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Art Car Street Fair in San Francisco [Updated]

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art car street fair
As if this weekend’s SF Decompression wasn’t enough, Sunday, November 10 from 5pm-1am , SF residents can get down with fire, blinky lights, Burner costumes, and some of their favorite art cars at the Art Car Street Fair.

Featuring sound stages from Dancetronauts and Charlie the Unicorn, and additional DJs from Distrikt, Opulent Temple, and Space Cowboys. Just like Burning Man, it’s cash only and there are no ATMs on site.

[update 10/9/13] there’s been a date change , the Fire Department requested more time to evaluate their plans. Seems like Dancetronauts are bringing Burning back to the city of San Francisco.

ATTENTION: Art Car Street Fair date has been MOVED to Sunday November 10th! Due the complexity of this event with multiple mobile, flaming vehicles, effects and performers, the Fire Department has requested more time to evaluate our plans. Please realize this has never been done before and open flame permits is something very new for the City of San Francisco to have on Mutant Vehicles with 1,000′s of people around. They are excited and working with us, otherwise they would have just said NO Please continue to help support and grow this event with this extra time, so we can attract even more fantastic art cars, artists and installations that couldn’t make it on the short notice. We apologize for any inconvenience or frowns, but it’s just going to make this event that much BETTER!! Please mark your calendars and spread the word of the new date of the 1st Annual Art Car Street Fair SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10th 2013. San Francisco, Ca.

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dancetronauts
Come support our favorite art cars from the playa! See them come together to showcase their art on wheels. Fire, music, dancers, live performances, Dj’s, art, food, vendors, costumes and creativity strongly encouraged. This will be a 21+ event!

ART CAR STREET FAIR
Sunday November 10 5pm-1am
435 N. 23rd St. San Francisco, CA 94110 cross street Illinois.
$10 in costume. $20 without. NO ATMS on site!

This is a non profit event to bring the Burning Man and artist community together to appreciate and support the Art and Mutant Vehicles and top Dj’s from the local soundcamps of Burning Man. 

1. The event will be held from 5pm-1am on 23rd and Illinois St. (435 23rd Street, San Francisco, CA)
2. It is a 21+ up outdoor event, $10 ticket in costume (ANY COSTUME!) and $20 without. $15 for half ass lazy attempts. 
No ticket, no entry, no ID, no entry. 
3. 2 sound stages: Dancetronauts (www.facebook.com/dancetronauts) and Camp Charlie Unicorn Art car (www.facebook.com/CampCharlie) along with their resident Dj’s: Philthy Phil & TravNasty (www.soundcloud.com/dancetronauts) and divaDanielle (https://soundcloud.com/divadanielle). Also Dj’s from soundcamps; Distrikt https://www.facebook.com/DistriktCampOpulent Temple (https://www.facebook.com/OpulentTemple), Space Cowboys (https://soundcloud.com/spacecowboys). Many more to come, over one dozen art cars and mutant vehicles. Sound, fire, stages, drinks (21+), dancing art, food, vendors.


Filed under: News Tagged: 2013, alternatives, art cars, festival, music, Party Image may be NSFW.
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Hitler vs the Playa Slumlord

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Playa Force One - photo by Tomas Loewy

Playa Force One – photo by Tomas Loewy

A most amusing video from Playa Slumlord, based on a true story from this years’ Burn. You can tell from the guy’s art car that he’s really slumming it! This does show some of the behind the scenes logistical nightmares involved in running big camps and vehicles.

One wonders who “Hauptmann Z” is…I did have some generator problems towards the end of the week, my sister flew in to be a sparkle pony Burgin and was struggling with the heat, and the crew from Shift camp did help me out with my generator (thanks Sick Dog and Spider, and also FJ at Ideate and Sonus) There was nothing to do with Gerlach though, so perhaps I’m off the hook. Would the real Hauptmann Z please stand up!


Filed under: Funny Tagged: 2013, art cars, complaints, funny, playa love, playa slumlord, videos Image may be NSFW.
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Those Who Cannot Remember the Past. . .

by Whatsblem the Pro

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war

Controversy over photography, film-making, advertising, and commerce at Burning Man is both constant in the burner community, and nothing new. A whole playbook of common arguments from both sides of all that controversy has accumulated over the years; in the case of statements made by Black Rock City, LLC – the corporation that runs Burning Man – they form a revealing pattern.

In 2005, a couple of burners who go by ‘Chai Guy’ and ‘DaBomb’ attempted to hold Black Rock City, LLC’s feet to the fire over a deal the LLC made with the Discovery Channel and the New York Times, in which they agreed to allow the filming of an episode of “Only in America” on the playa. Chai Guy and DaBomb launched a letter-writing campaign and a petition; the subsequent back-and-forth with Black Rock City, LLC raised some important questions and highlighted some important points:

  • A site fee was paid by a joint venture of the Discovery Channel and the New York Times. How much was it, and what was the money used for?
  • Why is it OK for Black Rock City, LLC to commercialize pictures and video of the event, when this goes against both the rules dictated to participants by the LLC, and the stated philosophy behind the event as expounded upon by Larry Harvey in numerous speeches and texts?
  • Why is there no transparency in such business deals, which are made on behalf of the entire community? What does the LLC have to hide, if not corruption and profit-taking on the part of the LLC’s Board of Directors?
  • If profit is being made from images of participants and the art they build with their own money and labor, why isn’t it being shared with those participants? For that matter, why isn’t the profit from ticket sales being shared with the artists who contribute their time, labor, and genius to the event?

Black Rock City, LLC’s initial response to the flap raised by Chai Guy and DaBomb was to simply ignore them. As more and more people wrote letters and signed the petition, this was followed by a “we can’t understand what you’re so upset about” approach:

“It isn’t clear what about this proposal exactly pushed new buttons, since projects like it have been approved for years,” wrote the LLC’s representative in a public statement. That statement also contained an explicit reference to the joint venture between the Discovery Channel and the New York Times, describing this titanic business entity with over sixteen million subscribers as a “boutique cable channel.”

As the groundswell rose further and it became clear that answers were going to have to be provided, the LLC answered the questions it suited them to answer, and simply pretended that all those less convenient questions about money and blatant hypocrisy hadn’t been asked.

As for the money, representatives of the LLC have claimed or insinuated many times that they don’t make a profit from Burning Man; they do it like clockwork in places like the yearly Afterburn Reports at burningman.com. . . and this reporter has had that claim made directly to his face by a member of the LLC’s Board of Directors (which they choose to refer to as a “Town Council”). Every once in a while, though, they slip, and we get a glimpse behind that particular curtain, as in this quote from the 2005 Afterburn Report:

“. . .in the spring of 2001, we purchased a 200-acre tract, now called Black Rock Station, utilizing income we received from ticket sales that year.”

So, way back in 2001, they were able to both produce the event, and purchase 200 acres of land and turn it into a working ranch with just a portion of the profits from ticket sales for that year. The 2001 population was an estimated 26,000 people, with a flat-rate ticket price of $200 each, for a gross of approximately 5.2 million dollars just from ticket sales. That year, and every year since then, the LLC – while handsomely plumping up their revenue – has published wan protestations of how little money they actually take in, yet these days, ticket sales alone are estimated at more than six times what they were in 2001, when they had at least enough extra cash on hand to purchase 200 acres of land and develop it into a working ranch. The networking opportunities and concomitant chances for on-the-sly revenue afforded the Board of Directors have, in that time, been increasingly good pickings as well. Oh, but they’re not making any money, everyone knows that. . . the “Town Council” said so themselves!

With the profits from ticket sales being augmented by so many other revenue streams – like cutting quiet deals with the likes of the Discovery Channel and the New York Times, or wangling a large financial interest in Spark: A Burning Man Story, or the $150,000 Vogue paid the LLC for an on-playa photoshoot just recently – it’s insulting to the intelligence to be told that the LLC is struggling for cash. Yes, we know about BLM fees, law enforcement, taxes, the pittance spent on arts grants, and the rest. If all that added up to the LLC’s Board of Directors being altruistic do-gooders who aren’t lining their pockets like any other gang of corporate predators, then they wouldn’t have been able to produce the event at all back in 2001, much less buy 200 acres of land and build a ranch on it.

As for photography and the rules handed down from on high to burners about the use of their own pictures and videos, let’s face reality: they may say they’re protecting our privacy and warding off opportunists like the Girls Gone Wild crew, but the reality of the situation is that what they’re protecting first and foremost is their ‘right’ to cynically exploit us, our labor, our artwork, and our culture, without having to compete with us for the markets our work creates. In the eyes of the Board of Directors – excuse me, the “Town Council” – we are sheep to be managed and sheared for their profit. We are unpaid cotton-pickers on their plantation, and the cotton business is booming while they tell us of their poverty.

Six years ago, when Chai Guy and DaBomb embarked on their mission to assert the rights of the community and steer Burning Man back on course, it was easier to make the assumption that the Board of Directors were not just on our side, but were us. Old-timers might say that only a fool would have made that assumption even then; in the intervening years we’ve seen ample reason to believe that we have been and continue to be ruthlessly sold out by the “Town Council” for their own gain.

For a time, it seemed that the imminent transition to a non-profit organization would provide rank-and-file burners with some relief from the fleecing; now, however, the Directors have about-faced on the idea of leaving their catbird seats, and insist that we need their leadership so badly that it would be irresponsible of them to abandon us.

Calls to get rid of the corporate old guard in favor of a totally transparent, representative leadership for Burning Man have been made before; most of the heavy hitters in the history of burner dissent, though, have long since given up trying to fight Black Rock City Hall. They may have been entirely correct in throwing in the towel in despair and disgust then, but the transition to a non-profit promises a huge opportunity for a total restructuring of the LLC from the bottom up, so if ever there was a time to get civic-minded and take a good, hard, realistic stance about how our festival-city is run, it’s now. . . because “non-profit corporation” doesn’t mean the usual gang of suspects can’t continue to line their pockets with corporate lucre instead of using it to better serve the community.

It’s time to get a serious dialogue going about our non-profit future, and about who will lead us into it. It’s time to get serious about regime change.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[This is the end of the article. For those interested in the source material used to write this article, including details of Chai Guy and DaBomb's clash with the Burning Man LLC over their deal with the Discovery Channel and the New York Times, Burners.me presents the following roughly organized heap of data, most of it written by Chai Guy, DaBomb, representatives of the LLC, and/or contributors to forums like eplaya. We'd like to thank Chai Guy and DaBomb for their valiant efforts in service of the community]

During the Spring and Summer of 2005, in the days leading up to the Burning Man Festival, the Discovery Channel/New York Times struck a deal with BMorg to film a reality TV show called “Only in America” during the event. Below are the known facts regarding this arrangement and the repercussions of these facts as they unfolded during the event.

Introduction

Prior to the Burning Man Festival 2005, the Discovery Channel/New York Times works out a deal with the BMorg to film a reality TV show called “Only In America” at the event. And so it begins:

Discovery Channel/New York Times and the BMorg

Sometime prior to Burning Man 2005, the BMorg made an agreement with “Discovery Times”, a joint venture of two major media conglomerates Discovery Channel and New York Times. With 16 million subscribers, BMorg characterizes this joint venture as a “boutique” production company.

http://afterburn.burningman.com/05/communications/media.html

“Although no unusual trends appeared in 2005 in the number or size of the media groups approved to film this year, something about one particular media outlet pushed a few buttons for some Burning Man participants. Discovery Times is a boutique cable channel under the Discovery Channel umbrella in collaboration with the New York Times. Discovery Times applied to send a crew to do a first-person travel-show-style episode for its series “Only In America.” Three or four Discovery Channel applications were turned away in previous years, but this proposal had all the elements together and seemed prepared to make a solid piece about the event. Since deeply personal, firsthand coverage seems to tell Burning Man’s story the best, this proposal seemed a good fit. But some Burning Man participants took exception to this approval, citing displeasure with the commercial nature of the cable channel’s parent company and what they deemed a “reality TV” approach to television.

