October 11, 2012
Celeb Photog's Homage to Local Men Benefits Atlanta Pets
Mark Thompson READ TIME: 1 MIN.
ATLANTA, GA - Brushstrokes, the third-largest GLBTQ store in the U.S., is fully stocked for 2013 with nearly 100 calendars, many of which display 16 months.
There are almost equal numbers of family-friendly and adult calendars in the two stores.
The main store includes calendars featuring TV shows and movies with GLBTQ fan favorites such as "The Secret Circle," "Smallville," "Vampire Dairies" and "True Blood" as well as Madonna's MDMA tour calendar.
The adult store has nude and near-nude calendars from several adult video studios and other calendars devoted to fitness models and handsome men.
The Richie Arpino "Blue Genes" calendar features local models Mark, Logan, Pete, Colin, Jacob, Nate, Max, Brian, AJ, Kevin and Tesh. It is the celebrity photographer's seventh locally-produced calendar. It sells for $15 and all proceeds benefit PALS.
PALS (Pets are Loving Support) is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that loves animals. It provides pet care including free food and basic veterinary care, and support to the companion pets of senior citizens as well as critically ill and disabled Atlantans.
Brushstrokes, a Top 3 gay-owned and -operated retail business, stocks more than 40,000 items including T-shirts, underwear, greeting cards, dance music, DVDs and gifts in two Atlanta stores.
Brushstrokes Pleasures, its adult store, sells and rents DVDs, magazines and books. It has a large web-based delivery-by-post site.
A long-term New Yorker and a member of New York Travel Writers Association, Mark Thompson has also lived in San Francisco, Boston, Provincetown, D.C., Miami Beach and the south of France. The author of the novels WOLFCHILD and MY HAWAIIAN PENTHOUSE, he has a PhD in American Studies and is the recipient of fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, and Blue Mountain Center. His work has appeared in numerous publications.
