One of the biggest news stories of the year has been the Nevada stand-off between rancher Cliven Bundy and the BLM. The Bundy family have been grazing cattle on the land for almost 140 years (although that claim has been disputed). The BLM claims that the Bundys owe $1 million in back taxes for grazing fees, and that they have to clear off the land because of an endangered desert tortoise. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the state, the BLM are killing thousands of these tortoises. The BLM ran over a tortoise den on the Bundy ranch, and PETA has called them out on their inhumane treatment of the cows. Ecologists claim that the cows are actually good for the tortoises: “more cows, more tortoises”. Further complicating the story is the revelation that the powerful Democrat Senator Harry Reid of Nevada wants to build a solar power plant with the Chinese on the land. The head of the BLM is a former senior advisor of Reid. According to a BLM whistleblower, there is also be a rare earth mineral with military applications involved, and long-term real estate shenanigans involving the Reid family.

The Feds have taken a heavy-handed approach, with death threats, cries of “domestic terrorism”, scuffles and tasering. In the latest skirmish, hundreds of Bundy supporters on foot and on horses advanced on dozens of heavily armed and armored BLM agents who were pointing assault rifles at them and threatening to shoot. They managed to free 389 cows without any shots being fired. The Feds retreated and the battle was won, but Harry Reid vowed “it’s not over yet”.

Enter, Burning Man.

“Burning Man Organizer Plans ‘BundyFest’ – 30 Days of Anarchy next to Stand-off Site”, reads the headline in the Washington Times. The Daily Kos said “this year, Burning Man will be held at Bundyfest — free land adjacent to the Cliven Bundy Ranch.  And it’s all free, free, free  – no permits, no rules, nothing!”

Here’s the official blurb for the clothing optional, gay-friendly, 24/7 event:

Come celebrate TOTAL FREEDOM at BUNDYFEST, just across the street from the Cliven Bundy Ranch, in Bunkerville, Nevada! 240 bands, 24 hours a day, for a SOLID ROCKIN’ MONTH!!!!

*NO PERMITS REQUIRED
*CAMP ABSOLUTELY ANYWHERE
*FULL NUDITY NOT A PROBLEM
*GAY-FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE
*PENIS ERECTION CONTEST: Erect the largest penis in the open desert, win valuable prize! (tbd)

BACKGROUND: For years, we paid permitting fees to hold Burning Man on the beautiful Playa in Northern Nevada. But now, Cliven Bundy has shown us a NEW WAY! ABSOLUTE FREEDOM! Bundy has declared the entire area surrounding Bundy Ranch as a TOTALLY RULES-FREE ZONE! ANYTHING GOES! WOO-HOO!!!

Why should Burning Man end on September 1st? Swing down to Vegas for a few days for some R&R, a few good buffets, and then HEAD ON UP TO BUNDYFEST! All 50,000+ Burning Man participants are invited to attend — and as many more as can make the trip from anywhere in the world! 100,000? 250,000? THE SKY IS THE LIMIT AT BUNDYFEST! The desert surrounding Bundy’s ranch is LIMITLESS!

As well as Burners, they’re expecting the Hells Angels and the LA Gay Men’s choir. Should be quite a mix.

Security has already been arranged:

“That’s the point! This is anarchy. This is exactly what the founding fathers envisioned for America…go down to the river, pop a squat and let it all hang out, that’s your right as an American”

So, what’s the deal? Is Burning Man getting all political now, sending hordes of Burners out to stand before the gun barrels of the BLM?

Well, not quite. “Burning Man organizer Sean Shealy” actually has nothing to do with Burning Man – in fact, he has never even been. This fact is not important enough to make it in the papers, so the story has gone global that “Burning Man is now at Bundy Fest”.

BMOrg came out to make an official statement:

“The person is not a Burning Man organizer and we actually have no information on him,” Jim Graham, a Burning Man communications representative, said in an email today.

Additionally, Burning Man posted this on Facebook last night:

“For the record, the Burning Man organization has absolutely no involvement whatsoever with the so-called #BundyFest or its supposed organizer Sean Shealy.”

We hope Bundyfest happens, another month of desert partying, why not? It’s only 500 miles from Burning Man. The Facebook page for Bundyfest launched on Monday, and already has almost 4000 likes - so there definitely is some demand there. Quite how they are going to get 240 bands playing 24/7 at a free event remains to be seen, but anything’s possible. If you promote it, they will come…

Seems like September might be a busy month for the BLM.

Cartoon from Daily Kos

As we enter the 5th month of the year, BMOrg are managing to be strangely silent, while at the same time being all over the news. The “Burning Man Organizer Throws Bundy Fest” story has been picked up by mainstream organizations like  Washington Times, Fox News, Reno Gazette Journal, Las Vegas Sun, Daily Kos, topix, Raw Story, The Blaze, Spin; as well as “alternative media” sites like Godlike Productions, BeforeItsNews, DiscloseTV,  FARK, the Daily Paul, and even Datehookup.com.

Burning Man’s response to the confusion has been tepid. Communications director Jim Graham said in an email to the RGJ: “The person is not a Burning Man organizer and we actually have no information on him”. On their Facebook page, they said “For the record, the Burning Man organization has absolutely no involvement whatsoever with the so-called #BundyFest or its supposed organizer Sean Shealy.” This information may be useful to Burning Man’s community, but how many Fox News reporters are reading their Facebook page? As far as we can tell, no press release has been issued. So this is the total extent of their denial.

Instead, BMorg wrote a blog post entitled “why doesn’t Burning Man take a stand?” They published this with a new logo, mixing the Burning Man symbol with the American flag. This blog post  and logo was put on the front page of their site. The post doesn’t explicitly say “we have nothing to do with Bundy Fest”, but it does try to throw them into the political mix.

In answering their own question “why don’t we take a stand”, they are, in fact, taking a stand. The stance they take is “we try to stay out of it, because radical inclusion means everyone is welcome; and immediacy means we can resolve political problems with face to face discourse”.

Certainly, the Feds are welcome. BLM special agent Dan Love, who led the machine gun brandishing, cow and tortoise killing, woman-tasering Federal team at the Bundy stand-off…also leads the SWAT team-like BLM forces at Burning Man, looking to bust Burners with their night vision goggles, drug sniffer dogs, and fully automatic weapons.

Supposedly, the cowboys are welcome, as long as they don’t bring their horses. The militias are welcome, as long as they don’t bring their guns. The Second Amendment is suspended at the largest event on Federal Land.

Here’s what BMOrg say:

Now and again somebody tries to tempt (or badger) the Burning Man organization into taking stand on a political issue – most recently the dust-up at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.

Why doesn’t Burning Man take a stand? The answer is simple: our principle of Radical Inclusion. “Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.”

We believe the best way for people to develop and evolve their political positions toward a better future is through interpersonal connection, sharing ideas, and engaging in informed dialog with people representing a diversity of perspectives.While many of our staff are politically active (across the entire political spectrum, actually), we pride ourselves on facilitating and cultivating a community that welcomes all political stripes. And religious stripes. And genders. And races. And creeds. And sexual preferences. And … you get the idea.

Face-to-face interaction is key in this equation … which reflects another of our 10 Principles: Immediacy. “Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers standing between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience…

…We want to better the world. We ALL want to better the world — and people have vastly different visions of what that actually looks like. We’re not going to tell you what that looks like, but we can provide the space to find out for yourself.”

Does Burning Man really think that everything would be fine, if these good ‘ole boys and patriot militias showed up en masse?

There is nothing in the Ten Principles, or anywhere else in the ticket rules, that specifies a dress code for the party. And yet – can you wear jeans, shirt and a cowboy hat (if you’re not Larry Harvey)? Can you wear camo pants and Ron Paul t-shirts? An LA Clippers jersey? Perhaps you might answer “yes”, but come on – that’s theory, not practice. In practice you would be attacked by mobs of burnier-than-thous. You would be booed and jeered. There is an expectation to conform to Burner culture, as we explored in this earlier post “everyone’s unique except me”.

“Participation in society” and “dressing half naked in costumes, taking drugs and dancing on an art car” are not the same thing. Going far, far into the desert, and partying with other like minded people, is more like participating in a commune, than society.

It seems to me that BMOrg are quite content for the media blitz about BundyFest to continue, spreading their name to new audiences. They are even trying to capitalize on it by positioning themselves as an appropriate venue for political discourse – between us Burners, with BMorg staying neutral and providing “the crucible”.

The move may backfire, as Burners realize that they are losing freedoms at TTITD, not celebrating them. On the official blog, Burner Silvio says:

I’ve camped with Clan Destino since 2002. We had a meeting last night, and decided for the first time they we’re going to pass on BM this year, and put all our effort into BundyFest. We’ve always wanted to extend our time on the playa, we have more resources to offer than can be delivered in just 1 week. So we’re going to spend the whole month at BundyFest and offer the same entertainment and services we’ve offered for over a decade at BM. This decision was made for this reason, plus the fact that LEOs raided our camp last year because someone rolled a tobacco cigarette. The dogs were called in, and every tent and vehicle was searched. They found nothing, and even Black Rock Rangers helped to turn our camp upside down.

It’s just the evolution of Burning Man. It was just a matter of time before something like BundyFest would take over. I hope to see all of you out there.

As for the strange silence, we are still waiting for the announcement of 2014 Art Honoraria winners, the new web site, and the restoration of the marketplace.

What do you think, Burners? Should you have to dress like you’re at Burning Man, to be part of it? Or should people come in their everyday clothes, because everyone is welcome and we want to evolve their political ideas?

“Proposed arts and fire event stirs controversy”, reads the front page headline in the Lovelock Review-Miner. This story served to awaken and aflame locals, before a city council meeting to consider another Burning Man related event happening in the area. Compression is partly funded by the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and plans to tour Nevada as part of the state’s sesquicentennial celebrations.

Proposed arts and fire event stirs controversy  Compression! funded in part by Burning Man

PHOTO BY TEEJE JAMISONJustin Cunningham’s art car flame effect displayed at Compression! Art and Fire 2013 in Reno. Debra Reid Staff Writer for the Lovelock Review-Miner / Winnemucca Publishing, Inc. LOVELOCK – As Pershing County and Burning Man officials negotiate a new law enforcement agreement, local conflict has re-ignited over the counterculture festival. Heated discussion is likely at next week’s city council meeting as officials consider an event funded in part by Black Rock Arts Foundation, a subsidiary of the Burning Man organization. “I’ve heard concerns from the public that this is a way to promote Burning Man activities in the local community,” County Commissioner Carol Shank warned an event organizer from Reno last week. While other counties experience an economic boom during the festival expected to draw more than 58,000 “burners” to Pershing County, local business owners see little or no benefit from the event. County officials must beef up law enforcement for the darker, less-publicized side of Burning Man. The county jail and courtrooms are barely adequate to handle the inevitable suspects of illegal drug activities, property damage, lewdness, sexual assaults, domestic violence and child endangerment.  Conservative community leaders believe the permissive Burning Man “culture” presents immoral temptations to local youth and are wary of any activities directly or indirectly associated with the festival including a proposed event called “Compression! Fire and Art.” Organizers are requesting permits to stage the event in a city park on Friday, June 20. The date coincides with the Nevada State Firefighters Association Conference expected to draw firefighters and families from around the state. Frontier Community Coalition Director Jeff Munk said he’s investigating the proposed Compression event and its ties to Burning Man before he’ll decide whether to publicly support or oppose it. He’s concerned it would encourage youth involvement in a festival allegedly dominated by widespread illegal drugs, nudity and promiscuity. Last week, he expressed his concerns to county officials. “I’m worried that we’re going to get a lot of ‘burners’ coming in and what will that teach our children?”  Munk said he’s also concerned by statements on a festival website implying that organizers are attempting to promote the event’s culture in communities throughout the country and beyond. “I support arts and culture in the community but I don’t want anything that promotes drugs, alcohol or promiscuity,” he said. “I’ve asked to be on the city council agenda to give our findings on this event.” “Compression” has been part of the Reno Artown scene for the seven years and is a “community-driven” event according to organizer Erika Wesnousky of Reno. At last week’s county commission meeting, she acknowledged that funding sources include the Black Rock Arts Foundation along with Nevada Arts Council and the Reno Arts and Culture Commission. The event could be tailored for rural communities including Lovelock and Fernley as a part of the state’s sesquicentennial celebrations. “I’m a member of the Reno fire-performance troupe known as Controlled Burn and I am a burner,” Wesnousky told commissioners. “I’m a 25-year resident of Nevada and a teacher in Washoe County.” Local youth groups, artists, performers and vendors would be invited to participate in the event, she said. Fire performances by Controlled Burn, interactive sculptures, art installations, art cars and other elements from out of town could be included. County Commissioner Pat Irwin asked Wesnousky to characterize local public input on the event. “It has been both positive and negative unfortunately,” she said. “There is some support within the community. Outside of this community, there is great interest. There are a number of Reno dance troupes that would like to come here and introduce their youth programs.” In response to an inquiry by County Commission Chairman Darin Bloyed, Wesnousky said she’s affiliated with Burning Man as a volunteer but denied any public relations role for the festival.  “The Reno event has been successful so my goal has been to use that as a template throughout Nevada for arts events,” Wesnousky said. “Events can be whatever a community wants beyond the fire arts.” Wesnousky said she’s received support for similar events in Fernley and elsewhere. Her intent is to facilitate alternative arts and performance opportunities in urban and rural communities. “My regret is that people see it just as a Burning Man cause rather than an arts and culture cause,” she said. “I wish that they could get beyond that. My hope was strictly based on the fact that the Reno event has been so successful so it’s obviously a great working model for community development.” Local event organizer Jennifer Osborn said she’ll invite performances by the local 4-H Sign Language Club, the Lovelock Paiute Tribe and other groups. An artist and a para-professional instructional aid specialist for special needs children in the local school system, she emphasized the event’s potential cultural and economic benefits. “Last year, Compression! had 8,600 attendees and raised over $100,000 for the Reno community,” Osborn said. “This year, they want to take it on the road as a celebration of the state’s sesquicentennial and to enhance and showcase the performing arts in Nevada.”

It’s a shame that the stigma of Burning Man may be working against the arts and culture in Northern Nevada. Especially when the local community seems to only be against them over one primary issue.

Staff writer Debra Reid followed her story up with another front page story, which was picked up by Kolo8 News in Reno as “Could Burning Man Soon Ban Minors?” The issue of minors at Burning Man has not gone away for the local residents and authorities. As well as County Commissioner Carol Shank, we have BLM Winnemucca chief Gene Seidlitz, District Attorney Jim Shirley, and local Sheriff Richard Machado all united in the belief that the event should be 18 and over.

5/2/2014 Local activists pushing for minimum age limit at Burning Man  Sheriff agrees but uncertain about enforcement issues at event

Debra Reid Staff Writer for the Lovelock Review-Miner / Winnemucca Publishing, Inc. LOVELOCK – An initiative to outlaw minors at Burning Man is underway in Pershing County. Sexual predators, illegal drugs and alcohol abuse are among the potential hazards to youth at the annual counter-culture event, according to local anti-drug and child welfare activists. “What happens on the playa isn’t just about nice artwork,” said Jeff Munk, director of the Frontier Community Coalition headquartered in Lovelock. “I’ve heard from people how beautiful the art is but have they been to other parts of the event where there is open sex and drug and alcohol use? We can’t fight Burning Man but I wish to heck they would not allow anyone under the age of 18 out there.” Last week, Winnemucca Bureau of Land Management Supervisor Gene Seidlitz said he believes the county sheriff may have the authority to enforce an age restriction at the event. The BLM governs public land use and other federal concerns but not local regulations regarding minors at events. A minimum age limit for Burning Man participants makes sense to Pershing County Sheriff Richard Machado but he’ll consult with local legal authorities, including Pershing County District Jim Shirley, regarding his authority to enforce such a restriction at the festival. “I’ll get with the district attorney and probably other legal advisers like the state attorney general,” he said. “Is it my professional opinion that this is an adult event? Absolutely, it is an adult event and I don’t believe children should be out there for a lot of reasons. Certainly, I will check on my authority to make this an adult event.” Machado, who’s campaigning for a second four-year term as county sheriff, has overseen law enforcement at Burning Man for the last three years. A restriction on minors has been considered before but “it was suggested that I leave that alone,” he said last week. Now, he may re-consider that option. “There’s some support in this community but maybe other communities that this should probably be an adult event,” he said. “Frankly, it would make my job out there easier. I wouldn’t have to make plans to close the event due to a missing child and other issues such as child endangerment would go away.“ Pershing County District Attorney Jim Shirley agrees the Burning Man event is not suitable for children but said he would need to research whether the sheriff could outlaw children at the event. “Minors under the age of 21 aren’t supposed to have alcohol,” he said. “There’s a lot of alcohol and drugs out there and there’s a lot of activity that isn’t for a younger crowd. With the number of rapes that we had last year and the other violent crimes, it would be better that minor children were not out there.” The issue is complicated by AB 374, legislation passed last year by state lawmakers giving counties the option to exclude large outdoor events from local event ordinances. During negotiations over the legislation, Pershing County officials agreed to exclude Burning Man from the local event ordinance. In return, Black Rock City officials agreed to end ongoing litigation against the county, Shirley said. That litigation continues, however, with an appeal by BRC after their 2012 lawsuit against the county was dismissed. Shirley has filed a response to the appeal in another attempt to end expensive litigation.