“It isn’t clear what about this proposal exactly pushed new buttons, since projects like it have been approved for years. Burning Man’s decision to approve the show was in line with its approach to media coverage since 1995 and even earlier. With respect for context and careful guidelines for the rights of participants, coverage like Discovery Times can in fact accurately capture the very newsworthy story of Black Rock City. As with any such coverage, Burning Man retains the right to review footage before it is broadcast through the careful use of entrance policies and written agreements. While no one wants to micromanage the creativity of any filmmaker, the Media team does work to protect Black Rock City by proactively keeping an eye on specific issues in coverage of the event.”

The exact scope as to the terms of the agreement is undisclosed by both BMorg and Discovery. However, a sum of money called a “site fee” was involved in which BMorg received payment for said agreement.

As Discovery began development for the production of a show, Todd Schindler of Discovery approaches various departments within Burning Man requesting support with the following correspondence:

Hello:

My name is Todd Schindler and I’m a researcher for the Discovery Times Channel (a joint venture between Discovery Channel and The New York Times).

As part of our new documentary program “Only in America,” we’ll be attending Burning Man this year and filming an episode of the show. The program features Pulitzer Prize-winning NY Times journalist Charlie LeDuff as the host. At Burning Man, Charlie will be living at a theme camp and participating in all the goings-on of the camp.

We are hoping to get as well-rounded picture about what goes on at Burning Man as possible — including the logistics of setting up and breaking down, the maintenance of the city throughout the week, and also the work that the Black Rock Rangers do. To that end, we would love to be able to accompany some rangers as they make their rounds and/or speak to the person in charge of the rangers about the evolution and philosophy of the group. We hope this might be possible sometime during the week we are there. (We will be there from Sunday, Aug. 28 until Sunday, Sept. 4).

Please let me know if we can work out a time. I greatly appreciate your help.

Best,

Todd Schindler

Researcher, Discovery Times Channel

In response to this e-mail, according to information from Maid Marian, Todd was invited by some unknown person to embed with the Los Angeles Fire Conclave:

Within weeks of Todd Schindler’s e-mail an announcement is made that the Discovery Crew will be embedded with the Los Angeles Fire Conclave (LAFC).

Below is a statement made by DaBomb, a member of the LAFC.

September 2005

My playa name is DaBomb, and I’ve been a burner since 1998. Through the years, I’ve volunteered a great deal behind the scenes at Burning Man, a community I’m actively involved in both on and off the playa. For 2005 I came to the playa with a new dream: to perform as a fire dancer on burn night. In spring of 2005, I joined the Los Angeles Fire Conclave (LAFC) in pursuit of this dream.

My fire tool is the fire hoop. In order to participate in this year’s burn as a fire performer, myself and 3 other fire hoopers were required to include fire torches in our repertoire. To that end, we were also required by our squad leader to purchase our torches specifically from Bearclaw Manufacturing. Though there was some dissent from others within the squad as to this requirement, the squad leader insisted that he wanted uniformity within the performances and wanted all tools to look the same.

These seemed like small requirements for such an exciting occasion, and so I overlooked them at the time. All summer I regularly attended the practice meetings on Wednesday night with the rest of my squad. The enthusiasm and camaraderie of the LAFC increased with each passing week as the Burning Man Festival grew closer. I also diligently practiced on my own during my free time. As a member of the LAFC, strong skills in your chosen fire tool and fire safety training were required and I didn’t want to be cut. Sadly, as the summer wore on, some performers were dropped or left the conclave because they were unable to meet these conditions.

On Wednesday, August 17th, 2005 with only two weeks to go before Burning Man, TedWard LeCouteur, the shin of the LAFC, announced during a practice meeting that Todd Schindler of the Discovery Crew was present at that evening’s fire practice. TedWard further announced that the Discovery Crew would embed with the LAFC during this year’s burn. TedWard also happens to be the owner of Bearclaw Manufacturing.

TedWard’s announcement disturbed me and I took issue with it. I wanted to know who, on behalf of LAFC, invited the Discovery Crew and why. I also wanted to know why as a performance troupe, this invitation was not extended by a democratic vote. It was reprehensible to me that the Discovery Crew was granted special privileges with regards to performing inside the circle before the Man burns with the LAFC. I strongly believe that all fire performers desiring to perform with our conclave be made to adhere to the same rules and strict standards as all other members of LAFC. Specifically this person should have attended all mandatory meetings for LAFC and that this person should be competent with their tools. For a fact, the Discovery Team’s host did not attend LAFC’s mandatory meetings that summer. Todd Schindler was merely a researcher for the show, and not the host himself. Therefore, the skill level of the show’s host was unknown.

My concerns sparked a heated debate between TedWard and myself.

Finally, a response to my issues with the Discovery Team’s involvement with LAFC came in the form of these words from Maid Marian:

“re: the LA Fire Conclave. A member of the conclave INVITED the Discovery folks there. So, I’d look to that person and his/her desire for personal exposure before you point to us or Discovery for their uninvited intrusion.”

This information was very illuminating, however I have not had the opportunity to discuss this with TedWard, so I do not know if it was indeed him that invited the Discovery Team to participate with the LAFC. As it turned out, much to my relief, they did not participate in our performance at Burning Man this year.

Love & Rockets,

DaBomb

August 18, 2005 to present

Upon news of Discovery Channel/New York Times involvement and intended filming at the event, the community of Black Rock City begins to voice dissent and a letter campaign to BMorg begins:

The Community’s Response to Media Presence at Burning Man 2005

Immediately after the news leaks, a letter writing campaign ensues to BMorg as members of the Black Rock City community react negatively to Discovery’s presence at the event. Maid Marian, Mistress of Communications for BMorg, characterizes this response at first as a “big stink” and is unable or unwilling to comprehend why. As the e-mails pour in, she rephrases her comments calling it “a groundswell.”

As of yet, all these hard asked questions go unanswered by BMorg. BMorg continues to receive e-mails on this issue to present day.

E-mail from Burning Anne (the Scarf Thief):

September 18, 2005

Dear please don’t be “Made” Marian,

I am hoping the above is a hoax of some kind. As a 7 year citizen of the Burningman “community” I was horrified to receive the above information. How can you even consider accepting money to “commercialize” an event that has prided itself on non commercialization? I’m sure you realize this would destroy any future events, not to mention that all true burners would find this outrageously hypocritical. In a time of lying politicians and no escape from corruption and profiteering Burningman is our only refuge. Do not take this away from us!

I think you should also know that for the past few years word on the Playa is many people asking where all the 37,000 x $220 hefty and getting heftier fees are going. Obviously profit is already being made. While this is uncomfortable to accept, it is still acceptable. Selling out is not.

I urge you to not sign off on this – if you do had better give it back in kind to us folks who created this great city for you on our sweat and dollars.

E-mail from mstephrussell:

Saturday, September 17 2005

I am a 3rd time attendee of the Burning Man Event, just recently back. It was at this year’s BM that I heard some individuals speaking on stage at Center Camp in regards to an arrangement between the Discovery Channel and the Burning Man Project. Wait, let’s back up for a sec.

Early on in my introduction to the Burning Man, in the first year before I went out three years ago, I attended a free lecture in my town by Larry Harvey. I had heard about the Burning Man for years before that, and had talked to different folks who had gone, and I was curious. It was then that I met Larry, chatted with him briefly, and had the opportunity to hear directly about the principles that the Burning Man was based on and operated on, when I decided to participate. “An Experiment in Community Dictated by Extreme Survival Conditions. Radical Self _Expression.” Upon the first year, I got a real first person experience. The community, the art work, and the beautiful desert all together was well worth the trip, and I have made the commitment each year since to devote my own resources to the Burning Man. I have been honored to be a participant in and a citizen of Black Rock City. I was told from Day One at the gate of BRC “Welcome Home”, and I took it to heart.

I view that participation as a contract of good faith that exists three ways between myself, the other attendees, and the Burning Man Project. Now, after the fact I am finding out that I am unwitting player in a TV show that I never agreed to. I am participating in a small way, or a big way, either way in another mechanism to sell product.

I remember a few years ago, I am in the airport (I might have been in route to BRC). In a hurry to get to my destination, and about to enter a moving sidewalk, I almost miss the sign posted on the front of it. I don’t recall the exact wording, but the jist of it was that I was being recorded for a reality show on airports, and if I did not concede to this filming, that I should go right away to the proper authorities to inform them of my intentions. I am sure that most travelers did not even notice the post, nor did they have the time between connecting flights, and /or TSA probings to go chase down some bureaucrat to protect their own privacy. Well, personally I made the call to step on board the treadmill to sell more crap, and engaged in a series of lewd gestures that would most likely insure that my presence end up on the editing room floor. Never saw the show, but I did hear an advertisement for it one time, and it occured to me then what production value they got by cutting that labor cost down to next to nothing, no paid talent, just concept people and editors. Oh, and one little check written to the airport.

I have deep personal connection to the Burning Man, and a large part of the whole experience is that I make this journey once a year across vast distance into harsh survival conditions in order to get away from the trappings of commercialism. Now I am reminded to what extent those who need to sell colored bubbles will go to find fresh meat to fillet. I don’t know all the details of the deal, and most of the time I would not give a care, but this time around I do care, very much so. Burning Man is not just the Project. Burning Man would not exist without the people who come to make it happen, and Burning Man belongs to everyone who came thru that gate, including me.

So, I would greatly appreciate some straight talk. From what I understand, the Project agreed to have a crew from Discovery Channel attend the event and shoot footage for use in a television show to be broadcast. Was the BMP in on this undertaking, and if so were they paid a fee for it, and why was the community not told about it before hand? Will the community have an opportunity to have a say in whether or not this show is broadcast or released in any way? What if Discovery decides to ignore the wishes of the BMP and do what it wants with this content? Is the BMP really prepared to enter into an expensive legal battle with a big boy like Discovery with deep legal pockets? What are your intentions?

E-mail from DaBomb:

August 23, 2005

Thanks for your response [to my previous e-mail]. However, this response can hardly be called an answer to my questions. I can appreciate how busy your are on the playa at the moment. And I respectfully tender this reply:

In reference to your comment about “balance between the “community” and the Project” (and I find it telling that you capitalized the “project”, but placed quotation marks when referencing the Participants) I’m a little unclear. I always thought the project was the community?

You see, Larry Harvey remarked at the genesis of the Project in 1986: “An entire community converged around the sculpture. It was more than a sculpture; it was a presence. A presence that invited interaction.”

How is interaction encouraged through a television program?

You yourself once said about the Project: “We don’t encourage radical self-expression so people can find themselves for sale in a video store.” So, I’m just wondering if now, 19 years since the beginning of the event, it’s OK to find myself for sale on cable TV?

Why use a televised show to promote an event that is antithetical to the very corporate/commoditization model that is being used to broadcast it?

Without all the facts, I don’t know what to make of the Discovery Channel/New York Times deal. I feel it has the potential of taking us, somewhere that we, the participants, don’t want to go. If commoditization is where the leadership of the event wants to direct us towards, I would ask that it state its intentions clearly so that myself and everyone involved can make a decision on whether to continue supporting it with our money, time, art and volunteerism.

I am very disturbed at the notion that the Burning Man Project is unwittingly turning its “community” into a “commodity”. I am trying to preserve the integrity of the event.

So, in the spirit of my mission, (and when you have a moment) please, endeavor to explain how creating a reality television program for mass consumption, how this serves to benefit both the Community and the Project as whole?

Perhaps its true, as a friend of mine within BMorg has told me, nobody is getting rich by putting on this event. But it’s also true that this event is not headed by a bunch of starving artists either. I believe it’s run by a intelligent and well meaning individuals who need to understand that the community makes the event. Not the other way around.

E-mail from Chai Guy:

August, 22, 2005

I am writing to tell you that I am saddened and disappointed with the decision to allow The Discovery Times Channel to film at Burning Man this year. To that end I have a few questions.

1. How much money will Burning Man LLC be receiving from this project and how much of that money will be given back to the artists featured in the film (if any)?

