New Issues of the PHYSIQUE PICTORIAL Magazine, Starting in August, 2017

Physique Pictorial, Volume 42

As if I needed something new and exciting to throw more fuel on my obsession for vintage beefcake (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't know me at all and you need right now to jump to my vintage beefcake blog.), the Bob Mizer Foundation has announced it is relaunching Bob Mizer's groundbreaking magazine, Physique Pictorial, which Mizer published for nearly forty years up to 1990.

"Now, nearly 30 years later, we want to expose a new generation to Physique Pictorial," said Dennis Bell in a press release. "We have volunteers from across the country who are assisting in this endeavor, from design work to writing."

Volume 42 of Physique Pictorial will be published in August, 2017, and includes features both new and familiar to fans of the Athletic Model Guild. Each quarterly issue will feature a spread of a popular Mizer model, with accompanying biographical information. Bell also said the magazine will display profiles and portfolios from up-and-coming, modern-day photographers who have a focus on the male physique. Physique Pictorial will also run regular feature stories that explore other elements of the male physique photography genre. Volume 42 includes the first installment in a series on the history of the building at 920 Larkin Street in downtown San Francisco, California. That building currently houses a magazine and ephemera store called The Magazine, and will be the new home to the Foundation in the coming months.

920 Larkin Street, where I volunteer.

Seattle art director Frederick Woodruff has been tapped to create the magazine’s look. A former creative director for CBS TV, Woodruff created in the late 1990's two popular websites for gay men, Nightcharm and Lurid Digs. "When Den approached me, I was ready to step back into print,” Woodruff said in the press release. “Creating something tangible that people could hold in their hands, put on their coffee table or take to bed with them–that excited me!"

Each issue of Physique Pictorial costs $20. The Foundation’s site will take pre-orders in the coming weeks. Back issues of Physique Pictorial are also available on the Foundation’s site. Everything you purchase there directly benefits the Foundation.

Sorting Denny Denfield's negatives.

I currently volunteer at the Foundation sorting and archiving Denny Denfield's negatives. I've definitely found more than a few interesting images. In August, you'll have the chance to see one of them.

Chris Cornell

I am bummed to hear Chris Cornell has died.

Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike" is likely my favorite song from the grunge era, when I lived in Seattle, Washington. To this day, I play that song a lot–just ask my partner.



Chris Cornell, you will be missed.

Tim Sweeney at Boiler Room Sugar Mountain Festival

Check out this video of my favorite DJ/Beats in Space podcaster, Tim Sweeney:



And these are more of my favorite BIS podcasts:

BIS Radio Show # 877 - Part 2 with Honcho

BIS Radio Show # 871 - Part 2 with Tim Sweeney

BIS Radio Show # 788 - Part 2 with Axel Boman

BIS Radio Show # 688 - Part 2 with Dukes of Chutney

When you click on the Beats in Space name label just below this post, you can listen to more of my favorite podcasts on this blog. I'm currently working on a writing project while listening on repeat to BIS Radio Show # 871 - Part 2 with Tim Sweeney.

Me and Denny Denfield at the Bob Mizer Foundation

At the Foundation before the doors open.

While The Magazine store continues to be fully operational in this building, it is a delight to see the Bob Mizer Foundation steadily moving into its new, permanent home near the corner of Larkin and Geary streets in San Francisco, California.

I happily accepted Dennis Bell's recent offer that I help archive Denny Denfield's collection of negatives, which the San Francisco-based photographer bequeathed to The Magazine, which, in turn, has given it to the Foundation.

Last weekend, I worked through a binder of Denfield's negatives and photographs, identifying models, then sorting by photo shoots.

Sorting photos of Harold Martin

I was surprised to learn from Bell that Denfield and Mizer were not only friends in the 1940's, but accompanied one another on photo shoots. That became readily apparent, when I examined Denfield's photographs of Harold Martin shot in the desert: Mizer took photographs of the same model in that locale.

Sorting photos of Howard Martin on the beach.

Most astonishing of all, however, was the discovery that, in the 1940's, Denfield was at the Athletic Model Guild, when Mizer took this photograph of Gene Eberle battling Don Silvas. I reviewed several behind-the-scenes photographs that Denfield took on set: they show the models posing on a raised platform lit by two kleig lights and a lamp shined through a glass bowl to create the light effect on the wall.

I've never seen another photographer's work shot at the Athletic Model Guild.

Bob Mizer's photo of Gene Eberle and Don Silvas.

Over the coming weeks, I look forward to more discoveries as I archive Denfield's work, which greatly deserves to be preserved and made available to those interested in fine physique photography.

WONDER WOMAN - Official Trailer # 3

A third official trailer for Wonder Woman dropped today.



If you aren't yet a super fan of this superhero, The New Yorker magazine explores in this article her origins and the extraordinary life of William Moulton Marston, Ph.D., the man who created Wonder Woman and said: "Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world."

The film Wonder Woman opens on June 2, 2017.

Jordyn Jones on the Cover of the Current Issue of 360 Magazine

Volume 30 of 360 Magazine is now available at Magzter and Blurb!

This issue features Jordyn Jones, Barbie Blank, Javier Pedroza, UPRISE aka "Angry Women," A Group Exhibition of Female Artists, and more.

In this issue, actress/singer Jordyn Jones discusses how dancing and music have affected her life, what it was like to meet the Jonas Brothers, the sort of music she wants to sing, and which directions she wants to steer her career in show business.

"Say Something Loving" by The xx

I'm a bit obsessed with The xx's new song, "Say Something Loving."

Michael Klassen's Book, Hippie, Inc., and My Pal, Penny DeVries

Hippie, Inc.

As the love child of flower children in San Francisco, California, I have always had a strong connection to the hippies living in the 1960's in the Haight.

My pal, Penny Devries, was one such hippie, though she and I didn't meet until the 1990's. Penny has great stories about herself and the people she encountered while living in the Haight, then later in communes.

Not too long ago, she'd told me that Michael Klassen had reached out to her for her take on what it meant to be a part of that subculture.

In his new book, Hippie Inc., Klassen discusses the astonishing transformation that the subculture has had on businesses and the global economy over the last five decades.

Penny DeVries and me circa 1999.

Penny clearly had an effect on Klassen, as he opens Chapter 9 with this part of her conversation with him: "I was raised to be an object–the pretty girl. I was a homecoming queen, a cheerleader....And my mom's goal for me was to use my beauty to marry well. But after I left home, I just wanted nothing to do with that. I wanted something that would feed my soul. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life at the hair dresser and doing my nails...."