Wednesday, April 20, 2016

DAVE BUTT

ENGLISH PHOTOGRAPHER OF ORDINARY BLOKES HAS A BRILLIANT LAST NAME
Interview by Gert Jonkers
Photography by Dave Butt
Erect figure in corner
 On Queen’s Road in Banbury, Oxfordshire lives David Butt, or Dave Butt, as he calls himself these days. Dave is a photographer of the most amazingly exciting kind: the naked guys he shoots are just normal guys with normal bodies and erect penises, posing in front of Dave’s camera. He doesn’t care much about tanned gym bodies or retouched photos, and neither do I. I’d never heard of Dave until I found one his books in a second-hand bookstore in Amsterdam. I think Dave’s realistic world-view is a parallel porn dream come true. And I love his name. Dave is 52 years old, and on a Tuesday night in September he awaited me in the hall of Banbury station.


Young man displaying in field
Gert: Is Butt a common last name in the UK?
Dave: No, but it’s not obscure either.
It is such an apt name for the work you make.
Maybe, but it’s not always a practical name. If you do an image search for ‘David Butt’, the first thing you get is a picture of a rear view of Michelangelo’s David.
That’s hilarious!
And Americans seem to think Butt is a made-up name. I didn’t come across the term ‘butt’, for backside, until the early ’80s or so, because it’s not a British word for backside. We say bum. Once I was trying to check my credit rating, and one of the sites refused to give me a rating because it thought I was using ‘offensive’ language. After about four attempts, I thought: ‘Oh, forget it.’
Do all emails sent to or from your account end up in the spam box?
No, because I don’t use my name in emails.
That’s true: you use Suntown Photography instead. Is that also how you credit your photos these days?
Yes, ’cause in a way it’s nice to separate my professional life from my private life.
Why ‘Suntown’? Is that an ironic take on dreary Banbury?
Oh no, nothing clever. I tried to come up with an original name, and it happened to be a sunny day.

Country nude standing
 Okay, so your real name is Dave Butt and you live on Queen’s Road…
I know! Before my ex-partner and I moved in, I hadn’t even thought of it, but friends were, like: ‘How appropriate.’
How did you get into the exciting business of photographing super-normal hot guys?
I’m one of those people who take lots of pictures on holiday, and a friend of mine wanted to get into modeling, so he was, like: ‘Hold on, you’ve got a camera; can you take some pictures of me?’ I quite enjoyed doing that, so I took some more pictures. This must have been 25 years ago. At the time, Athena, the postcard and poster shop, was still very big, so I sent them some of my work. I got a nice note back, saying: ‘Thank you very much, but it’s not what we’re looking for at the moment.’ Then a friend of mine said, ‘Why don’t you send them to Him magazine?’ Do you remember Bryan Derbyshire?
No. Who’s he?
Bryan used to edit Him, and right after the first time I wrote him, he used one of my pictures on the front cover. First submission on a front cover – you’d think that’s the way to go! After that I started getting work published in Him and Euroboy and Buddy and Du & Ich, and then Aubrey Walter from Gay Men’s Press contacted me, as he was interested in doing a book. We did The English Country Lad, and that must have been quite a success, because they wanted to do more, so then we made Young & Hairy and Country Shoots.
When was this?
’96 to ’99. But then things started changing. I was used to sending a bunch of shoots to magazines and they’d pick what they liked, but all of a sudden what I was supplying wasn’t what magazines were looking for. Editors started pushing for a particular type. I remember looking at Euroboy and you could have taken the heads off the models and moved them around and it wouldn’t have made any difference. That’s when I lost interest in adult photography. Also, the rules in this country got a lot more relaxed on what could be published, so magazines seemed to be pushing for a lot more hardcore stuff.
In what sense did the rules change?