2. Is there a method to “opt-out” of having your image or art filmed for this project? If so, what is it?

3. Will this project ever be sold in other formats? Who owns the rights to the images filmed? Are there any licensing fees or stipulations for promotional tie-ins or products associated with this agreement (i.e. calendars from photos of the event, etc.)?

4. If nudity is filmed, will that nudity be aired without censorship (blurs. black bars etc.) in the European or other markets? Will the “nude” footage ever be released in a secondary format such as a DVD, or streaming video on a website?

5. To what degree will Burning Man LLC have artistic control over the final product? Will Burning Man LLC be able to veto any footage for any reason?

6. What steps will Burning Man LLC be taking to prevent the Discovery Times Channel from filming participants who do not wish to be filmed? If unwilling participants are filmed and that film is aired, will Burning Man LLC file litigation on behalf of that participant for invasion of privacy or intellectual property rights theft?

7. Do you, at this time have the camera tag # for this film crew(s) and if so what is it? If you do not have the tag # at this time, will it made available upon request at Media Mecca during the event?

I appreciate your consideration and time in this matter.

E-mail from Dr. Ratbite LaRue:

Sunday, August 21, 2005

So far, I find this issue very unpleasant.

BM LLC is accepting money to let large corporation come to BRC and SPECTATE. TDC will then turn around and sell what they produce (through advertising revenue) for profit. This product is going to be distributed through the largest all-spectator/non-participant medium that exists – television – and the right to get a corporation/product/brand associated with TDC presentation on Burning Man will go to the highest bidder.

BM LLC is going to get a chunk of that money, but what Burning Man is selling is the art, time, creativity and effort of a lot of people that PAY for the privilege of coming to BRC to PARTICIPATE.

To me this feels like the time and creativity of the people that make Burning Man a reality (as opposed to people like you that do the hard work to make BM possible) is being commoditized and sold out from under them without permission any form of compensation.

TDC wants to come to BM for one reason only … because they can make money doing it.

Without all the people that buy tickets, bring art, and PARTICIPATE, there would be nothing for BM LLC to sell to TLC except a nice wind fence, a big tent and a lot of portable toilets. What do you think they would pay for just that?

I am interested in knowing what TLC is paying to BM to come out and produce a show. If you are going to respond that this information is confidential I hope you will give a detailed explanation of why this is and has to be confidential. If BM agreed in advance with TLC not to share this information with the people that are going to make this show possible, let me say in advance, that stinks.

At the moment there is a small, but growing contingent of people that will looking to find this production with the aim of giving an alternative point of view of how unwelcome, unpopular this production is.

E-mail from Alanna:

Sunday, August 21, 2005

I have talked to others who have read the thread on Tribe.net [about the Discovery Channel at Burning Man this year] and no one is happy about it. Not only does it feel like an invasion of personal space in our COMMUNITY, but you are selling us out to do so. Many feel betrayed, confused and angry. Some (I know) have chosen not to go because of this.

It chips away at the very meaning of what this annual gathering is about and what we all so eagerly look forward to and prepare for year after year.

The beauty of Burning Man is that it is a COMMUNITY that functions without the exchange of money (mostly) and it gives to us all a renewed sense of trust, value, love and belief in the people around us. It’s an important energy that we all look forward to sharing anad holding onto for as long as we can.

But when huge conglomerates come in to “observe” us (as if we’re on display for their enjoyment), pay the BM-LLC fees to do so and the those that work so hard to make this COMMUNITY what it is do not have any say so in it whatsoever, it makes me wonder what this COMMUNITY is really about? What is the true nature of the relationship betweem the COMMUNITY and the BM LLC? I want to know WHY the BM LLC has chosen to do this. I want to know WHAT they are getting out of having the Discovery Times come in to our COMMUNITY. What is the point of this?

E-mail from Diode:

Sun, August 21, 2005

I wish to express my disappointment at the decision of the Burning Man organization to allow the Discovery Channel to produce a documentary at the burn which will be shown on commercial TV.

I have watched the preview clip for the series on the Discovery Channel website, which was preceded by a cute Mr. Clean shower brush commercial. I see no redeeming value in the series beyond the monetary value it may produce for Burning Man LLC. No redeeming value is also a euphemism for cheap schlock show for pop culture television.

The previous documentaries about the festival were, as far as I know, produced by people with an inherent interest and participation in the Burning Man project, and the quality and intimacy of their work reflected this. Though the end pieces were sometimes sold in commercial venues, at least they were works of love and creativity.

I don’t see how anyone affiliated with the Burning Man event could see this decision as any other than a complete reversal of the precepts that underlay the event, that have been put forth by Larry Harvey and the Burning Man LLC time and time again as its founding principals. I refer to the concept that the Burn is a noncommercial event where the participants are free to produce the unique community and art which lies at the soul of the festival in an field of radical self-expression.

Is my art and activity that may come under the Discovery crew cameras going to be displayed on millions of televisions for couch potatoes world-wide? Will the nudity and excess which occur frequently at Burning Man going to end up on DVD’s sold through commercial channels?

I’m sure there is a justification and rationale for this decision, which I and others attending the burn this year would like to hear from the BM LLC if only to satisfy our curiosity as to why you allowed this to come to pass.

Thanks for your time. I intend to do my utmost to be a unique creative spark of intelligence at the festival this year as every year and I wish you well in your work.

August 29 – September 5, 2005

The Discovery Team begins taping at the Burning Man Arts Festival 2005:

Discovery Crew on the Playa

The Discovery Team arrives at Burning Man 2005 and “interacts” with the Community. Below are eyewitness accounts of this exchange.

As posted by Chai Guy – Wed Sep 07, 2005 4:54 pm

The producer pulled up to the MOUSETRAP in an undecorated golf cart and walked up the individual in charge and said:

“Ok, charlie is going to be here in like 15 minutes so everything set? We wanna see something spectacular so make sure you smash something that will look really impressive on camera ok?”

someone over hearing this shouted out “How about your golf cart?”"

to which the crowd began chanting “Golf Cart, Golf Cart, Golf Cart!!”

As posted by Kernul Killbuck – Fri Sep 09, 2005 10:24 pm

On Tuesday night, as Miniman begged his father to acknowledge him… which he eventually did… I was approached by the Discovery crew for an interview. They did fully describe why they were, and what they were there for– and said they would not film me without a signed release.

Well, being a (sorta) shameless self promoter, I fully agreed. As the interview began, a fellow in a tan suit with an accent began to question my responses to the question of “what Burning Man means.” He was rather good at it… but so am I– profession don’t you know… and I enjoyed the barbed banter. I also had the advantage of having seen this person also engage another in an interview a few minutes before off in the distance- but when he came forward with me, I understood he was no average BRC citizen, but the appointed shill, there to do the job of having the interviewee question his or her own assumptions.

In the end, I left them with a laughing phrase they surely will never use, even on cable.

As posted by DaMongolian – Thursday, September 8, 2005 – 4:10 PM

hah!!! I had a first hand interaction with the DCT crew this year.

It was Saturday afternoon, and I was leading the pyro perimeter team around the man, so that the pyro team could load the fireworks etc without being disturbed. Anyway, at one point, the crew up on top of The Man started yelling that someone was throwing eggs, after a few moments, I identified the offender, who was being filmed by a film crew. I jumped in to interact as the Pyro team was mighty pissed (not to mention nervous….initially they didn’t know what was being thrown, and wether or not it might ignite what they were working on) Initially, I started out a little hot, because I was being protective of the pyro team. So when I saw that the film crew was now filming my interaction with the host, I asked them not to film, and they quickly complied by turning the camera away.

After a few moments of talk with the egg thrower, I realized that this was the (infamous) DCT crew, after confirming this with the film crew, I told them to go ahead and film, somehow this knowledge also helped me to relax a little. Turns out the host, had interviewed Larry, the day before and asked if he could throw an egg at the man…..something which any other day of the week would not have been a big deal. (other than the moop factor) But as it turns out…..they picked the day of the burn, during the pyro load in to do that particular shoot. I explained the situation, and they were very apologetic. After, I signed a release. Then….one of the producers pulled me aside and said sheepishly….when he threw the egg….we weren’t filming….any chance we can just get a shot of him going through the motion, he won’t actually throw it.

I thought about it for a second, and then asked them to do it as a cut away from farther away from the man….(at about the L2K ring) As luck would have it….it wasn’t far enough away, the Pyro team saw it, and freaked out again, even calling into their Supe and asking that the crew be ejected from the event. Once again, I interacted and explained what I had ‘okayed’ thankfully they got it that time, and I told them to go far far away from the man, until that evening for the burn. As far as I know, they did.

I personally, have no problem with them filming or with the way the crew behaved themselves….the host….well…..he might be a bit of a yahoo and an ass…(or at least his screen persona is) but then….there are plenty of other asses at BM….so big deal.

September 4th, 2005

The day after the burn, the Black Rock City Community Collective sets up a panel discussion at Center Camp inviting both BMorg and the Discovery Team to attend.

Panel Discussion at Center Camp

In an effort to encourage a dialogue between the BMorg and the Community, the Black Rock City Community Collective prepares for a panel discussion of all interested parties on this issue. Namely the Community, the BMorg, and their invited guests: the Discovery Crew. Below is a full account of what happened.

During the week of Burning Man 2005, members of the Black Rock City Community Collective tried to initiate contact with the Discovery Crew, going first to Media Mecca in an effort to locate them. Since all video cameras are required to be tagged at the event, an enquiry was made as to the camera tag number. The volunteer at Media Mecca either feigned ignorance or did not actually know the answer. This is disturbing. If they did not know what Discovery Channel’s tag number was, how would they be able to take any actions against them in the event that complaint was filed?

Finally, after more stonewalling, we were introduced to the Discovery Crew, who became immediately defensive and wanted to know what the camera tag number was wanted for. It was explained that it was necessary to identify the crew so that members of the Community could make an informed decision with regards to consent to be filmed.

Only then did the Discovery crew come forward, introducing themselves individually, including Charlie LeDuff, the host of the show. Ironically, hanging out in Media Mecca is Discovery’s idea of “participation” at Burning Man. As it turned out, they were waiting for the “B crew” to get back from filming cut-away shots. Unfortunately they didn’t know what their camera tag number was either!

After this encounter, arrangements were made to put on a panel discussion at Center Camp on Sunday, September 4th at 3:00 p.m. Numerous invitations were hand-written and personally delivered to members of BMorg at First Camp and the Discovery Channel film crew to participate in this public discussion.

On Sunday, with about a half hour to go before the scheduled stage time, we found Action Girl at Media Mecca, who listened to our complaints, but declined to take part in the public discussion. She seemed mystified why the Discovery Channel was targeted and not ABC’s hour long featured piece (for yet another cheesy magazine format that is slickly packaged for mass consumption). It really is tragic that Action Girl seemed so clueless as to why the Community is upset by these actions.

In the end (and somewhat as expected) nobody from either side attended the panel discussion. Both BMorg’s and the Discovery Team’s conspicuous absence served as a golden opportunity to make a Public Service Announcement instead of the originally planned discussion. The announcement was short but sweet, and was met with a great deal of booing and hissing from the Center Camp audience. The discussion continued off-stage for about 15 minutes.

Friday, July 7 2006

“Wife Swap” on ABC Television / Craigslist

Here’s something that was on CraigsList yesterday (since pulled) and followed by an e-mail forwarded to us by a friend of the Black Rock City Community Collective. The posting is starkly different than the personal e-mail.

We have since contacted Andie Grace and Maid Marian, the Communications Department at BM-org to investigate this and are awaiting their response.

> Subject: (creative gigs) Going to Burning Man? (financial district)
> Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:17:48 -0700 (PDT)
> From: “Craigslist Subscriptions” <subscriptions@craigslist.org>
> Reply-To: Rachelle.Mendez@rdfusa.com
>
> ABC TV is currently researching & interviewing families who attend
> BURNING MAN.
>
> Ideal candidates believe in self-reliance, expression, and community.
>
> Please call:212-404-2442 or email a family photo and description to:
> rachelle.mendez@rdfusa.com.
>
> All families featured on the show receive a $20,000 honorarium. If
> you refer a family that we feature on the show you receive $1,000.
>
> Apply Today. Casting immediately!