We’re not so sure that last paragraph is accurate, even though it was printed in the local Lovelock newspaper. At the start of this year Burning Man, Pershing County, and the BLM reached a deal, angering a local judge:

He ordered the federal case closed but not before he again accused both sides of collusion, fraud and an abuse of process, and repeated his concerns about exposing children to public nudity at the festival in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles north of Reno.

In an unorthodox move, he also granted a motion the county had filed July 31 seeking approval of its right to enact an ordinance banning children from attending the event. And he renewed his sharp criticism of the county’s legal team’s willingness to negotiate a deal that he says ensures no such ban will take place under a new 10-year-law enforcement agreement.

…Black Rock City filed suit in 2012 arguing the county’s proposed ordinance would be unconstitutional if it banned children, or prohibited “obscene, indecent, vulgar or lewd exhibitions” protected under the First Amendment as free speech.

Jones said in his ruling on Monday the county should have stuck to his guns because he would have upheld their right to pursue such rules.

“BRC, in collusion with the county’s counsel, filed and prosecuted this contrived, pre-textual lawsuit in order to obtain its new and illegal agreement with Pershing County, and in doing so, committed a fraud on this court, Pershing County and the Nevada Legislature,” Jones wrote.

“County counsel mimicked BRC’s charade, encouraging its client to settle on such obviously unfavorable and illegal terms,” he said. “It raises serious questions regarding the county’s decision to settle.”

Jones said the agreement implies the county cannot prevent minors from attending the event “even when state and local laws concerning child endangerment, child delinquency or child trafficking are implicated.”

“Such a contract is obviously illegal and no court would enforce it,” he said.

Has the long standing issue about kids around alcohol, drugs, and nudity been resolved? It seems not. There is more at stake than the simple question of “should the Burning Man community welcome kids” – this is also about the permanent community who are allowing us to have our event in their neighborhood. Do we have the right to impose our morals and rules upon them, and ride roughshod over their own? Some would argue “yes, because look at all the money we bring into their community” – however, this is being debated by the locals. The last poll we ran split Burners almost evenly on the issue of kids at Burning Man.

We brought you news yesterday of Burning Man’s recent presence on the front page of the Lovelock Review-Miner. Well, it seems like the Reno Gazette Journal wants to get in on the action too, showing their support today for the event with a full-page color spread.

The paper makes note of the “Renossance” term we first told you about here.

Hundreds traveled from all over the world in early April to meet in a tucked away art and event space in the Mission District of San Francisco.

A bobbing sea of top hats, fur, colored wigs and dreadlocks ebbed into rows of seats.

The room buzzed with excitement and recognition as regional representatives shared hellos, hugs and travel stories before the eighth annual Burning Man Global Leadership Conference began.

Much like the Technology, Education and Design (TED) talks and conferences, the Global Leadership Conference brings Burners together for four days to share their inspiring and innovative stories and experiences.

The goal: to continue to propel Burning Man principles, culture and artistic expression throughout the world.

“I think what Burning Man brings is an experience to enjoy life; it’s a neat journey and it has brought me outside of myself,” Boston Burner Peter Durand said. “One of the principles that resonates with me is radical inclusion. I’m a middle class, urban, white, vanilla-bread person and I surround myself with folks who have piercings, tribal tattoos, colored hair and fuzzy clothing. It pushes me because it’s all different.”

The idea for the Burning Man Regional Contact Network began in 1996 after the population of Black Rock City spiked to 8,000 people. The community aspect created at the event also left Burners feeling displaced once they returned home after a week in the desert.

They wanted to connect to one another outside of the annual event and they wanted to expose their local communities and cities to Burning Man culture.

These regional groups often base their events and regional “burns” on the 10 principles Burning Man founder Larry Harvey crafted as a reflection of the community’s ethos and culture of the event. Those principles are: radical inclusion; gifting; decommodification; radical self-reliance and self-expression; communal effort; civic responsibility; leave no trace; participation; and immediacy.

“It seems like only yesterday that we wanted to be a city,” Burning Man Project education director Stuart Mangrum said at the conference. “Now, it seems like other cities want to be us.”

As a member of the Burning Man community since the 1990s, Mangrum recalled the process for determining what outside elements would be brought into Black Rock City in the Black Rock Desert.

“We had a very conscious process of thinking of the things that we wanted to take with us when we were building the city and what we wanted to leave behind,” said Mangrum, a member of the San Francisco Cacophony Society. “No one had any interest in bringing a shopping mall along, or the sports marina or performance hall. After a lot of late night discussions, bottles of wine and cigarettes, we boiled the experience down to three simple, essential items — coffee, toilets and a newspaper.”

Mangrum said that is how he was persuaded to found the playa’s first daily newspaper, the “Black Rock Gazette.”

“Here we are, 20 years later, and we are a city,” Mangrum said. “One thing that’s for sure about Black Rock City is that it’s never going to be big enough for all the people that want to be there. Demand exceeds supply for Burning Man, and I guess that’s where you guys come in and why we’re all here: how to get more Burning Man in the world.”

Throughout the past year, two Burning Man-inspired concepts have recently taken root in Reno. The first is The Generator, a community art and builder space. Then there’s the Morris Burner Hotel located on Fourth and Record streets. Both organizations gave a presentation on “Renossance” at the conference presented, showing how Burning Man has influenced growth and ingenuity in Northern Nevada.

The region is no stranger to Burning Man culture, Burners or the art and community that has sprouted out of the annual event. Tens of thousands caravan through Reno and Fernley each year on their trek to the desert.

“Reno is very much a Burner city and this is adding another level to our amazing community,” said Jim Gibson, owner of the Morris Burner Hotel. “This was an old, decrepit building, and through community involvement, we gutted it in about six months.”

The theme of what a strong Burner community can do for a city was also illustrated in The Generator executive director Matt Schultz’s talk to the conference.

“We talk about this renaissance in Reno, and I think the biggest, most important thing is this it’s not something that happened in a small city. This is fire that can catch every day in our own cities,” Schultz said. “This is something that every person in this room creates at Burning Man and we can take that collective effort and do something that will not only stun the world, but will seriously change it.”

Having attended the Burning Man Global Leadership Conference since its first year, Durand said he has seen it grow each year starting from about 60 people in an office at Burning Man headquarters.

Overall, Durand believes the focus of the conference has shifted and it’s not just about educating Burners to start regionally focused events. Instead, it’s about building leaders in communities.

“This is the really inspiring stuff and it’s here to activate and get people thinking; have people walk away saying, ‘I can do that or I should be up on stage next year,’” Durand said. “I think it really does energize people.”

From the inspiration that is created within the city walls of Black Rock City to the culture and community Burners are attempting to spread around the globe, Durand said one certainty comes out of the conference — Burning Man changes lives.

“Our innate nature is that differences are bad — that’s how we survived — we attack what we don’t know,” Durand said. “This forces me to be more open to life in a way that I had never been had I walked down the ‘normal path.’ I’m never going to space, but to be able to explore it within humanity, what I never could’ve or otherwise would’ve, is a nice thing.”

BURNING MAN REGIONAL FACTS

• There are 55-60 official Burning Man regional events each year.

• In 2013, official regional events were held in 13 countries including US, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Korea, Ireland, Spain, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom (London and Wales have separate events).

• The largest one is in South Africa, called AfrikaBurn, which ran April 28 to May 4. Last year, it had 8,000 participants. (www.afrikaburn.com)

• About 30 percent of official regional events on average are held outside of the U.S.

• There are currently 222 active regional contacts and meta regional contacts.

How, exactly, these regionals are going to stun and change the world… was either not on the agenda…or was reserved for late night ceremonies in underground bunkers. As Larry Harvey says “it’s a self service cult, wash your own brain”. Maybe by next year’s conference, the vision will be clearer.

Leo Villareal is one of the founders of the Disorient major theme camp. He is also the first Burning Man artist to have an exhibition of their works at a major museum – in 2010, at the San Jose Museum of Art. The Disorient crew sure knows how to throw a party! Michael Slenske at Cool Hunting has just published a great interview with Leo, in which he talks about Burning Man and the Bay Lights - the largest electronic art installation in world history.

From Coolhunting.com:

_________________

Two decades ago, New York-based light sculptor Leo Villareal attended Burning Man (the annual week-long art event in Black Rock City, Nevada, which culminates around a wooden sculpture of a man set on fire) and the experience changed his life. A few years later Villareal returned to the Nevada desert with a 16-strobe light beacon of his own design, which he fixed to the roof of his group’s RV so that they could find their way home. “I was tired of getting lost, so I made my first piece which was sort of just a utilitarian thing to help me stay oriented. But then I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a very powerful combination: software and light,’” recalls Villareal, who brought the work home to NYC, laid a translucent cover over the top and had just produced his first gallery-worthy light sculpture, “Strobe Matrix.”

Villareal spent the next 10 years broadening the scope of his work with increasingly larger, more technically complicated architectural interventions. Many were commissioned as temporary works, and many have ended up being permanent or semi-permanent. To wit: six years after it was installed, the 41,000 LED, three-years-in-the-making “Multiverse” still envelops the 200 foot-long walkway between the east and west buildings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The artist’s “Stars” remains in the windows of the Brooklyn Academy of Music years after it was scheduled for de-installation; the Buckminster Fuller-inspired “Buckyball” that lit up NYC’s Madison Square Park in 2012 is currently being shown outside Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where it is now part of the institution’s permanent collection. The 25,000 algorithmically-controlled LED lights that make up “The Bay Lights,” which just marked its one-year anniversary, continues to illuminate the night sky across the Bay Area, and may continue to for another decade or so.

The latter—likely the most technologically challenging public art installation ever—is also the subject of a new documentary, “Impossible Light.” The film premiered at SXSW and details the project’s numerous challenges: raising $8 million in private funding over two years, overcoming epic industrial, national security and environmental concerns not to mention finding the right people to get behind the project (from local engineers to public art éminence grise Christo, who wrote letters of endorsement on Villareal’s behalf). On the heels of the film’s premiere and the installation’s anniversary, Villareal checked in from D.—where he was taking some time to absorb the ambient glow of “Multiverse”—to talk about his trajectory from Burner to Bay Area icon, what technology means to his work and what’s next.

So it was just the one-year anniversary of “The Bay Lights.”

Yeah, on 5 March.

If you look back at that strobe light piece you did for Burning Man, could you ever have imagined this kind of trajectory for your work?

Absolutely not. The first year I went to Burning Man was 1994, and I made the strobe piece in ’97. That got me going and then over time I did my first large-scale architectural piece in 2003 at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, and it just went incrementally from there. But I never thought I’d do anything like “The Bay Lights.” It’s cool what you can do with light.

Were you ever interested in the pioneers of California’s Light and Space movement? Was that something you were thinking about?

I had an art history background, and my family is from Marfa, Texas, so I certainly knew about Donald Judd and Dan Flavin and [James] Turrell. But I studied sculpture and then I got into technology in the early ’90s and I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to fuse all these new tools I was using into my art-making practice. That’s what happened in ’97 [with “Strobe Matrix”], and I realized this is very powerful and this is what I want to pursue. But I would say it was definitely a combination of the Light and Space guys, plus Burning Man, plus technology being in the right place at the right time over and over.

How has your work evolved as technology has advanced?

Certainly I would not be able to do the work I do without LED technology. Solid-state lighting is remarkable in its robustness and in how energy efficient it is. I’m also very involved in creating my own LED circuit boards and control systems and all the software I use is custom-written. I’m working with my programmers—I only go so deep myself—but at the end of the day I’m using the tools that have been custom-made for me, and then I’m very involved in the sequence-making. But I’m all for innovation and I wish it would go faster. I’m really excited for LEDs that last a million hours instead of just 100,000 hours.

What’s your process like when creating public installations?

I’m there to capture that 1% of the time when something exciting happens and I can bring that back—something I’ve harvested—and then I can continue to layer and evolve it. It is a very painterly process, it’s very compositional, very similar to the way you’d compose music. There are certain motifs that repeat at different scales at different tempos. There’s background layers and foreground layers and layers that subtract light, so you’re dealing with negative space.

Since “The Bay Lights” went up, have you been inundated with projects of that scale?

It’s been unbelievable. We’ve had over half-a-billion media impressions and that was several months ago. The story went from local to national to international and it’s inspired huge amounts of interest in my work and for doing monumental public art. I think what’s exciting is that with “The Bay Lights,” it’s not only a piece of art 50 million people will see in two years, but it’s also good for the city. It’s bringing in, conservatively, $100 million to San Francisco in restaurants and hotels.

Are you involved in the campaign to keep “The Bay Lights” running through 2026?

Yes, we just announced that on 5 March. It’s really about the people of San Francisco. They’ve really fallen in love with the artwork and they want it to remain, which is great. But like I said in the film, this is something that needs to come from the public, not the artist saying, ‘My piece has to be permanent or here for [another] 10 years.’ I just feel honored to have had it up for this long. I’m okay with temporary art; that’s how it is on [Burning Man venue] the Playa, you have to let it come and go. But if something can become iconic and part of the city, of course I’m thrilled to participate in that.

When you walk through cities, do you see the possibilities in the architecture?

Definitely. Over the years my ability to create 3D simulations and visualizations has evolved, which is very important in my work and a lot of projects start like that: showing people what it could look like. That’s how “The Bay Lights” started, with a one-minute animation showing people what it could be.

Is there a new space you’d really love to explore?

I want to get out in nature. There’s some test pieces out in spaces in Texas. Places like Marfa, I think would be very exciting to explore. That’s going in a whole other direction.

Are there any new items on the tech front you’re thinking about the way you might have thought about LEDs years ago?

The control of LEDs used to be very, very expensive. Now you can buy this stuff on a roll from China and, for a couple hundred bucks, you can be sequencing LEDs, which was never possible before. I would like for there to be more really revolutionary innovations in light, but I still think there’s a lot left to do with LED.

What other new projects are you working on at the moment?

I’ve been focusing more on gallery shows and museums. I’m doing some different group shows, one called “The Light Show,” which is traveling to New Zealand and Australia. I’m currently in the Cartagena Biennial. We’re going to be showing “Buckyball” sometime this year; we’re making a scale model of it.

So this is the indoor version of the outdoor work?

Yeah, it’s about a three-foot diameter sphere on the outside and then another sphere within that. I’m all about making smaller pieces and learning at different scales. I’m just really regrouping. Two-and-a-half years working on the Bay Lights was pretty consuming. I just moved studios and have a new studio out in Brooklyn in Industry City.MakerBot is out there.

Is the new studio helping out with the work?

I can think straight with having enough space. I was in the same studio for 15 years in Chelsea, right in the middle of the art world and that was great but it’s just a lot of noise. Going to a place where I can think and work is very important. That’s what the new studio is about. For me it’s really about assessing where I’m at and figuring out the next moves. But it’s definitely an exciting time.

“Buckyball” images courtesy of Leo Villareal Studio, “The Bay Lights” images and “Double Scramble” image courtesy of James Ewing, “Impossible Light” images courtesy of Jeremy Ambers

The Guardian brings us an amazing shot, taken at Burning Man 2013. Usually, photographer Spencer Tunick’s subjects are naked en masse. Last year, for the clothing-optional festival Burning Man, he decided a “white diaphonous material” would be more appropriate. Wrapping the minions of the hive for the coccoon…who said Burners had to be individualistic? This shot reminds me of Heaven’s Gate!