Lad wanking on couch
 When I started, you couldn’t show a full erection. Well, you could, but it couldn’t rise above 90 degrees. Sometimes you would try to get around it by having a guy lean forward – as long as it wasn’t hori-zontal. In some respect that made it more interesting. These days it’s, like: get it hard, stand there, and click, click, click.
It used to be more of a challenge?
Yes, you had to really work for your image. It’s one thing photographing a guy with an erection or some guys together having sex, fairly vanilla, and another to really shoot in-your-face types of images. I just didn’t feel comfortable with that. I’m not interested in making tacky porn.
But now you’re shooting again.
I am. Three or four years ago I got interested in it again. I made my website and put up my profile on modelmayhem.com and started getting guys emailing me who were interested in modeling.
That’s nice that they contact you. I was wondering: how do you get these guys to pose? Where do you find them? I’m jealous, as I can’t even seem to talk an exhibitionist out of his clothes.
In the old days, I’d see guys walking down the street and I’d walk up to them and say, ‘Here’s my business card. If you’re interested, give me a call.’ Maybe 60 to 70 percent would say they’re not interested. Out of the ones who took the card, 50 to 60 percent would never get in touch.
I imagine you’d need a thick skin for that.
Actually, most guys are flattered that you’ve approached them. I’ve only ever been told to fuck off twice. Most people are, like: ‘Thanks, mate. Not interested.’
And the ones that get in touch, do they realize it’s going to be naked and erections and the whole shebang?
My card says ‘We specialise in male images’ so those who get in touch somehow have made up their minds that they’re up for it. It’s not fashion work. And when it comes down to the shoot, I say what I would like them to do, but there’s no pressure at all. I just tell them: ‘Do what you’re comfortable doing and we’ll go from there.’ It’s far easier to just go with it and see what happens. It doesn’t always have to end with a raging hard-on and ejaculation. I think once you remove the pressure to perform, most guys relax and will come back to do more work.

Youth with erection
Do you pay them to pose?
Yes. Nominal fees. It’s more of a gesture, as the photos can be published. They sign a model release, so I pay them for modeling.
There’s something incredibly normal and un-beautiful about the guys you shoot. They have bellies and pimples, etc.
They’re regular guys. That’s what I like. I don’t like them to shave their body hair and I don’t like them too groomed.
From the captions on your website, I gather that most of them are straight.
They are.
Why is that? Is it because 90 percent of the population is supposedly straight?
I think once a straight guy decides to do it, he actually does it, whereas I’ve seen some gay guys getting precious about it. I find it easier to work with straight guys. But you can never really tell. Once I was shooting this guy who said he was straight, but he was enjoying himself so much that he asked if there was anybody I could call to join him. So I called my friend, who came over, and they got it going for hours. They couldn’t stop!
Did you photograph it?
Yes. Which wasn’t easy. Getting the angles right is quite difficult, because suddenly an arm or a leg is in the wrong place…
So why do straight guys pose for you with a hard-on or their ass cheeks spread? Is it the money?
They’re exhibitionists. I had one guy who came with his girlfriend, and she sat there for the entire shoot, being like: ‘I don’t like you doing this, or doing that…’ A week later he phoned me up, saying, ‘I’m really sorry for that, but can we do another shoot without the lady?’

