Craig's Burning Man 2007 Experience
I've heard about Burning Man for the last 10 years, and I've always wanted to go, but never made it because of the bad timing (the first weeks of school), the heat, and the dust. But finally this year I was determined to go at last. Geoff wasn't all that interested in going, and he encouraged me to go and have a vacation on my own. My friend Ken agreed to join me, and my friend Nathan was most welcoming of us to join his "Uncharted Territories" camp in "Avalon Village". So Ken and I rented a car and drove out there on Tuesday, August 28. This one-week festival attracts about 40,000 people to a remote desert playa a few hours from Reno. It's an old lake bed, with very alkaline soil in which nothing grows, so a perfect site to set up this temporary "Black Rock City", the 3rd largest city in Nevada for a week. It's really a world apart from the "default world", a place where commerce is forbidden but gifts are given freely, and there are far fewer rules. Naked people are commonplace, as are 24-hour parties, public drinking, and drugs. Everyone is an artist, with all kinds of outrageous costumes, cars, bikes, and structures decorated with the utmost creativity. Many people take on "playa names".
After we setup camp we went out on foot to explore. We were amazed at all the art cars (like parade floats illuminated with vibrant colors) and eye candy. This camp made me think of Serafina, since she likes the Wizard of Oz:
At a bar where we were given drinks, the bartender offered us some leftover food from their dinner. Remember, there is no commerce, so no one is paid for what they do, and no one pays for anything. The creativity, participation, and generosity this produces is most inspiring. We appreciated the food, as we didn't have the energy to cook our own dinner after the long drive and camp setup. We got back to camp and bed around 2am.
I got back to camp and ran into Ken. We showered and ate, then headed to the Deep End, which has a famously fun afternoon dance party. However, we found it too hot to dance in the sun there, despite the sprays of water from generous partygoers with spray bottles. Ken and I lost track of each other, and I decided to go explore Kidsville, a village of kids and families - I was curious how it might work to bring Serafina and Toby. There were some common play areas and family camps, but I wasn't inspired. I was also quite tired, so I headed back to the tent to nap.
After my nap, Ken and I went to the Queer Prom party hosted at Avalon's Astro Pups camp. There I ran into my first boyfriend Cable, whom I hadn't seen in 5 years:
He now lives in San Diego, and we really enjoyed catching up. We went for a walk to see art on the playa and get his bike. A favorite art installation this year was Homouroboros, better known as the monkeys. It's powered by about 8 exercise bicycles around its perimeter. I hopped on one and pedaled hard. With drummers drumming the drums in the middle and all the bikes being pedaled, it took a few tiring minutes before the sculpture began to turn and the strobes began to flash. You can see a pretty good image from this Chronicle photo:
The effect is an animation of a monkey moving while a snake carries an apple into his mouth. We also found a nondescript 10ft cubic box which was entirely mirrored on the inside with strings of red lights hanging from ceiling to floor. Inside this box in the cool late evening in the middle of the playa, we found a hot space filled with people having a serious conversation. We also visited another favorite, Crude Awakening, with its huge wooden oil derrick, and 7 or so huge figures praying to it, representing the world's religions praying to our oil economy. We chose not to climb the stairs to the top of the platform, and we also didn't see that apparently some of the figures shot fire or sparked with electricity from a Tesla coil (maybe those effects weren't working yet, as some installations were delayed due to dust storms earlier in the week). Anyway, here are my photos:
We also saw Inner Mind, a dome with lights and sounds of coordinated intensity and effects. I copied this photo from the Burning Man web site:
once we walked through two layers to the center of the structure, we realized the ambient sounds were made by people playing with a stringed instrument placed there, and we had our turn to add to the sound. We also saw many amazing art cars as always, such as this birthday cake and this snail with a mushroom behind it:
After Cable got his bike we went dancing, first at this pyramid with a great light show:
then at the famous Opulent Temple, where the DJ has a button to throw flames from huge torches above the crowd when he wants to accentuate the experience. I felt like the crowd was praying at the temple of the DJ - everyone facing the DJ as they danced, not interacting together so much. Interesting, but not my favorite scene. Eventually I left and got to bed about 4am. Cable took this photo of me before I left:
We went to Center Camp to beat the heat and for Ken to buy some coffee (only two things are sold in Black Rock City: coffee and ice, both at Center Camp). There we watched the band Beatbeat Whisper give a concert, and I was impressed that they gave away CDs to whomever wanted them:
There happened to be a man dressed as the Grim Reaper in Center Camp, and when the band played a song about dancing with Death, he came up in front of the stage and began dancing with audience members. Ken and I headed out of Center Camp and retrieved our bikes:
We rode around the playa, checking out installations and art cars:
Big Rig Jig was another favorite: two real semi truck cabs suspended in the air in a twisting dance:
We went to the Temple of Forgiveness, a very somber place where people leave artifacts or write messages to loved ones who have died.
