Tom Bianchi: 63 E 9th Street: NYC Polaroids 1975-1983

It's his Soul Mates Shopping Catalogue!

Dammit, came to say "So many soulmates". I miss his purple prose. What's he up to now?

R2 I think he’s semi retired in Palm Springs topping muscle daddy twunks?

Is he still alive? Is his website still going? I subscribed once but I got tired of watching the old goat insert himself into the sex.

R4 yeah he’s still kicking at 77

Is that all? I thought he was well into his eighties. Age, not decade.

Here he is at home in PS

I love whichever of you hags dubbed him "Granny T-Cells."

Bowen Yang & Co. did an homage to Bianci’s Fire Island book. The results are in the article.

His house is beautiful.

The husband

I miss DL Fav Bianchi's exploits.

I mean, how can we gauge the changes of season or passage of time without the introduction of a new soulmate?

R12 are there old threads?

[quote][R12] are there old threads?

Are there old threads?

That's like asking if there are old threads on DL about hot actors we think are gay.

I'm sure very few of those beautiful young men in that book were lucky enough to live past age 40.

R15: so true and so sad.

However, at least we still have these beautiful Polaroids. In this one, the guy on the left was truly hot

R16 the guy on the right just had atrocious glasses. Throw some tortoise frames on him and he’s cute

More of the duo

^ link to Tom’s Insta

R18 YUM!!!

Tom is Veiny Eldergay Royalty. He's our QE2!

Did Tom give them all the AIDS?

Their bodies look so masculine, why do guys’ bodies look so strange now?

Natural bodies

In theory, I admire him for retiring from his lawyer career to become a full time photographer. 10 Percent Production and his coffee table books were part of my growing up experience in the 90s. But in the early aughts, I rolled my eyes at all his "soulmate" ramblings that felt like him justifying falling for much younger men. But I do like his aesthetic.

Much like everything else in Greenwich, West and now East Village 63 East 9th Street isn't what it was when Tom Bianchi was there...

R25

"In theory, I admire him for retiring from his lawyer career to become a full time photographer."

There really wasn't much of a choice there, Big Law was no where near as inclusive and pro equality even in 1980's as today. Yes, he could have gone into private practice, worked for non-profit or social justice type of things I suppose.

Is that Rupert Everett in OP's pic?

@R28

*LOL* No!

Most of subjects in Tom Bianchi's Polaroid were tricks or lovers. Good number TB can't even remember their names. He was such a slut then, but so were many others, at least until that bell began tolling.

Living in West Village, East Village and Greenwich Village back then was like a smorgasbord, you didn't have to go far if looking for something, or even if not and it just popped up. TB was a good looking fit young man in his day, not surprising he pulled quality trade.

I have to say it - if that's him at 77 in the pic with the husband, TB has a very well-preserved body.

He photographed everyone's favorite slutty senior citizen David Pevsner, back when you'd enjoy seeing him naked.

A couple more of the guys from r16 and r18 here, the 7th (slight frontal from the guy on the left) and 8th images.

It is interesting to see these men being ok with getting photographed. Back then, there was a much lower chance of people "back home" finding out you're gay or posing for pictures like that.

I wish I had the gumption to make a career change as he did. He loved the work; he enjoyed the men. He was able to work naked; who wouldn’t love that!

I like his early work. It was when men had body hair, especially large bushes. Most men were proud of their body hair back then.

R33

Since Mr. Bianchi kept those Polaroids under wraps for decades there was less reasons for models to worry.

Wonder how many if any of the men pictured are still alive. If they were in their 20's then they'd be late 50's to early 60's now.

Body fascist! And no FTMs!

Thanks r32 for the link

This is gorgeous

The attractive guy was Bob Herr, a Playgirl model and Tom’s lover then

Sadly both models passed away during those terrible years

^ link

Robert Arters Herr was a Yalie!

Bob Herr was business manager for Michael Bennett and was part of intimate circle that accompanied Mr. Bennett to Arizona in his quest for HIV/AIDS treatment. After Mr. Bennett died Mr. Herr moved out west to California.

Yes, Bob Herr was HIV+ but his diagnoses came at a time when new treatments and drugs allowed different outcome than Mr. Bennett. Bob Herr died in 2006..

*RIP* Robert Arters Herr..

R41/r42: thanks for the info. I just knew DL would come through

And RIP Bob

Sad thing is cannot find any sort of obituary online for Robert Arters Herr, not even a death notice. That Yale entry is all one could find. Also only one person bothered to leave flowers at his Find A Grave page. How terribly sad.

Also am having no luck in finding anything Playgirl wise about Robert Arters Herr. Maybe he used a different name?

His Fire Island Pines book is terrific. A real time capsule full of guys I knew (mostly gone) from that era. Tom himself, not my cup of tea. He used and claimed intimacy of a dear friend who was on the cover of his over 40 calendar. A bit creepy.

R46 come again?!

I think I was pretty clear R47.

R48 “used and claimed intimacy”? The claimed intimacy is not ringing, like you’re mad that he said he fucked your friend?

My friend was mad that Tom blabbed all overthe place that he did- like junior high school. My friend was one of the best looking men Tom ever photographed but it never involved sex as a lot of his other work did.

