AMG’s collaboration with the long-running journal of real sex, S.T.H. (aka Straight to Hell, aka The Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts). The anti-breeder, pro-boner fag rag is one of the few publications, outside Bob’s own, to feature the rough trade models of AMG’s later days. Under the watch of both S.T.H.’s founder, Boyd McDonald, and current editor and publisher, Billy Miller, S.T.H. has provided its insatiable readership with real-life sex stories, homo-centric political rants and the best in amateur, artistic and pornographic nudes.

Their latest covers – that’s two, count them, TWO – feature a couple of our all-time favorite rough trade studs, Gerald Oglesby and John Apache. Why do we love these boys so much? Well, there’s a certain volatility to their beauty. Sure, they could be just two gorgeous guys, but take a look at the details and you’ll find these two are true misfits. Gerald, for one, sports an insanely long coke nail and John, well look no further than the stars and bars adorning his bicep. Now we’re not saying that we have a thing for racists and drug addicts, what we are saying, is we love these subtle signs. Like Bob Mizer’s character analysis, they give just a touch of insight into the lifestyle of these otherwise untouchable men.

For more from Billy Miller about the new issue of S.T.H., check out his interview in the new issue of Unzipped and outtakes from the interview on their blog.

The charming fellow behind this filthy magazine is always looking for new submissions, so if you’re a pervert with a pen, send your sordid tales to: STH, BOX 20424 NYC 10023 or email them to sth@straight-to-hell.net (no name necessary).

Rod Garetto had it all – a gigantic cock, a wife and kids, and mustache that could make Tom Selleck weep. He wore a diamond stud in his ear and a tattoo on his bicep that read, ‘Rodney’. His fades were always meticulous and his asshole perfectly manicured – details that made him porn’s go-to Latin stud for the better part of the late 80s and early 90s. According to David Hurles, our other favorite photographer of Hollywood street trade, he a was pleasure to work with, and he wasn’t the only one who thought so. Off that gigantic cock of his, Rod built a massive on-screen persona, appearing in films for just about any porn producer with a pulse. Gay, straight, bisexual – it didn’t matter to Rodney, as long as he could stick in his dick and pull out gold. From Black Salsa, to Lords of Cocktown, he spread his Latin seed over many an ass, and, yes, vag, and made his way into the fantasies of lonely wet-dreamers everywhere. Thanks to the advent of VHS, you could spank it to Rodney 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, and never get thrown in the clink. Rodney was a safe lay – no strings, just a big cock attached to a pretty fine Latin guy, with no queer hangups, who, at the end of the day, had a wife and kids at home in the Valley. He was the whole package and now he’s your Mr. February.

For more of Rod and his rod, check out his profile on AMG Classics, and keep your eyes out for new Rodney updates every week in February.

“Big Brother believes it is essential to tell you and me what is suitable for us to read and see—-apparently we lack the his wisdom and discernment and must not attempt to decide such things for ourselves.” Physique Pictorial October 1964

A little over a month ago we introduced you to S&M homo and illustrator, Mike Miksche (aka Steve Masters). In the post, “Mike Miksche – Closeted S&M Homo Artist, Almost Lost Forever,” we claimed that this brilliant artist was a closeted homosexual, which caught the attention of one of Mr. Miksche’s acquaintances. A Mr. Curcio wrote in to recommend that we amend our original post:

“I knew him during the years he worked as a designer at Raymond Lowey. He was not closeted but he worked in the Advertising Industry and the Art Directors were all closeted. He was a very wonderful man.”

So there you have it, Mr. Miksche wasn’t in fact in the closet, but apparently engaged in a marriage of convenience. In a further development, we found that the advertiser-cum-porn-penster actually contributed to Physique Pictorial. His PP introduction came in Nov. 1961 with the above illustrations. Bob Mizer had this to say about the budding illustrator:

“Steve Masters is a brilliant young advertising artist who does physique work just as a hobby. We especially admire his crisp, masculine style, and will be eager to get your reaction to it…”

At the time, full-color prints of Miksche’s work were given out for free with the purchase of a catalog of his color work.

Grand total–$1.25.

So what can we glean from our newfound discoveries? In 1961, you could buy a Mike Miksche print for a mere $1.25. At the same time you might be forced to marry a woman in order to protect your reputation in the workplace.

Conclusion–inflation sucks, but homophobia sucks more.