Velvet Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Okay, I've decided without a doubt I'm gonna go next year, the week leading up to Labour Day. I'm gonna drive out, which is about 4 days each way. The only thing this festival really requires is lots of pre-planning. We could create our own theme camp and maybe even rent rv's. Who's with me? When I went before I went alone and had the time of my life. I can't imagine how much fun it would be to be with a bunch of y'all. www.burningman.com I recommend the image gallery. No, there's no mainstage and no big bands or anything, but that would ruin it. Trust me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questcequecest? Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 in. i was gonna go this year, but finances have run a little short. a couple friends are doing the drive this year. previous years they took a plane to reno and rented a car.. anyways, im up for some heady pre-planning. theme camp, eh? i was kinda considering going as a spectator for my first burn, but hey.. jump in with both feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoupLadle Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Been interested in this for years...had the plans drawn for a camp/stage (with the help of an architect friend). Would take some doing to build it...but I'm so excited at the thought of watching it burrrrn! Or I would gladly help on something different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 The main rule is No Spectators Allowed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questcequecest? Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 guess my decision is made.. im already tingling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 interstingly enough, the image gallery is blocked on our network at work. fackers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esau Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Also,your encouraged to be yourself. I went in 1988,in San Fran. Total blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Last time I built a "Psychiatric Help 5 cents" booth. It was really busy, really helpful to a lot of people, and really fun/rewarding. I might like to do that again, but I'm also game to join in on a bigger/cooler project instead. If we're a smallish group maybe we can take turns manning the booth? So, me and Craig are in so far. Anybody else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberHippie Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 I've always wanted to go to this. But I hear it's not what it used to be, now that everyone knows about it. Too bad... Maybe one day I'll find a green lantern costume and head down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 too soon for me to say what I'll be doing next yearbut you're right thats its time to start thinking about what you'll do, build, bring if you do go next yearbe fun to have a big truck and do a sort of scavenger hunt all the way there through junkyards and abandoned country barns for your grand on site creation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esau Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 So, me and Craig are in so far. Anybody else? If I can work it so I can get across the border,I'll meet ya'll there.I haven't been since it moved to Neveda.There was only 200 or so people when I was there.Alot different now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 i'd like to be in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Wow, that's old-school Esau. I think you'd be amazed at how it's grown. Let me tell you how I came to be at BM. Exactly three years and 51 weeks ago today I was sitting in my apartment and for some reason my mind wandered to Burning Man. Well, I didn't know what it was called, it was a festival in the desert that I had heard of twice in my life, once as a tiny news story on tv about 8 years previous, and in a small magazine article about 2 years previous, but for some reason I thought about it for the first time since seeing those stories that day. So I got online and found the website and thought it looked pretty cool. The site informed me that the festival was going on right then, and I wondered if I might go the next year. Then I went to the store, and while there I grabbed a copy of the XPress. As soon as I got home I turned to the real astrology column and under my sign it said this, and I kid you not. "Capricorn, I advise that next year you go to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada. The website is www.burningman.com" Now I'm not sure what I believe in, but I certainly knew that I was going to Burning Man the next year. And I did, and I still can't believe the things that happened to me there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 thats crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 The festival has pretty much capped at 30,000 people, and the people I talked to in 2001 said it was only getting better every year. I can't think of another festival that would inevitably get better as it got bigger, but this one would. Though, as I say, the attendance is pretty consistent. By the way, they are making the Man a foot shorter every year, though you have well over a century before he's gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questcequecest? Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 theres definitely more people there now. i have the idea it has kinda levelled off around 25 - 30,000 people, and they're not experiencing significant growth each year. but, with these numbers they have a hard time retaining the "pack in , pack out.. dont leave a trace" policy. its just too hard with 30,000 people, no matter how heady or conscientious they are. anyways Esau, perhaps we could build you into the theme camp somehow.. or cover you in plaster and say you're a mannequin. there's holes in the plan, but thats why we're planning now. so far, so good. theme camp ideas? wax museum? we should try to perfect the art of wax.. uhh.. well building things out of wax. hmm, a wax version of woodstock? hehe.. thats alot of brown wax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberHippie Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 I still can't believe the things that happened to me there. I'd love to hear some of your stories. I've been enamoured with the festival since I first saw it on "lonely planet" about 6 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 well, we've got a years worth of ear wax we can work with, if we keep on top of it... that sh!t is brown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Wax in the desert? Back to the drawing board. There was 28,000 the year I went, and I didn't see a single cigarette butt on the ground until the sixth day. I spent 2 hours scouring the ground with a garbage bag on the last day and found only enough trash that you could hold it in two hands easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Wax in the desert? Back to the drawing board. hilarious. i think we're all gonna make a great team! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esau Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 When I was there it was the second year I guess.The fire ceremony was held at Barker Beach.The "man" wasn't anymore then 15 ft maybe less.We were on GD tour,it was held in late june then,a few folks I was travelling with had been given the word to show up so we trucked down to San Fran and helped in the dismatling of th eman to take to Barker beach. Well I gotta go and pack my gear for my canoe trip,but I am definatley interested in going,perhaps I attempt to cross a day or two early to see if I make it and then meet up with folks. Hell,got a year to plane this out. Lets do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 As soon as I set up my tent on the first day, I cracked a beer and went for a walk (it was just getting dark). I go about 50 feet and a man starts screaming "Help! Help!" I rush over and ask what's the problem. He says he needs help launching his UFO, would I help? Sure! He needed another helper so he screams help again and we are three. He unfolds and refolds a bunch of pre-prepared balsa wood and rice paper until before my eyes is a 6'x3'x3' structure with no bottom. He attaches two sticks of balsa together that are full of holes into an X shape and sticks about 25 birthday candles in the holes. Me and the other Help!er hold the craft while he lights the candles and mounts the X inside the structure from underneath. Soon the heat of the candles made the UFO lift from our hands and we watched the thing climb to about 300 feet, glowing in the dark sky and confusing the hell outta everyone that saw it. Especially when the whole thing catches fire and you see tiny flames falling and disintegrating. The guy says it all burns up before it hits the ground. I'm glad I was in on it early, because he launched them all week and I woulda wondered what the hell they were. Burning Man is cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questcequecest? Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 that idea had already melted.. yeah, i dont mean they're a bunch of pigs.. but im sure they do environmental assessments, and there is an impact. hold on while i smoke, drink and rethink this one. i still think sculpture to create a surreal landscape would be fun to build. like a ski hill. fake of course, light and easily transported.. or just designed, and pick up the essentials at home depot, nevada. hmm... just brainstorming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questcequecest? Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 ufo's. cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 The BM people pay $2 million a year hiring crews to spend a month decontaminating (not just cleaning) the grounds after every festival, and that's after the BM people spend weeks making sure there's no garbage onsite whatsoever. This is a low impact fetival if ever there was one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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