If you're looking for scary scraggly creepy people on lots of drugs there, you will find them. If you're looking for amazing unusual fascinating people, you will also find them. There is a lot of really bad art, and more than a bit of incredibly good art. And the idea of spending 2% or so of my year in a culture that's pretty much entirely based on creativity and kindness really appeals to me.
Also, Gygax, it's a little hard for something to go all commecial when you're not allowed to use money there...
― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 11 August 2003 21:58 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 11 August 2003 22:03 (twenty years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Monday, 11 August 2003 22:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 11 August 2003 22:12 (twenty years ago) link
I mean, if the haters stay home, so much the better (it's not like "no no, you just have to GO there, then you'll SEE"--if you're predisposed to hate it, you will anyway), but it's kind of disconcerting to see the knives coming out.
― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 11 August 2003 22:30 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 11 August 2003 22:37 (twenty years ago) link
Not that I'd ever go, but if I did I'd have to make myself a Christopher Lee costume.
― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Monday, 11 August 2003 22:51 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 11 August 2003 22:54 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 11 August 2003 23:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 11 August 2003 23:03 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 11 August 2003 23:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Ricardo (RickyT), Monday, 11 August 2003 23:38 (twenty years ago) link
― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 00:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 00:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 01:47 (twenty years ago) link
― chester (synkro), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 17:35 (twenty years ago) link
Last year, Tom Schild (current PPLO President) ventured to the Wrong Side of the Trax at the invitation of Yuta Lee (PPLO Ambassador to the Dave Train).
This year, our fearless leader Tom is unable to face the playa but vows to return next year. In his place, a crew of 11 DC emissaries will be representing the PPLO on the playa. I believe we are the largest DC contingent in any camp.
Ambassador Lee arrives in Black Rock City today for preliminary infrastructure development. Phil Psilos (General Mayhem) will be in charge of military operations for recreational terrorism. In the absence of our President, I will assume duties as Field Commander-in-Chief. (I'm currently on TDY in the Bay Area).
We are the PPLO – The Party People Liberation Organization. We are recreational terrorists dedicated to decriminalizing the underground and preserving our constitutional right to express our individuality, dance, create house music, celebrate life, groove to whatever makes us groove, be freaks and, above all, assemble in the name of love and peace!!!!
PPLO PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCEI Pledge Allegiance to the cause of preserving our music and culture, and to the PPLO that protects it, at Nation or underground, all night long, with partying and dancing for all...
Namaste,Ky ("Key")
Field Commander-in-ChiefPPLO (Party People Liberation Organization)Wrong Side of the Trax (Dave Train)3:30 Serious Authority, Black Rock City
― gygax! (gygax!), Saturday, 23 August 2003 22:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 24 August 2003 00:56 (twenty years ago) link
Hahahahahaha... yeah, generalizations about people from entire regions or countries are great. Nothing else does as good a job of bringing the ignorant flotsam of society to the surface. But I'm sure you didn't REALLY mean anything by that, did you Tep? ;)
― The Man they call Dan (The Man they call Dan), Sunday, 24 August 2003 01:12 (twenty years ago) link
― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 24 August 2003 01:14 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 24 August 2003 01:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 24 August 2003 01:21 (twenty years ago) link
― The Man they call Dan (The Man they call Dan), Sunday, 24 August 2003 01:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 24 August 2003 01:31 (twenty years ago) link
GERLACH, NV—The Burning Man festival, a prominent artistic and countercultural event that draws tens of thousands of people to the Nevada desert annually, is in danger of cancellation this week because "no one had their shit together enough to even make it," organizers said Tuesday.
http://www.theonion.com/current_top_story.html
― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 29 August 2003 06:20 (twenty years ago) link
"The event likes to bill itself as radical self-sustainability, but really it's an orgy of consumption," said Jack Haye, a computer modeler at Industrial Light and Magic in San Rafael. Haye was exhibiting one of his sculptures at Burning Man.
