Burning Man 2014: Spontaneous Play with Light-up Frisbees and Balls

One night, my brother Daniel, aka Fango, and I saw some of the large-scale sound camps along the outer edges of the city.  Having had our fun, we were starting to head home along the Esplanade, the main drag of the city.  Up ahead, we saw, among the mishmash of colored lights, a particular group of lights that seemed to be moving around independently.  Getting closer, we saw they were Frisbees, all lit, presumably with LED's, which would slowly cycle through the color spectrum.  People were flinging the disks back and forth, and they remained lit, creating a beautiful effect of flying and hovering colored lights.  We felt the joy rising in us, and soon ran to join the fun.  There was some camp hosting this party, who had supplied the disks, and participants were running in from every side, drawn by the dancing lights and the sound of playful laughter.  We would chase the disks, attempting to catch them in this wide-open expanse, and throw them back towards the host camp.

After a bit of this, they came out with another toy: a set of softball-sized rubber balls, also lit from within and cycling colors.  These they simply threw out towards the playa, and they bounced and rolled far on that flat surface, being chased and thrown back by participants.  With about a hundred objects flying, bouncing, and rolling all over, there was always something to chase.  No rules were needed, except the idea of keeping the toys in the general play area, throwing them back towards the camp.

This was classic Burning Man: Spontaneous, simple, but irresistibly compelling.  We moved on after a time, panting from the exercise.

Burning Man 2014: The Man Burn and the Temple Burn

The Man Burn

I went out to the Burn this year with my two brothers, Phil, aka Nostrildamus, and Daniel, aka Fango.

The Man was huge this year, so big that its legs were logs about two feet by two feet thick. Previously, the man used telephone pole-sized logs as the mainstays for the legs, so this was new.  As a result of the thicker legs, the Man stood for some 45 minutes as it burned.  It seemed to go on forever, whereas usually the Man collapses within twenty or so minutes, followed soon after by the collapse of the structure that the Man usually stands on.  

When it finally did collapse, the whole thing just toppled forward, rather than collapsing in on itself.  The legs were not burned through, and ended up as two huge smoldering smoking logs sticking out from the bonfire.  

The tradition is to surge forward and surround the man after it falls, swarming in a counter-clockwise direction around the fire.  I wanted to swarm around the fire at least once, having missed doing it the previous two years.  It took us some time to maneuver in the tight crowd, as everyone else had the same plan.  At some point, we were stopped, and there was no room to move ahead, as the crown was pressed together tightly.  At some point, it became clear what was slowing down our movement: a giant smoldering log was in our path, and the smaller and less agile members of our swarm had some trouble getting over it, needing a hand, or at least patience. 

Then I heard from behind me, the voice of a young man saying, "Just put your arms in front of you and PUSH!"  And indeed, soon I felt the pressure from behind, as no doubt several people had followed this direction and were pushing the crowd forward.  This was a dangerous situation, as it threatened to push people into the smoldering log.  I reacted without thinking, turning my head and screamed at those pushing to stop.  I made it clear to them that I meant business, and felt myself ready to fight.  They quickly relented and apologized, and as I calmed down, I saw they meant no harm, but just didn't consider the consequences.  

Then we were up and over the log, helping others do the same, and then again for the other leg.  The logs put a major damper on the swarming.  Eventually, we had made it around the fire and were ready to move on to the next thing.

The Temple Burn

I got no pictures of the Man Burn.  There are plenty online you can find.  I did capture the Temple Burn, so I will tell that story through photos:

The Temple of Grace. The Sharpie Shaman, in the orange robes,  maintains the perimeter.

People surrounding the now-closed Temple

Looking back from the Temple towards where the Man had been.

Darkness falls as we await the Temple Burn.  Fango and I went nice and early, so had a front row seat.

My brother, Daniel Ari, aka Fango, looking a bit forlorn.

Fango & Freerad

Cherry pickers are great for watching the burns.

They light it up.

It burned quick.

All that lacy woodwork provided plenty of surface area for the flame.

As often happens, whirling dust devils full of red hot embers come spinning off the fire, trailing into the desert, sometimes spilling hot ash on the crowd.

The blaze climbs up the central tower.

Now that's a fire.

The fire is past its peak, and now we wait for the structure to fall.

The surface texture has burned off, revealing the skeleton of the structure.

The crowd is introspective.

Silence reigns.

The structure has fallen.

Dancing around Rolling Thunder, mobile drum circle, after the burn

Fango, left, and Tabias, right, tearing down the camp.

And then it was over... the 7:30 street Monday afternoon: mostly deserted.

Well, that concludes my pictures from Burning Man 2014.  More stories to come.

2014 Burning Man Stories Menu Page

Burning Man 2014: Laughter Yoga at the Cartoon Commune (plus Karaoke)

I love my camp!  Come burn with us next year!