Thu, July 6, 2006 – 9:00 AM

Subject ABC TV: Looking for BURNERS
Message:

Hi Abject,

I’m a casting producer for ABC TV. We’re researching
Burners in hopes of featuring a family of Burners on
our primetime reality show WIFE SWAP. I’m wondering if
you’d consider posting my search and sharing it with
your tribe.

All families featured on the show receive a $20,000
honorarium. If you refer a family that we feature on
the show you receive $1,000.

Potential families can live anywhere in the United
States, but we ask that families applying for the show
consist of two parents and have at least one child,
age 5 or older, living at home.

Casting immediately.

Thanks,

Rachelle
212-404-2442

Rachelle.Mendez@rdfusa.com

Thursday, May 18, 2006

“Only In America” Breach of Contract

On February 2, 2006, “Only In America-Burning Man” aired. In the show DaBomb’s image was broadcast without her knowledge or consent. DaBomb would like to know if this has happened to others.

If this has happened to you — if the unlawful use of your image, art or performance — was used on this episode of “Only In America”, please contact the Black Rock City Community Collective or DaBomb.

Monday, April 3, 2006

Response to Jack Rabbit Speaks

On March 30th, the Jack Rabbit Speaks posted the following:

> : Is it true that there was a reality TV show being filmed on playa
> this year?
>
> A rumor began before the event this year that the Discovery
> Channel would be filming a reality TV show in Black Rock City.
> The show was Discovery Times, which focuses on alternative
> culture, such as power tool races, etc. Mainstream media has
> been coming to Burning Man for ten years now. Recently the
> organization held our annual staff retreat for over 100 of our
> managers. A group of non Media Department staff, who
> were troubled about the Discovery Times piece, discussed the
> decision to allow Discovery Times to film. The staff members
> concluded that after analyzing the decision they felt the problem is
> that our participants do not understand our media selection
> process. If you fall into this category and want to learn more then
> please visit

It appears that this valid question (e.g is it true a reality tv show was filmed) was not answered, but buried in an explanation and a justification as to why media is at the event.

It is indeed a fact and not a rumor that Discovery-Times “Only In America” is a reality television show. And by BMorg’s own admission (listen to BURNcast #1), it is also true that it paid a site fee for the privilege to film at Burning Man.

Even the New York Times, the partner company for the Discovery-Times network identifies this show as “reality programming”. On September 2, 2005, New York Times review by Carlo Rotello, made the following comments about the show calling it what it is: “The need to construct a reality-show plot arc, clumsily signposted with portentous teasers and galumphing mood music, also hamstrings Mr. LeDuff’s reporting.” Below is the article in it’s entirety.

As of yet, the JRS has yet to suppport or announce BURNcast, podcasts that resulted in our efforts here at SaveBRC, in an effort to educate the community about media presence at Burning Man.

These podcasts (which include interviews with Andie Grace, Larry Harvey, Danger Ranger and Maid Marian) were recorded two days before this show aired reflect a positive resolution to the questions raised by SaveBRC.org. They go in great depth how the media process works at Burning Man. In fact, Twan, the Los Angeles regional rep posted it to the LA Burners list when they first were released.

We’ve been were holding off on publishing the next Burncast until the JRS announcement took place because of concerns with issues of bandwidth if all three podcasts were posted at once and announced at the same time. At an average size of 30 mb per show, the downloads may be overwhelming.

The podcasts have thus far been submitted several times to BMorg.

Surely Burning Man supports independent media as well as commercial media?

—————————————————————————

September 2, 2005

Answering Call of America’s Weirdness

By CARLO ROTELLA

Every once in a while, maybe three times an episode (to judge from the first two), “Only in America” produces a moment that stays with you.

Dan, a member of an Oakland biker club called the East Bay Rats, describes the long-ago humiliation of being gang-stomped while his friends looked on and did nothing. It can’t happen to him again, he says, now that he’s a Rat. (Of course, you have to endure a group beating from fellow Rats when you join the club, and members regularly pound each other in a makeshift ring while friends cheer them on during informal fight nights, but people are complicated.)

Dan chokes up and walks away from Charlie LeDuff, the show’s host, who stands there with his chin in his palm. The camera lingers, allowing another Rat to wander into the frame and exchange a sympathetic look with Mr. LeDuff behind Dan’s back. Everything the episode wants to address, especially the urge to ratify community with intramural violence, hangs unspoken in the air between them.

In another episode, Mr. LeDuff, wearing fancy Western wear chosen by two cowboys who ride on the gay rodeo circuit, visits Thad Balkman, a Republican state representative from Oklahoma who crusades against gay marriage. After some inconclusive political fencing, Mr. LeDuff shows off his new threads to Mr. Balkman, who pronounces them “very handsome.” When Mr. LeDuff asks if he looks gay in his getup, Mr. Balkman says, “No, it kind of looks like a Roy Rogers kind of deal.” Mr. Balkman is so bland that at first you might not notice he’s kidding.

Mr. LeDuff, a reporter for The New York Times, claims to have a populist agenda for “Only in America,” which has its premiere tonight on the Discovery Times Channel. “There’s so much stuff going on in this country that’s not covered correctly,” he says, and covering it correctly, for him, means participating: fighting in the ring, riding a bull in the rodeo. “You should certainly live, feel, breathe, eat and understand the way the other people do.” He adds, “I put my body out there so the guy on the couch watching might understand the guy he won’t talk to.”

America’s enduring weirdness beckons to an enterprising reporter seeking resonant subcultures. In addition to bikers and gay rodeo riders, Mr. LeDuff will visit arena football players, fashion models, battle re-enactors and others. Find a scene, work your way into it, hang out, point the camera at people with something to say and let them say it. You can’t go wrong.

Actually, you can. Mr. LeDuff too often gets between us and the people he wants to introduce to us. He has a sense of humor, and one can appreciate the gameness of a reporter who will dress up in drag to fall off a steer, but there’s just too much of him, and he can’t seem to get over himself. His overstyled voiceovers do little to frame the action in an explanatory bigger picture, and he takes up too much screen time. He talks too much, and too often he’s talking about himself. “These guys respect me, like, I’m a gamer,” he says of the East Bay Rats. Even if true, the line makes you wince.

One also grows tired of Mr. LeDuff’s self-regarding need to mark his territory. Depending on whom he’s hanging out with, he will start droppin’ his g’s and otherwise broadening his variable regular-guy diction. When he offers an analytical insight – for instance, when women fight, “it’s kinda hot” – he’ll put some extra stoner drag in his voice to assure us he’s no egghead. Hanging with the head Rat at ringside, Mr. LeDuff is moved to remark, “You’re like the Svengali of a lost generation, man.”

“Well,” says the guy, “at least I throw a good party.”

The need to construct a reality-show plot arc, clumsily signposted with portentous teasers and galumphing mood music, also hamstrings Mr. LeDuff’s reporting.

Each episode has a sustained gimmick. Charlie’s going to fight a giant Rat named Big Mike. Charlie’s not going to let any gay wannabe cowboy outride him. Will he walk out or be carried out? It’s forced and lame, and it suggests that “Only in America” doesn’t trust regular weird American folks to hold our interest.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com

Thursday, February 9, 2006

Egging the Man

The following was posted on Eplaya today from PyroChix, in reponse to Charlie LeDuff egging the man:

PyroChix

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:11 am

Post subject: Charlie’s Egg Throwing Stunt

I’m part of the pyro crew that was working on the man, setting up the fireworks for the night of the burn when Mr. LeDuff decided to unleash his artistic impression by throwing eggs at the Man. While seemingly innocuous, he threatened the lives of everyone on that structure. In the intense dryness and static hell that is the Playa, if that egg had knocked into something the wrong way, the explosion you saw during the Burn would’ve happened that afternoon… taking all of the pyro crew as well as Mr. LeDuff and the Rangers on duty to an explosive death.

By airing this act, Discovery Channel and the LLC not only condone his act of irresponsibility, they also promote future idiots to follow suit. There’s a reason we have a safety perimeter on the day of the Burn, yet the LLC and Discovery Channel are representing that they refuse to understand the potential danger involved.

LeDuff has no idea how close he came to dying that day, whether from the potential explosion or the number of us that had to be restrained from kicking the crap out of him for endangering our lives. No where else in America except for Burning Man would Mr. LeDuff get away with a blatant act of potential manslaughter without being thrown into jail for at least a harsh talking to. Instead, he’s getting noteriety from it.

Had the explosion occured, anything having to do with Burning Man’s fire related activities would instantly be shut down because the pyrotechnician whose license the event depends on would have died. The insurance companies and legal authorities including the BLM would have to shut down the event as well. There would be no Burning Man if Mr. LeDuff’s act of “artistic expression” set off an explosion. The chances that his actions could have set off an explosion were high, easily 50%. That Saturday had high levels of static electricity due to several white outs. I’m not speaking as an alarmist, I’m a realist, and I know that I could easily have died that day.

I’ll be writing to the LLC and Discovery Channel regarding this act. I’m speaking for myself and not necessarily all the pyro crew members, but I want it to be on record that if anyone in future years pulls a stunt similar, legal repercussions will be sought against the LLC, Discovery Channel, and Mr. LeDuff for their irresponsible validation of hazardous acts. I invite anyone else who plans on writing to the LLC, Discovery Channel, or Charlie LeDuff to make use of my comments here. If you do so, however, I would like to know about it just for reference.

Sunday, February 5, 2006

Rip, Edit, Burn

The latest edition of the JRS mentions our still-in-production-and-upcoming podcast with the Burning Man organization and characterizes our visit to BMHQ as a positive conclusion. We wholeheartedly agree. At the moment the producers, Chai Guy and DaBomb are in the the midst of putting the material together. Though we are working to upload this podcast in a reasonable timeframe, there are logistical issues due to the physical distance between the two (Chai Guy lives in Lake Tahoe, DaBomb in Los Angeles) to be able to collaborate effectively. They are both working fast as they can while still doing their full-time jobs, learning the technical aspects of the producing the podcast and creating a meaningful piece for our listeners and for the community. Please…stay tuned…it’s coming soon!

Friday, February 3, 2006

We give it a thumbs down!

Last night, the show “Only In America” aired. Many have contacted us to ask us what we think of the show.

We’d like to take this moment to remind y’all that when we first brought up the issue of Discovery Channel’s presence at Burning Man, we took issues with the commercialization and exploitation of the event, privacy rights and an artist’s right and ownership to their art and performance. We did not set out to be arbiters of taste of this show.

Therefore, our main mission in setting up SaveBRC.org is focused on these issues and not about our personal critique of this particular show.

That’s our party line and we’re sticking to it.

Having said that, many of you have insisted: peee-shaw…what did ya REALLY think of the show?

Well…um…OK…here ya go:

DaBomb’s Review:

I’m offended by people who are outsiders that try to appear to be an insider. Charlie LeDuff aka “Media Man” (who has provided further evidence that the New York Times isn’t worth the paper that it is printed on) pretends to get involved, makes pseudo observations and interpretations and doesn’t actually try to feel the environment that he parades around in. Media Man ends up being a saccharin caricature of sophomoric pretense and posture. His show is about himself, not the cultures that he purports to explore.

Of course he had the mohawk before arriving. He had already decided what Burning Man was before he arrived. His mind wasn’t open. He wasn’t experiencing the now. “Its like Vegas North.” Why do small minds have so much trouble understanding what is around them? His mind couldn’t see the Temple. Fire breathing wasn’t elemental to him, it was a novelty. In Media Man’s own words: “The more I see America, the less I get it.”

Just my two cents. Your mileage may vary.

Chai Guy’s Review:

I want to make it clear that my objection to this show was not about the content, but rather the nature of the show, (Reality TV), the undisclosed site fees, the behavior of the crew at the event, and the commodification of Burning Man.