"There is way too much utilization of new materials that are wasted. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars -- or millions -- are spent in Costco in August getting ready for this?"
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 21:42 (nineteen years ago) link
http://blog.hisnameistimmy.com/?p=12
― shookout (shookout), Friday, 6 October 2006 18:40 (seventeen years ago) link
-- sexyDancer (jjjjjjjjjjjjj...), September 9th, 2004 12:42 AM. (link)
http://shopbilder.comonline.net/pics/pa/015/picx/603218.jpg
― StanM (StanM), Friday, 6 October 2006 18:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link
Much in the same way that Burning Man is.
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 6 October 2006 18:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 18:58 (seventeen years ago) link
i don't know much about it, but it seems mostly uninteresting and mostly harmless. i think my sister's been at least once.
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:04 (seventeen years ago) link
That blog post that revived this thread - that guy's a fucking moron who should've read up on where he was going before complaining so vociferously about alkali dust, heat, etc. He has no one to blame for his discomfort but himself.
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:12 (seventeen years ago) link
What makes you think we haven't been? Granted it was well over ten years ago, but the one most OTM thing in that blog post is this:
Whatever Burning Man supporters claim, know this, the event is a 24/7 bacchanal of booze, drugs, nudity, S&M, public sex, and bad art
Complaining about the heat at Burning Man is ridiculous though... Er, it's the FUCKING DESERT. I've done a lot of desert camping/hiking so it didn't bother me at all, but it seems like > 50% of the people didn't adequately prepare for it.
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:17 (seventeen years ago) link
Don't disagree that yes it is largely a 24/7 bacchanal of booze, drugs, nudity, S&M, public sex, and bad art. Altho I'd add the caveat that in a good year there is also a fair amount of good art, and the public sex isn't really all that public in most cases.
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:18 (seventeen years ago) link
(uh you are aware that LEAVE NO TRACE is one of the central catchphrases of Burning Man...? You can find moments of contemplation and serenity out there for sure, you just have to walk a ways away from the rave camps)
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:20 (seventeen years ago) link
I'm with you on this - I don't go anymore. The first year I went there was no layout, no map to get there, you could still get away with firearms and explosives, there was WAY better music, and all the raves were restricted to a rave camp 2 miles away from everything else.
Maybe I'll go back when I'm 75 if its still happening, just out of curiosity.
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:22 (seventeen years ago) link
i'm sure it is, and i'm guessing that there are many people who show up who have no interest in adhering to this, and that the people in charge can't entirely clean up after them. i'm also sure that however-many-thousand bodies and automobiles collecting in a place has an impact that doesn't disappear overnight even in a desert.
You can find moments of contemplation and serenity out there for sure, you just have to walk a ways away from the rave camps)
not anywhere i can see or hear rave camps
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:25 (seventeen years ago) link
"If there is anything worse than a pervert, it’s a self-righteous druggie pervert, dressed as a chipmunk, offering unsolicited fashion tips. If you want catty advice on how to dress from a crowd of Rocky Horror Picture Show rejects, Burning Man is for you."
"Any random collection of Toto and Yes album covers would contain better trippy art than all of Burning Man."
Funny!
― shookout (shookout), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:29 (seventeen years ago) link
But one of the coolest things about it that I enjoyed is that the environment is SO extreme - there is literally nothing there but hard-packed dry-as-bone dirt that stretches for miles, its like being on an alien landscape in a lot of ways. Although I've been to Black Rock at non-Burning Man times so this impression was perhaps made more profoundly on me then... and yes this impression can be mediated and diluted by throngs of naked idiot ravers with their shitty music.
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:29 (seventeen years ago) link
Only if they were also FIFTY FEET TALL! Burning Man art is all about scale.
I didn't get all the way through that blog entry, when the dude started complaining about being tired from the heat and the dust I gave up (that's why everybody sleeps during the day there - get one clue)
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 6 October 2006 19:31 (seventeen years ago) link