R50 I’m assuming he’s the blonde. Maybe your friend is a whore and lying about it, Dear.

So in plain English, your contending Bianchi said he fucked your friend when he didn't?

you're....^

Bianchi actually has good Christian values and created his lothario & gay photographer image as a way to minister to at-risk gay youth. He’s undercover doing the Lord’s work.

Another one of Bob and friend [i think]

Dear Tom

With hubby Ben @bensmales

Is that him at .46 seconds here?

R58 no

That Ben guy has been with him for a long time.

R56, make fun all you want , but that is an amazing body for an older man.

R61 all natural just protein shakes

Bob’s work is a glimpse into an exclusive world showing the privilege of beauty. His images of these gorgeous men preserve them forever in their prime. Obviously I’ve never met him so I wonder if he’s disdainful of guys who aren’t up to snuff like some men can be.

Who's Bob?

That guy in OP's photo looks a lot like straight porn star Kevin James, who died in 1990.

I wonder if it is.

Yes R33 there was no Tik Tok, Instagram Facebook... back then

Mapplethorpe

Herbert List

Mark Ashkenazi

Leigh Bowery

George Platt Lynes

Bianchi is horrid.

R67 then start a Mapplethorpe thread

Tom Bianchi's photographs always made me feel that there was a gay world I would never have access to because I wasn't pretty enough.

So he only gave some of them the AIDS?

Someone upthread asked for old Bianchi threads. Here’s one:

HISSSSSSS! I HATE her!

Even guys with extreme gay face were better looking back then.

A Classic body of work...a beautiful record for gay culture.

Didn’t he shoot broadways Dan Jenkins under a different name for his on the couch books?

Where are those shots

[quote] Tom Bianchi's photographs always made me feel that there was a gay world I would never have access to because I wasn't pretty enough.

If you’ve got money and/or a big dick they’ll let you in.

R69. Yup. Bianchi did more harm than good. The classiest pornographer.

When I looked at TB over the past 30 years I didn't see a great physique, I saw a body ravaged by HIV.

It's not R65. They do look a bit a like but the guy in OP's pic is better looking.

He must have been the fugliest guy on the street.

One of my good friends in the 90s posed for Bianchi. I saw him in some of the books Bianchi published. He would fly to Los Angeles for a long weekend. Bob had all of his models stay at his home. My friend said he would get naked the moment he arrived at the house, and would be naked the entire weekend until it was time to come home.

He said it wasn't an over-sexual place. It was like a group of friends getting together, and if two (or more) wanted to have sex, you did it, in front of the group or not. The swimming pool was ground zero for the weekend, and Bianchi treated everyone like a king.

He was so matter-of-fact when telling this, as if everyone flew to California and got naked for the weekend. In secret, I was jealous.

He’s a user- a collector. As I said- his work can he quite good. I’ve know several very successful photographers and few are as transactional as he is- I find his vibe kind of gross and would never have been photographed by him. My friend regretted it although Tom took some great pics of him.

It was a clever racket.

What chemicals does it take to maintain a body like that at his age?

TB's post in R39 makes it sound like Bob Herr died during height of HIV/AIDS crisis back in 1980's. The man lived until 2006 for goodness sakes.

Either TB didn't keep up with Robert Herr, or he was just another fragment that wandered out of his life.

[quote] He’s a user- a collector.

It makes total sense after reading r81.

Tom is basically throwing his own hot parties. Parties he wouldn't be invited to because of his old age. It's about being in control and lower the risk of being rejected.

R64: I think r63 meant Tom, not Bob [the model]

R85: that’s what I thought too re:

[quote] TB's post in [R39] makes it sound like Bob Herr died during height of HIV/AIDS crisis back in 1980's. The man lived until 2006 for goodness sakes.

I noticed over the years his visiting friends alway stayed fit but they got older and slightly less handsome. Wouldn't it get kind of aimless and tired, living like that in your seventies? Don't you just want to put on a pair of shorts and a polo and not take the day's Viagra? I like sex as much as anybody who likes sex at normal levels but even I accept there will come a point it's a pleasant memory not a daily routine.

Life’s a Party

His photos have that Malone, depressing, saccharine, vanished-in-the-Everhaed-baths feel.

R34- I have a FULL Bush

R9- NONE of the guys in that photo would be considered hot 🥵.

Will there be pictures posted from today’s 4th of July naked guys swimming party?

R81, Did your friend catch anything from these friendly get togethers?

(quote0 What chemicals does it take to maintain a body like that at his age?

The early AIDS drugs tended to drain the fat from the legs and arms. The guys who lost all that healthy fat to AIDS never recovered it, especially in the limbs and face.

I’ve looked at the Playgirl archives from the 70s and early 80s and can’t come up with Bob Herr under that or another name (it’s a dirty job but someone has to do it). Is it possible that TB is misremembering which gorgeous young playmate of his appeared in the magazine? There must be 1000s of them.

Does Tom still have his original hips?

Dazspanziani in R90's pic can get it.

Bravo r97 for your hard work

R99: yes Mr Darren SpazianI is attractive, and the appeal is further enhanced by his job as Artistic Director Leather Goods Women+Men+Travel @louisvuitton

Shiny botox forehead on D Spaz.

