Ebony Soul 2013-2014 19-Month Wall Calendar; Photographer Anthony Ragland PUSHES The Envelope, Yet Still Maintains A Sexy, Stylish and Succulent Multi-Hued Portrait of Black Men

                                               

Official Website: EbonySoul.net

FINALLY!!!! It's been a looooong minute since photographer Anthony Ragland has released a new calendar of sexy Black men. His last and previous calendar was the 2010-2011 edition!

Unlike most calendars, Anthony takes a different approach by creating calendars that typically overlap from one year and into the next - generally he creates TRUE 18th-month calendars. And by "TRUE" I mean you get to flip to a new model once a month for 18 months!! There's none of that bullshit where some calendars CHEAT by condensing the last 4 months of the current selling year onto 1 page and then turn around and call it a 16-month calendar when it is not, as an example.

I had met up with Anthony (for the first time) and we had lunch at Grand Central Station back in May 2012. He showed me the new calendar, and of course, it was off the chain!! And being a fan of Anthony's work you know I had him sign the cover to my copy of the calendar...

  

Now that we are in calendar season, and the NEW EbonySoul.net website is up and running, I wanted to do this blog entry on the calendar.

As usual, and as I have been saying for many, many years now, Ebony Soul is the PRE-EMINENT top of the line producer of Black male calendars. I like other calendars such as Spirit of Black Men (which is published by the Shades of Color company which, by the way, also produced the previously awesome and now defunct ONYX calendar), Black Men and City Gym Boys, but this time around he really pushed the envelope by having some of the models pose nude -- and no there's no private parts revealed -- yet Anthony's photography once again TASTEFULLY shows his VISION of Black men as sexy, stylish and very succulent! There are too many calendars out there that are really just boring and ordinary especially the nude ones -- NOT EBONY SOUL! Ebony Soul, in my mind,  continues to be the KING of Black male calendar for 10 YEARS NOW!

For the record, Anthony does not pay me to do this, nor do I endorse something that I don't like or not passionate about (especially to my Nubian Knights Network readers)... with that said, out of the 19 models this time around there are a few models with a photographic look by Anthony that exceptionally exude  sexy, stylish and succulence...

ROD's Top 7 Favorites Bruthaz Are: 

RONNIE (January 2013)

I Made This Image Garayscale (Black & White)

But It Is A Color Image In The Calendar

 ARTHUR (August 2013)

The Loose Belt, Shirt & Blue Sky

Really Make This Image Stand Out

 WALT (September 2013)

What Can I Say? - WALT Is Just Exuding Succulence...

 CROSS (October 2013) 

WOW! Can I Have a Pair Of Those Plum Colored Undies???

 WILSON (December 2013)

Wilson Is Tied With Dwight As My TOP, TOP Favorite.
AAAHHHHH!!! Book Reading...

 KENIKA (April 2014)
This Image Was More About The Photography For Me

Than The Model Because of The Sepia Tone Look

And The Water Streaming From The Showerhead

And The Streams & Beads Of Water On KENIKA's Body

DWIGHT (July 2014)

 IF I Had To Make A Hard Choice

DWIGHT Would Be The Top Winner Here

ULTRA SEXY & SUCCULENT

The Ebony Soul 2013-2014 19-Month Wall Calendar

is 12" x 12" in size and is available for $19.99 by clicking below at

 

OR

++++++++++++++++++++++

Other Black Male Calendar Considerations...

Spirit of Black Men 2013 Wall Calendar 

(12" x 12" - 12-Month) 

 

Click Image To Purchase

 

Black Men 2013 Wall Calender
(12" x 12" - 12-Month)

Click Image To Purchase

City Gym Boys 2013 Wall Calendar

(12" x 12" - 12-Month)

Click Image To Purchase

 

Spirit of Black Men (SBM) 201012-Month Wall CalendarMy Black Male Calendar Collection (80+)

Chris! Mr. June Pin-up Model For SMB 2010

Aiiight Y'all, The latest calendar in my Black male calendar collection that I just got is Spirit of Black Men (SBM) 2010. SBM is published every year by a Black owned company called Shades of Color.

This is their About Us mission statement:

Shades of Color is a Black Owned business dedicated to bringing you the highest quality African American products available. The company was started in 1995 as a means of filling the void that existed within the calendar business. Our mission is to bring positive images of African Americans to homes and offices everywhere.