The original concept of the “Only in America” show didn’t seem half bad. Follow a Burning Man virgin around as he experiences the event for the first time. Unfortunately that idea got lost somewhere. They replaced it with something ripped right out of the Official Burning Man Press Kit: “Become your alter ego or spoof the media itself.” Source: http://www.burningman.com/press/faq.html

The “spoof” being Media Man, and I can only guess that Charlie’s “alter-ego” must be Hunter S. Thompson??

You would think that a week on the playa would provide for more than an hour’s worth of spontaneous, film worthy events, apparently not for Charlie LeDuff. We see Charlie ride his bike through the Greeter Gate, why not just film him arriving in his vehicle? We see Charlie being given a mohawk on the playa, but if you looked closely at the previous scenes, you’d have seen that he already had the mohawk before he came to Black Rock City.

Two weeks prior to the event Charlie was set to spin fire in the circle before the man burned with the LA Fire Conclave, allegedly by invitation of their leader, Tedward. That idea (along with letting Charlie do a “ride along” with the Black Rock Rangers) was vetoed before he got to the Playa. So the next best thing apparently was to teach Charlie how to breathe fire. Tedward being the good self-promoter that he is wears a t-shit with his company’s name on it (nice product placement Tedward!). He also works the phrase “Only in America”, the title of the series, into his interview with Charlie. Being the consummate L.A. actor, Tedward asks Charlie “Can we take five?” when his friends show up in their RV.

A good deal of time is spent with Tedward teaching Charlie how to breathe fire. This is where the show degenerates into what “Only In America” is really about, which is placing Charlie in “extreme” circumstances and allowing the reality TV show arch to happen.

Charlie rides his bike to the man saying, “I’m worked up enough to egg the man to see if I get beaten to a pulp”. He even calls throwing eggs at the man his “Radical Self Expression”. We all know it was a staged event; he threw his first egg at the man and pissed off the pyro team who were busy getting the structure ready for the burn. A Black Rock Ranger intervened and convinced him to “pretend” to throw the egg from a distance further back, and that’s what you see on TV. He then gets into an altercation with someone, who cracks an egg over Charlie’s head, but look closely and you’ll see the producer secure the egg from Charlie after whispering in his ear before she hands it off to the “angry participant”. Aside from an admonishment by the Ranger to “pick up your egg shells” the Leave No Trace ethos of the event gets left in the dust.

Charlie interviews a couple that is about to be married by a “Shaman” (who, incidentally, gushes on camera ” I really love the Discovery Channel!”). Charlie proceeds to make fun of the ceremony and the “Bio Chemist from the Northwest wearing black face, spouting half baked American Indian mysticism” apparently Charlie completely misses the irony that he’s been sporting a mohawk the entire week.

Upon hearing the news of Hurricane Katrina, Charlie heads off to a radio station to get the word out. Talking on the air with the radio host, Charlie becomes rather incoherent as he drifts from discussion of Katrina to the war in Iraq to a potential military draft and after a requested moment of silence (for what, I’m not exactly sure, the war, the hurricane? both?) he launches into an acapella version of “This Land Is Your Land”. You kind of get the feeling here that Charlie thinks he’s missing the story of the century, but isn’t sure what to do about it. Unfortunately he doesn’t stick around to see the money raised by participants for hurricane relief as they leave BRC, or the support offered by members of the community in the weeks and months following.

For most of the show Charlie seems rather obsessed with drug use at the event. He mentions the word “drugs” five times, as well as statements like “Some people stay high for days on end”, “They like to get high”, “Some don’t care and just stay wasted”, “Mind Freak”,” Trip out”, and “Just Groovin”. Listening to his “Hippie Speak”, it’s difficult for me to remember that he and I are of the same generation.

The show does have a few moments of saving grace. These occur when participants are allowed to express themselves to the camera, in their own words. Kernul Killbuck does an excellent job of tilting Charlie off his game (I don’t think Charlie likes to be touched), and delivering a great soliloquy on the event and the burning of the man. The interviews with artists like Matteo of “Head Space” were also well done.

Unfortunately those moments are few and far between. The flow is too often interrupted by Charlie’s narration, which offers very little insight into Burning Man or even his own personal experience. His lack of research is readily apparent, he refers to the Black Rock Rangers as “cops”, the event as “Las Vegas North” (twice actually), and the Temples of Dreams as the “Faux Buddhist Temple”. The most interesting question he can think to ask Larry Harvey is “Why?” and then proceeds to look bored out of his mind during the response. I honestly expected a little more from a New York Times reporter.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

High Noon at BMHQ

That’s it. We quit. It’s true: if you can’t beat’em, join’em. Forget Discovery Channel. It’s all about independent media! Read on:

First of all, thanks for taking the time to express your opinion about corporate media such as Discovery Channel at Burning Man and also signing the petition on SaveBRC.org. For those of you who are interested, the show “Only In America” will air on February 2 at 8:00 p.m. on Discovery Times Channel.

As an interesting side note NO MENTION of the Discovery Times Channel “Only in America” Burning Man episode has been mentioned on the official Burning Man website or in the latest version of “The Jack Rabbit Speaks” newsletter (which DID happen to mention an upcoming piece on the event happening on “Current TV”, but didn’t offer many details). If Burning Man is so proud of this thing, why not let everyone know about it? Makes us wonder.

It has been quite a road since we first launched the website. At first we simply forwarded the petitions to BMorg directly. However, ActionGirl (AKA Andie Grace) the Director of Communications, complained that the first 40 petitions crashed her email client and implied that our efforts had caused a denial of service attack or something…pshhhawww!

After we cleared that misunderstanding up, we came to agreement with ActionGirl in which we were to hand deliver the petitions to BMorg offices (wearing tutus) as well as an opportunity to view the footage that BMorg was to approve and sign off on*. But then, BMorg reneged on this as well.

(*There was some disagreement on what footage we had been invited to view. Later Actiongrl stated that it wasn’t the Discovery Times footage, that it was some other footage, what footage she was actually referring to still isn’t really clear to us.)

Now ActionGrl and SaveBRC.org have agreed to hand-deliver the petitions…while wearing tutus…on Tuesday, January 31. Furthermore, ActionGrl has agreed to interview for a podcast for SaveBRC.org.

Our interview with Actiongrl will focus on Burning Man, and the media and how each effect each other. We hope this will be the start of a regular monthly podcast on the event. If you have any interview questions you’d like us to ask Andie, please submit them ASAP (all questions need to be submitted by Monday, January 30th). Also, if you have any story or interview ideas for future podcasts or would like to be interviewed, give us a shout out as

well!

Thanks so much and stay tuned!

Friday, October 14, 2005

Jack Rabbit Speaks With A Forked Tongue

The most recent edition of Jack Rabbit Speaks features an announcement about the upcoming Xingolati cruise that sounds distinctly like a commercial. In one sentence I read plugs for four different for-profit business ventures.

We believed that BMorg was trying to support regionals, not snub them in favor of Carnival Cruise event, which costs in excess of $500. In promoting the cruise, no mention of the Los Angeles Decompression was mentioned which takes place tomorrow, October 15th.

The JRS barely mentions the Los Angeles Decom in any of their publications or email newsletters. In fact it was only mentioned yesterday as an oversight if you can’t go on a cruise.

“Okay, if you can’t make the cruise, I KNOW it’s last minute, but I swear if it weren’t my down time I’d have let you know sooner. And, I know they’ll do it again;I have this feeling it’ll be a big success.”

This is out of the Jack Rabbit Speaks newsletter.

“The cruise in question is a highly commercial cruise featuring artists, Burning Man-types, bands (including Mutaytor) and art. But it also has a lot of corporate sponsorship, commercial and monetary goals and the spirit of Burning Man (Leave no trace, free expression, etc.) are not a part of the cruise. It is a corporate event.

Just today, Maid Marian posted a follow up to that edition of Jack Rabbit Speaks due in part to a huge response to it. In it she states: “[There] is no sellout here. I appreciate the passion and concern of everyone who I’ve heard from today. I’m not promoting that un-named cruise line [um...that's a lie because she did]….There’s also no “sell out” going on with regard to any television shows, movies or other media outlets.”

Well, Maid Marian is mistaken because the Jack Rabbit Speaks *is* the official Burning Man news outlet, and it *was* being used to promote a corporate-for-profit venture and looking to monetarily benefit from plugging several commercial ventures. And Maid Marian herself wrote that copy! C-a-r-n-i-v-a-l C-r-u-i-s-e does not spell “unnamed”, sorry Marian.

Why is the (so called) official mailing list of Burning Man being used to promote For-Profit products and services of other companies?

And with regards to the media, specifically the Discovery Channel: how can a non-commerce event be shown on a network that pays for their airtime with commercials?

Friday, October 7, 2005

On Sunday after the burn, 2005, Larry Harvey and John Barlow gave a talk at Otter Oasis Camp.

Stickmon, who camped at Otter Oasis and knew about the Discovery Channel/New York Times deal with BM-LLC for an undisclosed fee had some concerns. During the “Q&A” portion of the talk, Stickmon asked Larry Harvey this: “How can the organizers who believe that Burning Man is not for sale justify charging a large fee to both Discovery Channel and the New York Times for documenting the festival?”

Harvey’s response: “What’s wrong with making some money off of them?”

This response was followed with a smattering of laughter by Harvey and the audience.

As a burners the question must be put: is Larry’s response acceptable to you, in light of what you understand about Burning Man? The fee and the resulting advertising revenue generated from this program to be the gross antithesis of the “10 Principles” as set by BMorg, particularly principle #3 “Decommodification” which states: “our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising.”

Members of the Black Rock City Community Collective will be at San Francisco Decompression this Sunday, October 9th. We have invited the BM-LLC to speak to the Community regarding this issue and we are still awaiting a response. We hope that BM-LLC will agree to this discussion, because we believe in Principle #9 that “Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture.”

On Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Andie Grace has agreed to allow us to hand deliver (under the stipulation as per our offer that we wear pretty fluffy tutus) all of your petitions. At this time, the Collective asks that you please express yourself either against or in favor of the Discovery Channel and we will personally hand them over to BMorg (in pretty fluffy tutus) and make sure that your voice is heard.

On Sun, September 25, 2005 – 8:40 PM

Andie Grace, the Communications Manager for BMorg, in response to a thread on Tribe.net submitted the following post:

I do apologize for being so blunt, but all this feels just a bit like moving in next to the airport and then complaining about the noise. Cameras have never been *banned* at Burning Man, and we’ve allowed the media for years – much of it higher-end, higher-visibilty, and frankly more commercially-oriented than this. TIME magazine and the Chronicle sell adspace, you know?

We welcome the media and appreciate their efforts to tell the story of our unique corner of modern culture. We do expect them to work with us and comport themselves in a manner that respects the tenets and aspects of our community, but we have allowed this type of coverage for years and will continue to do so.

If Burning Man is a private party where only the “cool” kids are allowed to see and understand it, then, um, whatever – enjoy, and I’ll be somewhere else. See, I’m not interested in working as hard as I do just to facilitate a secret party for the hip cognoscenti. What we do out there, what we all know is possible, is the type of thing that can change the world. It definitely changed mine. I *do* and have always actively hoped to share that story with the world, as long as – and here’s the big nail that it all hangs on – the media get it RIGHT. Helping them to do so is my job, and I feel I have done it well over the years, as have the amazing team of people who I am so lucky to work with.

“The BORG has EVERY right to keep every single camera out of the event, if they wish to do so. of course, they don’t wish this anymore, as is now clear to me. “

We never, ever said we wanted to keep all cameras out, so I don’t know what the “anymore” is referencing.