Yeah, but he doesn't look a day over 37.

^ Lolz but that’s almost de rigueur for anyone past 30 who’s working in the Fashion industry

The big blondie on the right is really hot

Another one of Bob

Fried chicken

some of those links don't work

So no 4th July party photos yet?

Aren't most of Tom's "Models" poz?

R33, um yes...unless someone "from home" visited Tom's apartment, how would they ever see a one -of-a-kind instamatic photo.

Great hair

Bob Herr would have been in his thirties by 1970's, and forties by 1985; either way a fine looking guy.

There really wasn't any rhyme or reason to how things played out back then HIV/AIDS wise. Some were positive, spread to others and are still alive today. Others infected died early on, and or lasted long enough to see effective treatments and pharma arrive.

Really is interesting (or again maybe just sad) how Bob Herr simply seemed to drop off face of earth. Last thing anyone hears about the guy is when he was working for Michael Bennett. One would have assumed that connection alone would have warranted at least a death notice if not obituary.

IIRC Los Angeles county does not publish death notices per se; that is unless family or someone pays for printed listing there isn't anything. Search of Legacy.com doesn't have a death notice for either LA or PA.

R23

Guys back then worked out/kept physically active mostly to remain fit. Yes, you had gays who were into bodybuilding, but nothing like the "muscle Mary" craze that arrived with Chelsea or WeHo boys by 1990's.

Bob Herr represented a pretty good swath of young gay men back then. Guys you'd think there wasn't much their if you saw them in bar or someplace in a suit and tie; but seeing them undressed or in casual attire was like "whoaa Nellie!" Tricking or maybe even getting into relationship was like hitting jackpot!

[quote]Guys back then worked out/kept physically active mostly to remain fit.

The look guys get when they work out to get fit is so much more preferable to me than the 'roided out look. I wish people would go back to that more, it's really very sexy, particularly as guys then end up looking like the best versions of themselves, rather than all having the same, cookie-cutter body. Just my preference anyway. I love variety.

Mid flight

Knew several guys like Bob Herr back in day.

Guys like that could be found at Uncle Charlies in WV among some other places.

They were young guys starting out in their professional careers, WASPs, Ivy league grads, one or more letters in high school and maybe college sports. Kept fit playing tennis, squash, lacrosse, swimming....

Honorable mention for fit older gays goes to Colton Ford.

Fuck yeah!

Older men don't automatically have same fate as females. If they've kept fit all their lives or at least since middle age many can keep it going well into senior citizen status.

[quote]Older men don't automatically have same fate as females. If they've kept fit all their lives or at least since middle age many can keep it going well into senior citizen status.

A lot of men actually get BETTER looking as they get older, in my eyes.

I’ve always thought so

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Ben and Darius

drugs

R124: what exactly are they sharing? TIA!

Pretty messes the lot of them.

who is the husband Ben? Great body….any info?

he's a beautiful soul, i'm sure

[quote] What chemicals does it take to maintain a body like that at his age?

ALL of them.

As a guy who was athletic, and in a big university in 1975, I can point out that the only guys who were lifting weights in those days were the big, dumb muscleheads (a group small enough to be considered weirdos by the general univ. population, almost to the extent of being considered perverts), and the football players, and other team sports players, who all had various weight routines for their sports. There were NO cardio exercise machines, no Nautilus machines, no treadmills, no elliptical trainers, etc. NONE of that existed. I think there WERE stationary bikes, but they were only used by little old ladies. Additionally, NOBODY used steroids except for the aforementioned dumb muscleheads ( it was a "science" that was amazingly simple back in those days). No creatine, no protein powder, or any of the other nutritional mumbo-jumbo relied on by today's overblown, iphone-staring automotons. The Sony Walkman was YEARS in the future. If you wanted to lift weights, there were only free weights, barbells. It ALL started to change after about 1980. Up until then, guys jogged, or played basketball, did pushups, etc. Women walked. I don't think the first aerobics class was invented until the 1980s sometime. Hard to believe, I know. Times were tough.

Of course those things didn't exist, r130. Olivia Newton-John didn't invent them until 1981.

There are only 4 copies left on eBay and 7 copies on Amazon. 63 E 9th Street is OOP (out of print) like the Fire Island book, which now sell for $750-1000 each. Get your copies while you can, looks like a good investment.

That book must be like a memorial now.

An older (a once and still fairly gorgeous) friend of mine posed for him in the early 90's. Shirtless shots, no total nudity. He said Tom was professional and relaxed and of course hit on him. He didn't do it (he had a husband) but was flattered as Tom was "in great shape and a sexy guy". The pics, however, are fantastic, very moody black and white. and he's glad he posed.

R129 And then extensive daily bathing in formaldehyde.

I had that “Out of the Studio” book with all the pool photos like the one at r116. Someone up above posted about their friend who’d fly out to L.A. and hang out naked at the pool with Tom and his crew of studs all weekend being photographed. I wonder which one of those guys he was. Total fantasy stuff for me to have a weekend like that. Anyway a creative boyfriend of mine cut up the book and made a collage of some of the photos. I’d be pissed if I found out that book was now worth $1000, but it looks like it only goes for $20 today.