Portrait by Gert Jonkers
Is it hard to not fall in love with your models? Have you ever ended up dating one of your guys?
I do photograph guys that I like – that’s the criterion. When I first started, god, it wasn’t always easy, and at the time I was in a relationship and my partner used to think that something had to be going on. On occasion things do happen during shoots – I’d be lying if I said nothing ever happened. But no relationship has ever come out of it. It’s just easier to not get into relationships with the guys. There was this one guy that I photographed whom I liked a lot. We were on the phone with each other for hours, and he used to come over every weekend. Just when I was about to ask him if he wanted to move in, he said, like: ‘Uh, I need to tell you something. I got engaged last week.’
That’s a bummer. I noticed that your LinkedIn profile says you’re a bookkeeper.
Yes. I work for a loan company, but I’ve recently done a bookkeeping course because I have been made redundant three times now. I figure that if I can set up my own business as a bookkeeper and get the photography website up and running, it will make me independent.
How was the bookkeeping course?
I quite enjoyed it. I thought it was fun: I like the detailed aspect of it.
It’s a good job because everybody needs a bookkeeper now and again.
Yes, and they’re about to change the rules in the UK. It used to be that everybody with a turnover of £50,000 or more had to go to an accountant to get their books signed off. But in the future, businesses with less than £500,000 turnover can just go to a bookkeeper. They don’t need an accountant, meaning there’ll be more work for me.
Was it an easy exam?
I’m still waiting for my results. I hate exams – I’m not an exam person. So until I’ve seen the piece of paper saying that I passed, I don’t know.
Wouldn’t you like to make another Dave Butt book?
I’d love to make another book, but for now I’m concentrating on launching the new site. I recently started a blog page, which seems to be what’s bringing people to the site. I’m selling calendars and I’m sorting out a members-only section where people can pay to see the material that in the old days would have gone into a magazine.
What would you charge members?
It needs to be a reasonable amount. $10.95 per month or so? What do you think? I know it’s not hardcore porn. It’s erotic male images. I think there’s people out there who like their photography slightly softer. I notice that with the calendars I’m making: people seem to buy the least hardcore ones.
You’re also selling postcards. They’re nice, but who buys postcards these days? Is it a business?
Not at all. Well, some people collect them.
Do you still send postcards?
I do. Not as many as I used to.
So once you’ve launched the new site, how often do you think you will have new photos on it?
I’ll add a new set of photos each week.
That’s a lot! Well, at least you save a lot of time by not photoshopping the shit out of your models.
I think you should see the guys as they are. There’s nothing worse than when somebody turns up and they’re totally different from the way they look in the picture they’d sent. I had that a couple of times with models I’d booked, where I thought: ‘Why did you bother sending a photo?’
How did you do it in the analog days? I guess you had your photos printed at a lab?
We had this small camera shop in town, run by a brother and sister. She was in her late 40s and he had retired and he came to the shop to help her. I think they quite enjoyed the material I gave them to work on – they were happy to see some pictures of nice young men. I would go and collect my photos after closing time, and they would go over all the images with me. They’d be, like: ‘You’ve over-exposed this one; beware of backlight; this one’s out of focus…’ They would give notes on my technique, in a purely professional way.
That’s nice. It’s important to have a dialogue about one’s work. Is there anybody that you talk about work with these days?
Yes, that’s why I’m a member of the London Camera Club.

48 FIT, MUSCULAR MEN TO MAKE YOUR TAINT TINGLE

From: Manhunt Daily

West Hollywood, California

Looking to Play

Not much to say besides lets meet and have some fun. Versatile and mild to wild. Love a hairy chest, but not a necessity.

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

1960
Shirley Jones
as
Lulu Baines
Elmer Gantry

Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), and The Music Man (1962). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry (1960). She played the lead role of Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children, in the musical situation-comedy television series The Partridge Family (1970–74), which co-starred her real-life stepson David Cassidy, son of Jack Cassidy.

Aggressive Cop Forces Gay Woman Out Of Ladies Room For Not Having ID

Officers assumed she was male and physically tossed her out.
From: NewNowNext
A video uploaded to Facebook in December is recirculating again this week in the wake of North Carolina’s new ’bathroom bill,’ which requires that transgender people use public restrooms that match their gender assigned at birth rather than their gender identity.

In the video, posted by the page Urban Leak, a person who identifies herself as a gay female is forcibly removed from a public restroom by several police officers who demand to see the woman’s ID to determine her gender.

“I am a fucking female!” the woman yells at an officer who shouts back, “Do you have an ID?”

When the woman responds “No I do not,” the officer becomes aggressive while using his hands and body to force her out of the bathroom and into what appears to be a restaurant. “You’ve got no ID, get out!” he yells repeatedly.

Details of the events leading up to the incident and/or an official statement from anyone involved unfortunately aren’t included with the video, but it serves to show the kind of witch hunt trans people in North Carolina may soon be facing when police are tasked with removing them from bathrooms where others feel uncomfortable with their presence.

Earlier this month, a Mother Jones investigation found that police departments throughout North Carolina are dangerously ill-equipped to deal with scenarios similar to the one above, and in some cases aren’t even sure that policing gender in public restrooms is even legal.

100 Treasured Chests: Hairy Edition

From: OUT
Scott Studenberg
Designer, Baja East

Abe Lincoln And Robert E. Lee Make Out To Protest Anti-LGBT Laws

This is definitely what our Founding Fathers had in mind.
From: NewNowNext
Stephen Colbert delivered his opinion on North Carolina’s new anti-LGBT legislation during his opening monologue on last night’s Late Show, and enlisted the help of two historical figures to drive his point home with a laugh.