Artist: Spencer Tunick. Burning Man, 2013

From The Guardian, May 9 2014:

“It’s a lot of work getting people naked, especially in England,” says Spencer Tunick, the American photographer famous for his nude installation projects around the world. Of his 2005 project in Newcastle and Gateshead, Tunick says, “Despite the fact that we got a lot of people there, it was hard to convince people to take a leap of faith because the body is so sexualised there.” Tunick has not been put off by British reserve, however, and is this month coming to Folkestone in Kent as part of the Museums At Night festival, where he plans to line up 125 individuals and spend about two minutes on a nude portrait of each.

These days, Tunick’s partnerships with international museums and galleries ensure he has volunteers ready and waiting. Working with the Burning Man festival in 2013, for example, meant he had “a city of willing people” to create Desert Spirits in Nevada, shooting from before sunrise “up until the rays shone through the diaphanous fabric”. When he started out in the early 90s, before the reach of the internet, Tunick headed to the streets of the Lower East Side in Manhattan to hand out more than 1,000 flyers to passersby. “About 10-15% of them turned up. That was enough at the time.”

Since then, the numbers have increased. “It is alarming to see 1,000 people naked, and many would think it’s very 
chaotic, but these people are coming to participate and make art. It can be a very spiritual experience for them.”
Tunick can tap into the emotion of his installation only once it is over and his models share their experience with him: 
“I am more of a catalyst. At the time, I am too busy working hard to please them and myself.” 

There have been times when his volunteers have enjoyed themselves so much that they cheered. “I wish they were quieter,” Tunick says. “I would rather them concentrate on me one on one, even if it is one to 1,000.”

I was just in Kent a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful part of the world. Tunick did a nude shot in my former hometown of Melbourne about 7 years ago, some of my friends showed up at 4am to get their kit off and shut the streets down…

Spencer Tunick, 2007. 400+ people naked on the Flinders St bridge in Melbourne

He’s done this before at Burning Man. Here are some past examples of Burner Spencer’s work:

Artist: Spencer Tunick. Black Rock City, 2001

Artist: Spencer Tunick. Burning Man 2000

Artist: Spencer Tunick. Burning Man, 2007

Artist: Spencer Tunick. Year Unknown.

American Museum of National History’s Camel Caravan creation

This year’s theme is “Caravansary“. It’s meant to evoke traditions of the Middle East, silk pillows and teeming marketplaces in caravan oases on the great Silk Road of Asia Minor. The original Silk Road ran from new Burner regional location Israel to new Burner regional location Shanghai.

Burning Man’s Silk Road homage is envisioned as a “bazaar of the bizarre”.

This year we will create a caravansary that occupies the crossroads of a dreamland: a bazaar of the bizarre wherein treasures of every sort, from every land and age, flow in and out to be flaunted, lost, exploited and discovered. This is not a tourist destination, but a home for travelers who come here bearing gifts. Amid the twisting and the turnings of its souk, participants will come upon an inexhaustible array of teeming goods and unexpected services. Anyone may pose as ‘merchant’ here, and anyone may play a ‘customer’, but nothing in this strange emporium shall have a purchase price — no quid, no pro, no quo — no trade at all will be allowed in this ambiguous arcade. According to a rule of desert hospitality, the only thing of value in this ‘marketplace’ will be one’s interaction with a fellow human being.

Is it just another coincidence that, at around the same time this theme is picked, and in the very same neighborhood – literally two miles away – a different “Silk Road” bazaar from San Francisco is the biggest news of the day? Or is this another case of BMOrg trying to attach themselves to the latest Silicon Valley trends? Recent examples of this are “the sharing economy”, the “Bundy Standoff“, and, arguably, Mike Judge’s hilarious new show Silicon Valley.

What Silk Road are we talking about, if not Caravansary? The “Amazon of vice” one, created (allegedly) by “crime kingpin” Ross Ulbricht, a 29-year old San Francisco resident who was busted in the science fiction section of a public library in Glen Park. Glen Park is at the edge of the Mission District, a 2.6 mile walk from where Burning Man just moved its headquarters.

They might have got the front man, but they couldn’t shut the Road down.

The Huffington Post headline reads “New Silk Road Selling Even More Drugs Than Old Silk Road”:

Silk Road is back, and it’s busier than before.

Six months after the FBI shut down the notorious black market website known as “the eBay for drugs,” a new version of Silk Road is offering even more illegal narcotics than its predecessor, according to a report released Wednesday by the Digital Citizens Alliance, a group that advocates against online crime.

The report found nearly 14,000 listings for drugs on the new Silk Road, compared to 13,000 listings found on the site at the time it was shut down last fall.

Ross and Pussy

“What we see on Silk Road today is more drugs, increasing vendors and an even greater commitment by this community to keeping their ‘movement’ alive,” said Garth Bruen, a senior fellow for the Digital Citizens Alliance, in a statement.

In October, the FBI shut down Silk Road and arrested its alleged mastermind, Ross William Ulbricht, a 29-year-old self-professed libertarian and San Francisco resident. Authorities alleged that Ulbricht ran the booming marketplace for illegal drugs, computer hacking tools and other illicit goods and services.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that there was a flow effect to the Burner community from the Feds cracking down on Bitcoins:

Cornelis Jan “SuperTrips” Slomp had more than $20,000 in cash and hopes of making a splash on the South Beach party scene when he landed at Miami International Airport in August.

But before he could pick up the Lamborghini sports car he’d hired, the young Dutchman was arrested by customs agents working with Chicago prosecutors.

Supertrips: a “very modern” Internet drug dealer

Just 22, Slomp was a very modern millionaire, the feds allege: an international Internet drug dealer who accepted payment in bitcoins for ecstasy, cocaine, LSD and other drugs.

Now, in one of the biggest cyber drug cases ever brought, his lawyer says he’s agreed to plead guilty to selling huge quantities of dope through the underground website, Silk Road.

Equipped with only a laptop, an iPhone and a backpack — he planned to buy clothes in Miami, the feds say — Slomp amassed more than $3 million in bitcoins shipping 104 kilos of MDMA, 566,000 ecstasy pills and 4 kilos of cocaine and other drugs through the mail, court papers state.

Some drugs ended up in Chicago, but Slomp shipped to almost every continent, boasting he had “big stockpiles of product, you literally cannot empty me out.”

On Silk Road, where anonymous traders sold illegal drugs and other illicit products, he developed a reputation for ecstasy pills marked with his logo, a green question mark. He was planning to hand off his U.S. business to an unnamed associate when he was arrested, the feds say.

According to a new release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, he has agreed to plead guilty and faces between five and 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine, plus the forfeiture of approximately $3,030,000 in alleged drug proceeds. The government says it seized the equivalent of that amount in bitcoins, a digital currency, and exchanged it for cash.

U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon — who formed a new cybercrime unit last month — said, “Illegal drug-trafficking is not new but drug-trafficking using a sophisticated underground computer network designed to protect anonymity of buyers and sellers presents new challenges to law enforcement that we are prepared to meet.”

Slomp’s attorney, Paul Petruzzi, agreed that “the Internet is the future of drug dealing.”

Asked about the huge sums Slomp was able to quickly make, Petruzzi added: “Young people are much more adept on the Internet.”

Petruzzi refused to comment on whether Slomp, facing up to 40 years in prison, is cooperating with authorities. But just two months after Slomp was quietly arrested and brought to Chicago, Silk Road was shut down by the feds.

Chicago’s Homeland Security boss Gary Hartwig described Slomp as “a prolific vendor on Silk Road.”

Silk Road’s collapse in October 2013 followed the arrest in San Francisco of its alleged founder Ross William Ulbricht — who allegedly went by “Dread Pirate Roberts” — and is accused in a New York federal court case of drug trafficking, soliciting murder, facilitating computer hacking and money laundering.

The feds say that during an 18 month undercover investigation of Slomp, they seized more than 100 packages he sent, including a large shipment of ecstasy seized at O’Hare Airport in April 2012.

The government seizures may be to blame for Internet chatroom rumors about Slomp being a scam artist who did not deliver the drugs he’d been paid for.

One Silk Road user complained two weeks before Slomp’s arrest in August that “I ordered a huge order from (SuperTrips)… it has yet to come.”

“Now the problem is I’m leaving for Burning Man in a few days… Can anyone give me some useful advice as to what I should do?”

Supertrips ratted out his partner, “Underground Syndicate”. As a consequence they arrested “the world’s biggest drug dealer” [yeah right!].  Angel Quinones faces a maximum of 20 years, which commenters suggest may indicate he is co-operating with authorities. Sundayworld reports via the Chicago Sun-times:

The 34 year old who went by the name ‘Underground Syndicate” worked with the Dutch drug dealer Jan “SuperTrips” Slomp to create the biggest illegal market for drugs, on the dark web’s Silk Road.

Angel William Quinones, was taken into custody after ‘SuperTrips’, his partner, turned state’s evidence and admitted all, before a Chicago Court.

Quinones was the U.S. arm of the ecstasy business and helped launder the funds through bitcoins, helping to convert them into cash.

However, one his partner was arrested at Miami airport Quinones’s days were numbered and he now too has decided to co-operate with the authorities.

His house was raided and agents reported finding €157,000 in cash and keys to several postal boxes used for the delivery of drugs, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

It looks like the Anonymous Burner and Silk Road user didn’t spend too long worrying. “Silk Road 2.0″, aka Dark Net, is back, and bigger than ever. From ExtremeTech:

You have to give it to shadowy, corporate-funded lobby groups: You can get some seriously cool data when there’s big money on the line. This week saw the release of the newest report from a DC-based activist group called the Digital Citizens Alliance, an anti-piracy organization that is often accused of astroturfing for large media conglomerates. The report focuses on the current state of the Deep Web drug market and how, despite the shut down of the Silk Road last year, Silk Road 2.0 is already bigger than its predecessor. If the FBI or other law enforcement agencies want to put a real dent in the Deep Web, it will have to try a lot harder.

The overall aim of the Digital Citizens Alliance is to create panic among those less informed about the internet… its latest report on the state of Deep Web drug markets …The core insight is that, following the Silk Road shutdown last year, the Silk Road 2.0 has risen to attract more drug listings than we’ve ever seen before.

It’s not just the Silk Road that’s grown, either. In the wake of the Silk Road’s temporary demise users naturally ran to alternatives, and though most of those quickly fell under the weight of scams and thievery, the basic diversification of the user base remains. Though SR2.0 is by far the largest dark market, it still only accounts for about 41% of all listings — down from more than 70% last year. Competitors like Agora and Pandora collectively hold the majority now, and that’s as assessed by a report which openly admits that it excluded a further 25 small dark markets of which its authors were aware.

TOR talk on Netflix’s House of Cards

While it’s true that the Silk Road is bigger than ever before, that’s mostly a result of the fact that the Deep Web is bigger than ever before, as well. The Silk Road bust was the single best thing to ever happen to the Deep Web — a criminal Streisand effect seems to be at work here, as the Deep Web makes its way into everything from political speeches to House of Cards. After the bust several new high-profile markets sprang up to sell drugs, hacking, assassination — though of course we have no way of knowing how legitimate most of it really is.

People seem to have forgotten that immediately after the raid, conventional wisdom warned against ever again buying from any vendor who was active at that time; anyone selling during the bust could now very easily be an FBI plant. (Read: How to use Tor and get on the Deep Web.)And that’s the problem. For every user exalting the rise of a new Silk Road, there’s another addressing the rampant scamming and theft it now hosts. Many users on the official Silk Road 2.0 forums are worried that drug vendors are being added regularly despite vendor registration having been closed for months — a sign many take to mean the site’s mods are instating fake vendors. Are they cops? Bots? Russians?

Ross Ulbricht’s arrest sparked interest in super-security, but that rush has ended. Now, popular Silk Road vendors like “weedgirlz” start Twitter accounts and “clearnet” websites advertising their illegal businesses. There’s simply no institutional or individual memory here — a fact that makes individual busts very easy for police, but overall victory almost unimaginable. Just as in “real life” crime, Deep Web rings are intractable, dynamic populations that resist the kind of social engineering these arrests aspire to be. As long as the technology to do illegal things online even might exist, people will use it.

The Deep Web’s true strength is not in encryption or anonymity, but in confidence. The FBI needs to imbue this community not with fear of prison, but with fear of their friends. If it can’t, then law enforcement will simply never get a handle on Deep Web criminals, and the markets will keep growing as they have been for years now. The occasional, aimless bust won’t change that.The best chance to really hurt the dark markets has already passed. If the Silk Road 2.0 has in fact been a honeypot all along (and many still suspect that to be the case), that would be a major and above all long lastingblow to the Deep Web. Not because of the arrests or the convictions, but because of the method by which they were acquired.

“We have no way of knowing how legitimate most of it really is”…ummm, newsflash, people. Drugs, murders, fake passports? This is clearly NOT legitimate!

Social engineering on the Silk Road? Hmmm, where have I heard that before…[32:50]

Ulbricht claims he is not “the Dread Pirate Roberts” that facilitated the online transactions and is wanted in relation to at least 6 murders. Reddit brings us an eyewitness report from the bail hearing:

We arrived at 11:15am, near the beginning of Turner’s remarks on why Ross Ulbricht should be denied bail. We got seats, although it was standing room only by the end. Two of six rows were filled with Ulbricht’s family.

The first thing we heard Turner mention is Ulbricht’s stash of Bitcoin; Turner argued that given the “sophistication” of the defendant and the rules of the Bitcoin protocol, it is plausible that he could retrieve and/or instruct someone to retrieve the stash from a remote location if he is released on bail.

Much to the dismay and annoyance of Judge Fox, Turner proceeded to repeat the complaints we have already read; after multiple attempts to steer Turner away from regurgitating content from the complaints, Turner began to outline some of the content found on Ulbricht’s computer. This included: a journal of Silk Road’s creation, extensive spreadsheets with costs of maintaing the site (murder-for-hires included), “emergency” to-do lists, general to-do lists (again, murder-for-hires present on list), among many other incriminating documents not directly mentioned.

Turner then segued into the redandwhite/FriendlyChemist story, and how redandwhite “reported” to Ulbricht that FriendlyChemist had implicated another individual (tony76) in the blackmail plot before he was “killed.”

Ulbricht instructed redandwhite to kill him, but redandwhite responded that he lived with three individuals and it wouldn’t have been possible to kill him while he was in the house; redandwhite said they could wait for him to leave the house and kill him, but they would then be unable to retrieve drugs/money located in the residence. Redandwhite offered to kill all of them. Ulbricht responded that ‘[he] would refer to their judgment on the matter.’ He ended up paying $500K USD in Bitcoin for all four hits. Turner mentions the blockchain here and says the transactions are visible there.

Finally Turner discussed Ulbricht’s attempt to secure dual citizenship in Dominica and used that to argue the flight risk Ulbricht posed. Turner painted Ulbricht as having “two sides” and given his alleged tendency towards violence, the stash of Bitcoin and flight risk potential they moved for him to be denied bail…

Turner mentions that there is evidence that Ulbricht solicited was planning to grow “magic mushrooms” to be listed on SR as its first product, there is also evidence that he has helped facilitate the movement of drugs and finally he loaned someone 500KUSD (not sure in what form) to start a joint drug operation. As such they believe Dratel’s argument to that effect is null and void.

Turner also states that Ulbricht’s family and friends do not know this “other side” of Ross and in no way could attest to his true character. On the subject of flight risk, they point out that he was living under a false name and ordered over 10 fake IDs, a sort of sophistication that would make it easy for him to disappear.

Despite the crime links, and his claim to lack of any connection to them, he insists the $34 $87 million of Bitcoins belongs to him and the Feds need to give it back so he can pay his lawyers:

After his arrest in October, 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht maintains that he is not the Dread Pirate Roberts, mastermind of the online drugs marketplace Silk Road. But he also says the Bitcoins the authorities seized from Silk Road belong to him, and the government should give them back.

Since shutting down the secretive online shop, the FBI claims to have confiscated electronic wallets containing more than 173,000 Bitcoins from Silk Road – an amount worth about $33.6m in real-world currency.