One of the ones that are still alive I'm guessing R136 unless they lied about having a sexy and fabulous friend.

r136, i recall that book, super hot studs, and very gay

R136 Consider yourself lucky he didn’t pull a Kenneth Halliwell on you.

Or pull a jerri hall

POC represented

Beautiful tan lines

How many of Tom's "models" are still around?

In my experience, most of my friends in the 80s and 90s who contracted AIDS just faded away. Many were embarrassed to have it, and they rejected any social opportunity for fear other people would figure it out. They even distanced themselves from their friends.

So it wasn't unusual to hear someone just fell off the face of the Earth. You knew what was happening, and you tried to say in contact so they knew you were there. I doubt most wanted to have an obituary posted.

Very sad

The ones who ARE "still around" are looking majorly worse for wear nowadays. None of em would stand a chance at attending anymore of eternally youthful Tom's sexy pool parties, that's fer shure.

Great stache

Nice smile [unknown vintage]

Yeah, Tom seems to believe his leathery hide is still glowing with youth and beauty.

Apologies if this pic of Bob has been posted up thread

Hangin’

How do you die of AIDS 12 years after the introduction of antiviral drugs. Do they slowly lose there efficacy? Clearly, they worked for some time.

When you gotta go, you gotta go.

The drugs don't work on some guys apparently R152.

Still at it

That's both sad and disturbing.

R156: Lolz - here’s an oldie to soothe your nerves dear

How are oldies at all soothing R157?

R157: Good art soothes, because it transcends the ravages of time

Most of the guys in those photos were ravaged but not by time.

Given gay culture of late has become so obsessed with muscular physical male beauty, it isn't surprising older gays like Colton Ford and others keep fit.

Like that song says, "keep young and beautiful if you want to be loved..."

Lots of similar guys on The Aids Memorial on Instagram. One of the very best accounts on the app.

Only Connect

Bird watching

E 63rd St: Only 24 new copies left on the publisher site, 28 new/7 used on Amazon, and only 4 left on eBay. It’s OOP like the Fire Island book, which is now going for 750-1k. Might be a pretty good investment for when those last 63 copies are sold.

R165 *63 E 9th St

There's a banality about his work. It wears thin very quickly. The old threads taking the piss out of his blogs were hilarious. I'm trying to imagine the empty conversation between the sex. "Jim and Jay are going to Puerto Vallarta, but then on to Mykonos to stay with Chris and Ryan who paid $4 million for their villa there. Ray and Tom –– Tom of those big thighs that grip so strongly, are renovating in Laurel Canyon, but they plan to flip...." On and on: days and days, and weeks and weeks, and years and years of it. Until the happy release of death.

He does seem that type

Thanks R167. A search on Googoo for "Datalounge & Bianchi" finds at least 4 threads. I'm sure I'll be able to garner some laughs on this kind of tedious, rainy, Saturday afternoon. Yeah, his style is kind of hilarious. It's really just porn draped in some kind of mildly creepy, flimsy sentimentality.

R152

As with many other chronic infections/illnesses; sometimes meds or cocktail of them are no longer effective, virus or whatever causing infection/illness has become resistant to same, and so it goes.

Bob Herr lived for 20 years after being diagnosed. Know of four (now) elder gays who were diagnosed also back in 1980's who still are with us thanks to meds. Larry Kramer was diagnosed in 1988 and lived until 2020, dying at age 84.

We only have that Yale entry as only sort of obituary for Bob Herr, and it merely says he died of "AIDS". That isn't an exact cause of death since HIV/AIDS contributes to but normally infection itself isn't sole cause of death. That event is likely more due to HIV/AIDs related *something*. This is what Liberace's family and personal physicians fought against

First death certificate issued for Liberace filled in by his personal physician simply gave COD as "anemia". Local corner fought to perform an autopsy which lead to world finding out what Liberace and his handlers sought to hush up.

From Liberace's Wiki entry:

" His death was at first attributed variously to anemia (due to a diet of watermelon), emphysema, and heart disease, the last of which was attested to by Liberace's personal physician, Ronald Daniels.[72] However, the Riverside County coroner – against the advice of Daniels – performed an autopsy and later stated that "a deliberate attempt" had been made to hide the actual cause of Liberace's death by his doctors, his manager, and Liberace's entire immediate family. The post mortem discovered that Liberace had emphysema and coronary artery disease from years of chain smoking, but the direct cause was pneumonia due to complications from AIDS.[70][72] Author Darden Asbury Pyron writes that Liberace had been "HIV-positive and symptomatic" from 1985 until his death.[73]"

There’s probably some great data towards answering some of those questions here.

Thanks for sharing that link R162. That really grabbed me by the throat, seeing all those lovely faces.

Of late? Gay culture has always been about keeping pretty and staying young.

R162 That Instagram page is bittersweet reminder of so many young gay men who didn't survive the AIDS epidemic. As a New Yorker emerging as a gay man in the 1980s I was terrified and paranoid of being exposed to HIV and was very selective of my partners and only practiced safe sex. About 80% of those I knew from back then have passed, only a few like myself were among the lucky ones. Going through the posts I recognized five I knew personally.