So, with this purchase it pretty much completes my collection of 2010 Black male calendars. Unless some other Black male calendar(s) pops up unexpectedly, I don't expect to get any more calendars until the 2011 Black male calendars start rolling out next August of 2010.

Coincidentally, the later part of the summer each year is when the calendar publishing industry begins shipping the succeeding year's new calenders.

For y'all following my calendar blog entries, I previously reviewed and showed pics to the Ebony Soul 2010 18-month calendar and the City Gym Boys 2010 16-month calendar which are some of the highest quality Black male calendars out there (as a total package). These calendars are published every year (Ebony Soul every year and a half because they do 18-month calendars). On average I would place SBM in third place behind the two aforementioned calendars, but standings can fluctuate from year to between them except Ebony Soul which remains exceptionally in 1st place in my opinion every time they launch their product.

My purchases usually average about these 3 calendars per year but can be much more as there are always independent calendar publishers who pop up out of no where with a nice calendar product. Because SBM can be inconsistent from year to year I don't always get it. But this year's calendar is stronger than average. Davide is the photographer who draws the assignment almost every year to photograph these bruthaz. Some years he doesn't do it.

So, SBM 2010 is a standard 12-month calendar. The page preceding January 2010 has the standard mini September, October, November and December 2009 that a lot of calendars "cheat" on. (See picture below.). I say "cheat" because some calendars like Ebony Soul give you September, October, November and December as 4 separate wall hanging pages which I LOVE, and shows a dedication to the customer and it separates oneself from the typical calendar pack.

Mini September, October, November and December 2009 "Cheat"
On One Page As Opposed To Each Month Having It's Own
Wall Page Hanging (It's Typical On Most Calendars Though);
Pictured Again Is The Model Chris

Below I took some pics of my favorite sexy brutha models to show y'all. Click the pics to enlarge them...

Dimitrius, Mr. January 2010





Derek, Mr. February 2010





Marshall, Mr. April 2010-
Definitely My Favorite Brutha In The Entire Calendar.
I LOVE The Way Those LIPS Of His Are Pursed.
What A Beautiful Brutha.





André, Mr. July 2010





Terrance, Mr. August 2010
-
Great Picture!
Davide (The Photographer)
Has a Too Familiar Pattern Of Having His Models
"Crouching" Over Too Much.
It Works For This Model Though.



AND LASTLY...



Omatayo, Mr. November 2010
-
Hmmmm... He Definitly Gives Marshall (Mr. April)
A Run For The Money.
Definitely A Cutie And Has A Really Nice Name, Too.

So, overall I really like this year's Spirit of Black Calendar. I give this year's calendar 4 stars out of 5. Excellent!

PLEASE SUPPORT BLACK BUSINESSES! I had a Black owned business called Sister's Uptown Bookstore & Culture Center in Harlem, NYC (1942 Amsterdam Avenue, on the corner of 156th Street & Amsterdam; "C" train to 155th Street or #1 train to 157th Street; either train is a short 2 block walk) order the calendar for me. I think they still have a few in stock. You can call (212) 862-3680 and ask for either sistah Tracy or sistah Janifer and reference my name (ROD) and ask for the calendar. It retails for $14.95.

If you can't get to the bookstore or don't live in NYC then you can order it from another Black owned on-line business called CushCity.com (direct link to calendar web page) - I have ordered from them over the years and they are a reputable and reliable online Internet resource. So you can shop Black with confidence from them.

Shades of Color, the Black owned calendar publisher I mentioned before , (direct link to web page) has it as well.

Amazon.com's merchants also have it.

Happy eye candy!!

Janifer Wilson (pictured right), Store Owner of
Sister's Uptown Bookstore & Cultural Center

1942 Amsterdam Avenue
call (212) 862-3680

City Gym Boys (NYC) 2010 16-Month Wall CalendarThe Day After (LOL!) & The Latest Addition ToMy Black Male Calendar Collection (80+)

Hey Y'all,

I didn't expect to be reporting back to soon with another blog entry on calendars! However, this came in the mail today and so I took some quick pics to show ya. Besides Ebony Soul calender, City Gym Boys is my second most favorite calendar. This is the City Gym Boys 2010 calendar and it is a true 16-month calendar that runs from November 2009, all the way through 2010 and two additional months of January and February of 2011. So that's pretty qool!

