BURN.LIFE
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Year by Year HIstory
    • 1986 -1990: The Early Days
    • 1991-1996: Hypergrowth
    • 1997-2000: Maturation
    • 2001-2010: Graceful Aging
    • 2011-2015: The Age of Scarcity
    • 2016-2020: The End?
  • Preparing/Attending
    • Getting Tickets
    • Preparing >
      • Tents and Shade
      • RVs
      • Food and Water
      • Clothing & Costumes
      • Bikes
      • Cameras
      • Lag Screws 101
      • Burning on a Budget
      • Packing List
    • Getting to Burning Man (Entry)
    • Being There >
      • Adventuring on the playa
      • Art
      • Music
      • Poopin' on the Playa
      • Leave No Trace
    • Leaving Burning Man (Exodus)

The Blog That Burns

Dinosaurs At Burning Man

8/27/2015

 
And you thought the bugs were bad? It's looking like this is a good year for darktards, as moving lights are a great way to attract the attention of the T-rex.

All photos by Drew Smith, with...certain edits...by Vik Sohal.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Burning Man: Not a Music Festival

8/22/2015

 
Warning: This post may come across as burnier-than-thou, and I apologize in advance if so - it's not my intention, but where that line between passionate and burnier-than-thou lies is different for everyone.
Let's get this out of the way: Burning Man is a festival. Unequivocally. What it isn't is a music festival in the sense of events  ranging from Coachella to Lightning in a Bottle are, and it's the use of the word 'festival' to lump Burning Man in with music festivals that bugs me. (And I've got nothing against music festivals at all.)

There is a fundamental difference between the two:
Picture
I haven't exactly been fair to music festivals in selecting the two pictures here, admittedly. No idea who the idiots on the left are, but the awesome woman on the right is Kristin Humphries.
We create Burning Man. We do it without much coordination (camp placement, early entry passes mainly) from the organizers. And we do it for free, as a gift. 

Contrast that with music festivals, where everywhere you look someone is trying to make a buck off you, and where the management pays people to come entertain an audience. They're completely different animals to my mind.
Burning Man

  • Minimal vendors. You are not a commercial victim once you're on the playa.
  • Virtually all activities provided as a gift by attendees, for attendees.
  • It's all about participation.
Music Festivals

  • Everything is for sale.
  • Virtually all activities organized and created by the festival management.
  • It's all about watching paid performers.
There are plenty of other differences too, of course, but those are the ones that are the most salient to me, and make Burning Man different enough that I personally just avoid using the word festival to refer to it. 

I mean, we have a word for it, and it works really well: city**, as in Black Rock City.

Because that's what it is. It's not a rave. It's not a concert. It's not a music festival. It's a temporary city that rises from the dust every year like a goddamn phoenix thanks to the generosity of spirit and incredibly hard work that the non-tourists put in. Did you know that the hard-working placement team placed over 1300 camps in 2014? Think about that - that means there are over 1200 camps providing some kind of interactivity to the city. Where else do you get that kind of density of experience besides a city?
And like other cities, you'll find many different things in the it.  You'll find bars. Radio stations. Newspapers. Raves. Roller rinks. Classes. Participatory sex seminars. Dojos. Restaurants (Dust City Diner!). Temples. Bakeries. Bike repair 'shops'. On and on and on. Hell, you'll find a whole installation art festival as soon as you step onto the open playa. And of course, you'll find a lot of music stages, because it's a city whose inhabitants definitely do place a lot of importance on music.

And once again, it's largely built by the city's inhabitants. By us, for us.  Just like in permanent cities. A central authority builds the basic infrastructure, and we build the rest. We just do it all as a gift rather than as commerce.
City is at least as accurate as festival as it frames the event in our minds such that some of the ideals we value, like participation, communal effort, and civic responsibility, are simply natural outgrowths of that framing. Of course you don't simply passively consume in a city - you live in it. Of course you want to work together with your community to make it a better place. And of course you care about the welfare of those around you. 
And yeah, I do get that calling it a temporary city might seem a little pretentious to some ears, but I think it's a far more accurate and meaningful term than music festival for it (though just 'festival' is fine), so that's what I use. May the haters be forever afflicted with bros. 
Picture
**Some people claim the correct spelling of city in this context is actually c-u-l-t. It is difficult to dispute sometimes, and certainly I have friends who wonder why I won't shut the hell up about it already.
Addendum: Reddit user 'theseekerofbacon' made a good point: "I would describe thinking of burning man as a giant rave/party is like going to a major city and only ever visiting the tourist locations.It's bright and flashy and the easiest to talk about, but it doesn't even cover a sliver of what the city has to offer."