You whore! Just kidding. Glad you're still around.

R173

While gay culture long has been obsessed with youth and beauty, not every middle aged or older gay man continued (or started) working out and had jacked bodies at 50, 60 or even 70.

Gay men back in day were likely just as their straight peers to have a bit of a paunch if not downright chubby by middle age and beyond. Again, yes gays may have taken better care in terms of grooming and overall appearance compared to straights, but that also varies by several factors.

Many European cultures such as those that are Latin based (French, Italian, Spanish) have some aspect of what Italians call “la bella figura”. This applies to males and females. You want to look good and present a nice appearance period regardless of age to make a desirable impression.

You only have to look at pictures taken at gay bath houses back in 1970's or even 1980's to see jacked bodies were not common across all age groups present.

The "working out" mania did not take hold in the US until the early '80s. Like someone pointed out up above with that Olivia-Newton John video, that's when it took hold. Prior to that, some guys played team sports or had maybe a weight bar at home and used them sporadically. Women would walk, if anything. That was about it for most of the young population, and older people did nothing, except "gardening" or men who played golf, tennis, or racquetball. All those diets and the invention of the panoply of exercise machines to supplement free weights, led to the opening of thousands of gyms all across the country, aerobics classes, intensely body-focused culture, the crazy "science" of steroids and 'nutritional' supplements, etc. It took hold and is going strong after 40 years now. It seems pretty clear that the burgeoning of gay culture in the US in the mid to late '70s led to and fed directly into all of this.

1/3: Tom’s original

2/3: 2022 Muiti-Culti re imagination

3/3:

[quote] fang.nyc Summer is Here and Hotter than ever, and so is our FIRST-EVER Swimwear Collection! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 🌞​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ The campaign was shot in Fire Island Pines, a haven for generations of queer people. We tabbed @gauchecowboy to reimagine @Tombianchi famed Fire Island portraits with a current, diverse and inclusive point of view. Spotlighting Black, Asian, and Latino bodies to accurately depict the gradual demographic shift on the island, and, in turn, positive changes within the LGBTQ+ community at large.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 🌞​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Producer:@fang.guo ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Photogrpaher: @gauchecowboy ​​​​​​​

You all mean to tell me that gay men LIKE hot men?

And then there were none, well, only a few.

[quote]Obviously I’ve never met him so I wonder if he’s disdainful of guys who aren’t up to snuff like some men can be.

Over the last twenty years there have been a number of Tom Bianchi threads, and that has been the frequent story of people who have met him. He's only interested in beautiful male bodies, so unless you have one you're basically invisible to him... unless you're extremely rich, in which case he'll deign to talk to you.

R183 so then what makes him different from 75% of gay men?

^98%

He’s a star fucker

He's a gross dirty old man.

He’s a soul mate!

He's a headache!

He's an angel!

He's an Eldergay!

He takes pretty pictures

He did

Recent work

ElderGays of note

Who are the geezers?

R194: Tom, writers Brad Gooch, Armistead Maupin, and Larry Kramer [noted AIDS activist, amongst other achievements]

R194 Are you sure the bald guy is Armistead? Doesn't look like him at all.

r195, that's Edmund White, not Maupin

Easy enough mistake to make as the men do have similar looks.

Sorry for mixing up Edmund and Armistead

Throwback: 2020

We should all be so lucky

Mr White

Firebrand Kramer

Looking at him now you'd never know Edmund White was once quite attractive.

R204: he was wasn’t he

More from 2009...

Another...

IIRC young man pictured in R207 Interview Magazine with Edmund White was his then partner Hubert Sorin. Now there's a story worth telling, but ended sadly.

Edmund White also messed about with Bruce Chatwin back in the day who was sent onto him by Robert Mapplethorpe. Former arrived at EW's apartment and couple had sex right in front doorway. That's what passed for gay chatting up in 1970's I suppose.

Edmund White et mari..

See? Mother was right, every pot has a lid.

One more..

Brad with husband Paul Raushenbush and kids

Back in the day

“Mother, May I Sleep with Edmund White?”

I’d sleep with anyone, I’m an unrepentant star fucker

Brad Gooch, former male model. A REAL literary heavyweight...And just imagine Leo Tolstoy skimming Eddie White's tales of sucking off hustlers in the bushes in the dark. THAT's what I always imagine whenever I happen to be reading any of White's elegant gay "literature." It's hilarious to imagine.

While we're on the subject Edmond White was diagnosed HIV+ back in 1985. His then young lover Hubert Sorin packed up and moved in with EW in 1989 believing he would be there to take care of Edmond White during inevitable decline and death. Things did not work out that way...

Turned out Edmond White later learned he was infected with a non aggressive strain of HIV virus, and thus went on living pretty much as he had done. Hubert Sorin was HIV+ (not infected by White), and quickly went down hill, dying about five years later.

Tom Bianchi, Edmond White and others who are part of this circle or adjacent were all "there" so to speak.

Edmund White and Larry Kramer went way back, at least to 1982 in NYC when the latter asked former join a group of prominent NYC gays (power gays if you will) to discuss and deal with HIV/AIDs epidemic. White would go on to help establish Gay Men's Health Crisis.