The authorities claim these funds are the proceeds of a criminal conspiracy involving drugs trafficking and money laundering. Ulbricht, on the other hand, says that’s got nothing to do with him – yet the New York Post reports that he has also filed papers with a federal court in New York City demanding that the seized Bitcoins be returned to him.

In a notarized statement dated December 11, Ulbricht reportedly says he “has an interest as owner” in the seized funds and argues that as a virtual currency, Bitcoins are “not subject to seizure” under federal forfeiture laws.

It’s a neat argument. Since the Silk Road raid was the largest Bitcoin forfeiture in US history, the courts literally have never heard a case quite like it. It’s possible that a judge could rule that Bitcoins don’t count as the kind of property that can be seized in a criminal prosecution.

It’s unlikely, though. In past cases, courts have seen fit for authorities to seize everything from cash to cars, boats, houses, artwork, and even intellectual property such as internet domain names. Just the fact that Ulbricht wants the Bitcoins back would seem to establish that they have value and are therefore fair game for forfeiture.

Still, Ulbricht could certainly use the money. Although he was represented by a public defender in his first few court appearances, he has since retained the services of New York attorney Joshua Dratel, and his case looks like it could be a long one. Among other offenses, he is charged with commissioning the contract killings of as many as six people (although there is no evidence that anyone was actually killed).

In November, Ulbricht’s family, friends, and supporters chipped in $1m to secure his release from the New York jail where he now resides, but Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis ultimately denied him bail.

It remains to be seen whether those same well-wishers will be willing to put those funds towards Ulbricht’s legal fees now that he has admitted to owning more than $30m worth of Bitcoin at the time of his arrest

His mom also swears he’s not “the” Dread Pirate. Because you always tell you’re Mom you’re a drug dealer! From Ars Technica:

Lyn Ulbricht says that she and her husband have no doubt in their minds that their son is not Dread Pirate Roberts, the accused mastermind behind the original Silk Road website.

The underground drug website, which was shut down as part of a federal raid late last year, was only accessible through the anonymizing tool Tor. The government alleges that Ross Ulbricht, as Dread Pirate Roberts, “reaped commissions worth tens of millions of dollars” through his role as the site’s leader and also attempted to orchestrate six murders-for-hire.

Since Ross Ulbricht was arrested in October 2013, a new site also calling itself Silk Road has taken the original site’s place and boasts a leader calling him or herself Dread Pirate Roberts—a handful of others have attempted to fill the void left by the first Silk Road. Dread Pirate Roberts is a reference to a character from the movie The Princess Bride. In the film, Roberts’ persona is passed down among various people.

Business Insider has quite a remarkable photo gallery provided by the family, attesting to Ulbricht’s innocence with kittens and skipping. Seriously – it’s worth a look! This may not go over well in jail – and it doesn’t look like the judge is buying it either, in the face of tough prosecution.

Larry Harvey was asked if Burning Man would accept Bitcoins during the mysterious “The Founders Speak” presentation at Columbia University last year. This footage was promised to be shared with the public, but has embarrassingly gone missing. The Burning Man Project seems to prefer talking, to sharing…

I’m in Dr Kittay’s class at Columbia University called Technology, Religion, and Future. Today, we had an event on Burning Man, where the Burning Man committee including Larry Harvey (Founder of Burning Man) came in to talk about the event with our class. The link is below

http://blog.burningman.com/2013/10/eventshappenings/event-the-founders-speak-burning-man-technology-religion-the-future/

I asked if they would consider accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. They unanimously said yes! At first Larry was like, hmm never thought about that. Then one guy said, well its not really that stable yet but hell, if it makes people happy lets do it! They all nodded in agreement. Woot! Now they just have to follow up on it by adding the ‘Pay in BTC’ button to the ticket purchase section of their site.

EFF Founder John Perry Barlow was up there on stage with Larry in New York, as one of The Founders of the Burning Man Project. The EFF have been strangely silent on this particular civil liberties case, which has huge bearing on the future of cyberspace and even the nature of our society. This is literally the frontier of civilization – but before you rush out to the markteplace kiddies, remember – we’re hearing about these guys because they caught them. They were arrested for a crime, they’re probably guilty and they’re probably going to do time for what they did. So don’t do it. Drugs are bad, mmmkay! Whether related to Burning Man or not, this is also a tale of our times, and an interesting one to observe. The criminals seem to be several steps ahead of the legal system and the cops, even if it’s harder for them to outwit the FBI and NSA.

Bitcoins won’t get you tickets to Burning Man, yet. Maybe on Craigslist. This year there is a Camp Bitcoin, for all you crypto-enthusiasts. One of their crew is named “Candose”:

Filed under: Alternatives to Burning Man Tagged: 2013, 2014, bitcoin, bmorg, commerce, festival, future, press, scandal, silk road, tor

As we just mentioned in our earlier Amber Lyon post, if you’re looking to the official Burning Man site for news, good luck to you. They’re running on Burning Man time, not Twitter time. They told you this event was coming up, but haven’t updated their site yet to tell you it’s over. Meanwhile, at Burners.Me, we bring you news of the Burning Man Project Panel. Here’s some bluesy video put out by the City of San Mateo (yes, they do talk…eventually!)

Artist: Julian Cash, 2001

Danger Ranger had this to say about the whole thing:

“What we do literally is we take peoples’ sense of reality, and we break it apart. Burning Man is a transformation engine. It has hardware and it has software. You can adjust it and tweak it, and we’ve done that. We take people out to this vast, dry place – nowhere, very harsh conditions – and it strips away their luggage. The things that they had brought with them, the idea of who they thought they were. And it puts them in a community setting where they have to connect with each other. It puts them in this place where anything is possible. In doing so, it breaks the old reality, and it enables them to realize that you can create your own reality, you can do anything.”

Here’s what the SF Examiner had to say:

I guess if you’re a Burning Man founder, wherever you go in the world, everything is given to you for free. So naturally it would seem as if the whole mainstream world was like Burning Man. I live in Marin County, California – it’s a pretty mainstream place. To me it seems quite different from Burning Man, even though I’m sure some of the people who live here are Burners. There are trash cans, you can buy food and drinks, there aren’t any blinky lights or lasers or thumping subwoofers, there are no art cars, people have clothes on, the cops don’t walk around with dogs and bullet proof vests…

What all this kerfuffle will actually mean to the good people of San Mateo, remains to be seen. Hopefully at least the Burning Man Project will be able to post a complete video of the free event…”soon”.

Funnyman and Hollywood A-lister Jim Carrey has named Burning Man in a recent Commencement Address to MUM: The Maharishi University of Management (who honored him with a doctorate)

The context is after he shows a painting which took him thousands of hours to complete, weeks and weeks like a madman alone on a scaffolding. There’s a blacklight surprise at 18:12, leading up to the BM reference at 18:32.

Full transcript here.

Last weekend, Israeli Burners threw a party billed as “the first Burning Man Regional Event in the Middle East”. Prior to the event, it seemed to be sold out at 2000 tickets, but there wasn’t enough money to get all the art there. Well, it looks like the event was a big success, with 3000 tickets sold. We hope that some of the extra 1000 ticket windfall for the promoters was used to help the artists who were facing a loss on the event (their Indiegogo is still running, having raised $695 of their $18,000 goal).

It looks like it was a great party, with plenty of cool art. Seems like there is a lot of room for future growth too.

San Francisco-based Burner Shawn Saleme’s story at Visual News is the best round-up of the event. Full story and photos here.

The Art and Spirit from Midburn: the New Regional Burning Man Gathering in Israel

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp called the whole thing bizarre (full story here, via Associated Press):

A puzzling sight. A woman wears a unicorn mask at the Midburn festival. Source: AP

FOR the Bedouin Arab shepherds tending their flocks in Israel’s Negev desert last week, it was almost as if aliens had landed from outer space.

Some 3000 people set up a colourful encampment in the dusty moonscape, swinging from hoops by day and burning giant wooden sculptures by night.

It was Midburn, Israel’s first Burning Man festival, modelled after the popular carnival held annually in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Midburn is a mix of “midbar,” Hebrew for desert, and the English word “burn.”

For five days, participants — mostly Israelis — created a temporary city dedicated to creativity, communal living and what the festival calls “radical self-expression.”

Some came costumed in cape or corset. Others, from babies to grandparents, went nude. Participants brought their own food and water, and shared with others. The only thing on sale was ice because of the scorching heat.

 

Riding around in a sailboat car is completely normal. Source: AP

 

There were workshops in sculpture, drawing, and touch therapy. There was music and theatre. At the “tent of heaven and hell,” participants were chosen at random for one of two fates: getting massages or doing chores.

During the day, Bedouin shepherds meandered to the fence surrounding the festival to observe the spectacle. When day turned to night, a larger-than-life wooden sculpture was set on fire.

The festival took place a few miles southwest of the desert gravesite of Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion, who dreamed of making the Negev desert bloom — though he probably didn’t envision it blossoming with hula hoops and pyrotechnics.

At the end, participants were told to remove their own trash and leave the desert without a trace.

 

Party goers sprawled across the desert. Source: AP

  

 

Not your usual night in the desert. Source: AP

 

 

This could be a scene from the moon. Source: AP

Note that, despite the promoters paying for 2 official BMOrg personnel to be there for ranger training, it’s now a week since the event and so far there is nothing from BMOrg or the Burning Man Project about this event. Instead they’re talking up a Shabbat dinner on the Playa this year. According to the Jackedrabbit coverage is “coming soon” on the official blog.

Burning Man’s traveling troubadour and Social Alchemist Bear Kittay was there:

Year 1 of the Israeli מידברן )’( Midburn summed up. I would have liked to see more Palestinians and Arabs, but other than that, it was a pretty remarkable virgin burn. Incredible to see how acculturated a 2400 person event can be from scratch. I have some cool video content I’ll be editing up and sharing with more in-depth interviews and such. Let’s keep growing these contexts for creative collaboration shall we? I must say, after almost 2 months on the road in South Africa, Singapore, Japan, Israel and Palestine, I’m feeling fired up as ever about the role that these gatherings can have on cultivating ecosystems of cultural transformation. Its great and deeply impactful in first world countries and peaceful regions, and I must say, watching this hatch in fragmented cultures like South Africa and Israel is a whole different ballgame. If we can get this model right, and keep it spreading to the places on earth desperate for this context, we can really, really, foment change

.

The Huffington Post has published a story from Saveur about The Epic Food Scene at Burning Man:

photo from Saveur

…food was at the heart of this French Quarter: The Santopalato Supper Club featured a different chef’s cooking each night. I traveled there, and everywhere, from my tent using the festival’s preferred mode of transportation: a bicycle. It’s amazing what you can discover peddling through the dust, like the Pacificana pop-up at Santopalato. Marketing consultant Victoria Davies grilled ginger flank steak and chile-laced sweet-potato cakes over an open fire. Down the street, Darias Jonker and other volunteers at Black Rock Bakery turned out crusty breads from an old airport Cinnabon oven. The efforts of these temporary restaurateurs are astonishing. Yehonatan Koenig, an Israeli-born ad agency director from California, started planning six months out for his special boil dinner, for which he flew in 100 pounds of live crawfish, cooking everything in two 80-quart pots…

…To find the popular Dust City Diner — a ’50s-era greasy spoon run by California artists Michael Brown and David Cole — I biked into the central open sand, searching for its LED sign. At a Formica counter jerry-rigged in a flatbed truck, servers in blond beehive wigs sporting names like Dixie dished out coffee and pancakes on classic blue china. At other eateries, some of my favorite things are the sweets. When you’re tussling with sandstorms, you just kind of want a treat — something like Davies’ yogurt cake with passion fruit sauce – to keep your spirits lifted and primed for yet another crazy experience on, say, a 30-foot pendulum swing or an animal-shaped art car

The underlying premise to this post is an interesting one: taking. Is Burning Man like a shopping mall, where you just pick where you want to go and what you want to do; then when you show up, you’re entitled to get that for free? Or is it more like Christmas? A world of one wonderful surprise after another. You never know what you’re going to get next…and whether you like it or not, you have to say thankyou because it’s a gift.

I have enjoyed free food gifted to me by others at BM before. I’ve even gone to seek out specific camps because I was hungry and thought they might have food. But I have never thought to take a connoisseur’s approach – planning my meals around all the epic cuisine available, so that I may sample and compare. Seems like there could be a lot of queuing up involved, not to mention navigational challenges. Soon we will need TripAdvisor and OpenTable at Burning Man…

As the party grows beyond the limits, it seems that these are the type of things that will come under the most pressure. The pile of money floating to the promoters gets bigger and bigger, while at the same time the money required from camps to Gift something to an ever-expanding population increases. Our expenses go up as their revenues go up. The logistics of arranging food for 50,000 people were significant; the logistics of arranging food for 70,.000 people are at least 40% more expensive, and probably more complicated. Every year, the lines get longer.

The party is only going one way: bigger. Ticket prices have only ever been going one way: up. Food, energy, labor, and other logistics costs are all increasing due to inflation. These have to be borne by the camps, while Burning Man relies 99% on volunteer labor- even those few who do get paid, choose “labor of love” wages over the lucrative, stock option-laden employment packages that are floating around this scene in San Francisco. This year BMOrg’s costs to put on the party went up to a whopping $11,232,928. Revenues also went up, to $30 million. BMOrg increases its prices much more than inflation, from $35 in 1996 to $200 in 2000 to $448 in 2014. Ticket prices feed back into the production costs, camps have to bring more people out to cater for a larger event, and there are many “hidden” costs like driver access for re-supply. Ticket prices also feed directly into BMOrg’s tax-free treasure chest, since most of their fixed costs are actually for their year-round staff, not the week-long annual event. Even the party-related expenses include $2.5 million in royalty payments to the owners.

Is there a limit to growth in this model? Or has The Burning Man Project truly mastered the sharing economy, and is offering us a revolutionary new business model? Maybe Burner benefactors just shrug their shoulders and say “last year, we made grilled cheese sandwiches for 50,000 people. They were all gone by the second day. So, this year we are going to bring triple the amount of sandwiches and kitchen staff”. Even if they do, is that infinitely scaleable? Is it replicable in places like Israel and Africa and Australia? If so, thirty years of social engineering experiments in conjunction with Stanford and other colleges have truly resulted in a disruptive breakthrough for capitalism. A corporate structure where:

• 99% of the workers are free
• the workers  are responsible for all their time and expenses
• workers have to get their own insurance, in case the work they did was sub-standard
• the workers bear all the cost increases
• more, better work = more customers and higher prices = more costs for the workers, more revenues for the owners
• the owners can increase revenues and customer numbers (workload) without reference to the workers needs or capabilities
• a middle management layer is not required, the workers self-manage
• there is no transparency, oversight, or accountability on the owners
• the whole thing is tax-free

Forget the Maker movement or the Nobel prize winning idea of micro-finance! This magical organization model could be the economic miracle that fuels the New American Century.

Dennis Romero at the LA Weekly brings us this story, of a police rescue that turned psychedelic.

• Metin Sanli/Flickr

It’s not everyday that Los Angeles police officers get a whiff of a rare psychedelic drug like DMT. But that’s what reportedly happened last night after cops responded to a report of a screaming man in Van Nuys.

Officers responding to the reported screamer were “exposed to fumes and transported to a hospital,” an LAPD spokeswoman told us. A reportedly nude man was booked early today on suspicion of felony drug-making.

It wasn’t clear if the cops got high, she said, but this much was reported:

Dimethyltryptamine

A suspect was allegedly making the psychedelic drug DMT, according to KTLA News. Police told the station that the man also allegedly had meth and psilocybin mushrooms on-hand. [and, given the screaming, perhaps in his system? - Ed.] After patrol cops arrived, KTLA said, a naked, incoherent man exited a restroom [after flushing the drugs? - Ed.] and was collared by officers.

Police told us that cops arrived at the location in the 14800 block of Sherman Way about 10 last night. Katherine Main of the Los Angeles Fire Department said paramedics arrived at 11:03 p.m. and took five officers and one suspect to medical facilities. 

DMT Mountain by Mearone

A dog at the alleged lab was also “exposed,” she said.

As Utah Burners return from Element11, more information is coming out about Saturday night’s horrific public suicide.

