Portrait of a Man with Portrait of a Man

This is a portrait of a man with Portrait of a Man painted about 1544-1548 by Francesco Salviati. The man is BTUSA's Daniel Dobrick. The identity of man in the portrait in the portrait is a mystery but he is "almost certainly Florentine gentleman of high standing." Undoubtedly he is one of Daniel's ancestors and an early member of Beard Team USA.

You can see the portrait in the portrait at the Getty Musuem (see http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=906) but you can only see the portrait with the portrait here.

Zach's NY Photo Exhibit

BTUSA photographer extraordinaire Zach Ramey's exhibit of photos from the WBMC in Brighton will run from Nov 29 to Jan 3 at Lottgal . . . Wait a minute, you can read.

There or square.

Calling all Aussies

The Beards, Adelaide's all-bearded band that only sings songs about beards, is recruiting Australia's best beards to join Team Australia which will compete for the land down under (or up over depending on your perspective) at the WBMC 2009 in Alaska.

Unbearded but patriotic Aussies should stop shaving now and plan to join the team in Anchorage.

For more info email Michael at thebeardsclub@hotmail.com. For more on the Beards, see www.myspace.com/thebeardsclub.

Royal advice

"A neatly cut beard is of enormous importance in life, believe me. It produces an extraordinary effect. Look at me. I have my beard cut regularly twice a week and I am certain that a great deal of my popularity is due to it."

According to the New York Times (May 17, 1903), King Edward VII (Queen Victoria's son -- Queen Elizabeth's great grandfather) gave this advice to Sir Edmond Monson. Monson took the king's advice and then rose to the "top of his profession" becoming Ambassador to Paris.

I don't necessarily agree with the king, since I think there is more to grooming than cutting. I would substitute the word "groomed" for "cut" in the above quote.

BTUSA in Nevada

Four members of Beard Team USA pose on the capitol steps in Carson City at the annual Nevada Day Beard Contest with contest organizer Charlie Portia. From left: Charlie, Toot Joslin (former sideburns world champ), Captain Phil Olsen, Joshua Morris (current High Sierra champ), and Matt Guertner (third place, scruffiest, ND07).

No-shave November

It's no-shave November again. During November (or Movember to some -- see below), groups all over cyberspace start clean shaven and commit to growing beards or moustaches for at least a month.

Beard Team USA fully supports all of those involved in these endeavors. We just don't understand why they shave in December, March, or any other month for that matter. As NSN nears its end, we'll try to encourage the partipants to keep working on their beards and moustaches, join BTUSA, and prepare for Anchorage.

Here are links to some of these groups:

The Beard Contest 2007. No shaving from Nov 1 to Dec 20. http://www.thebeardcontest.com/. Contact Rob Freundenberg, thebeardcontest@gmail.com.

Movember 2007. A month of moustache growing in six different countries. Promoting awareness of men's health issues. http://www.movember.com/.

Whiskerino 2007. This one lasts until the end of February. http://www.whiskerino.org/.

No-shave November on myspace. http://groups.myspace.com/noshavenovember2007philly.

Another group on my space. http://groups.myspace.com/noshavenovember2007

Beards Because. Raising money for charity in Charlotte, North Carolina. http://www.beardsbecause.com

What??!!

Look who won the plaque for the blackest beard at the annual Nevada Day Beard Contest in Carson City! My beard isn't even black. I only won because our Sikh friends were late. They were in the parade, near the end. By the time they finished marching they couldn't make it back to the capitol steps in time for the contest.

Secret to victory? Keep the competition from showing up.