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

QUOTATIONS OF "BLACK"

"Whenever I use BLACK it relates to some history of Africans in that particular place. It’s the idea of the color BLACK as a metaphor, or as a representation of African-Americans. It’s the notion of BLACK- BLACKNESS - and all its other meanings in relation to the history of race..."

- Fred Wilson

"Most of my fortitude to continue doing the work comes from the moral outrage I feel about the injustices that Black people endure disproportionately daily."

- N. Abdul-Wakil

"In the end, what matters is not skin shade but pan-African consciousness. Loving your complexion, your nose, lips, hair length and texture, no matter what the politics or trends decide, and simply be. That's the problem with us (African folks). We're still learning how to love ourselves. So used to glorifying others and putting others first..."

- Dredlocks Tree

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

City Gym Boys (NYC) 2010
16-Month Wall Calendar
The Day After (LOL!) & The Latest Addition To
My 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]