If you’ve had enough of this story, and would like to move on, it’s as easy as not reading this article and reading something else instead. There are billions of other web pages to take your mind away from this. Meanwhile, a record number of Burners from around the world are interested in this story, vastly outweighing the few who indignantly profess that it’s time to ignore it.

We’re still waiting on some sort of comment from Burning Man. All they’ve posted is an “emotional survival guide to Burning Man”, written by one of their Directors; and their “gorgeous” and “mandatory” 2014 Survival Guide. If they do make an official comment, we’ll share it here.

The Element11 event organizers seem to be doing a good job of handling the media, under an extreme pressure situation. We commend them for not endangering any more lives while dealing with this unprecedented situation, and their calm and compassionate response to the tragedy.

The event took place on private property in Grantsville, about 36 miles Southwest of Salt Lake City. The theme of this year’s festival was “Into The Wild”, and the effigy “Sparky” was based on a character from Maurice Sendak’s “Where The Wild Things Are” – a book that gave me nightmares as a kid.

If there is any silver lining in this cloud, it is that the event was 18+, so young children did not have to be traumatized by the suicide victim’s public statement.

We would encourage anyone who witnessed the horrific tragedy to seek help, it’s OK. Talking about this with a professionally trained grief counsellor now might help to process the situation and prevent recurring Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms in the future.  See the bottom of this post for some links for support.

Sparky, the effigy from Into The Wild at Element11 2014; photo credit: Fox13

Video Stories:

Fox13 was first on the scene

It was the Top Story on KUTV2 news from Utah

ABC4 Utah

Around the World:

New York Daily News: Man commits suicide by leaping into giant bonfire at Burning Man-style festival in Utah

UK Daily Mail: Festival-goer dies at ‘Utah’s Burning Man’ after running into burning 30-foot-tall effigy in apparent suicide

A member of the victim’s family has commented here, sharing that the eyewitness accounts are helping them make sense of the terribly sad event.

The man who committed suicide was a member of my family. Not my burning man family–I’ve never been & don’t plan on ever going (no offense to your community) but my actual everyday life family. He was married, he had a good job with perks, and a life that although it was hard like all our lives are hard was also good. Our family is trying to make sense of this also, which is why I’ve found all the eyewitness accounts posted here fascinating. Personally, I don’t see how he could have committed suicide unless he was under the influence of SOMETHING. Right now my priority is supporting his poor wife, who wasn’t there, and was thrown into shock when police broke the news.

Next time y’all consider calling someone names for committing suicide publicly, please consider all the poor decisions you’ve made when you’ve been drunk or high, and give that person the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they weren’t acting in full possession of their faculties.

Our sincerest condolences go out to the victim’s wife and family.

We have some more detailed eyewitness reports from Burners.

MadMaxine said:

It’s amazing how the rumor mill spins and spins. There was no magnesium in the fire. There were some other accelerants (it takes a bit to get a couple thousand board-feet of old scaffolding planks to go up in flames as a bonfire), but yeah, it was an intensely hot fire- that’s how we build ‘em. Also, among the first things that the e-11 bod did was to get in touch with Burning Man and get their legal and other support, because we know this impacts the entire burn community.

To the burners.me blogger (whoever you are), I really appreciate that you are aggregating all the news on this. It’s hard to find, and you are providing a good service. You are also holding space for people to process and discuss this, as is also occurring on many other discussion groups. Though we all have our –intense– feelings about this, I am hoping that all the “space holders” can see beyond their own thoughts and emotions, and resist the urge to name call or judge anyone or their comments. We all need to let it out at this point, and shushing and “you’re saying it wrong” does not allow that to happen. Anger is definitely one of the stages of grieving, so let’s not turn it on each other.

H was one of the first responders, and offered on-site grief counselling. She says:

The fire became such a hot, huge engulfing blaze that those of us in the front row were scrambling to get back while the perimeter was being enlarged. Rangers and other personnel were working hard to contain the scene. Regardless of personal motive or state, a runner evaded all inner reason and outer restraint and ran into the fire in a way that assaulted all who witnessed his immolation. This was not a funeral pyre; this was not a call for help. This was a misguided attempt to be one with a power beyond self that overwhelmed the celebration with grief. While emergency personnel hosed the flames and worked to locate and extricate remains, we in the gathering went from bafflement to shock, then joined hands in a circle as emergency vehicles swept onto Seabase as anything-but-artcars. For all who weren’t there who admonish people for feeling anger at a selfish man’s act of suicide, the experience was tragic and horrific and undeniably sad beyond words. Thanks for the heartfelt speech via the Jellyfish car PA system that got people moving again and then became an announcement for leadership to gather immediately. Thanks to the personnel and organizers who shaped crisis to purpose and got mobilized immediately. The quiet was profound, then muted.
I went into doctor mode and became a first responder for people fainting and felled at the scene, then crisis counselor at center camp. Others were at the Temple; next day it still stood as all remaining burns were cancelled; I wonder how the structures will be repurposed. Amidst smoldering remains of the Wild Thing effigy, a heart of stones with was placed at the spot where the man last stood. My heart goes out to the designer and builders of the structures whose efforts were thwarted from joy and now need our support to move on to other acts of creation. 
May we all have peace and closure for this event, tempered like steel in flame to become stronger in purpose and resolve to not let a sole incident define a greater good.

…I have compassion for all the participants, the family and friends of the man who left (not just lost) his life, and the rest of us affected by this tragic event.
I also remember that around the world every day there are countless people shellshocked by war, hatred, rape and other atrocities on personal to public scales of calamity.
Let us heal in ways that we grow stronger.

Burner Del Hargis said:

There is a seed of blessing in all things. The gift of fire is transformation. I’ve come face to face with the depth of my own shortcomings through this fire we all have walked through together this weekend.

I apologize deeply for being so arrogant, self centered and self serving. It has all been a front to hide my fear and pain. My arrogance was a mask for my shame. I have been blind. But now because of a leap into our fire of transformation I can see clearer today.

Thank you Fire Brother for the seed of seeing. Your sacrifice will never be forgot

photo credit: Del Hargis

…My heart is full of every emotion possible today. I know yours is too. Instead of having to figure out how to function in the default world today I wish we could all spend the week together up in the mountains processing and healing our hearts with and through each other.

From the beginning this was our communities most amazing event to date. The organization, attention to details, creativity, the amount of time, talent and love that went into it all was more than evident from the moment you passed the gate.

I have never been more proud of our Utah Burner family than I was of all of us this whole weekend. From the beginning of the event to the end… you were all amazing.

There are so many people to thank, so many details that could be pointed at to describe how incredible the event was. But the one thing that jumps out the most to me is our love.

I love the way we love. Thank you for your love, our greatest art of all.

Burner Zoë said:

The entire three story structure was packed with wood so that it would burn hotter and longer. They also soaked the thing in flammables so that the flames spread quickly. After the fire dancers finished their show the board of directors marched up the the statue with flares and threw them all into it. Within a minute the entire thing was engulfed in flames. The thing was three stories tall, the flames reached even higher.

It burned for a good 10 minutes before that asshole made a run for it. There was a perimiter setup about 60 ft away from the burn. The flames were so hot that people had to back even further away. Even then I was standing behind people because the heat was still burning my skin.

The first thing I saw was the guards running after him. I was right in front so I had a perfect view of everything. When I saw him he was dancing towards the fire. He even stopped to dance backwards for a moment. Continuing his dance he bolted forward again and did a front flip… Right into at the base of the fire… I couldn’t be sure if what I had seen had been real. There was almost no reaction in the crowd. Had they not seen it? Or were they in shock just as bad as I was? I only heard one person scream. I was too disoriented to tell where the sound came from. Later I found out it was Scarlett right in front of me.

Part of the structure kind of collapsed in on him when he went through the beam. At that point, any ridiculous hope that he could still be pulled out was gone. He was buried and no one could get even close to the fire. We were still able to see him though. I watched as his body slowly fell apart as the intense heat cooked him alive. Minutes later, after part of his body had already disintegrated and he should have been dead, his arm started twitching. It kept doing that for what felt like hours but couldn’t have been more than minutes, if that. Even now I still see that arm twitching every time I close my eyes. That or the flip he did right as the jumped in. Neither of those are as bad as the thought that keeps plaguing my mind. He didn’t scream… How is it even possible that he didn’t scream…

As soon as everyone regrouped we stood there watching the fire as the firemen were desperately trying to put it out. My legs went weak and I sat down unable to move. Everyone was crying. Someone mentioned going to the ascension temple (a kind of relaxation tent) instead of watching. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t talk. I just sat there and watched their futile attempts to put it out. As the ash from the fire fell on us, I started to wonder how much of that used to be human flesh? I was unresponsive for somewhere around an hour. I don’t really remember much of that hour. Or the rest of the night for that matter. It would probably be worth mentioning that the acid I took had started peaking right around the time that he had jumped in. Every moment of watching him die had been seared into my mind… As my friend Judas put it “no offense but you’re most likely going to be psychologically scarred for the rest of your li It t be a good idea to avoid acid for a while.”

Eventually the police showed up and one of the asked if we were ok. Our whole group looked pretty bad. My friends explained that we had seen it all and he asked us to fill out witness reports. Standing up to walk over to the police cars was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done.

While we were waiting to fill out statements one of the Element 11 volunteers noticed me and walked over. He was worried that I was just about to be sick. I didn’t respond. He stood there and hugged me for a while as I cried. As we waited they started grouping people with sheets around the remains of the fire. We couldn’t see what they were covering up but we all knew. I could see the paramedics walking to and from the vehicle as they carried what must have been multiple body parts…

The waiting got to be too much. I didn’t want to be around people so I snuck behind the truck and walked off. In the middle of all of that horror I abandoned my best friends out of selfishness… I am more ashamed of that than anything I’ve ever done. They needed me and I just left…

Walking back to camp I was stopped by all kinds of people worried about how I looked. I still wasn’t saying much so they would just give me a hug and tell me to stay around friends. Instead I went back to camp to throw up and be alone. I sat in the van for about an hour just staring at nothing. Replaying the event over and over in my head. My arm kept twitching every time I thought about the way his arm twitched and wondered if he was still alive during that.

After a while one of my friends showed up and we talked about what had just happened. What made us even more sick than watching him burn was the way people reacted. Within minutes there were people asking if they were still going to do the second burn. Worried that the party was going to be shut down and people would have to leave. One couple set up a blanket and everything, so they could “at least watch what was left of the burn.”. One lady kept going off about how it was her birthday that day, and that it was just her luck that something like that would happen. It disgusted me… After about an hour the music was going again and people were back to dancing. “Celebrating life” was their bullshit excuse.

Burner Bluebliss:

Everything [Zoe] explained was exactly how I saw it as well. My boyfriend and I were sitting directly to the right of where the firefighters were stationed. I could not believe what had happened. I was in immense shock and I kept my hand over my face in disbelief for so long. What hit me the hardest was at one point I could have sworn that I saw his hand reach up through the flames.

I also overheard several people talking amongst themselves and one person said, “And he was having such a good night…”

You never expect anything like this to ever happen. You hear about people dying at festivals all the time, but nothing quite like this.

Burner Bryce gives a name to the man, who was in his camp:

Chris was a member of my camp, and beloved of many of my friends. I wish I’d known him better; he struck me as a person well worth knowing: friendly, funny, generous, intelligent, creative.

I saw him jump, watched him from behind the perimeter, though I didn’t know he was from our camp until much later. Reading all these firsthand accounts is… difficult.

My only request: please don’t call his death a “public statement.” We only know what he did, not why. I understand that everyone in this community has been affected by the tragedy, and I feel the same urgency to make sense of it that everyone else does. But those closest to him will be fighting to “make sense” of this for the rest of their lives. My heart goes out to all of you.

Burner Daisey:

He was running out there. He was dancing around a little bit, and then all of a sudden he jumped into it. It’s like he didn’t even know it was fire, it’s like he thought it was just a playground. The whole time I was thinking, ‘He’s going to walk out, he’s going to be OK, he might have severe burns, skin grafts, OK but I thought he was going to survive it.

Burner Carl:

I was there, and I can tell you the reaction of the people around me. At first, it wasn’t obvious what had happened. From our angle of view, he might have run past the fire and not into it. Once it had become clear what had transpired, a sense of shock came over everyone. Everyone was very quiet. A man spoke over the loudspeaker of the JellyFish art car, and spoke words of support and compassion for the man who had just died. The speaker passed along a suggestion that we all hold hands to honor the man who had just died. A long line of people holding hands formed, facing and partially encircling the fire. After this tragedy transpired, it was clear the celebration was over. I have never heard Element 11 be so quiet and subdued. There was a clear sense of shock among the participants, especially among the rangers and volunteers who helped put together this event that is meant to pull everyone together in a positive manner. There were lots of hugs and mutual comfort. Let me pass along my compassion on to the man who died, to his family, his friends, and to all the people who witnessed this tragedy

Burner Loveislife said:

He literally just disappeared after dancing to the flames.

To his family- He made the easiest exit out, weather led by other forces or not. It was as peaceful as could possibly be. He might not have known.. literally disappearing like a magic trick. My thoughts and heart go out out to All. It’s very lucky there was no scream- no noise- no flailing or presence of pain. That is truly something to be grateful for.. Hugs to All!! Embrace your personal moments for the rarity of what we find important is sometimes lost.

Burner Michael said:

Very rapidly the First fire hose started where he had gone in, and another started in to the centre, which was too hot for it to have much effect. Everyone near me was stunned, shocked expressions and tears. I went back to my camp and easily decided to keep my whirlpool running, naturally all the music had stopped. People came and we talked and shared and reached out from the moment of shock, back to the life and beauty of the event. I went back to centre camp, felt relief as th e music started back up. Mostly I feel compassion for all those who have visual and visceral memories Faroese distressing than mine

Burner Bingo:

All of us who are witnesses are grieving that one of our own Burner family did something like this.
As our group rose to move back I noticed that a man from somewhere close to us on the perimeter was dancing towards the flames. I thought it was a little soon to do the fire dance. He seemed full of joy waiving his arms and skipping. I assumed was caught up in the moment. Then, as the rangers closed in towards him to tell him to back up, he bolted, spun as he leapt in and landed on his butt. Boards crashed down around him and his hands came up, as if reaching towards the sky. Rangers and firemen moved forward in a vain attempt to rescue him but the heat was too intense. Within what seemed like just 15 seconds the second tier of the structure came down. As someone said, he had a look of joy on his face as he jumped. That joy was sucked out of everyone there and that joy went up in the sky and smoke with him.
Many are trying to understand why, as is his default world family. I know it may be hard, but when you (Grieving Relative), campmates and others who knew him personally are able to talk more about him, it will begin this emotional healing process. I’m sure some in this community can be helped and achieve some sense of closure by knowing more about him, his life, his motivations and his sense of mind before, going and while at E11. The big question most people had afterwards was “Why?” I still do.
I went to sleep last night with the image of him jumping in the flames in my head. I woke up this morning to it. Food has not tasted good since that night, when I can even eat it. I’ll see that image for a long time.
But I’m strong. I’ll get through this. But many will need help after having this moment burned in to their psyche, some brains enhanced by mind expanding substances which makes the impact even deeper. His actions affected everyone. He made his end a public event and now the public who witnessed it needs to come together to help each other.
Saturday night I put aside my own thoughts. My motivations, along with my wife’s, was to help others. We set out across our little city and sought out people standing alone. We checked on them, offered aid, comfort, hugs, anything they needed. We ended up back at our vortex camp and sat until late in the morning, calling out to people who walked by if they needed to talk. Some did. If you are hurting, do not suffer this pain in private. Talk about it.

There are also some questions raised from people who weren’t at the event.

Burner Merritt said:

if I had any clear idea as to why it’s happening I’d say so, but I don’t. All I have is questions. I could guess at a lot of things but they’d all be insensitive because it’s not best to just spew opinions when we’re talking about a growing trend of people trying to throw themselves into the effigy fires or committing suicide in other ways during Burn events.

What I DO think is that everyone always just brushing it off as “it’s the drugs” is sweeping the problem under the carpet. 

There are tons of things similar to these events, around the world and throughout history, with fires just as large, and just as much intoxication, and yet they’re not having to try and catch a growing number of “jumpers” each year, or finding someone hanging from the scaffolding who’d been there for hours because everyone thought it was art.