The site is burned on Sunday night. Ken wrote a message to his late mother, and I considered writing a message, and then a dust storm hit suddenly. I had been lulled by the good weather and hot temps to leave my goggles and mask behind, and I had only scarves to mark my bike, sunglasses, and my camera (which was in my hand without its case). So as the whiteout came I closed my eyes, covered my mouth, and stood in place to wait it out. The Temple is far out in the open playa, about 3/4 of a mile from our camp:
Some people cheered as the dust storm hit. There were lots of people there with us, some who had been playing drums and singing. They didn't let the storm stop them, and continued to make music. We all cheered for them when they did stop - it was so inspiring. I was in an emotional state because of the temple, and so as they dust and wind blew, tears were running down my face as I felt my own mortality. But the storm didn't stop, and eventually Ken (with his mask and goggles) found me, his first words to me being "your hair looks gray." I gathered strength inside myself, reminding myself that the temple is about remembering people who have faced much more than dust in the face, and Ken and I decided to make our way to our bikes and back to camp. We walked and rode alternately as the dust increased and decreased. When we got back to camp, we took shelter in Elizabeth and Joan's mobile home. By then we were very hungry and completely covered in playa dust, as was the inside of our tent. They gave us crackers, juice, and wet wipes. The winds calmed down enough for us to venture out and change for the evening. They took this picture of us just before we left:
After we got dressed to go out, but still were covered in dust, they took this photo of us:
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We met a group of guys (Jim, Tony, Will, Jim, etc.) who had a carport tent near us as a social space, so we hung out with them, chatting and eating a snacky dinner. Last year they had organized their own camp: Barbarella Boot Camp, but this year they were a smaller group that joined Uncharted Territories. Ken and I headed to Comfort and Joy for their nightly Leopardy (like Jeopardy) game:
We went largely to support them after a suicide that had occurred the previous night. An unknown person had hanged himself in the Leopardy tent. On the way we saw this art car of a flying pig, and these cars with torches on top (which were occasionally blasted at full force):
After Leopardy we joined camp Barbarella to look for the big gay block party that was supposed to happen around Avalon that night, but never materialized (because of the dust storm and schedule printing mistakes?). Ken and I ended up walking up the Esplanade (inner circle of city) to explore and dance. We danced at the big domed dance club Root with its high energy jungle beats and strobe lights until our ears hurt. We got back to find camp Barbarella in their shade structure, and they were all very friendly. Ken went to bed around 2, and I stayed up a while longer with Jim.
I layed down to nap until a dust storm woke me up, blowing dust in my face as I struggled to close the tent in a hurry and took shelter in Camp Barbarella's carport. At this point I tried my camera and found it would no longer open and close because of the dust. So I could take no more pictures. (Please send me some if you were there!) The wind calmed down a bit, so I went with Camp Barbarella to explore playa art on bike with masks and goggles. I felt like I'd overcome my fear of dust storms - we just went out and had fun despite them. We went to Crude Awakening, but couldn't get too close or climb up because of fire preparations - it was to be burned that night. We went to Big Rig Jig and saw people climbing inside, spinning wheels and balancing on top (it wasn't made for this, but at Burning Man all art is participatory). We saw the "Critical Tits" ride - a huge line of topless women on bikes extending beyond sight in the playa. Then we got to the Temple as Rangers were warning the crowd of 60-mph winds and thunderstorms.
So we biked back quickly as drops began falling, and hung out in the carport. Ken joined us there, and we all talked and joked in goggles and masks, two guys bumping and grinding in the dust - very inspiring. Someone put a blow-up doll in the mix to tease them:
We went to Audrey's Jungle Love dome tea party across the street, which was a hopping oasis in the storm, with people swinging from trapeze rings above the crowd, fun music, and fun people (including many of our friends such as David and David, and Liz on the trapeze). The dome was decorated like a jungle, with a huge cloth tree in the center. It was a great time. Then someone opened the tent door and saw a rainbow developing outside in the clearing sky. So the party spilled outside as the rainbow turned double and full.