Damn right.

A Special Temple Surprise

8/21/2015

 
Have you ever had this amazing secret you wanted to share with the world, but couldn't? Me too! Like, right now.
This is what I can tell you: Now that we've got the Temple fully funded, we had all this time on our hands** and have come up with this pretty incredible addition to the Temple that we need a few thousand dollars to make happen. I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you that it's pretty amazing, and will add something new and unique to your Temple experience that you haven't seen before.
Give To Make The Surprise Happen!
Picture
What the surprise isn't:
  • A performance of 'Freebird' by the surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. 
  • The new Thunderdome.
  • Bacon. (sorry)
  • Something you've come to expect from Temples.
Picture
Nope!
What it is:
  • A new kind of experience at the Temple. 
  • A beautiful idea that will make your Temple time even more special.
  • Completely, totally secret. Many of the Temple build crew don't even know! That is how secret this is. We're talking Vatican Archives-level secrecy, except without the goofy Swiss guard uniforms and with a lot more PBR involved (which, admittedly, may have a negative impact on operational security, but it's important to stay hydrated).
  • It's just that cool, and we believe it'll be more impactful as a surprise.  

If we don't get it funded, it's not the end of the world by any means. The Temple will still be there, in all its copper-clad glory!

Picture
Is the dude in the lower-right concerned that his hat might blow off in a dust storm? I would be. I bet that staff has some kind of fire effect though.
The amount we need isn't that large. Help us make the Temple even better with this surprise!
Make the Temple Surprise Happen! Donate here!
** Total lie. We did not have a lot of time on our hands and are still scrambling, though are on schedule. Check out this pic from today, 8/17, of the Temple build on playa! Early days still, but progress is being made.
Picture

The Temple Crew Hits The Playa

8/11/2015

 
The first of our Temple crew hit the playa this morning to start surveying the site for the Temple. The rest of us will be flowing in fairly steadily starting later this week. We also sent off a large flatbed full of arches yesterday, and lots of packing work continues today and tomorrow, with everything leaving pretty much by Thursday.
Come on down if you're in the Bay Area and help! 651 West Tower Avenue, Alameda. Any time from about noon until the wee hours.
Picture
Picture
The turnoff. *squee!*
Picture
Freebird!

The Golden Spike - Black Rock City 2015 Begins!

8/2/2015

 
The Golden Spike was driven into the playa today, signifying the official beginning of Black Rock City 2015. YEEEEEEESSSSSS! I am so fucking ready to get dusty.

Pictures from the day. Not sure who took these, but Crimson posted them.
Picture
Will Roger and Crimson Rose.
Picture
The Spike is prepared!
Picture
Coyote prepares to ceremonially smash the spike with a bottle.
Picture
The aftermath.
Picture
DPW is on the clean-up job!

    Author

    I'm Dr. Yes. I run this site,  lead a theme camp called Friendgasm, and make Burning Man videos. Just say yes, folks, and help keep Burning Man weird!

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    September 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    December 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    September 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

Please like the Burn.Life FB page to get BM info, news, opinion pieces, and more.
I'm Dr. Yes, a fan of Burning Man, Burners, and Burner culture.

Burn.Life is a non-commercial, hobbyist website  and no commerce, ads, paid endorsements are involved.  Any products mentioned or linked to are done so because I or people I trust have used them and I view them as reasonable recommendations. You can email me here: yes (-at-) burn (-dot-) life.
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Year by Year HIstory
    • 1986 -1990: The Early Days
    • 1991-1996: Hypergrowth
    • 1997-2000: Maturation
    • 2001-2010: Graceful Aging
    • 2011-2015: The Age of Scarcity
    • 2016-2020: The End?
  • Preparing/Attending
    • Getting Tickets
    • Preparing >
      • Tents and Shade
      • RVs
      • Food and Water
      • Clothing & Costumes
      • Bikes
      • Cameras
      • Lag Screws 101
      • Burning on a Budget
      • Packing List
    • Getting to Burning Man (Entry)
    • Being There >
      • Adventuring on the playa
      • Art
      • Music
      • Poopin' on the Playa
      • Leave No Trace
    • Leaving Burning Man (Exodus)