I also think that trying to ignore that it’s a growing problem is also sweeping things under the carpet. So all I’m saying is that I think it’s an issue that could use more open discussion. 

For instance here in our region just a few weeks ago at a pre-Burn event, a girl hijacked a golf cart and tried to kill herself by driving it into the fire, which would have knocked the whole thing down onto FRT, and they managed to jump on the golf cart and stop it before it reached the effigy, but not before it knocked over a propane accumulator, and several people were burned, including children.

But nobody wants to talk about it, and if you do try to talk about it you’re “spreading the drama”.

So I don’t know, but it’s my opinion that whatever it is, it’s weirder than just people who are having a bad trip or a bad weekend…and that we’ll never get to a space of trying to figure it out if we never ask the question, WHY? 

Why is the Burn scene having this problem, why is it different?

Ra Khan, who is not yet a Burner, saw parallels to the ceremonial rituals of the Druids, which were based around the concept of live human sacrifice inside a Wicker Man as a lesson to spectators about the magical power the Druids held over them. These ancient rituals also form the basis of the elite secret society festival featuring theme camps, a ban on commerce, and nicknames called Bohemian Grove, which is happening over the course of this entire month just north of San Francisco in Monte Rio, Sonoma County.

Your religion has intrigued me for a long time but I’ve always been put off by how it seems so much like the Wicker Man and Bohemian Grove. After seeing this I’m convinced there is something to my initial thought.

Lamp lighters in robes set fire to an effigy of the god Moloch in a ritual ceremony at Bohemian Grove

Helpful resources:

There is no shame in reaching out for help at a time like this. Everybody processes trauma differently, and you may not even realize if you are suffering subconsciously.

Kevin Hansen has offered support and counselling:

If any of the E11 staff or participants are needing someone to talk with today, I am making myself available to you.

I have 20 years’ experience as a NLP/Hypnosis/Shamanic Practitioner and I work specifically with PTSD and trauma.

Please feel free to contact me at kevin@cognitivechanges.com 

Burner Lori shared this guide to processing post-traumatic stress.

Burner Paul has shared this video about coping with suicide:

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: No matter what problems you are dealing with, we want to help you find a reason to keep living. 1-800-273-TALK

The Atlantic has a story about a giant brain made out of steel, that will be hooked up to a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. Parts of the brain will light up, to “teach us” how brains work. Now if it could just teach us how consciousness works at the same time, it might have some useful scientific meaning. But I digress…

Dr. Brainlove is an enormous, drive-able jungle gym that will light up in ways that mirror actual brain function. Scientists and engineers are constructing the humongous steel brain based on an MRI scan of neuroscientist Natalia Bilenko’s actual brain…developers say they’re already getting questions about whether Dr. Brainlove might tour around to museums, science festivals, and the like

Natalia Bilenko holds a model of her brain in front of Dr. Brainlove. (photo: Asako Miyakawa)

…”A giant brain out of steel,” said Karen Robinson, an electrical engineer who is part of the team building the structure. “It’s just so ridiculous but also achievable if you have the set of skills this group of people have. That makes it a really cool thing.”

The team behind Dr. Brainlove is associated with Phage Camp, a Burning Man group that tries to infuse the festival with science—including giving lectures and setting up mobile science exhibits. (Another group of scientists associated with the camp is building a giant Tesla coil rigged up to a DJ booth so that people can “dance under freaking lightning.”)

Robinson and her fellow brain builders got blueprints for the 14-foot-tall and 24-foot-long steel structure from a company called Digital Permaculture, which draws up steel-grid model plans and provides the double-layer struts necessary for construction. (The steel structure alone will cost about $6,000, and Dr. Brainlove’s designers are still hoping to raise about $10,000 on crowdfunding site Indiegogo for the overall project.) 

The Dr. Brainlove team finished connecting the more than 600 individual struts this past weekend. “It’s all these steel bars that have to be bolted together and each one of them is unique so they’re all very carefully labeled and numbered,” Robinson said. “I find it interesting because we do so much work with mass-produced things that are very standardized. So this is a very, very different process where everything is sort of unique.”

The brains behind the brain; photo: Asako Miyakawa

…the brain structure, which weighs more than a ton, will be attached to an old Blue Bird school bus. “We chopped the top off so it is now a flatbed school bus,” said Nicholas Christie, a structural and mechanical engineer who is working on Dr. Brainlove. “It looks really cool. We’re going to mount the brain on it.”

Once the brain’s in place, the driver’s seat of the bus will be located in the prefrontal cortex—a delightfully meta detail that reflects the kind of executive function that occurs in that part of the brain. Dr. Brainlove will also be wired with colorful fiber optics and custom LED lights that are designed to look like neural pathways. (“We have a lighting wizard,” Christie says.) 

The brain crane. Photo: Asako Miyakawa

The brain’s operators will be able to light up certain areas of the brain to show people different parts of it. The lights will also be used for function—as a geographical marker at night—and for fun. “In some situations we’ll want to have them moving to the music more like a dance party,” Robinson says, “and then sometimes we will talk about epilepsy or something and have it be a strobe light.“

Because art cars make the best geographic markers! And who doesn’t want to spend their evenings at Burning Man learning about epilepsy from a strobe light.

The team is also toying with the idea of having lights respond to music in a way that would mimic a person’s real-time brain activity in response to that sound. And already there are ideas about what projects the giant brain might inspire in years to come. There’s talk of designing a skull encasing for the brain, or a spinal cord, or even a mega heart—one big enough to crawl through that’s pulsing with compressed air.

Any real plans will have to wait, Christie says. “I don’t have the brain capacity right now,” he said. 

Last year my Burgin sister and I watched the Cargo Cult burn from on top of BalanceVille, an art car sleigh that raises 52 feet in the air with a scissor lift. Next to us, with a small blinky light in her hair, was Academy Award winning actress Susan Sarandon. She was super chilled, not an uppity celebrity in any way – and loving it.

“People made art for no benefit — it was made just for the interaction of it all,” Sarandon said. “People came and built huge statues and temples and all kinds of things. After a week, they take it down and it’s just gone . . . it was interesting because it was nice to see art that was created without any commerce.”

She’s just done a great interview with the Daily Beast, talking about Burning Man, psychedelics and her past love affair with The Thin White Duke.

From the Daily Beast:

In person, you can see why it proved such a gargantuan task. Few actresses—nay, people—have bitch-slapped Father Time quite like Sarandon. Combine those age-defying looks with stellar acting chops and a no-bullshit attitude and you’ve got a woman who marches to the beat of her own drummer—dating thirtysomethings and remaining prolific in ageist Hollywood.I heard you went to Burning Man last year, but sadly couldn’t make it this year.

Parasols and Celebrities at Cargo Cult

It’s fabulous. I can’t go this year because my daughter’s having a baby around that time, so I don’t think I’d feel very free to indulge if I was waiting for a message to see if she’s gone into labor. I went all around on a Segway and a bicycle, which was great, and even though people sometimes recognized me and said, “Oh, it’s so cool you’re here!” it wasn’t like walking the streets of New York. The art was amazing. You’ll find fantastical stuff like four-story women, and when the light comes up, a half-naked woman with a parasol. Despite the fact that there was more of a police presence there, it was a lot of fun and I’d definitely go back. 

Did you take any psychedelics? You kind of have to, right?

Well, it’s pretty psychedelic to begin with. But, yeah, I’m not new to the idea of mushrooms. I don’t really like chemical things, really. Timothy Leary was a friend of mine, so that acid was nice and pure, but I’m not really looking for chemicals, and I don’t like to feel speedy. But I’ve done Ayahuasca and I’ve done mushrooms and things like that. But I like those drugs in the outdoors—I’m not a city-tripper. My attitude about marijuana or anything is, “Don’t be stoned if you have to pretend you’re not,” so I’d never do drugs if I was taking care of my kids. I like doing it in the Grand Canyon, or in the woods. You want to be prepared and not have responsibilities. It does remind you of your space in the universe—your place in the universe—and reframe things for you. I think you can have some very profound experiences.

The late Steve Jobs said taking LSD was a very profound experience, and one of the most important experiences of his life.

But it didn’t make him a kinder person. It’s not going to solve all your problems. But, yes, I’m totally supportive of that means to reframe your universe.

And marijuana was recently decriminalized in New York.

It got decriminalized in small amounts. It will be legal everywhere, and that will cause a very interesting tipping point. Certainly, if more people were smoking instead of drinking, people don’t get mean on weed, don’t beat up their wives on weed, and don’t drive crazy on weed. They just get hungry, don’t go out of the house, or laugh a lot. I think it would make for a much more gentle world.

Although edibles are sort of a different ballgame. If I was driving and munching on a brownie I’d stand a really good chance of putting my car into a ravine.

Well, it needs to be treated as a controlled substance in that you don’t give it to kids, and you don’t drive. Certainly, liquor has caused many more deaths. There’s never been a death by marijuana. And the money spent to incarcerate people, the money spent on the drug war, and the fact that cartels are running wild, it’s crazy.

…I got married really young, which knocked out most of my 20s to be fucking around. There have been a couple of famous, pretty interesting ones. One rock star, and another actor. But I’m pretty much a nester and tend to be monogamous.

Who was the rock star?

Bowie.

Get out. That man is a legend. Did that happen around the time of The Hunger?

Yeah. He’s worth idolizing. He’s extraordinary. That was a really interesting period. I wasn’t supposed to have kids, and I’m the oldest of nine and had mothered all of them, so I wasn’t ever in a mode to where I was looking to settle down and raise a family, so that definitely changes the gene pool you’re dipping into. But Bowie’s just a really interesting person, and so bright. He’s a talent, and a painter, and… he’s great.

Follow @susansarandon

Agreed. That Thelma & Louise reunion selfie you took with Geena Davis really broke the Internet.

There was a whole photo session and then they do this interview, and then I just thought, “Let’s take one of us.” It was very spur of the moment. And you know what? My dog tweeted it.

Your dog tweeted it?

Yeah. My dog, Ms. Penny Puppy has a site, and she tweeted it. And we had no idea that it would do that. We had none. It was just a joke!

[read the full interview here]

 

Last year we had the celebrity invasion, with a big deal made about big names like P.Diddy, Susan Sarandon, and General Wesley Clark attending Burning Man.

Will this be the year of the Political Invasion? Politician Grover Norquist, a prolific tweeter who campaigns against taxes, has caused a media stir with his announcement that he is going to Burning Man this year. Grover is a Republican, as supposedly is Burning Man itself – according to the Washington Post, who wrote a story about The Mainstream Republican Values of Burning Man.

Its official. Samah and I are off to "Burning Man" this year. Scratch one from the Bucket List.—
Grover Norquist (@GroverNorquist) July 28, 2014

SF Gate responded to the news by saying “the shark may have been jumped on the Playa”.

The New York Post acted all Burnier-than-thou by correcting Norquist’s use of “it’s” (apparently proper spelling and punctuation is a requirement for tweets), and pointed out that he’s a regular entrant in the “funniest celebrity in Washington” contest.

A scene from 2007, before Burning Man died

Vanity Fair described the announcement as “The Day Burning Man Died”:

After being injured repeatedly by an ever-increasing celebrity population and an onslaught of #brands, the Burning Man festival died on Monday, July 28, 2014. The final, fatal blow came when Grover Norquist, a 57-year-old tax policy agitator and the president of Americans for Tax Reform, tweeted that he would be attending this year’s iteration of the festival.

First Diplo and Diddy, and now this? Our condolences for longtime attendees, who may have to get dusty (and dusted) elsewhere.

The LA Times has suggested some Things For Grover Norquist To Do:

1. The Spank Bank. As the Burning Man website says, this is “a sensual playa spanking experience” where you can “have your bottom spanked while being treated to a cocktail.” If he’s not into having people spank his behind, he can get spanked by a robot. Either way, a good reason to drop trou in the desert. Afterward, he can recover by paying a visit the Hiney Hygiene Station.
2. Pole Dancing. Norquist. Pole dancing. In a genie bottle. The mind reels.
3. Sideshow Freak Confessional. Might Norquist confess that he sometimes drives on tax-funded highways, visits tax-funded national parks, and eats foods for which farmers have received tax-funded subsidies? Nah.
4. The Orgy Dome. Pack a towel.
5. The Bad Idea Bar. A place, besides Washington, that actually wants bad ideas.

The National Journal quotes Grover as saying that Burning Man was the reason the Republicans lost their last election, because their National Convention takes place in the same week as the festival:

How did a conservative activist like Norquist get interested in Burning Man? He tells the story like this: A couple of years ago, Larry Harvey—the founder of Burning Man—was in Washington to negotiate with the National Park Service about land use for the festival, which takes place on federal land. Harvey later stopped by Americans for Tax Reform’s weekly Wednesday meeting, and [ended] up going to dinner with Norquist and his wife, Samah Alrayyes Norquist. “You’ve got to come out!” Harvey told them.

Unfortunately, the stars did not align for Norquist that year—the Republican National Convention was scheduled for the same weekend as Burning Man. In July 2012, Norquist tweeted, “Which idiot put the GOP convention the same time as ‘Burning Man‘ in Nevada? Is there time to change this?”

“It wasn’t doable with schedules and so on because the Republicans put their convention right on top of Burning Man, silly people,” Norquist told National Journal on Tuesday. “That’s why they probably lost the election.“

Burning Man “founder” John Perry Barlow, also a Grover (and Dick Cheney’s campaign manager), figured out the way to get around this in 2004:

If someone like Karl Rove wanted to neutralize the most creative, intelligent, and passionate members of his opposition, he’d have a hard time coming up with a better tool than Burning Man. Exile them to the wilderness, give them a culture in which alpha status requires months of focus and resource-consumptive preparation, provide them with metric tons of psychotropic confusicants, and then … ignore them. It’s a pretty safe bet that they won’t be out registering voters … when they have an art car to build.

…Barlow then admitted that despite his polemic, he would be going back to Burning Man this year — although not for the entire week. For the first three days, he will be at the Republican National Convention in New York City, and he wondered how many other Burning Man devotees would similarly split their time.

Despite never having been to Burning Man, Norquist’s dinner with Larry Harvey two years ago entitles him to explain to us the political kinship of the event:

Norquist insists that the drug-filled utopia in the desert shares some common values with his own group, Americans for Tax Reform.

“Burning Man was founded in ’86, the same year as the Pledge, and the first Burning Man had 20 people at it, and our first Center-Right Meeting—the Wednesday Meeting—also had 20 people. So I think there’s a real kinship there,” Norquist says. “These are very similar operations, except we tend to wear more clothes perhaps at the Wednesday Meetings.”

Burning Man relies on a “giving economy” where attendees are encouraged to give goods and services free of charge—a system that Harvey has called “old-fashioned capitalism.”

Old-fashioned capitalism, in the sense that Robber Barons and Feudal Lords are old-fashioned.

…this is hardly the first instance of capitalists like Norquist being drawn to Burning Man. In recent years, Silicon Valley’s elite, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt, have flocked to the event.

Order from Chaos

Norquist says the festival is a good example of the theory of spontaneous order. The theory, which was promoted by Austrian economists like Friedrich Hayek, holds that a natural structure will emerge out of a seemingly chaotic environment without need for outside intervention.

“There’s no government that organizes this,” Norquist said. “That’s what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature.” 

No-one telling you what to do, huh? Grover should probably read the Terms and Conditions of his ticket, which 5 years ago in 2009 were just over 2 pages long, and today are 9 pages long. The rules include “I hereby appoint Burning Man as my representative to protect my intellectual property or privacy rights”, a clause that is not limited by any trivial concerns about scope or context. Upset about NSA spying? Don’t worry, BMOrg are protecting you.

“This is a fun, exciting, cheerful collection of people being free of state control and doing stuff they want to do,” he continued. “If somebody wants to sit in a corner and read Hayek, I think that that’s allowed. If people want to run around with not as much clothes as they normally do, I think that’s allowed as well.”

Once he gets to Black Rock, he doesn’t have an objective. “I’m going to chat with people who have done it before and who are there, and go with the flow,” he said.

In the past, Norquist has supported federal tax breaks for marijuana growers. So, will he be partaking of the buffet of drugs that Burning Man has to offer?

“I think lots of things should be legal that I don’t do,” he tersely replied.

