Burning Man 2017: Photos and Stories, Part 1 (of 2)

I'm back from Burning Man!

I know, but like, no duh, right? I mean, wasn't that like three weeks ago?
Ok, yes it was. But I am now recovered enough to want to talk about it and shove my hands right back into my alkali-dust-filled gear!

Standing next to the Dave Dome, in my shower-curtain baggy pants, and my cape. Perfect desert wear, to keep the sun off me, and keep my moisture in. I got this playa living down!
Want to try it? Come with me, I can show you how!

My camp was amazing this year!  Thirty-camper strong Pepperland with its posh dining facility, gourmet meals, private shower with platform, drainage and evap pond. Just all the luxuries of dry lake bed living! Within reason, of course! I mean we're not oil tycoons! The biggest and best camp I've ever been part of, where I never wanted for food, water, shelter, comfort, nor the company of trusted friends. My camp mates are like family to me, and some are literally my family members. Over the week of Burning Man, we form a tight bond. Pepperland, I love you.

Photos and stories follow. Enjoy.

the free radical
Pepperland in the background, with its posh dining area.

Pepperland's back alley, Dave dome in center left.

Pepperland frontage, with the Yellow Submarine plus Octopus' Garden, not quite in the shade.

Our main road, 6:30, with the tower of the AEZ, Alternative Energy Zone

Our corner, a short walk to the blue rooms.

The Dave Dome: Cavelike, comfortable, commodious. Extra layers of cloth block out the sun, and vents on the sides allow for a cooling cross-breeze. I can siesta in here in the heat of the day.
Those thin nylon tents don't hold up to the noonday sunlight; they're unlivable without another layer of shade.

Our eventual neighbors, Tour Bus Company, Green Tortoise, more or less a plug-and-play style camp, for the busier and wealthier burners, that I remember seeing on my second or third burn.

Our local portal to the open playa at, 6:30 and Esplanade, held down by theme camp Sextant with their shade dome, elevated pub, "Wunderbar," and observation tower, all in one structure.

Double Tesla Coil that guests could play music on, using an electronic keyboard, across from Sextant. In the background, the tall dome of Automatic Subconscious, and the Pier leading off to the right.

Freestyle Palace is somewhere I have played music a few times in past years, and had some great impromptu jams with perfect strangers. This year they had some trouble getting off the ground, and their offering was mostly a dusty drum set. Some other instruments lay nearby but were having problems with dust in their electronic circuits.

The open playa draws you. Which distant point of interest will you pursue? Your decision will have tremendous impact on your eventual experience. You have only one week to see it all. You can never see it all, and even if you could, seeing any one part is not experiencing it in depth, with all its layers of interactivity and connection.

Photo along the Esplanade, with the boxy shade structure of Everywhere and the Artery.

The Pier, with its bait shop. Cool sacred geometry art on the right. The lighthouse at the end of the Pier is an art car. Typically, nautically-themed art cars would convene on the Pier, like pirate ships and fishes.

The other way along the Esplanade. Big villages, and Sound Camps.

The Pier from the other side.

Riding up to this one, you think, "Oh cool, some colorful art, out on the deep playa. What are those, cloth blankets? They look textured like cloth." Then you look closer, and you see, every pixel of color you see is actually a gummy bear. All different colors of gummy bears are arranged in a mosaic to make this art piece. And you just wouldn't know that unless you brought your eyes to within a foot of the piece.  If you just rode by it, in your quest to see it all, you would just say, "Yeah, I saw some nice art, big whup."

Just another little complex of artistic interactive structures. I don't recall what surprises all these little pieces held, but suffice to say, they all had something. It was like an unexpected little playground of wacky adult-sized toys and games.

Cropped from the larger photo below, a perfect playa post card.

"Golden Hour" on the playa, the time right before sunset. With its dramatic side-lighting, it's perfect for photography.

This one really gives the feeling of that lazy playa sunset. Biking back to camp with your group to chow down and get ready for a long night of partying.  That unmistakable Black Rock City skyline, with its staggered domes, tipis, PVC arches, boxy structures and of course the rolling mountains of Black Rock Canyon.

The dust captures everyone's tracks, a tapestry of,... ok you get the idea.

When the sun sets, the citizens of Black Rock City howl like wolves. Not everyone is aware of the tradition, but once it starts, it spreads across the city like a virus.

These wooden sculptures would animate when you turned a crank on the front.

This little church had a confessional booth inside.

The big pink flamingo was a great landmark to site off of at night.

This is Red Lightning. In case anyone is wondering, they are not appropriating First Nations styles. They are the real deal. Red Lightning showed up to protest and lend a hand at Standing Rock, against the oil pipeline. Their public shade space is a great haven of calm and comfort, with many smaller meditation and rest spaces. Across the Esplanade, their sacred fire was warm and welcoming.

More to come!
Update: More right here!

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