Colbert started by acknowledging the spate of musicians currently boycotting the state over the law, which denies transgender people the right to use restrooms that match their gender identity, but disagreed with their decision to pull out of the state completely.

“While I respect those artists, as an entertainer, I believe that it is not my job to deny you my talents,” he said. “I believe it is possible to use the magic of television to bridge our differences. I mean, for Pete’s sake, after the Civil War great figures like Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee believed this country could come together. That’s why I will never withhold this show from anyone.”
As he speaks, two men dressed as Lincoln and Lee walk on screen, shake hands, and after a moment of gazing into each other’s eyes, lean in for a wild and intense makeout sesh.

“I believe we must find common ground,” Colbert said as the men start making out more aggressively to the audience’s delight. “And hold firm to those things that united us all. We must cling to each other passionately and really, really just go for it.”

Check it out below:

A Cher Musical Is Working Its Way to Broadway

The Dark Lady and the Great White Way—together at last!
From: NewNowNext
 Get ready theater queens: a musical about Cher’s life is inching closer to Broadway.

The icon herself has been itching to get her story onto the stage for several years, and met with veteran writer Rick Elice to discuss some ideas. Now, the New York Post is reporting Elice is finally turning in a first draft of the script next month to producer Jeffrey Seller—who produced a little show called Hamilton. (Maybe you heard of it?)


 “They may pack me in a van and have me carted away when they see what I’ve done with her life,” teases Elice, who has penned the libretto for hits like Peter and the Starcatcher and Jersey Boys. “Or I’ll start doing what [“Gypsy” writer] Arthur Laurents always said about musicals, ’They don’t get written. They get rewritten.'”

The hard part of the job, he says, is finding new elements about one of the most famous women on the planet.

“Her life is so wildly documented. There is not much we don’t know about her. I was not a fanatical Cher fan, but when I started working on this show I was surprised at how much I knew.”

According to the Post, the musical will incorporate hits like “I Got You Babe,” “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” and “Believe” and “will take audiences through Cher’s life as a child, as the wife of Sonny Bono, and as the woman who finds success—and legendary status—on her own.” Three different actresses will play the singer at various points in her life.”


 We’re devastated that rumors about Cher actually appearing in the show have been dispelled. One only time she appeared on Broadway was in the stage version of Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean in 1982.


Elice was forced to stop work on Cher: The Musical last year to tend to his husband, acclaimed actor Roger Rees, who was dying from brain cancer. Rees passed away in July and, three months later, Cher called and urged him to get back to work and invited him to spend time with her in California.

“I thought, if Roger were here, the first thing he’d say is, ’Get on the plane and go to Cher’s house already!’ I mean, if you’re going to rejoin the human race, why not do it with Cher?”

Olivia Newton-John! Ranking Her Essential 67 Songs

From: NewNowNext
46. 
DEEPER THAN A RIVER 
1992
Written by Diane Warren for Back To Basics, it reached the top 20 on the AC chart.

50 Businesses That Have Supported The LGBT Community

From:  Huffington Post
Who companies and their CEOs are (or aren't) looking out for (ahem... Chick-fil-A....) is something we want certainly want to be aware of when we plunk down our hard-earned money at the cash register.

So, with the holiday shopping season upon us, we're offering you this handy dandy guide to some businesses that have publicly vocalized their support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Apple
After the repeal of a major section of DOMA, Apple released a statement informing the public that, "Apple strongly supports marriage equality and we consider it a civil rights issue. We applaud the Supreme Court for its decisions today."

Apple also reportedly expanded their insurance options for employees in 2011 to cover gender confirmation surgery.

48 GUYS YOU MIGHT POSSIBLY WANT TO FUCK

From: Manhunt Daily
Quinta de Santo António, Setúbal District, Portugal

"I Had Fun Once. It Was Awful"

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!"

24 Times Drag Queens Perfectly Described How High You Are

Happy 4/20, Squirrelfriends!
From: NewNowNext
 It’s 4/20, the High Holiday for those who get high. And while we’d never encourage the use of illicit substances, you all live in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state or DC, right?

So in the spirit of the day, we’re recounting two dozen times the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race perfectly described how blazed you are.

Grab your Cheetos, pop a squat and chill.




