Gadling

Perhaps you've been at Times Square in New York City and noticed a guy wearing brief style underwear (often white), a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and playing a guitar. I saw him two summers ago. Actually, my daughter and her friend noticed him first. "Say what?!" was their response as they craned their necks when our taxi passed where he strummed. "That's 'The Naked Cowboy,'" I told them.

"The Naked Cowboy" is one of Ohio's own. Robert Burck is from Cincinnati, once the frontier of wilder country eons before the west was won. Burck does look a bit wild and he's taking on the makers of blue M&Ms. See, Burck has been acting the part of "The Naked Cowboy" for quite some time. His look is a trademark, so much that he has appeared in films and TV shows as "The Naked Cowboy." A blue M&M in white underwear and a cowboy hat is now playing the guitar on two billboards in Times Square, something Burck is not too pleased about, and he's suing Mars Inc., the company that makes M&Ms for the infraction.

For Burck, $6 million should make up for the fact that the company co-opted his look for a blue M&M without giving him any compensation. In the meantime, he keeps strumming away in all kinds of weather. Look at picture number two in the photo gallery. It's snowing.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Stories, United States, News