$8.25 coupon on Amazon for the book for Prime Day. Get ‘em while they last.

Or just download ALL the images on Google Images and forget about it. Problem solved.

R220 is obviously trash and probably has a Chinese take-away menu on her coffee table for guests to peruse.

OT, but Paul Theroux's foul "tribute" to Bruce Chatwin is a class A example of a little number in backstabbing I like to think of as 'the final twist'.

Gross old queens.

Not interested in putting a red cent in the bank account of "A-list," octagenarian party-puff Tom Bianchi, that's all. And yes, ALL the images are right where I indicated. Free. -220.

R223 acne-ridden, pink hair “twink” who doesn’t know how to wipe properly

Bianchi and White make an appearance in this nonfiction book that just came out about Fire Island. Highly readable and with much insight into the arts and culture inspired by and created on the island.

R222

And how!

"Other friends of Chatwin—one in particular—were not so generous. In a startlingly ungracious article Paul Theroux portrayed Chatwin as a braggart and a snob. (Even Rushdie had called him a “gilt-edged name-dropper”). Clearly irritated by Chatwin’s reticence, Theroux broached in print the topic others had only spoken of. “We had met his wife,” he wrote,

but the very fact of Bruce having a wife was so improbable that no one quite believed it…. That he was homosexual bothered no one; that he never spoke about it was rather disturbing"

Bruce Chatwin seems to have ruffled many feathers apparently.

Paul Theroux is your typical embodiment of white straight male privilege.

Only whinier and uglier.

He is

Bruce Chatwin was the most beautiful boy in the world, and all those motherfuckers were jealous because he could have anyone in the world from Adelaide to Patagonia!

I wouldn't go anywhere near that far, but Chatwin was miles better looking than Theroux-up.

"Bruce Chatwin was the most beautiful boy in the world..."

I say, shouldn't go that far; even by standards for British male beauty Bruce Chatwin hardly was the most beautiful anything.

Chatwin was a mythomane. That's fantastic for creating a personal brand, but infuriating for personal interactions.

Someone I know was tasked with sitting nude in a sauna that Chatwin used to haunt, while the BBC puffed smoke into it to simulate steam for the documentary they made on him.

R225, Sad old rancid never was.

The beautiful writer, Paul Monette [1945-1995], shot by Tom

On the couch

The original short shorts

R237 I actually had those same shorts around 1980 and would go jogging in them.

If I'd been around then, R238, I know I would've been looking, haha!

Is he still doing this? He must spend a fortune on escorts, I mean models.

Remember Payphone?

Brad Gooch posted this: I didn’t realize he bore such a resemblance to John John at the height of his beauty

^ link

Does Gooch have a husband?

R244: yes, and they have two kids

An earlier poster said only dull straight guys went to the gym in the mid 70s. Well, in nYC and LA every Ford, Zoli, and Wilhelmina model I knew went to the gym every day. The YMCA gym was like the baths. What guys did not do was take steroids. I joined my first gym in NYC in 1975- European Health Spa. It’s locations in NYC were 90% gay men. Almost all my friends in those days worked out regularly.

did they get into things where the man goes up into the other man?

R247, they invented that.... that's why they took photos, so they could write up the instruction manual after they figured it out.

What’s the matter with Gooch’s mouth? Looks like some kind of palate issue.

Figures a vain douche would become a corporate rat.

Rev. Raushenbush as in Reverend? I don't trust anyone whose name is preceded by a "must revere me" kind of word.

It's Rearend.

It's Rev. as in grifting whore.

Has anybody been on Bianchi's site lately? Is new content added or is he ceasing to work?

Does he still film guys?

Well, he’s not filming girls I can tell you that much.

Some of his latest can be found on Instagram; this one is called’In défense of beauty’

Soulmates

Gross old slag.

R258

Just ewww! Far to icky. But hey, if Mr. Bianchi's partner is happy, guess that's all that matters I suppose.

R260: how about this? Slight improvement?

De gustibus non est disputandum, or de gustibus non disputandum est

Or more simply the heart (or dick) wants what it wants.

Amazon out of stock, 5 left used, only 3 on eBay. Price is up to 199.99 now.

So are they reduced to just photographing themselves now?

And escorts

Do they use escorts because they’re cheaper than models? This sounds like something the modeling union should get involved with and fight or their industry to not be undermined by whores who will be paid less, they’re like scabs.

Tom and models: unknown vintage

Throwback: 2017

He's had more fun than anyone on DL, and that's saying something.

R268, they're all very pretty, but you can just see the one brain cell they share between them in that photo.

He’s just gristle clinging to bone powder at this point.

What a great job, as in R268. I meet up with five great looking guys and I wonder what they look like naked. Bianchi IS going to see these five good looking guys naked, perhaps in minute detail.

I'm in the wrong profession....

R270

Speak for yourself!

Well, Legit models probably aren't gonna want to have sex with two old roid queens.

He seems to roiled out, but he’s attractive in a grandpa way

Latest

Nice box.

Real models will never risk getting lucrative fashion/advertising contracts.

Real models put out

[quote]He's had more fun than anyone on DL, and that's saying something.

I'm not sure how much, to be honest.

