Thursday, September 06, 2007

Burning Burning Man

I participated, survived and didn't die. I think that's what the t-shirt says.

I did have a wild, wild, wild week of mind blowing fun in the desert.

Burning Man is put on once a year in the north/west area of rural Nevada. This year there were 47,000 other crazies flying their freak flags for the week long festival.

Burning Man is many things, this was the 21st year of the event. Its a temporary city, its an incredible art museum, its a test of community to live together under harsh conditions, its a party, its a ton of work, its expensive, its a week of anything goes, its an experiment and its also the biggest leave no trace event in the world.

It was a different year....a few things happened this time that I had not seen in my previous trip to BRC 2 years ago. On Monday the man was burned down (5 days early) in a big case of arson. This was the same night as the full moon & the full lunar eclipse.

Thursday & Friday we got a reminder from mother nature that she also likes to play in the desert. She treated us to 65 mph winds/full white out conditions but then delivered rain & double rainbows for dessert.

Here are a few pictures from the week...

Dad trying some of the faux fur on and getting in the spirit. I think you will see pictures of him out there enjoying the craziness next year.







You have to have dust mask/goggles with you all the time. You just never know when you will find yourself in a storm.

In Antarctica this would be a "condition 1". It went from blue skies to a sand whiteout in a matter of minutes.

The dessert after the storm. This really was unbelievable, a double rainbow in the desert!!!


Some of the large performance art pieces out on the playa. These monkeys were swinging around the bars being powered by people pedaling stationary bikes!!
We were able to take this "art car" for a ride but it only went in reverse...night time is all about keeping warm, this year I took quite a bit of faux fur outfits
my address this year, we were on 9:30 & Arctic. The event is set up like a clock from 2:00-10:00 and then streets go from A-E and the names correspond with the theme of the year.
wind, wind and more windbefore a storm
after a storm



This was one of the most impressive pieces of art on the playa this year. There were 7 giant people sculptures representing each continents dependency on oil. The people shot fire out of their hands & mouths. The oil tower was 7 flights of stairs high and you could climb to the top. At the end of the week they set fire to the tower and it was the biggest explosion & mushroom cloud I have ever seen. This is Sabrina getting interviewed for gnome adoption. She passed and became the proud parent of Bobby Bu. I also adopted and now am looking after "Scuba".
This is Bobby Bu & Scuba
another impressive piece of art....its 2 real semi truck cabs somehow stuck together


you can really get and send mail from the BRC post office. although to get a stamp takes about 7 forms and a few hours of bribes. its very postal!!

this was a fun block long thing you ride your bike through....like a car wash of ribbons



The "Thunderdome" where people in bungee harnesses fight each other with Nerf noodles. You can stand on the dome structure and watch it...its really wild!!!
This is me and my good friend Sabrina trying to look tough because we are at the thunderdome. I think we did pretty good despite wearing pink & gold.
Dad hooked me up with food for the week! He made 7 meals and put them in labeled ziploc bags. I think people would pay him to take care of all their burning man food preparation.
It was definitely HOT, HOT, HOT. This was 5:00 pm and it was 131 F in my tent.

some more random art
These are two of my oldest friends with me, Tammy & Sabrina....this was Tammys 5th trip down & Sabrinas 6th.

The man burns...for the 2nd time in the same week!