My email is bouncing because of the “petition” emails (and, I hasten to add, as the target of this petition I have no way to verify if it’s the same person submitting an email over and over, so it’s really hard to call an email petition a “signed document”.) Plus, it’s a bit hard not to take it all with a grain of salt since half the people filling out the form seem to be of the mind that Discovery is the first time we’ve allowed cameras at the event. Intelligent discourse I will listen to, but it would be nice if everyone reading the webpage and making up their own minds would at least take the time to get their facts straight before trotting out their indignation and barraging my inbox, keeping me from being able to do my job effectively. :\”

On Sun, September 25, 2005 – 11:28 PM

Chai Guy responded to Andie Grace’s response:

Andie,

We are not trying to disrupt your work. If you would like to set up another inbox at burningman.com for the specific purpose

of receiving these complaint emails we would be more than happy to change the web page to reflect that. We ask only for your word that you, or someone with authority inside the organization take the time to read and respond to

each email (or to post a response publicly on Burningman.com or in email form which will post on the savebrc.org in it’s entirety without editing).

Each petition that is forwarded to you has the person’s email address included in the petition. If there is a way of making these complaints more legitimate to you, please let us know and we may consider using that method.

The issue isn’t about making this a private party for the “cool” kids. This is an issue about the commodification of our event and selling that which does not belong to you. This issue is about a camera crew that showed little

respect for the event’s participants or art. This issue is about a one hour reality tv program.

If you want to contact a representative of the Black Rock City Community please do so at Chaiguy@gmail.com or bombacious@hotmail.com

Update – Tuesday, September 27, 2005:

We have really good news: Andie Grace has agreed to allow us to hand deliver (under the stipulation as per our offer that we wear pretty fluffy tutus) all of your petitions. At this time, the Collective asks that you please express yourself either against or in favor of the Discovery Channel and we will personally hand them over to BMorg (in pretty fluffy tutus) and make sure that your voice is heard. Keep those petitions, cards and letters coming while we go to a dance supply store. Or…does anybody got a coupla tutus we can borrow?

Update – Monday, September 26, 2005:

We were informed that the petition had crashed the mail box of Andie Grace, the Manager of Communications. At the time we were notified, only 49 petitions had been sent. We have since stopped forwarding this petition to her. Instead, we are holding onto all petitions until BMorg responds to us with an address of where they would like them. We have asked for their word that they will read every comment made on the petition.

Regarding CHARLES LeDUFF December 17, 2003, 3:08 p.m.

Another Jayson Blair?

More of the same at the “Paper of Record.”

By Michelle Malkin

Looks like the New York Times has another ugly Jayson Blair-like scandal on its hands. This time, the young minority reporter is Charlie LeDuff, a part Native-American, part-Cajun writer, known as a rising star and favorite pet of former executive editor Howell Raines.

The hotshot LeDuff is now in hot water over his cribbing of anecdotes from someone else’s book about kayaking down the Los Angeles River for his own Page One fluff story about — you guessed it! — kayaking down the Los Angeles River. An embarrassing correction published in the New York Times on Dec. 8 explained:

An article last Monday about the Los Angeles River recounted its history and described the reporter’s trip downriver in a kayak. In research for the article, the reporter consulted a 1999 book by Blake Gumprecht, “The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth.” Several passages relating facts and lore about the river distilled passages from the book. Although the facts in those passages were confirmed independently-through other sources or the reporter’s first hand observation-the article should have acknowledged the significant contribution of Mr. Gumprecht’s research.

Gumprecht, an assistant professor of geography at the University of New Hampshire and a former newspaper reporter, told Slate’s Jack Shafer he was “fairly shocked” by the similarities between his book and the Times’s story, and that LeDuff’s borrowing went beyond accepted journalistic practices.

Perhaps not coincidentally, LeDuff was a good pal of the disgraced Jayson Blair. According to New York Metro:

One of Blair’s closest friends was Charlie LeDuff, a rising star in Raines’s firmament known for his colorful writing style. “Jayson would sort of tag along” with him, said a friend of LeDuff’s. “He was very competitive with Charlie, and then kind of took it many, many steps too far-because he could get away with it.”

Like Blair, LeDuff climbed the Times’s ladder swiftly thanks to the media diversity machine. The 36-year-old scribe went straight from journalism school to a minority internship at the Times to full-time reporter in 1995. As LeDuff explained in a 2001 interview with JournalismJobs.com:

[The New York Times was] my first newspaper job. I was an intern for three months at the Alaska Fisherman’s Journal. That was my first publication-type job. But the first thing I ever wrote that got published, my Russian friend in the Northeast got killed with alcohol. I just sort of wrote an obituary. The new class of Russian youth, after the fall of the wall, on the street corners selling pins and posters, running from the law. And I wrote that and I think I wrote it pretty well. I felt good and I felt like, hey I’m smart enough. I can do this.

The New York Post’s Keith Kelly says there’s no word on whether LeDuff will be punished for his not-so-bright transgression. But the Times has been willing to overlook LeDuff’s journalistic shortcuts before. In September, author and columnist Marvin Olasky reported that LeDuff attributed fake quotes to a naval officer in San Diego to fit the reporter’s antiwar agenda.

Lieutenant Commander Beidler, 32, on his way to Iraq in January, was walking with his family toward the end of Naval Station Pier 2 when the Times’s Charlie LeDuff asked him for his general view of war protesters. Mr. Beidler recalls stating, “Protesters have a right to protest, and our job is to defend those rights. But in protesting, they shouldn’t protest blindly; instead, they should provide reasonable solutions to the problem.” The LeDuff version had Mr. Beidler criticizing Los Angeles protesters but turning his guns at a complacent United States: “It’s war, Commander Beidler said, and the nation is fat. ‘No one is screaming for battery-powered cars,’ he added.” The journalist then turned to Commander Beidler wife’s Christal: “‘I’m just numb,’ she said as she patted down his collar. ‘I’ll cry myself to sleep, I’m sure.’”

Mr. Beidler was at sea when he discovered how far at sea the Times’s reporting was, but he sent off a letter to the editor stating what he had said and arguing that the quotes about national fatness and battery-powered cars “were completely fabricated by Mr. LeDuff in order to connect our nation’s dependence on oil with the current military buildup in the Middle East.”

Mr. Beidler also stated, “Mr. LeDuff continued his shameful behavior by attributing words and actions to my wife that were not her own. Not only did she not say she would cry herself to sleep, but she didn’t pat down my collar either, which was impossible for her to accomplish with my civilian shirt hidden under my jacket and a duffle bag hanging on my shoulder closest to her.”

In response, a Times editor shrugged off Beidler’s complaint. LeDuff, he informed Beidler, “thinks that he accurately represented his interview with you and your wife, and therefore so do I. If you have another encounter some day with The New York Times, I hope its outcome is more satisfactory to you.”

Institutional arrogance. Diversity monomania. Intellectual thievery. Wasn’t this all supposed to end with the fall of Raines? How many other victims of LeDuff’s “colorful writing” are out there? And how many other Jayson Blairs remain nestled in the Gray Lady’s bosom?

Stay tuned.

Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists Criminals & Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores. For more on the Charles LeDuff see TimesWatch.

E-PLAYA THREAD:

Do it like they do on the ‘Discovery Channel’…

Post by Adonis252 » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:34 am

I am just wondering if anyone else was interviewed by a camera crew from the television station, ‘Discovery Channel’. Myself and three others were interviewed at our oasis for “Hot people who need to be cooled down’, on tuesday if I don’t remember correctly. If you know anything about this I would love to know when it will be aired or how I could get a copy of the episode.

I think I did sign a release form….oooops….It seemed like a good idea at the time….Hi mom…

Adonis252

Post by robotland » Sat Jan 21, 2006 7:08 am

The Discovery Times channel guys were taping for the program “Only in America”…but were met with great resistance on several fronts, and I wonder if the piece will be aired.

robotland

Post by Chai Guy » Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:54 am

I’ve heard from sources inside the LLC that the footage has been edited and shown to the organization. I’m unaware if the footage has been approved yet (The LLC must approve the final cut before it is aired).

Action Girl has promised to allow Savebrc.org an opportunity to view the footage before it airs, as well as the opportunity to hand deliver several hundred letters (and counting) of BRC citizens who wish to voice their dissent over allowing a reality television show to be filmed at the event.

Chai Guy

Post by DaBomb » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:16 pm

Chai Guy wrote:

I’ve heard from sources inside the LLC that the footage has been edited and shown to the organization. I’m unaware if the footage has been approved yet (The LLC must approve the final cut before it is aired).

They must have approved the footage because an air-date has been set.

Chai Guy wrote:

Action Girl has promised to allow Savebrc.org an opportunity to view the footage before it airs, as well as the opportunity to hand deliver several hundred letters (and counting) of BRC citizens who wish to voice their dissent over allowing a reality television show to be filmed at the event.

Apparently, they reneged on this deal because it has been screened, approved, and like I said, an airdate has been set. Whatever happened to the BM credo welcoming community participation and in-put? Perhaps not when there is a voice of dissent.

Love & Rockets

DaBomb

Post by ravenluv » Sat Jan 21, 2006 4:32 pm

does anyone know the air date?

ravenluv

Post by Eric » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:49 pm

ravenluv wrote:

does anyone know the air date?

From the Discovery Channel website:

TLC :: Episode :: Burning Man

… FEB 02 2006 @ 11:00 PM. FEB 03 2006 @ 04:00 AM. FEB 03 2006 @ 07:00 AM. FEB 03 2006 @ 12:00 PM. FEB 03 2006 @ 03:00 PM. DTC — Only in America. Burning Man. …

I believe it’s on “The Learning Channel” (hence the clever “TLC” in the quote above), not Discovery proper.

Eric ShutterSlut

BRC Weekly

Post by theCryptofishist » Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:10 am

Conspiracy theory I: they waited to do the approval until Action Grl was on the road this month.

theCryptofishist

Post by actiongrl » Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:57 pm

I remember saying you guys could deliver the petitions in your tutus, but I do not remember saying you’d be invited to the pre-screening. If I did, I’m sorry, but I think it was a misunderstanding, because I can’t think of a reason why it would be plausible to invite anyone.

It is important to understand that aside from certain things pertaining to the survival of the event, we don’t exercise “creative control” over anyone’s piece, and as long as it isn’t potentially damaging nor in violation of our Basic Use Agreements, we can’t force anyone to edit their piece anyway.

The piece was shown to us just before I left on my trip, and we had a great dialogue about it. Overall the piece is quite funny I think, and should be airing soon on Discovery Times.

actiongrl

Post by Chai Guy » Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:33 pm

actiongrl wrote:

I remember saying you guys could deliver the petitions in your tutus, but I do not remember saying you’d be invited to the pre-screening.

From 3playa:

actiongrl – Sep 27 2005, 11:42AM

Chai, I’d love to have those in a printed format, but I can’t read unless materials are delivered in a real tutu. Not a Sears tutu, but a real one.

If we time it right maybe you can come in and get a sneak preview of the piece. I’d also be interested to show you “Strange Universe” (“THE SECRET RITES OF BURNING MAN!”) from 1996 and a few other pieces.

Chai Guy – Sep 27 2005, 11:47AM

I was feeling part of the scenery

Andie, sounds good. I shall hand deliver them in a real tutu, and hopefully get a chance to preview the piece. I do want to deliver these objections prior to the LLC signing off on the project however.

http://bbs.3playa.com/?view_thread=369&end=2217#bottom

Chai Guy

Post by actiongrl » Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:41 pm

Gotcha. I see what I said. I wasn’t thinking of the screening where they sought approval, but rather just showing you a copy of it sometime after they submitted it. Usually they just mail us a copy, but this time they brought it over and took it away with them again, so I don’t have anything to show you, though eventually they will be sending us one when it’s completely finished – what we saw was the first cut.

“Maybe you can come and get a sneak preview” is different from “You can come to the screening with the producers.” That process is already pretty delicate given that we don’t have “creative control” but rather control over holding folks to the terms of the contract – eg., not showing illegal acts or nudity without written permission, or making outright incorrect statements about numbers and statistics, etc. Sometimes even our own employees don’t understand that difference and think that we can make someone take something out just because it’s inane or what have you, but really, nobody has that kind of control. So, it can be a delicate process to manage people’s expectations about how much their opinions can affect a finished piece…

At any rate, I think the piece turned out to be pretty funny, and our only few concerns were addressed cooperatively. David, the producer, is a really good guy.

actiongrl

Postby Chai Guy » Tue Jan 24, 2006 2:24 pm

Actiongrl,

The thing is, we felt the Discovery Times Channel filming at Burning Man was wrong. We invited you and the LLC to respond in a public forum at the event and you (and Maid Marian, and Larry Harvey) graciously declined. Fine.