I'd love to know what the models are thinking (I know, I'm the last optimist.) I get (intellectually) the thrill of stripping it off and being photographed as a sex object. But photographed by desiccated origami that gives every appearance of expecting to have sex with you? What's the nature of [italic]that[/italic] damage?

He photographed everyone's favorite daddy in denial David Pevsner, so he was never that good.

daddy in denial?

As in he thinks he's still a hot daddy but is in reality more a passable granddaddy.

a grandaddy I'd do

[quote]He's had more fun than anyone on DL, and that's saying something.

You and I have different ideas of fun.

He was toxic. He mashed up the unrealistic myths of gay male beauty and connection through promiscuity and sold them like a pornographer. I've never really been certain whether he was in on his scam or bought into his own bullshit. The photographer Tom Bianchi died today will never been written in the New York Times.

How many of you pearl clutching whores have multiple accounts on sleazy sites with dozens of your flabby, lurid nudes for the world to see...

Hey, Tom.

Gay men posting their own nudes? Well! I never!

Amazon is sold out of the 63E9 book, except two used copies, and eBay only has one for $200

It's a really dark thought, but you wonder how many of his orgy/photo sessions became superspreader events.

Of which disease in particular? He's been at it since Matthew Brady.

Model: Aldo

nice thighs

Tom shooting Hubby Ben shooting a model

One in particular R293, but probably every other one since.

Oh please. Every time Melania walks into a room it's a super spreader event.

r292 posted THIRTY replies on this thread, and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM is about AIDS and other STD's. What is the MATTER WITH THAT? Fetish or homophobia? And he's being homophobic on other threads, too.

R299, trolls just gotta be trolls

Thirst: Tom Bianchi x Tom of Finland

Hubby Ben and friends

Classy

You gotta have a hobby.

Very tan

Having fun

The naked and the nude

I'm in!

Great if you have a sleazy senior citizen fetish.

r309 Trying a new shtick after the dozens of posts on this thread about STDs?

Does his hubby Ben have an actual profession besides backup photographer/occasional model?

The Data Lounge troll farm must always punish gay men for being gay. Tiresome.

Not by Tom, it’s actually tribute shot

The Tom Bianchi Gay Aesthetics is real

@thuusspakezarathustra

^ a tribute shot

Another one with the Bianchi look and feel

@robertandycoombs_

R315. LOL. Not even close.

R316: they imitate his style, minus the beefcake, which I guess it’s kinda subversive in its own way

Here’s another one by @osc.hernandez

Stop with the hideous imitators. They only confirm Bianchi is a real artist.

R318: that’s precisely the point of showing these ‘imitators’, in order to highlight Bianchi’s influence over these younger people

This is a swim campaign in 2022, again done in the Bianchi style

@fang.nyc

PS; and stop telling people what not to post. These pictures are relevant to Bianchi’s aesthetic and should be discussed on a thread devoted to his work

Stalking isn't a good hobby for the elderly R310 try knitting I heard caftans are popular.

The Real Article

Functional Tool

The More the Mary-er

R323 They all look like weathered saddlebags.

R324 Why don't you stay in the hundreds of threads about barely legal twinks, then?

R325 I'm sorry you look like a weathered saddlebag.

^ LOL.

Granted there's only so many ways to photograph a naked man but it's always the same thing, the same set up, the same angles, the same fuck the photographer, the same spunk everywhere (well, less everywhere given you don't shoot as far as you age.) Bianchi pottering around with his big dick hanging out of his thong. Does helping him back to his feet ever kill the vibe? Don't they ever get bored of living in that hypersexualized environment?

More than anything, pity the cleaning lady.

Cleaning boy

What has to be wrong with your eyes to think that guy resembles Rami Malek?

R320

Ageism isn't that appealing either.

Isn't he also supposed to be an awful human being anyway?

I don't know her

Multitasking

Composition

Hubby helps out

In 50 years I see he allowed at least one black guy in one of his photos.

Only because one of his standard white dudes brought him along.

indeed, she's got a "look"

The man in the OP is like Michelangelo's David come to life. Is there more of him?

Tom in his younger days. He worked naked back then, too.

I would be all over that model.

Freedom

This one is supposed to be Tom’s work, but the ‘aesthetics’ isn’t as clearly hmm enunciated

Sluts having fun

Something less personal

Nice looking models

Shower

I wonder how much viagra they are taking.

I wonder too

The original short shorts

They probably have crates of the stuff R347.

Handfuls

those shorts could tell stories

The Gaze of Desire

Is the old guy cranking out new content these days?

^he ain't cranking out sperm, so that leaves him more time for pictures

R354: posted on his Instagram, on Aug 4 2022

Black is beautiful

WFH!

Whenever I hear the name Tom Bianchi - this is what I think of:

Socks

Dude gets around.

Round and around we go

Handy

At swim two boys

Too much of a good thing?

too much is never enough

Can't this old guy keep it in his pants?

He can't even keep it in his own house R367.

Well tanned

New work

These new guys are prostitutes, right?

Deed somvone cawl fore model prostitutu?

Can you imagine Tom bianchi and Melania in the same room,

“ I think i just found my true soul mate, have you found a soul mate?”