Norquist said he needs to figure out what items to bring to contribute to the “giving economy,” and joked that he would bring signed copies of his new book. But he admitted that in the playa, a bottle of water is more valuable. That’s the beauty of the market at work.

The drugs buffet starts at Center Camp each day, from 6am to 10am. Alcohol will not be served, bring your own.

Burning Man’s first historian, Brian Doherty, interviewed Grover about the controversy caused by his Tweet in Reason:

…Norquist even invited Harvey to one of his notorious Wednesday morning meetings of various representatives of the small-government coalition, the whole “vast right wing conspiracy” in a room, and Harvey attended. Harvey and I discussed Norquist’s interest in the event back in 2012.

The reaction to Norquist’s announcement has been, well, peculiar. Lots and lots of inexplicable shock and hostility. I should think after all these years, “anyone goes to Burning Man” stories shouldn’t be that interesting. That it is the “bonfire of the techies,” a magnet for high-end superrich tech industry folk from Bezos to Page, has been discussed since 1997 and is now a cliche. The festival is very officially dedicated to the principle of “radical inclusion.” 

Hell, I traded stories about wounds with former NATO commander and Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark while stuck in line because the gate was inexplicably closed for a few hours just last year at Burning Man. My tracheotomy scar from Guillain-Barre, Clark’s bullet wound in the hand—it was part of a game this lady made both of us play. Clark admitted, in a candid moment inspired by the game, to feeling the desire for vengeance on the man who shot him. No one called him out publicly on being who he was, though at least a few people involved in the extended conversation did know.

Any and everyone who can afford a ticket is very officially welcome [even sex offenders - Ed.]. That’s the very definition of the “spirit of Burning Man.” Lest you wonder what a small-government warrior like Norquist might see in it, note that “radical self-reliance” is another of the principles meant to animate the event.

Norquist told me today that he is tickled by the idea of Burning Man because of the radical inclusion and the “radical individualism” and that “anyone who thinks people should run their own lives should be into” the idea of Burning Man. He expects it to be like “sitting on the Left Bank of the Seine watching the world pass by on hyperspeed”—that he hopes to encounter a variety of human lifeways, art, and fun of an unparalled variety, in essence. If he wanders around enough, he certainly will. He adds that it took a while to convince his wife to agree, and hopes he can sell her on the motorcycle rally in Sturgis next.

What does he make of the shock about this eventful news, Grover goes to Burning Man? “The right has a good idea of what guys on the left are like. We live in a world and a culture they dominate, we know what they think. They tend not to have a clue what conservatives do and think, all they have is a caricature.” Norquist notes that it’s pure ignorant prejudice to assume someone who wants to lower taxes can’t possible appreciate, understand, or enjoy a culture filled with those who don’t, or might not. 

I have in the past mocked the notion of the event having ideological principles at all. But if you are supposedly standing up for what “Burning Man is all about, man,” making ignorant and unwitty “gee I guess Burning man is officially over now!” comments (see Slate and Vanity Fair) or even making subtle or not-subtle threats on Norquist if he shows up, as I’ve regretfully seen twice in social networks in the past day, shows you just have not the slightest idea of what you are talking about. A strong libertarian tendency ran through many of the early shapers of Burning Man through elements in the Cacophony Society, though not through Larry Harvey himself. Harvey, at the very least, tolerates and appreciates interaction with those who disagree with his own politics.

Or it could be those upset about this news are so dedicated, in their open liberal tolerance, to refusing to have anything to do with people who disagree with them about capital gains taxes that their thought processes are short-circuited. 

Way back in 2000 I wrote this Reason cover story on the complicated evolution of the festival’s relationship with government, internal and external. The event rose in anarchy and despite the presence of cops—lots of cops—in actual functioning, the city that is built and inhabited each year to constitute Burning Man is essentially anarchist, with public services of sorts—porta-johns and graded roads and some partly-funded public art—arising from freely paid ticket prices, not taxes. While commerce is officially discouraged—you aren’t allowed to vend there, aboveground—the spirit of the event is otherwise all about do your own thing, but don’t harm others. Perfectly libertarian, and perfectly in keeping with Norquist’s particular “leave us alone coalition” brand of conservatism

Tax reform? Bring it on. Maybe “Disneyland In Reverse” can change the world. Will Norquist partake of the diverse array of organic and pharmaceutical mind-altering substances on offer? Let’s hope so.

when it was his turn to speak, Harvey, in his typically elliptical, muttering style, took a different tack. He described standing on Golden Gate Park’s Hippie Hill in the 1960s, feeling convinced that a great wave of enlightenment would soon roll over the entire world.

“I was peaking,” he admitted, to much appreciative laughter from the audience. It was a fallacy to believe that personal experiences of awe led to appreciable change in the world, Harvey said, and it was never his goal to make Burning Man into more than an “initiation”.

Is Grover going to be initiated into our cult too? At the very least, somebody give the man a pink parasol.

Republican party politician mover and shaker Grover Norquist announced in a tweet last week that he was one of the celebrities going to Burning Man this year. The response has been surprising, with coverage in Bloomberg, Reason, Slate, the National Journal, the LA Times, the New York Post, the Washington Post, and Vanity Fair.

Reason TV wondered “can Burning Man survive?”

Southern California Public Radio asked Grover about Vanity Fair’s claim that “Burning Man is now dead”:

So does this mean, as Vanity Fair proclaimed, that Burning Man is dead?

“That’s ridiculous,” said Norquist on Take Two Show. “Burning Man has 10 principles. One of them is radical inclusion. The people who think that others shouldn’t be included should move on and do something else. They seem to think this is their treehouse, and they should keep other people out, or they should tell other people how to run their lives. They shouldn’t be involved in a dramatic and radical experiment whose first principal in inclusion.””

It seems that Grover is lecturing others on the Tin Principles already, before he’s even attended, like a good Virgin.

Tom Berman at VICE doesn’t share the enthusiasm (emphasis ours; photos by Vito Fun):

If you pay attention to the American political scumbag carnival, you’ve probably heard of Grover Norquist. He’s the head of Americans for Tax Reform, a lobbying group known for keeping tight reins on the Republican Party through the anti-tax pledge they exact from elected officials. “The Pledge,” as it’s known, prevents Congress from reaching compromise on virtually every issue. However, Grover’s power is dwindling, as more and more lawmakers refuse his pledge. So, like a lot of white guys facing a mid-career crisis, he’s decided to go to Burning Man.

…So far, Norquist is behaving like a typical first-year “Burner” by telling everyone he knows about his plans to attend. With a single tweet, he attracted an avalanche of commentary. Last year, Seth Rogen told the world he was headed to Burning Man—on TV, no less—and received just a small slice of the attention won by Norquist.

…I groaned when I chanced upon Norquist’s tweet. Aside from Rogen, celebrities tend not to announce their plans to attend, because it’s considered a faux pas to use the event for self-promotion. As LeBron James will tell you, self-aggrandizing announcements cast doubt on one’s intentions. In future communications, Grover would do well to follow the lead of this guy, who at least managed to stay off Twitter until he had a sweet picture to post.

Norquist went on to do an interview about Burning Man with the National Journal, which really ought to know better. According to the Journal, he stated: “Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature.” He also claimed that “there’s no government that organizes” it.

Burning Man, like any city or nation, requires funding and organization to function. When people buy tickets, they help to pay for the event’s needs as a price of citizenship. It’s exactly the same as a tax.

The annual event is organized by a series of departments that serve the event like a de facto government. They are managed by the Burning Man Organization, which maintains a year-round office in San Francisco and acts as an executive branch. Most of the people who work for the staff departments are unpaid volunteers, but each team requires gobs of resources in order to make the event a reality.

Burning Man’s Department of Public Works provides the event’s critical infrastructure. They institute a “City Plan,” survey street alignments, and employ an arsenal of heavy machinery to help build the art installations that Grover can’t wait to scope out. The DPW also coordinates the Playa Restoration Team that stays behind for weeks to clean the site, because the event is only allowed to re-occur if it picks up after itself.

Then there’s Gate, Perimeter, and Exodus, who manage the event’s arduous entry and exit process. They employ radar, night vision, and elbow grease to thwart stowaways and fence jumpers, who are the Burning Man equivalent of tax dodgers. Grover Norquist knows all about tax dodgers, because many of them are his biggest contributors.

The Black Rock Rangers mediate disputes between attendees, and shut down and search the city if somebody’s kid gets lost. There’s also Burning Man Information Radio, which serves as the sort of public broadcast system that Norquist’s friends love to hate.

The Emergency Services Department partners with a nearby hospital to provide paramedic and medical services. If they can address an illness or injury without shipping the patient back to Reno, their services are paid for by the ticket proceeds. Norquist should be aware that his supposed libertarian Xanadu is a proud provider of single-payer health care.

In an echo of everyone’s least favorite government agency, there’s a Department of Mutant Vehicles, which inspects and registers the event’s famed Art Cars. Without them, Burning Man would turn into a janky demolition derby. This would be bad, because nothing sucks the fun out of a fire-shooting octopus encounter like vehicular manslaughter.

There are even staff teams looking out for Grover’s beloved One Percenters, like the airport that serves the growing share of people who arrive by chartered plane.

Finally, you’ve got the actual US government, which manifests itself at Burning Man as the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM enforces the 20-page Interior Department closure order that makes the event a reality. By my count, that’s two separate governments working at once. Without either, Grover wouldn’t get to rave. He’d be forced to settle for the creepy Porcupine Festival campout in New Hampshire, which nobody on Twitter is going to give a shit about.

Norquist probably knows all of this. He’s been itching to attend Burning Man since 2012. And he’s an alum of Harvard’s Hasty Pudding society, which means he’s a nerd. I’ll bet he’s reading up on the event the way a 15-year-old devours the Harry Potter books.

Grover should expect to have a good time, though, because nerds excel at Burning Man. It’s like a political campaign: You learn a map, do a budget, and endure compatriots who use the whole thing as an excuse to binge-drink. Burning Man also celebrates recklessness, and Grover’s a proven daredevil thanks to his hard-ball debt-ceiling politics. How can any acrobat or fire spinner compete with a guy who can endanger all the world’s money?

Still, he shouldn’t stop at the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation on his way up from Reno. The locals may recall the time he helped scam Native Americans by laundering Jack Abramoff’s money. And he shouldn’t discuss his support for South African Apartheid in the 80s. Most of the people he’ll meet are California and Oregon neo-hippies, and Apartheid stuff will harsh their mellow.

He should, rather, expect a warm reception. Burning Man’s principle of radical inclusion doesn’t stop at K Street.

So here’s a personal welcome from yours truly: Welcome home, Grover! Go forth with a reckless spirit and an open heart. Seize each day, and have the time of your life.

I hope you chance upon some synthetic psychedelics. I hope you wind up lying on your back in the dust, eating peanut butter with a spoon, and watching as hallucinations of zebras and baby goats cavort against the sunrise. I even hope you trip so hard that you realize what an asshole you are.

No matter what happens, keep one thing in mind: People move heaven and earth to reach this event to test their limits, to make friends, and to challenge their preconceptions. Nobody is showing up to serve as a thin, cherry-picked rationale for your sniveling politics.

Satanists? Maybe Burners are Satanists? Before you jump to the comments to say “I’m sick of all the negativity, why is this blog hating on Burning Man, etc. etc.”…please understand that it’s not me saying that, dear readers – it’s Burning Man founder Michael Mikel, aka Danger Ranger. I’m just reporting on what is being discussed about this culture on the Internet. Read on…

Earlier this year we published a story The Natives Are Restless, exploring the idea that not everyone in Northern Nevada thinks that Burning Man is an amazing expression of humanity that is making the world a better place. The next day, the Reno Gazette Journal responded with a front-page story on how good Burning Man is.

Has something happened since then, up there in the Biggest Little City in the World? Perhaps Burning Man Arts lack of enthusiasm for funding a permanent BELIEVE installation?

Hot on the heels of this week’s news item blaming Burning Man for an uptick in bike thefts, now the RGJ have this feature story: “Burning Man – When Cultures Collide”, about the people of Gerlach and the surrounding area, and what they think of the whole thing. It seems even long-time Burner locals have had enough of rude behavior, public urination, and waste dumping on the highway.

MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, A GROUP OF SAN FRANCISCANS TRAVELED TO NEVADA’S BLACK ROCK DESERT TO HOLD THE FIRST BURNING MAN. AS THE EVENT GREW EACH YEAR, SO DID THE OPINIONS OF RURAL NEVADANS AS A CLASH BEGAN BETWEEN BURNER CULTURE AND SMALL-TOWN COMMUNITIES.

For 24 years, people drawn from all over the world have set up camp in the dust of the Black Rock Desert for the annual art and counterculture event Burning Man.

As burners swarmed in from all directions, the locals have watched with a mix of wonder, dismay, happiness, shock and, sometimes, disgust.

“When we first came out to the desert, we came through Gerlach and the locals would see all these characters with tattoos, purple hair and piercings everywhere, going to burn this wooden man in the desert, and the first thing they thought is, ‘They’re a bunch of Satanists,’ ” said Michael Mikel, one of the three original founders of Burning Man.

From its introduction in 1990, when Mikel and a small group of San Franciscans hauled a wooden man to the desert to burn, to the first sold-out event in 2011, to today, when nearly 70,000 people are expected to arrive starting Aug. 25, Burning Man has left its imprint on the surrounding communities.

To this day, those communities are not always comfortable with the influx of outsiders who freely express themselves through art, performance, costume and revelry.

That clash of cultures started where it all began: outside the Black Rock in the small town of Gerlach.

In the first years of Burning Man participants often brought out guns, blew up propane tanks and had a drive-by shooting range. Guns were no longer allowed at the event once it grew into the thousands.

Mikel said the San Francisco group and the rural Nevadans didn’t mix at first. But shared interests helped bridge cultural differences.

“We had guns, and we would have shooting events and invite the locals,” Mikel said. “Nevada is a frontier, and when we invited them to go shooting, they would have a lot of fun and think, ‘Maybe they’re Satanists; but they are Satanists with guns, so they’re OK.‘

“We established common ground through that particular cultural sameness.”

Thousands of burners drive through Gerlach, population 120, on their way to the desert. Throughout the years, its citizens began to realize that, not only was the event not going away, it was growing. Fast. By 2013, Burning Man had grown from a few hundred people to more than 69,000.

“We didn’t want them here in the beginning, and we don’t want them here now,” said Cindy Carter, a 40-year resident of Gerlach. “But, they keep coming.”

Unlike many of her disapproving neighbors, Carter herself is a burner —she hasn’t missed a burn since the first year. But the event has put a strain on the community, she said.

“Gerlach kinda freaked out,” Carter said. “When I was working at the Empire Store, it was fun in the beginning. But when you’ve got lines wrapped around every aisle in the store, everyone screaming to get out, and asking for the bathroom or water, or can they get a shower, you had no voice by the end of the day.”

In 2000, after nearly three decades at the market just south of Gerlach, she called it quits.

The exodus after the event lasts for four days, and people strew garbage, including tents and camping materials, furniture and even art cars along the highway from the edge of Black Rock Desert to Reno.

“There are a lot of very rude people,” she said. “Gerlach is this laid back, friendly little town; we get along with everybody. But when it gets like this, Gerlach people get angry, too. It gets all backed up and there’s nowhere to use a bathroom, so they will pee in your yard.

“It’s quite a shock for Gerlach.”

Twenty years ago, one of the original burners settled in Gerlach and opened the Black Rock Saloon.

“In the beginning, they weren’t sure,” Michael “Flash” Hopkins said of the residents. “It was a little scary for them, I’ll admit — why not? You see a guy like me heading to town, saying, ‘I might just live here.’ “

But after the neighboring Empire mine shut in 2010, taking with it a good bit of the population, making a living got even harder in Gerlach.

“The town now accepts Burning Man more than Burning Man accepts the town, if you want to know the truth,” Hopkins said.

“You can’t fight it — it’s here,” he said. “It’s that monster that comes walking through.”

Hopkins recalled the early days, when burners had the freedom to do just about whatever they wanted — including lining up propane tanks and shooting them with AK-47s and racing across the dry lakebed.

“At one point when we first got here, there was a definite clash, but the town was wilder then,” Hopkins said. “It’s mellowed out now, and people here are pretty happy.