The Calendar For Each Month Is Not Too Functional
In Terms Of The Clarity/Size Of The Monthly Dates.
However, If Eye Candy Is All You Care About,
And That's Mostly What This Calendar Is Designed For,
No PROBLEMO! LOL!

This calendar, unlike the Ebony Soul 2010-2011 calendar is not as functional in terms of using it as a date planner; meaning, the dates for each month are small and each of the 16 monthly calendars itself take up only 25% of the calendar space (see picture above) when extended and hanging on the wall. The other 75% of the calendar is taken up by each of the 16 models/body builders. All previous City Gym Boys calendars have pretty much followed this method. Like I can't use the 2" x 1.5" yellow sticky post-it notes which helps me organize the things I need to do in life (appointments, events, etc.) on this calendar like I can with the Ebony Soul calendar. In essence, this calendar is really meant for pure eye candy unless you have the calendar very near to your work space, computer desk or wherever and then you can see the dates more clearly. It's not a problem for me though; eye candy is phine in this instance. I typically have 3 or 4 Black male calendars hanging up in any given year anyway, so one of them usually fits my post-it note needs.

What I definitely LOVE about this calendar is if you look closely at the pic above (click on it to see the bigger version), in the lower right hand corner it shows the flag of the ethnic background of the model. This is true for each month. All the models have an African heritage or Latino heritage background.

Background wise, City Gym Boys is based here in New York City and they are a collecive of twenty-something Black and Latino men. On their website under "About Us..." it says:

City Gym Boys is an elite team of natural bodybuilders from the inner city dedicated to mentoring young men and women on the lifelong benefits of fitness and exercise.

City Gym Boys was founded in 1997 by owner Charles La Salle to reach young men and women in the New York City area. "Our mission is to help eliminate the onset of obesity, particularly among African-Americans and Latino’s in the inner city, by getting teens hooked on working out. If we can get 15 to 23 year olds to make fitness a habit, then we are on our way to reducing diabetes and heart disease", says La Salle.

Joel

City Gym Boys travels around NYC as well as around the United States for different functions and events. As a same gender loving brutha who has been to three of their functions over the years, I can tell you that 90 to 95% of the crowd at these various functions are women, who also get autographs. Despite that, I have gotten my calendars autographed. And yes, there is this subtle dynamic and curiosity of why this tall 6'-3" and relatively masculine Black man (ME) is asking for an autograph. The fellaz are always polite and never disrespecftul. However, they have been to some Black Pride events here and there such as Washington, DC and they will be at Atlanta Black Pride 2009 next month (I believe) for the Labor Day weekend. So they should be used to the SGL experience, I suppose unless some are down low themselves.

Kwame

Rome

Yusef (aka Da Prince)
Is By FAR MY FAVORITE City Gym Boy!
HIS ASS IS PHINE! Fo' Real! LOL!
His Arms Are Leaning on Me! LOL!

Of all the City Gym boys models, Yusef (aka Da Prince) is by far the best looking one. Case in point, when I went to one of the City Gym Boys parties they had last year in NYC (see pic below), all the models came out one by one and all the women were cheering. But man, when Yusef came out, he got a really huge round of applause and loud ass screams from all the women in the joint! It was crazy.

The pic below is from last year's party event. I bid, then bidded again, and then outbid some girl to finally win the framed City Gym Boys print. While shooting the event myself, I met and chatted with the photographer who shoots the calendars for City Gym Boys as well as the framed picture I won. Everybody who won an auction piece took pictures as part of a publicity campaign. I quickly gave the photographer who shoots the City Gym Boys my Nikon D200 DSLR camera and had him shoot a few pics for my own collection which you see below!

It took some real courage for me to bid in the auction (as I was the only guy who did so) and stand there for publicity stills afterward. But I needed to stand in my own light and authenticity and enjoyed da boyz as much as the women did (without al the screaming, of course, LOL!).

Charles LaSalle, the president of City Gym Boys had the mic at oem point and asked the crowd to give all the auction winning folks a round of applause, and so I ("BIG ROD") had his name called out and was shown LOVE by the audience and the other City Gym Boys with claps of applause. That felt good! It shows that Black SGL folks can be visible!!!