1
The “Paranoid As Fuck” High

No one’s coming for you, girl. Be cool.

43rd Daytime Emmy Awards - Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team

And the nominees are:
The Bold and the Beautiful
CBS
Head Writer
Bradley Bell
Co-Head Writer
Michael Minnis
Writers
Rex M. Best, Shannon Bradley, Adam Dusevoir, Tracey Ann Kelley, Patrick Mulcahey, Mark Pinciotti, John F. Smith, Michele Val Jean


General Hospital 
ABC
Head Writers
Shelly Altman, Ron Carlivati, Jean Passanante Breakdown Writers
Anna Theresa Cascio, Daniel James O'Connor, Chris Van Etten; Script Writers: Andrea Archer Compton, Suzanne Flynn, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Katherine Schock, Scott Sickles

The Young and the Restless 
CBS
Head Writers
Shelly Altman, Jean Passanante, Charles Pratt, Jr.
Co-Head Writer
Tracey Thomson
Writers
Amanda L. Beall, Jeff Beldner, Brent Boyd, Michael Conforti, Susan Dansby, Janice Ferri Esser, Lucky Gold, Beth Milstein, Anne Schoettle, Natalie Minardi Slater

The 30 Worst Music Videos Of All Time

From: NewNowNext
 #18 
“Wilder” 
Gnesa

How is this unique talent not on a Bravo show yet?


And someone has done God’s work and made a 10 hour version on a continuous loop. Bless them.

BFI Releases List Of The Top 30 LGBT Films Of All Time

From: NewNowNext
27
Portrait of Jason 
Shirley Clarke
USA 
1967

Portrait of Jason is a 1967 documentary film directed, produced and edited by Shirley Clarke and starring Jason Holliday (né Aaron Payne, 1924-1998).

In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Where Are The LGBT “Real World” Housemates Now?

From: NewNowNext
 23
Sam McGinn
 “The Real World: San Diego 2”


Samantha “Sam” McGinn had no problem scoring with the ladies while on the prowl with housemate, Nate. Their relationship warmed our hearts—as did the fact that Sam is also drag king $hawn Jade.
 
Like his fellow cast mate Frank, Sam went on to compete in The Challenge and won Battle Of The Seasons with her San Diego squad. She still performs as $hawn Jade, hosting events around the country.

15 Gay Movies You Should Netflix-Stream

From: OUT
Such Good People 
2014

After their friends die overseas, a couple finds a bundle of cash.

14 Photographs Which Prove That Growing A Beard Changes Everything

From: Bright Side
 Robert Pattinson


Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor, model, musician and producer.

Pattinson started his film career by playing Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a 2005 fantasy film. He later got the leading role of vampire Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer, which consisted of five films between 2008 and 2012 that combined grossed over $3.3 billion in worldwide receipts. Twilight brought Pattinson worldwide fame, and established him among the highest paid and most bankable actors in Hollywood. In 2010, Pattinson was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World, and also in the same year Forbes ranked him as one of the most powerful celebrities in the world in the Forbes Celebrity 100.

In 2009, he portrayed Salvador Dalí in Little Ashes. That same year, a documentary film, Robsessed, about the actor's fame and popularity, was released. He appeared as a troubled young man in Remember Me (2010) and also starred in a romantic drama, Water for Elephants (2011). His performance as a tough, cold-hearted and calculating billionaire in David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis (2012), earned him critical praise. He gained critical appreciation for his performances in David Michod's futuristic western The Rover (2014), in Cronenberg's satire drama Maps to the Stars (2014), in Werner Herzog's biopic film Queen of the Desert (2015) and in Anton Corbijn's Life (2015), a drama film about Life Magazine photographer Dennis Stock and James Dean. He will appear in James Gray's The Lost City of Z, about an explorer who disappeared in the Amazon while looking for an ancient city.

Pattinson composes and plays his own music. He sang in the Twilight film series and How to Be, a 2008 independent comedy-drama film. He is a supporter of ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT), and the GO Campaign, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness and funds to help orphans and vulnerable children throughout the world, of the latter he became ambassador in 2015 to help raise international awareness of the non-profit organization. He is a member of International Medical Corps and has promoted and shared details about cancer through Public service announcements to raise awareness about the disease.