“There are a few curmudgeons around town who really don’t like it, but it literally only lasts a few weeks — the bulk of the people are only here for a week or two weeks at the most.”

Carter shook her head.

“Gerlach accepts them, but they’re not happy with them,” she said. “It’s been 25 years. We tried fighting them off at the beginning. We all said, ‘No, no, no,’ and we were promised it wasn’t going to go more than 50,000 (people),” she said. “Well, now we’re past 60,000. There needs to be a limit on it. It used to be fun.”

Gerlach tried fighting Hopkins off at the beginning, too.

“I’ve been shot, stabbed and run over, but I’m still here,” Hopkins said. “It was very rough out here at first. … The cowboys would come into town and fight.”

One night, an employee Hopkins had fired took a couple of shots at him with a .38, hitting him in the leg.

He crawled into a bar and yelled, “Boys, some chick just shot me. Get me some whiskey.”

“I took a shot of Jack Daniels, hit the pool table and fell on the floor,” he said. Someone went to get the sheriff, but he wouldn’t come.

“He said, ‘It’s my day off,'” Hopkins said. “He always told me one day I’d get shot in this town.” 

It’s not uncommon for rural Nevadans in Fernley and Lovelock to sit in parking lots near Interstate 80 as Burning Man gets underway. 

It’s a popular pastime — watching the cars arrive, sporting bright colors and designs, with people meandering around in costumes and fur as they finalize shopping before heading for the desert.

Erika Wesnousky of Reno’s Controlled Burn recently learned of this activity as she prepared to bring a Compression Fire and Art Festival to outlying towns in Nevada.

“People watch for three or four hours and think, ‘Ah, so this is Burning Man,’ ” Wesnousky said. “They have seen a slice that they think might represent Burning Man, but I would say that seeing something like a Compression event gives them a much better idea.”

For the past seven years, Compression has been part of July’s art and music festival, Artown, bringing fire spinning, music, art cars and costumes to downtown Reno in the spirit of Burning Man culture.

This year, she wanted to share the event with Nevada’s rural communities as part of the Nevada 150 Sesquicentennial celebrations. She also received funding from art organizations to support it.

“We tried to engage 10 counties in Nevada, but only got four confirmed, so we began setting up performances for Lovelock, Fernley, Austin and Reno,” she said. “We knew there were burners living in Lovelock, and it seemed like things had started to settle there — we wanted to do it there as sort of a healing (after years of legal and cultural struggles between the county and Burning Man).”

Wesnousky traveled to Lovelock to begin the process of bringing the event there and said she was surprised by the reaction she received.

“I discovered a negative community mindset about what I wanted to bring to town and was surprised to discover it was seen as a bad influence for Lovelock,” Wesnousky said.

She said she had to go to three city council meetings and one Pershing County Commission meeting to discuss the safety, content and influence Compression would have on the community.

“I think there is a little bit of what went on in Reno 10 to 15 years ago when people were closeted burners. It wasn’t mainstream enough for them to be proud that they attended or contributed or were willing to admit to it,” Wesnousky said. “There are great people in the Lovelock community who are burners, have art cars, invest themselves thoroughly. You wouldn’t give up on the support of those people because of the naysayers.”

She said she explained it was a festival with fire performance, flame effects and a fire garden, and other members of the burner community could bring out their art cars and playa projects.

“I wanted to say, ‘No this isn’t Burning Man; this is just a community-driven arts festival, and we’ll help you develop it and hopefully it could become an annual event,’ but I wasn’t allowed to talk during the meetings; I had to listen,” Wesnousky said.

During one of the city council meetings on May 6, the minutes stated several community members stood up to voice their opposition, citing their reluctance to allow Burning Man values to be introduced to the community.

Wesnousky said that while there were several people who stood up in favor of the event, it was 15-year-old student Steven Goldsworthy who voiced his experience with the event.

He told the council he had twice attended Reno’s Compression event and had not seen anything worse than what he has seen in his local high school.

“People spoke for three minutes, and I listened to them say I was going to bring a terrible experience into town and expose their children to the worst elements of society. I was a danger to the community,” Wesnousky said.

“We didn’t need permission to do this event, but it was more a courtesy to share it with them and that we wanted to bring it to the town,” Wesnousky said. “It’s not that we wanted to come in and make a Burning Man event — this is not a Burning Man event — it is something that we do; it’s part of Artown every year, it’s successful, and we wanted to offer that to their community. Whatever they bring — artists, vendors, performers — makes the festival.”

A week after Lovelock’s Compression event on June 20, Controlled Burn headed to Fernley.

In Fernley, the Compression event partnered with the Multicultural Festival, which featured dance and food from Native Americans, as well as community crafters, artisans, food vendors and music.

Cynthia Brown, a Fernley resident since 2003, came to the festival to support her boyfriend’s music. She said she wanted to see the Compression event after he performed because it sounded fun.

She also thought her 9-year-old niece, Adrianna, would enjoy it.

“I’ve never been to Burning man, but I think it’s good for the town. It draws people into the businesses in the community, and I know it definitely helps out our sales and businesses around here,” Brown said.

“The young people seem to be cool with it and enjoy seeing the people come through and talking to some of the people. You’ve got your older and more conservative group that are like, ‘Get these people out of here. They stink; they’re weird.’ And then there are more open-minded, probably more liberal-type people who are open to them coming through and having a good time on their way to go spend a week doing their thing.”

“I do not like Burning Man,” Adrianna said.

Brown asked, “How do you know? We’ve never been there.”

“Because Mommy says they worship the devil and I worship the Lord Jesus Christ,” she said.

Brown said, “I think she’s aware of the drug use out there and the hippie love.”

“When I’m aware of my surroundings and my surroundings are gross, I do not like it,” Adrianna said.

Betsy Workman traveled from Lovelock for the Fernley Compression event. Workman said she thought the event was awesome and worth the trip.

“It’s a little bigger than what it was in Lovelock because it’s such a small town. I loved the show in Lovelock and that’s what made me want to come to Fernley to see this one. I’ve been telling everyone to come and see it,” she said.

Workman said she didn’t think the event promoted anything negative and felt that it brings people together.

“This is community. It gets people out of the house,” Workman said. “All of this is exciting to me; everyone can’t afford to go to Burning Man — this is free.

“I think it’s awesome because there’s a lot of people who can’t go (to Burning Man) to see all the different neat artwork they do, and now that they are bringing them to different towns, people can.”

Kristi Walls of Carson City said she thought the event inspires other people to do more community-focused events.

“I think anybody who puts on a show and invites people down — I don’t care if it’s flipping pancakes — I think it’s a good thing,” Walls said. “We ended up coming down to watch the show and ended up spending a little bit of money, which is a good thing for the community.”

Filed under: General Tagged: 2014, alternatives, environment, event, fernley, festival, Gerlach, history, lovelock, nevada, press, reno, stories

At NPR, Audie Cornish and Will Stone from Reno Public Radio have a segment on parents who bring their kids to Burning Man. I am posting the transcript on my non-commercial blog so I can personally discuss it. You can listen here, or read the transcript:

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Burning Man, the week long festival of radical self-expression kicks off later this month in the Nevada desert. It attracts college students, aging hippies, tech CEO’s, and suburban soccer moms. As the event has grown, so has the number of families bringing kids. And as we hear from Will Stone of Reno Public Radio, the burner community is conflicted about being family friendly.

WILL STONE, BYLINE: Zella Johnson was 4 years old when she experienced her first burn.

ZELLA JOHNSON: I keep a lot of stuff that lights up here. They’re, like, bracelets that light up at night.

STONE: Now at the ripe age of 9, she and her twin brother are veterans of the playa, the dry lake bed where the countercultural festival takes place. She produces a pair of feathered goggles, part of her furry Burning Man ensemble.

Z. JOHNSON: You have to wear goggles on because there can be sand blowing everywhere.

photo by Peter Ruprecht

GUY JOHNSON: We’ve got our bikes pretty dialed in.

STONE: Zella’s father, Guy Johnson, who’s a real estate agent here in Reno – he’s showing off their garage, packed with generations of tricked-out bicycles. This year he’s constructed a yellow pedicab.

G. JOHNSON: The pedicab trailer has an umbrella on it, and I’ve also just a couple of days ago installed some speakers so that my passengers can have some music.

STONE: Ask Zella why she likes Burning Man and she lists dozens of activities that sound right out of an elaborate kid’s birthday party.

Z. JOHNSON: They took a giant playground equipment thing and filled it with foam. So you’d climb up on it, and then you’d fall into a bunch of foam.

STONE: She also has tales of peanut butter and jelly buffets and bouncing on trampolines in KidsVille, a family-friendly camp. Johnson and his wife, Lorri Nielsen, a nurse practitioner, say some people judge them harshly for bringing their kids. Burning Man attracts over 60,000 people, and many are there to let loose which can include nudity, sexual behavior, alcohol and drugs.

LORRI NIELSEN: People think everyone out there is running around naked, and that’s really not what it’s about. The occasional person you see like that but…

G. JOHNSON: Black Rock City’s just like any other city. I mean there are kid-friendly activities, but on the other hand there’s also adult-only – adult oriented activities and camps. And, you know, we just don’t take our kids to those.

It’s like any other city, with 1000 sound systems and more than 60,000 people on vacation and taking drugs. Like Cancun on Spring Break is just like any other city…if nudity was permitted and 10% of the population went to Orgy Dome. If there was a parade of 4000 topless or fully nude women on bicycles. If there were hundreds of art cars full of wasted people driving without any roads or obvious direction.

STONE: While most burners say it’s about the spiritual and artistic experience, some, like Matt Peek, feel it’s still not appropriate for his own two young daughters.

MATT PEEK: The nudity is one thing. I’m certainly not a prude but little girls – and for that matter, little boys – don’t need to see naked men walking around.

STONE: Peek would never tell others not to bring their kids, but he’s volunteered in the middle tent there and seen intoxicated children. He recalls one time a mother brought her young son to him.

PEEK: Her story went something like, he said he grabbed a cup of something that he thought was juice and it tasted like gasoline, and then he started acting weird, and she brought him to the tent. What the hell was she thinking he would find in a red cup?

Exactly. And what were Burners thinking, to put down their drink? A kid might take that! Where’s the Civic Responsibility? It’s just like any other city, where every drink probably contains alcohol, and it’s in the middle of a hot, dry, dusty desert and there are no water fountains. Parents who can control their kids aren’t the problem. It’s parents who can’t teach their kids basic things – that should apply anywhere – like, don’t drink other peoples’ drinks. Don’t eat that chocolate brownie, it might be magic. It only takes one tragedy, to ruin it for everyone.

I’m all for intoxicated children. Is it worth the risk to everyone else? Is it fair that Burners miss out on tickets so these kids can sneak off and get wasted?

STONE: Along with safety concerns, some burners want it to be adults only because they feel having kids out there inhibits them.

JIM GRAHAM: If that’s what you’re looking for, then Burning Man is not for you. You might want to go find something else to do because this will always be a family-friendly event.

STONE: That’s Jim Graham, who works for Burning Man. He says, actually, kids have been at the event since the mid ’80s when it began, and anyone 12 and under gets in for free. But there are certain parts of the playa where minors aren’t allowed. 

Jim is sort of missing the point about this debate. It’s not just “should kids be part of our city or not”. It’s “now that cops are doing undercover stings, should the event be 21 and over” so that all Burners are protected? An all ages event, where booze is free, is just asking for problems – as the red cup story above shows. If a Burner gives a free drink to someone who’s 20, it’s them who’s going to get in trouble, not BMOrg. Sure, the idea in the beginning was to let kids come too. Most of the hippies back then couldn’t afford babysitters, and this is still a major factor for Mom-and-Pop Burners wanting to bring kids today. But the idea in the beginning was also to get away from authorities, to create a Temporary Autonomous Zone with its own rules. There was freedom, there was anarchy, there were “Satanists with Guns”. Did you know that the creator of the whole “TAZ” idea is a pedophile, who writes articles for the National American Man/Boy Love Association?

Kids get in for free. Presumably they are counted in the population cap. Is that what happened to the 9000 tickets between the 70,000 population cap and the 61,000 that were officially sold? Is that why Burners have to jump through all of these hoops of OMGSTEP, spending a year waiting in hope and being repeatedly disappointed? Just so that kids who can’t afford to gift anything can get in for free?

Kids love Burning Man because they can touch and climb all over things, in a way they can’t in the Default World:

STONE: Back at the Johnson-Nielsen household, Lorri Nielsen says oftentimes parents come up to her asking, what’s it like to bring your kids?

NIELSEN: You know, when they first get there, they’re a little timid ’cause all the art is interactive. So, you know, here we’re always like don’t touch that. Sit down, behave. What do you hear at Burning Man? It’s Burning Man – do it.

Z. JOHNSON: Climb on it.

NIELSEN: Mess with it.

This makes no sense to me. In the default world, public structures have safety standards. In Burning Man, there’s little if any of that. The giant structures move around and shoot fire. Things get hot enough to burn the skin. An artist recently started a campaign to stop people messing with their art. Should kids just run around climbing and messing with stuff, because it’s Burning Man?

STONE: And that freedom is what appeals to so many burners, regardless of age. For NPR News, I’m Will Stone in Reno.

 …and to so many cops, looking to write tickets and set Burners up with undercover underage stings.

The St Regis is a great place to live in the city

Beyonce and Jay-Z have been in town, chilling at the St Regis in the Presidential Suite. Definitely a Burner friendly hotel, for those who can afford it – $30,000 per night for J, B, and their child who was born with a Burner name: Blue Ivy.

Their home boy Kanye West, Burner Name “Yeezus” is also in town. He was performing at Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park, home to many celebrations of San Francisco’s music and culture over the years. Last year the crowd wept as Paul McCartney sang “Yesterday”, this year the crowd wept when Kanye turned the Auto-Tune off. Hear for yourself:

Is this all a prelude to the mighty trinity making a pilgrimage into Black Rock this year? It would be happening in the footsteps of trendsetter P.Diddy’s playa storming visit last year, and Apple’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Dr Dre (alleged secret mastermind behind Burning Man) and Jimmy Iovine and their Beats. They will be competing against Google’s Burner founders, who want more Temporary Autonomous Zones like Burning Man, and paid $3.2 billion for a Nest.

Bring on more hiphop at Burning Man, says Burners.Me. Kanye, though, doesn’t seem to have gone over quite so well with the discerning San Francisco crowd.

From Billboard:

There was a mellow beginning and a repeatedly “Bloody” end to the first day of the lucky seventh edition of Outside Lands, the festival so beloved by San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park that organizers Another Planet have a contract to host it there until at least 2021. Don’t worry, though, it wasn’t real blood — just an attempt by Kanye West to extract some from the crowd by playing his current favorite song by himself over and over.

8:17 PM: As the sun completely makes way for a beautiful moon, this year’s main advancement in flower crown technology reveals itself: Some of these suckers light up now.

8:36 PM: Kanye West cuts off his “Clique” in order to address members of the press who he says look for something negative to write about him, “instead of embracing the moment, embracing the time, the era, the season that they’re living in — called Yeezy season.” Yeezon.

8:49 PM: Yeezus is in control now, and he stops the song “Power” dead in its tracks. “I like that song and all,” he notes, taking off his couture face mask, “but I want to play a little of the last song now.” He instructs the crowd to make “circles” so people can mosh when the beat to “Blood On The Leaves” drops. “This ain’t no radio shit,” he says. “This ain’t no concierge, maitre d’ music, trying to sound as smooth as possible.”

9:00 PM: As we’re all toasting to the scumbags and assholes on “Runaway,” a man in a wheelchair briefly stands up, grinning widely.

9:10 PM: “At the Yeezy show, everyone is a star,” Kanye croons through Auto-tune. “I promote self-confidence! If you’re a friend of mine, you’re really just a friend of yourself!”

9:20 PM: Snippets early hits come fast and furious, a blur that “All Falls Down” under “All of The Lights.”

9:50 PM:“Blood On The Leaves” is back again to close the show, along with renewed orders to make more mosh pit circles. Kanye adores when the beat drops on this track so much that he pulls it back to release it for the third and final time, leaving the stage in foggy silence. He’ll be a tough act to follow tomorrow, but plenty of artists are ready to go for it.

Fish sticks, anyone?