Then we started a petition drive, we sent you 40 email petitions and you claimed it crashed your server and that you couldn’t get any work done. There was even an insinuation that it was some kind of denial of service attack (who knew 40 text only emails would crash a server?) We apologized and asked you what the appropriate channels were for our discourse. After some discussion you agreed to allow us to deliver the petitions in our tutus. You even stated that we might have an opportunity to view some footage (It’s not really worth me getting into the semantics of what that footage was or who might be there, I really don’t care about that). All we asked for is the opportunity to deliver the petitions BEFORE the LLC signed off on the footage, in the manner that you chose. That opportunity has been denied.

Frankly, I thought we were trying to work together on this, and I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. All we’ve ever wanted was to give people on both sides of this issue a voice.

I don’t feel like you’ve kept your end of the bargain here, and it has nothing to do with not being able to view the footage, I want to make that very clear.

Chai Guy

Postby actiongrl » Tue Jan 24, 2006 4:02 pm

“it crashed your server”

It crashed my email program. Happens to me a lot on high volume days, because I have too much email. Nothing malicious, although it did put me in a pretty crappy mood that day.

If there was some insinuation that there was every any question we were going to deny them the right to broadcast the footage based on anything that could have been said in your petitions, I’m sorry for that misunderstanding. Having allowed them to shoot, the chances of our denying them permission to broadcast would have been EXTREMELY slim. The piece would have had to violate the agreement we had made with them, and it didn’t. I’m sorry this has blossomed into a misunderstanding between us, but what I agreed to do was accept the petitions in written form. I didn’t think I was going to have to contact your group to ask that you bring them to me – I figured that since you were motivated to get this information to us, you might proactively contact me about it.

I also offered to show you the piece (I did *not* extend an offer to participate in the approval process) and some others from the archive, to deepen our conversation about the approval process and give you more understanding of our legal rights in the situation. If I gave the impression that the Discovery Times piece would be affected in any way by the delivery of these petitions, I’m sorry, but that’s not what I was trying to say. My endeavor was to include you in more information about our Media Process and give you a chance to deliver the feedback in a way that worked on both sides, but I never meant to give the impression that Burning Man was necessarily going to change its longstanding policies on media or back out of letting “Only In America” broadcast because of it.

actiongrl

Post by capjbadger » Tue Jan 24, 2006 6:06 pm

Whether or not our input was going to change if Discovery Channel was going to broadcast the piece is not the issue here. The fact that the ORG agreed to this in the first place is.

As a new burner, I’ve read though all the info I could get my hands on and thought I had a pretty good grasp of what BM was suppose to be and the spirit by which it was run.

Seems I have been lied to.

Might as well put a pair of mouse ears on Larry and call it a day… Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
:(

capjbadger

Postby actiongrl » Tue Jan 24, 2006 7:24 pm

I’m not prepared to make this yet another thread where I defend our allowing the media into the event as we have done for ten years. I’ve had the conversations face to face, on email, and on three different bulletin boards for months now, and while I appreciate that there are some who disagree, I am going to have to admit that I don’t think the response to savebrc.org has been so overwhelming as to say that Burning Man really needs to make significant changes to what has been a successfully applied media policy for most of its existence.

I have also spoken with hundreds of people who heard about Burning Man for the first time through the popular media and had a fantastic and transformative time there. The media are part of our experience at the event and working with them is my job, and I did it. If you want to know more about why we allow press at Burning Man, come over to Media Mecca like Chai and Da Bomb did and talk with us about it. Read the Afterburn report where we acknowledge the Discovery Times controversy and explain why we handled it the way we did. (That’s due out in the coming months, I just turned in my report.)

I’m basically saying I’m over it with the rehashing and the BBS discussion thereof, though. Frankly, I am increasingly disappointed in how human beings will speak so coarsely to one another online, and I’m really losing my taste for encouraging people to use these mediums when we address newcomers by calling them names… Would any one walk up to me and make that mouse ears comment in person? I doubt it, and if you did, I’d have every right to be indignant about it, and I would. When I have talked about this in person, I’ve found that many people who expressed outrage about the Discovery Times piece really didn’t understand much about our media process or how much media exposure we get. With a little more information, they generally understood our decision…maybe not all supported it, but they at least could understand why we work with the media like we do.

I think I’ve tried to address that with you guys several times, Chai.

My phone number is going to be sent to you via PM. Using our voices is really the only way i’m willing to discuss this further, because the fact is I’ve already said my piece online over and again, and I remain of my same opinion.

We’ve had successful conversations in real life, and I’m willing to hear you out and tell you anything you need to know too. If you feel the world needs to know the outcomes of our conversation, you can tell them about it, but I am not interested in participating in this forum about it.

actiongrl

Post by capjbadger » Tue Jan 24, 2006 7:41 pm

Kinetic IV wrote:

capjbadger wrote:

Might as well put a pair of mouse ears on Larry and call it a day… Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
:(

With regret, don’t forget a second pair for AG in this case.

My quip was not so much pointing blame at any one person, but simply using him to made a point.

I’ve seen too many other place/events go down this road. Places I called home. I don’t want to see this go the same way.

Now… Where do I sign up? Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
:evil:

I’m not going to stand by and let this die too.

capjbadger

Postby Kinetic IV » Tue Jan 24, 2006 7:58 pm

AG, are you really understanding what Chai’s trying to get across to you? I don’t think you are and that saddens me because for the longest time I felt you were one person inside the org that still understood the concerns of the participants. Now I don’t think that’s the case anymore. So Chai only presented 40 names on the petition…hmmm…after reading that comment I felt like damn, unless we have the big bucks like Discovery did to wave in your faces our concerns are not going to be heard…or even stand a chance of getting higher up into the ORG where someone might decide to act on it.

As for the mouse ears comment many people only know me online and few truly know me offline. If I met you in person and felt something was wrong I would look you right square in the eye and say so. It might not be pleasant but it would be done. I did put the “with regret” comment in there because I highly respect you…and I hated saying anything at all. But the event is very important to me, I understand the need for some media attention but months later I still feel this was the wrong thing to do.

I’ll shut up now, my voice really means nothing. But at least until now I had the slight illusion that it might.

Kinetic IV

Postby actiongrl » Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:03 pm

Everything anyone has said has made its way to the top on this one, trust me on that. I’m just telling you that allowing the media has been our policy for a great number of reasons that apply to our experience as the people who organize this event, and that I feel like we did the right thing by our stated policies, and that while we are very very cautious and aware of the rights of our participants and seek to protect the event we all love by working closely with the media, the mere fact of their presence at the event is really not open to debate.

actiongrl

Postby capjbadger » Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:18 pm

actiongrl wrote:

Everything anyone has said has made its way to the top on this one, trust me on that. I’m just telling you that allowing the media has been our policy for a great number of reasons that apply to our experience as the people who organize this event, and that I feel like we did the right thing by our stated policies, and that while we are very very cautious and aware of the rights of our participants and seek to protect the event we all love by working closely with the media, the mere fact of their presence at the event is really not open to debate.

“Decommodification

In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.”

This isn’t about the media being there, it’s about them buying the rights to other people’s art and selling that on national TV for their own profit. You sold us out, plain and simple.

Just wondering… What’s the taxes on 30 pieces of silver come out to anyway?

capjbadger

Post by robotland » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:47 am

Having met AG and Larry, I can tell you FOR CERTAIN that she does NOT possess devil horns…Mr. Harvey wouldn’t remove his hat, of course.

I think Andie has been very diplomatic, and does NOT deserve to be likened to Judas, or worse, Mickey Mouse. Had it not been for the media, I wouldn’t have had a clue about this fantastic event that has enormously enriched my existence, facilitated the meeting of many wonderful people and reinvigorated my artistic career. I can understand how difficult it might be to perceive Burning Man as a perfect, incorruptable experience while at the same time accepting profit-driven camera crews let loose to record it…But all of our existence as human beings involves making such tradeoffs. If I had worked as hard as the BMorg to produce this amazing, unique experience, I’d be flattered by almost any media attention- Girls Gone Wild creeps and amateur pornographers notwithstanding. Conversely, if you wanted to start your own event, and do all the hard work, and then deny the media any access whatsoever, then all power to you. Until recently, I wondered if the Discovery Times program would even be aired- A lot of people seemed to be taken aback by the idea, and I can’t say that I blame them. But I have faith that the Powers That Be have and will continue to defend our privacy and our rights as Participants. I’ll be curious to see the program, and won’t make further conclusions until I have.

robotland

Postby capjbadger » Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:38 pm

I’ll say it again since it seems people are not understanding. The quips I’ve been making have been at the ORG as a whole, not at any one person. I’m sure AG and Larry are wonderful people and I have no beef with them personally.

(*Chuckle* Goes to show our mindset when getting compared to Mickey Mouse is worse that being a Judas.. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
;)
)

That having been said, seems I need to say this again since you are not getting the gist of all this.

The media being there in the first place is NOT the problem.

Read that line again so it sinks in…

The ORG SELLING the rights to other people’s art for profit is the issue here. The ORG exploited other people’s work and sold it to DC which is directly against the principles that BM is suppose to run on.

If they want to sell, fine. But at least be up front about it instead of hiding behind the lie that BM is somehow without commerce.

“…unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising.”

If the media wants in, cool. They get in just like every one else, and act as part of the community and participates, not sitting around being spectators.

Robot, you heard about the event via the media. Cool. I heard about it via social circles. Cool also. (granted I have the advantage of living in the SF bay area). Neither is wrong. I simply have a very hard time putting the actions of the ORG together with “Decommodification” and not seeing the hypocrisy.

capjbadger

Postby Kinetic IV » Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:49 pm

You might as well be talking to one of these. The ORG is going to do what the ORG wants to do and the participants can take a hike. As long as InHouse funnels those ticket sales simoleons into the treasury and the clique gets their center cafe sales, the ice sales, Lanceland gets to keep up their blatant advertising, volunteers show up for petty crap like taking down holiday decorations, etc, nothing’s going to change.

So why go at all? There’s still good people there that are not part of the corruption and they make it worth the time invested to go. And yes I said the C word. It’s corrupt. It’s starting to stink of wretched excess and people are waking up and noticing the stench.

Kinetic IV

Post by lazarus » Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:13 pm

actiongrl wrote:

I’m not prepared to make this yet another thread where I defend our allowing the media into the event as we have done for ten years. I’ve had the conversations face to face, on email, and on three different bulletin boards for months now, and while I appreciate that there are some who disagree, I am going to have to admit that I don’t think the response to savebrc.org has been so overwhelming as to say that Burning Man really needs to make significant changes to what has been a successfully applied media policy for most of its existence.

I have also spoken with hundreds of people who heard about Burning Man for the first time through the popular media and had a fantastic and transformative time there. The media are part of our experience at the event and working with them is my job, and I did it. If you want to know more about why we allow press at Burning Man, come over to Media Mecca like Chai and Da Bomb did and talk with us about it. Read the Afterburn report where we acknowledge the Discovery Times controversy and explain why we handled it the way we did. (That’s due out in the coming months, I just turned in my report.)

I’m basically saying I’m over it with the rehashing and the BBS discussion thereof, though. Frankly, I am increasingly disappointed in how human beings will speak so coarsely to one another online, and I’m really losing my taste for encouraging people to use these mediums when we address newcomers by calling them names… Would any one walk up to me and make that mouse ears comment in person? I doubt it, and if you did, I’d have every right to be indignant about it, and I would. When I have talked about this in person, I’ve found that many people who expressed outrage about the Discovery Times piece really didn’t understand much about our media process or how much media exposure we get. With a little more information, they generally understood our decision…maybe not all supported it, but they at least could understand why we work with the media like we do.