I Bid And Won One Of The Auction Pieces
NO! Not The City Gym Boy Standing Next To Me,
The Framed Picture! LOL!
(June 4th, 2008)




At Home With My Auction Piece The Next Day

Overall, I rate this City Gym Boys calendar 4 stars out of 5. A bit tad higher than Ebony Soul calendar which is saying a lot.
You can click the very first pic at the top of this blog entry if you're interested in buying the City Gym Boys 2010 calendar or click here: City Gym Boys 2010 Calendar. If you wanna view the pics I took from the City Gym Boys parties they are in thebe two photo albums below with music (turn ya speakers on!). Just click on whichever photo album you wanna view:

City Gym Boys @ T-New York Lounge (10 Year Anniversary Party) - 2007

City Gym Boys 2009 Calendar Release Party and Boys & Girls Club of Harlem Benefit [6-4-2008]

Ebony Soul 2010-2011 18-Month Wall CalendarThe Latest Addition To MyBlack Male Calendar Collection (80+)

Hey Y'all!

Well, it's August and you know what that mean??? It means it's that time of year when new calendars traditionally begin launching for use for the next year. I have been collecting Black male calendars as a hobby for about 9 years now. I have a total of 81 Black male calendars in my collection! YES! I AM A SERIOUS COLLECTOR! YA HEARD! LOL!

Can't You Tell I'm A Happy Camper! LOL!

There are awards given out for best calendars (I forget what they are called) and Anthony Ragland is a 4-Time World Award Winner for his Ebony Soul calendars over the years. And if I had to give out awards myself there is no question that I'd give one out consistently to the Ebony Soul calendar series. It is by far my favorite and best produced calendar hi-liting Black men: from the selection of Black bruthaz, to the posing/directing of the bruthaz, the composition/framing of the bruthaz to the situations/locations. The only thing I'd say is missing is a lack of Black history almanac vignettes that could be added to the boxes on particular days where folks can get at least a weekly dose of our African heritage. KWANZAA is included though.
The Ebony Soul calendar series is produced by the photographer on the project - Anthony Ragland himself. This brutha has a nice eye and I LOVE his work!! As I mentioned before, Anthony has a knack for selecting good lookin' bruthaz.

AH! Gotta LOVE It!
Excellent Art Direction Layout On The Back Cover!

Not only that, Ebony Soul is the only regularly published Black male calendar that consistently produces a TRUE 16 or 18-month calendar. That means there are 16 or 18 individual bruthaz featured for each month. Not that crap where a calendar features the last 4 months of the existing year on one page (and is too small to be functional anyhow), and then features 12 bruthaz going into the next year. Some calendar producer calls this a 16-month calendar when, Uhhhh... NO!

Michael (February 2011) Lookin' Mad Guud and Sexy!

Overall, I give the Ebony Soul 2010-2011 calendar 3.5 stars out of 5 this time around. It's not 5 stars this time because the situations/locations and model direction shots aren't as good as the two previous calendars before it. However, Anthony has definitely got daring and gone risque for the first time with some nude shots (but you don't see genitals or butt), yet keeps true to his artistic integrity and didn't fall into a crude soft-porn category! (THANK YOU, Anthony!) Nevertheless, I have and LOVE the calendar overall.

Julian Is A Mad Hottie!
He's My Favorite Model In This 2010-2011 Calendar
As Well As The Previous Ebony Soul 2008-2009 Calendar

You can click the very first image of the calendar itself at the top of this blog entry where you can order it directly from Amazon.com via Anthony Ragland's website. The calendar costs a little more than most calendars at $19.99 plus $5 bucks for shipping, but just remember it's a true 18-month calendar and will last a little more than a year and a half on your wall. Anthony ships the calendars out USPS Priority Mail (2 to 3 day service) so you'll get it pretty fast.

Another notable calendar that is real HOT and that I recommend, too, is City Gym Boys!

Be qool y'all! Peace!

ROD (aka BIG ROD)




UPDATE (Tuesday, August 25th, 2009):

Hey Black Family,

I sent Anthony Ragland, the producer/photographer of the Ebony Soul Calendars, an email a week ago and I got a response back and wanted to share it with y'all:


Hello Big Rod,
First of all, thank you for your continued support and compliments on our calendar. Your blog was well written and with a great sense of honesty, both with the compliments and slight criticism.

Our goal is to produce a product that everyone will be proud of, not just the models included. We do receive a lot of feedback each year and I include those thoughts in fine tuning our upcoming productions.

Thank you again,
Anthony Ragland
Producer
EBONY SOUL INC.
www.ebonysoul.net