It was such an amazing moment, after the dust storms and all. I was rather drunk at this point, and ended up spending some time with another guy camped next to us, Aquaman, but after that and some necessary food, I missed everybody else as they headed out for the evening. Crude Awakening was supposed to burn, but had technical difficulties. So I wasn't sure what to do, but I was tired, and wanted to stay up late that night for the 4:30am meteor shower. So I napped from 11pm-2am, when Ken came back to the tent and woke me up.
I went out with Ken on foot, and we rode an art car, shown here in someone else's picture in daylight:
and felt like tourists in a futuristic party city. It was fun chatting with people on the bus. Too much haze (dust) and light pollution (moon) made it difficult to see more than 2 meteors, but there was plenty else going on. We walked back across the playa, to our tent just as the sky began to lighten. Ken slept and I didn't.
We found a Space Cowboy dance party at Big Rig Jig, then moved on to Root, and relaxed in a bed there - adjacent to the large dance dome is a smaller dome with beds in it, in pastel colors with fun curvy head boards. We walked back to camp and I went to sleep in my tent at about 9am.
Around noon, Ken and I showered and ate, and went to Center Camp with David, where we waited out a dust storm, were given watermelon, listened to the Hare Krishnas sing on stage, followed by a guy who sounded like I felt - he'd been up to watch the dawn too. We also watched naked women have henna painted on their bodies, and chatted with people. Center Camp has the most interesting people-watching I've ever seen. Here's the center of the camp, where people are always doing some kind of yoga-acrobatic- coupley-thing:
Then Ken and I went to Audrey's Jungle Love spa, signed up for foot massages, and ate some lunch. At Audrey's, I got a massage from David and from the foot massage guy - very nice.
Back with Camp Barbarella, Gabriel came by to say he was leading a group out to the Deep End, dressed as doctors and patients, to offer shots of Gatorade to thirsty dancers. So I put on a hospital patient gown (very loose and comfortable on a hot day) and joined him, Psycho Kitty, and Liz. We stopped to buy a large amount of ice, and arrived at the back of the bar, where we gave them most of the ice, they gave us drinks in our cups, and we used a big empty can of theirs to put Gatorade on ice. It was a hot late afternoon, but holding the cold Gatorade can was refreshing, and it was lots of fun going up to people dancing in the sun, shooting Gatorade into their mouths. Liz was dressed as a naughty nurse, and gave out band aids and kisses (with lots of red lipstick) to help men feel better. After we finished the Gatorade we stayed and danced. Here are some images of the Deep End:
It was a fabulous party. You can see above the balcony and stage filled with people dancing, facing the crowd of people dancing on the playa floor, lots of good energy all around, the crowd was hopping. There were people dancing with hula hoops, people dancing and jumping high on stilts. The bar was fun, too - people bring their own cups, and no money is exchanged, so you find a crowd of people surrounding the bar holding out their cups, and the bartenders throw together a pitcher of some iced drink in a blender and pour it into cups one after the other as people yell and jockey to get their cups filled (all in good fun). You don't even know what you're being given, but it's fun and refreshing. I danced until 7:45pm, when it was time to gather to see the Man burn.
I ate a quick protein bar and walked out with Ken, Puck, and a bunch of others from Uncharted Territories. We waited in a crowd just inside the circle of art cars and took lots of photos. Here I am with Ken, and then with Eshu, and then Ken is shown with the green man behind him:
At last the man burned with fireworks and a bomb-like fireball with a small mushroom cloud. We walked back after he fell. Crude Awakening was to burn that night, but rumors were that it would be at 11:30pm, or maybe 1:30am. Ken and I were tired, and Ken went to sleep. I joined Camp Barbarella to ride out to Crude Awakening around 11:30. They were all very friendly and happy. We waited around until 12:30, and even considered leaving, and then it started. This burn was rumored to be the biggest, loudest ever done - they had to notify NASA of their plans, people said. It started with sirens, smoke, more fireworks, and at last an incredibly bright, hot fireball that became a mushroom cloud, as you can see in this photo I copied from the Chronicle's web site:
And the kerosene kept on pouring out and burning for a long time. We headed back before it fell, as the Barbarella guys wanted to relax in their carport. I later learned that a giant tree was to replace the oil derrick (hope for a greener future to which to pray). Audrey's Jungle Love had a post-burn naked party, that Jim and I went to in our costumes, but we weren't into it, so we just relaxed together a bit before he headed out for an all-night party with his friends, and I went to bed about 4am.