We're number One! My brothers, my dad, a neighbor and I.
left to right: Fango, ???, free radical, Nostrildamus, Gerflash

I have led daily sessions of laughter yoga at Cartoon Commune for the last four years of Burning Man. It has been a popular event, drawing as many as 60+ participants, and averaging at least a dozen, even early in the week.  I received my certification from Jeffrey Briar of the Laguna Beach Laughter Club. 

This was me Tuesday morning, moving a little slowly, recovering from Tuesday's ordeal on the road and the long night of revelry.  I'm not worth much before I've had my coffee and my morning bowl.  

The audience for Karaoke

But later on, I was feeling great, belting out "Sweet Caroline" on the karaoke stage.

Karaoke really brings them in off the street on a sunny "Tutu" Tuesday afternoon.

I lead Laughter Yoga every day, or I may skip a day to go out adventuring. Here are some pictures from Friday's lively session:

Going through my spiel.  Introducing the practice, briefly explaining how it works.

"And, at the end of each exercise, we throw our hands up and cheer like little kids."

We start with a rudimentary stretch.

The sizable crowd for Laughter Yoga on Friday. Here, I'm explaining the next laughter exercise.

For more info on Laughter Yoga: http://www.laughteryoga.org/english

More stories about my Burning Man 2014

Burning Man 2014: The Cartoon Commune

(left to right) Nostrildamus, Fango, Gerflash, free radical

One of my contributions to Burning Man is my theme camp, the Cartoon Commune.  It has run for 8 straight years, since 2007.  It has improved greatly over the years, aided by a building body of playa know-how, earned over many disasters. This installment deals with the home life at our theme camp and the neighborhood community.

I and my two brothers and father. 

The Cartoon Commune 2014: (left to right)
Tabias, aka Sgt. Pepper; Daniel Ari, aka Fango; Vickie, aka Toots; Phil, aka Nostrildamus; Laurie, aka Lulu, or Folgers; Jeff Pearson, aka Magic Doc; Gerald, aka Gerflash, or Dad; Dave, aka the free radical.

Tabias from Ohio joined us for his second year.  He volunteered with the Black Rock Rangers, and they put him to work.  The BR Rangers are the community's go-between between law enforcement and the citizens of Black Rock City.  They oversee conflict resolution, or just help out whenever they can.  It was very nice having a Ranger in our camp.  At one point, we overheard angry arguing coming from one of our neighboring camps.  Not wanting to be the ones to have to intervene, we called on Tabias, or Sgt. Pepper as he was dubbed.  He had the situation handled fairly quickly. 

Jeff Pearson is semi-related to us by a former marriage. He and his wife Laurie joined us for their second year.  Jeff performs a magic act for receptive audiences in our camp, and Laurie, as Madam Lulu, read peoples' fortunes.

A candid shot, as we were deciding what to do in the next shot.

Tabias, aka Sgt. Pepper, whups up an all-you-can-eat feast of pancakes and bacon for the whole camp, plus visiting neighbors. 

For the last three years, we have enjoyed choice placement in the 7:30 keyhole.  The keyhole is a widening of the 7:30 radial street where it meets the Esplanade, the main drag, or "boardwalk" of the city.  Being thus located affords us the luxury of having a view of the Man and the open playa from the front of our camp, and being able to watch all the interesting traffic along the Esplanade and deep into the playa.  It's also a "happening" spot that many thousands of burners will pass by each night.  

Strangers passing by our camp

The front of the Cartoon Commune on the left

The dome of our other neighbors, the 7 Sirens Cove.

Phil, aka Nostrildamus

The 7:30 keyhole at golden hour.

Vicki, aka Toots in our large shade structure, snack table in background.

Trifucta, holding down the corner of 7:30 and Esplanade

The open playa as seen from the 7:30 Keyhole

Ornate Street Sign

The scene across the 7:30 street from us

Sunset

Our immediate neighbors, Temple of Polegasm, from the side

An art car tools through the keyhole, strutting like a peacock.

The art car, from the back, with attached remoras.

The side of the Black Rock Roller Disco, on the corner of 7:30 & Esplanade opposite from Trifucta

The DaveDome. 

Inside the DaveDome.  And yes, my pants do match my bedspread.

Drapes Everywhere

The front of Cartoon Commune, street in the BG

Participants in our Laughter Yoga event hung out to talk and connect afterwards.

Polegasm's nice group dome, their living room, dining room, meeting space, workspace, chill space, etc.

Gerflash and Nostrildamus conduct an A Capella sing along.  The star-like object in the upper left corner of the photo is an amazing star lamp designed by Nostrildamus and constructed by he and Gerflash.

...In our giant shade structure with repurposed shade tarps.

Solar cooker

The kitchen, complete with rocket stove, kitchen sink, everything else.

Ok, it's a little cluttered.  Also serves as our tool shed.

Our camp's back alley with our solar panel providing our electricity.

Come and camp with us!  We welcome anyone who's in the burner spirit to join us, use our lovely space for your personal camp.  Avail yourself of our amenities.  See Burning Man in style, with long-time veterans who know what they're doing.  All are welcome!

More BM 2014 Stories