'Dudeoir' calendar aims to help CCS

Sexy photographs of men, often gently rounded men, is termed “dudeoir,” an obvious play on “boudoir.” Sandpoint now has its own dudeoir in the form of a calendar featuring 11 mostly generously built guys you would never expect to find posing in a milk bath or with just a box of chocolates covering their “privates.”

“We are all roughneck workers who stepped out of our element, and I mean way out,” said Mr. June, Duffy Walker, who describes himself as a “chunky, hairy, burly guy” who drives a truck for Interstate Concrete and Asphalt, “but it was fun and all for a good cause,” he said.

Photographer Tanyia Oulman and friend Karli Weber were the originators of the idea; they both wanted to raise money for Community Cancer Services because they help many people going through cancer, as well as the families of cancer victims, Weber said.

Four weeks ago, Oulman and Weber posted a casting call on Sandpoint Yard Sale asking for male participants. “We had an outstanding, overwhelming outpouring of responses,” said Oulman, and we felt badly about turning men away, but they had to, she said.

“We were going for a definite North Idaho man who works and lives here,” she said.

“The photo shoots had to be planned around hunting camp,” said Weber, an accountant for Firewood Marketing, who was instrumental in the organizational efforts behind the photo shoots. Not all the men may be hunters, but all of them have lost someone to cancer, or know someone battling the disease.

Mr. February, Jon Stolz, general sales manager at Pierce Auto Sales, said Deanna Spurgeon Giard tagged him in the Facebook post seeking male models.

“Deanna and I went to Sagle School together from first grade on, and now she is a teacher at Sagle School, “but I said, ‘I don’t think they’re looking for a chubby chaser.’ I’m not exactly skinny,” he said, but with the encouragement of his girlfriend, Toni Lund, he decided to participate.

When we were young, if someone had cancer, everyone rallied around that person to help, but now cancer touches everyone and it’s everywhere, Stolz said. “And no cancer treatment is inexpensive. I was happy to do it. My friend Joe Marley died of brain cancer a few weeks ago,” he said.

Stolz models with a very large box of chocolates on a nicely made bed.

Community Cancer Services provides emotional and financial support to members of the community affected by a diagnosis of cancer. It helps people with transportation vouchers for appointments in Spokane, provides hats, scarves, and other necessities, even firewood, he said.

Cynthia Dalsing, who retired last year after a 40-year career in women’s healthcare in Sandpoint, was one of the founders of CCS in 2002, and earlier this year was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her son, Nate Weber, who works as a lab tech assistant at Bonner General Health, is Mr. April in the calendar.

That photo shoot occurred when it was 36 degrees in one of Sandpoint’s downtown alleys and the women threw some water his way to make it look rainy. Think Flashdance and Jennifer Beals’ accoutrements from the 1983 film.

“I’m pretty comfortable with myself. I know I’m a big dude so to make myself feel vulnerable was a lot of fun. Also, my wife and Tanyia strongly suggested it. But regardless, it was a blast. I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Weber said.

Oulman says her close friends consider her funny. “They know I have an appreciation for off-color Saturday Night Live humor,” said Oulman, whose goal was to make gorgeous funny pictures for a cause, adding that some of the photos are more risqué than others, but no outright nudity.

“I grew up watching Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, David Letterman, and Johnny Carson. Comedy is the best medicine there is, she said, adding that she has always dreamed of being a part of helping others in some way.

“As a professional photographer, this is my way,” she said, “but I could not have done this without the help of Nate and Karli (Weber), and Lisa Laude.”

The Laude family has a large role in the calendar. Taken in the family’s yard in Sagle, Tim Laude is Mr. July, posing as a “majestic American” with an American flag; his brother, John, is Mr. January, who poses with a champagne bottle. “That one is a real leg slapper,” he said. Their dad, Jack Laude, whose day job is logging, wears cutoffs while leaning back on a Harley. Tim and John’s mother, Shannon, is a throat cancer survivor and they have lost friends and relatives to cancer. All three men definitely had to get out of their comfort zone, he said, but it is such “a worthwhile cause.”

Brody Durfee is Mr. November. He poses in a milk bath filled with rose petals and other flowers in the bathtub of Karli Weber’s parents’ house — Mike and Joanna Burnatch — who live near Ravenwood. Durfee said his photo shoot was a lot of fun, and his wife was “in my corner the whole time.”

Durfee, who owns a construction company, has lived in the area 25 years. He volunteered at the encouragement of his wife, Abby, who saw the post on Facebook, and because his mom, Bonnie Templeman of southern Idaho, has leukemia. “My grandpa just passed from prostate cancer and my wife’s grandma is a cancer survivor,” he said.

Karli Weber said the calendar was three weeks in the making, 12 photo shoots in all. Robby Myer, Duffy Walker, Mike Williams, Russell Spade, and Lacey Blackford each have their own month, as well.

Laughing Dog Brewery will host the “big reveal” for Sandpoint’s Hot and Hairy, 2020 calendar at a party for the public set for 5 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15 at the brewery in Ponderay.

Calendars are $30 and nearly 300 have been already been sold. Calendars will be available at some local bars and shipped on request. An online store is in the works and the project will be highlighted by news stations in Spokane, Oulman said.

“We have a goal of making $20,000. This is a very giving community and this is a cause that affects everyone,” she added. “None of us goes unscathed by cancer anymore,” she said.

Susan Drinkard can be reached at susanadiana@icloud.com.