“I hhef pre-nup”

In the right surroundings, I wouldn't want to keep it in my pants, either.

This and the FIP book are out of print and I can’t find them anywhere. Help!

I have this book and I bought it since this thread started.

R376 how much did you pay? I can’t find 9th for less than $200 now and FIP is up to $2.5k now.

R377, FIP is on sale on eBay right now for $500. First edition.

It's not worth $200 unless you know somebody in it.

R379 it’ll probably go for what the FI book goes for soon since it’s out of print

R132 was correct, the 9thst book was 30 bucks in the summer now it’s 200

Fucking inflation

Great book, just got my copy

Brad Gooch still looks good.

Is he still a whore?

Whorelina

The actual Polaroid film stock has such a beautiful, dreamy quality that makes these photos memorable to me. I've never seen someone able to recreate it digitally. Everything looks very 'soft' which is hard to do in low res, and the almost purple hue adds a nostalgic, summery vibe. If it wasn't so expensive I'd shoot on it all the time.

I’m sure the guys’ mouths and holes were nice and soft

Hot pictures

I wonder if mister bianchi is having a lovely XMas season

I wonder if he still knows his name. Not that that would keep him out of the yule log photos.

He’s no spring chicken

He's not even a stewing chicken.

Horny old rooster

Beautiful photographs

He seems like a perv.

He’s just really into finding his soul mate

Seems like R396?

I received a copy for Christmas

Say what you will he’s a talented photographer

[quote] he’s a talented photographer

He knows how to remove the extraneous.

Does he still include his own gristled and grizzled body in some photos with the prettyboys, as iif to convince himself we all think he belongs among them?

He knows how to shoot both the ass AND the cock.

Warhol loved the poloaroid images for the same reason, the image created by a Polaroid is an improved version of the subject with most of the natural blemishes left out. Wrinkles, scars, freckles, yellowing teeth, removed.

I used to like Bianchi's work. Now it saddens me.

The mystique is gone.

The 9th St book is now $300, the FIP book is $1000. Wow!

Great photographs. Was he well known back in the day?

I can’t find a copy of either book, are they oop?

They are oopsie.

what happened to this book?

FIP and few other Tom Bianchi books are being flogged for huge sums on eBay and elsewhere. Unless one is so hard up has to have said books *now* I'd wait and bide one's time. Many offering these books are no different than others who believe they have some sort of instant gold mine. If things don't sell they will lower price sooner or later.

Of course one can employ old standard; hit thrifts, book resellers and other usual haunts of second hand goods. You might get lucky.

R411 didn’t you read the thread about how the thrifts are pilfered now. Lots of the good books end up on eBay.

Yes, one is aware thrifts are shit today compared to years past, but there are still finds to be had. If you don't go often enough then you'll never know.

It still happens someone is cleaning house and drops off boxes of "stuff" that contain goodies. Not meant to cause offence but best of that comes from those charged with clearing out apartments/homes of deceased persons. Often many don't know nor really care what anything that doesn't have obvious value is worth, it all gets packed up.

Those flogging things on eBay get good amount of stock still from scouring thrifts, estate sales, and so forth. You're job, if up to it, is to beat them at their own game.

R413 just go where you see a coroner’s van and offer the bereaved to buy their loved one’s possessions?

R411 the FIP/E9 books were made by a small Italian niche publisher known for only doing one run. They’re collectibles now.

Soulmates

How old is Tom?

Damn this book is $300 now!

I should have listened to the collector kweens and bought one then, now I can’t find the pines or 9th st book for less than $350, up to $2k. Apparently they were both a very limited print run. I really wanted the 9thst one too.

Tom just turned 78.

I suppose he's got so many novel viruses and bacteria swimming around inside him he may survive the end of the world.

He still kicking… and cummin?

Who is his current “soulmate”?

His photographs are amazing. I bought one of his books at a gay thrift store in Palm Springs years ago. Been a fan ever since, wish I could afford an original.

Only 3 copies left on eBay. 11 on Amazon. Is it OOP?

Damn the guy on the cover is sexy!

Why is this book so hard to find???

Who?

Exactly, R428.

The photos at OP are hot

Did he fuck his models?

The guys were so natural looking back then. Masculine and sexy, not 6x week gym protein shakes over plucked kweens

[quote] Did he fuck his models?

No, Rose: he chastely held hands with them.

These guys become photographers specifically to fuck the models. Have you seen his landscapes or other subjects? There are none.

R434 well he fucked some hot guys

[quote] [R434] well he fucked some hot soulmates

FIFY

Is he the guy who claimed that every guy he fucked was his soulmate?

$790 at Amazon? No thanks.

R438 holy shit! I saw one for $350 there, cheaper on eBay. Apparently his books were published in extremely limited runs and are out of print now but still in High demand

r15, this is why I still use condoms and prep. Though I'm now 6 years from 40, on the lower side, so approaching old age in the gay world.

[quote] [R15], this is why I still use condoms and prep. Though I'm now 6 years from 40, on the lower side, so approaching old age in the gay world.

If you really think that already at age 34, you're going to have a pretty miserable time through your 40s and 50s.

You need a new attitude.

R441 he needs a soulmate