I think I’ve tried to address that with you guys several times, Chai.

My phone number is going to be sent to you via PM. Using our voices is really the only way i’m willing to discuss this further, because the fact is I’ve already said my piece online over and again, and I remain of my same opinion.

We’ve had successful conversations in real life, and I’m willing to hear you out and tell you anything you need to know too. If you feel the world needs to know the outcomes of our conversation, you can tell them about it, but I am not interested in participating in this forum about it.”

Then why don’t we stop beating around the proverbial bush and call BM what it really is. A business. And as a business, the bottom line or profit is the driving force or motive. It is a LLC, which means for profit with the protection to the individual corporate shareholders from most liablility lawsuits. Businesses, in order to survive, advertise. Hence the presence of non-journalistic media such as the DIscovery Times people. Org sells them the rights to gain additional profit. The problem comes the Org claims that it is not a business. That it is protecting your art by preventing unwanted use. But yet they sell those rights. Time for a fresh look at profit vs non-profit. Just my opinion.

lazarus

Post by actiongrl » Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:38 pm

I don’t consider a channel between Discovery Network and the New York Times “non-journalistic”. Most every legitimate news outlet I know of accepts advertising. It’s how the news gets told.

actiongrl

Post by capjbadger » Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:46 pm

I’ll have to agree with AG on this one. The news is paid for by ads. plain and simple. If anything, I’d say Discovery is more “journalistic” with their documentries than your typical news outlet (ABC, NBC, CBS, Etc.) with their hype and shock value news “services”.

capjbadger

Post by HughMungus » Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:12 pm

Burning Man is a private event to which you are invited. If you don’t like the paramaters, don’t go. If you have a problem with something, send an email and maybe even verify that it was received but then LET IT GO. I think BORG does listen to complaints and suggestions but it’s not a democracy. I don’t think it can be. Realizing this will relieve some of you of a lot of stress. It used to bug the hell out of me that they hand out out a ton of MOOP at the gate, that a lot of stupid “art” gets funded, and that “the man” gets bigger and more complex each year (money I think could be spent better elsewhere). But I’m not going to spend a lot of time bitching about it. I’ll post on here or send an email to whoever and then I just let it go because I know I’m a guest.

It’s what you make it.

HughMungus

Post by lazarus » Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:13 pm

I disagree. NBC, CBS, CNN, ABC, FOX etc. Television news. Journalists. New York Times, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, etc. Print journalists. All others are pseudo journalists, hype mongers, paid for advertising for BM. But let’s get back to the point that BM is a business. A business that uses volunteers to increase the profit for the Org. You call it an Org, but it is a business that makes a profit. You want the illusion that it is an ephemeral event, which it is, however it is still a business. Change it to a 501c3 and it becomes a non-profit. Keep in mind I don’t mind buying a ticket, attending the event and having fun but when the Org claims a “halo about ones head” they should reflect same in their actions and words.

lazarus


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Persistence and Determination

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burn-00-monk

Let me ask you a rhetorical question. What would you rather be: blindly following the 10 Principles and all the other rules of The Man as if you were a sheep? Or, this guy…

#nailedit! In this case, quite literally.

If I told you all the best quotes I know, you’d probably gain too much power. Since the purpose of my social engineering is to repress Burners and make it so that they can create nothing of value for themselves (only we the B.ME-Org can profit!), then I’m only going to share one morsel of a quote with you today. To succor you in, it’s a good one. ["</sarcasm>"] …although, gotta say…Be – More – G – I’m liking it!

My favorite quote, which I’ll gladly share with you for free, for the purposes of enriching everyone with enlightened wisdom…comes from one of your “Dead Presidents’…

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

- Calvin Coolidge

You think that’s the first time this monk ever threw that needle?

We’re not the BMOrg here, people. We represent for Burners, from our hood of BRC and beyond. We don’t make cyber-warfare ad-hominem attacks, on BMOrg or anyone else. We don’t have “talking points” that we use to tear others down on online forums. We just write this blog to share our opinions with you about Burning Man. Got your own opinions? Please come here and share them, comment. We welcome healthy debate. Got “talking points” from the BMOrg, that add nothing to the discussion, that you read on JRS or ePlayer?  Ummm, get fucked, go back there. Burning Man existed before BMOrg, and it will live LONG after BMOrg too. You think Black Rock City, LLC were the world’s first Burners? Yeah right. We were rocking it out in way more extreme conditions than that, before then. As were others. The Playa ain’t nothing on the Outback.

This has nothing to do with BMOrg, but everything to do with Burner culture.

Purity. Practice. Concentration and letting go. At the same time. Mastery. The mind of no mind.

If you can’t understand this post, don’t worry, you weren’t one of the ones meant to get it. If you’re confused, watch the video again. Keep watching, until you get it. Is he a monk, because of some gimmick with the needle? No, of course not. There’s magic out there. Just ask these sheep!


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. . .Are Condemned to Repeat It

by Whatsblem the Pro

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A nice civilized chat -- IMAGE: Mount & Blade

A nice civilized chat — IMAGE: Mount & Blade

Ah, the sugary cloy of kool-aid.

We tend to get a lot of comments when we criticize the corporation that runs Burning Man, and our recent article calling for the Board of Directors to make good on their promise to transition the corporation to a non-profit and step down to make way for new leadership has certainly been no exception.

One commenter who calls himself “Buck Down” was quite verbose about it; I’ve chosen to answer some of his questions and comments here, in a new article, as I think the discussion is important enough to draw the attention of our readers. This isn’t the conversation as it occurred; I’m quoting Buck and giving expanded answers in greater detail.

Buck Down wrote:
I think it’s pretty funny that anyone who dares contribute anything to this conversation other than overblown indignation is instantly an “Org shill.”

The bottom line is that Burning Man has every right to allow coverage of its event as well as disallow it in some cases (see: Girls Gone Wild) – and the media has every right to ask for access. I’d like to think we’re all smart enough here to understand the nuanced difference between allowing coverage of the event vs. profiteering. Should the event have to micromanage the media even farther than they already do? What’s an acceptable overall profit margin for a news entity to be allowed to report on the event?

Whatsblem the Pro:
You think it’s funny that Org people come to Burners.me and slam us and try to discredit us in the comments? It happens all the time. Given the gigantic straw man arguments you’ve just constructed — the “overblown indignation” is exactly what we get from people leaping to the defense of the Org, not the opposite, and this isn’t about the Org allowing media coverage — I have to wonder if it’s happening again. The Org has a vested interest in countering our criticisms; on top of that, we have thousands of starry-eyed kool-aid drinkers to contend with who have drunk deeply of the propaganda the Org itself creates and spreads.

If you had actually read the article (and assuming you didn’t come here to be disingenuous about it), you wouldn’t have to be told that it has nothing to do with the Org allowing coverage or not allowing it. . . the issue is that they make large amounts of money by allowing it, yet deny burners any commercial use of their own photographs of their own art, just because it’s on the playa. This clearly puts the lie to both the decommodification principle they push on us, and to their protestations to the effect that they only want to protect us from entities like Girls Gone Wild.

You asked the question “what’s an acceptable overall profit margin for a news entity to be allowed to report on the event?” The answer is that any overall profit margin is acceptable, provided that the transaction is transparent, and that burners themselves aren’t being excluded from making similar profits.

Buck Down:
This is in fact a public event on public land, and a culturally significant, globally newsworthy event, to boot. What I think some of you may not realize is that the numerous agencies the event has to pay to allow the event to continue (ie: the BLM, as well as local and state agencies) have constantly (and in some ways arbitrarily) jacked up the price of holding the event in the Black Rock desert, while simultaneously regulating the amount of tickets that can be sold. The cost curve of these increased fees, as well as the amount of money it takes to cover the staggering cost of the infrastructure needed to stage, throw, and then completely erase this event all but insures forever that this event will barely limp into the black from year to year. rest assured – the only people stacking paper off of this event are the BLM and local law enforcement agencies.

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Whatsblem the Pro:
You have definitely made some very bold assertions. If you know so much about how much they take in and how much everything costs, then perhaps you’d like to reveal all that to the rest of us, and explain why there is such a lack of transparency in Burning Man’s financials.  You seem so certain that they aren’t hiding anything, yet you claim to be nothing more than a concerned burner speaking truth to media.

Only a fool would believe that the Afterburn Reports are any kind of comprehensive, transparent accounting, and you simply asserting that we’re wrong because we don’t know to the penny how much it costs to produce the event is just obfuscatory hand-waving that seems intended to cloud the issue. We do know that ticketing revenue alone has increased by more than 600% since the year they managed to scrape up enough extra cash from ticket sales to buy 200 acres of land and build a working ranch on it. We also know that the Board has revenue streams that are far less transparent to us, like charging giant media conglomerates — excuse me, “boutique cable channels” — large undisclosed sums as site fees. They have many such hidden revenue streams; for instance: did you know that when an approved vendor rents an RV trailer to the Org so that they can house DPW personnel in it, the vendor is required to pay part of the fee back to the Org?

If the Board wants to complain that we are misjudging them when we say they pocket an unreasonable amount of money from the event for their personal gain, then all they have to do is stop pretending that the Afterburn Reports are any kind of comprehensive accounting, and start providing full transparency. The only reason not to do so is that they have money to hide.

Buck Down:
I think a lot of the noise here about the LLC “taking credit” for anyone’s work is a pretty subjective opinion that does not square with the media narrative they push. There are A LOT of artists that have seen the value of their work escalate as a result of having made big splashes at Burning Man – and many who have parlayed that fame into dollars by taking that self same work to massive commercial events such as Coachella and Insomniac throw.

Whatsblem the Pro:
As a writer, I have to say: that sounds a whole lot like offers that many artists – writers among them – get all the time: “the gig doesn’t pay, but think of the exposure you’ll get!” It’s a bullshit offer that no seasoned artist even contemplates accepting unless it’s for a friend or something. . . and you want to point to artists making money at other events as compensation for that, in the same screed in which you call for other events to start following the Burning Man model, really? What happens when every event out there is telling artists to expend their own money and labor unpaid, so the event organizers can rake in ticket money charging people to see their art? The whole thing is simply not germane to the point that the corporation that runs Burning Man is profiting mightily in both cash and reputation from the work of unpaid artists. You think the exposure is pay enough? What about the burner artists who don’t need the exposure?

As for “taking credit,” all you have to do is go to burningman.com and read what the Org themselves write about the event and their roles in it to see what I’m talking about. The language they use is very consistent in portraying the art at the event, and the culture in general, as something THEY created and continue to create and maintain. They don’t do that; burners do that, usually on their own dime and with their own labor. . . not the Org, and certainly not the Board. Tossing a tiny pittance (~3% of ticket revenue) to largely their buddies and sycophants in the form of arts grants does not give them cause to assert ownership or any creative role in providing that art, and sure the hell doesn’t give them cause to assert same about arts projects that get no funding from them, which is most of them. Grading some roads, arranging for porta-potties, and dealing with the various government agencies involved is nothing compared with the blood, sweat, and tears that go into the vast number of art pieces we get to enjoy on the playa that they have nothing to do with.

Buck Down:
While I certainly understand some people’s wish to have their very own private little club that’s their little secret – i think it’s pretty obvious that Burning Man stopped being that by the mid to late 90′s. I cannot imagine any other 60,000 person event in the world being expected by its participants to shroud itself in some sort of self imposed media blackout to all but a few blogs (or whatever the expectation is here).

Whatsblem the Pro:
Please stop with the straw man arguments. Yes, Burning Man began as what Hakim Bey called a “Temporary Autonomous Zone,” but nobody is calling for a return to that; as you’ve noted, the event is too large for that to be at all practical.

We’re also not calling for any kind of media blackout; where did you get that idea? What we’re calling for is simple: we want the Board to make good on their promises to step down, and to transition the LLC to a non-profit organization with new leadership that adequately represents contributing burners. As a partial rationale for that demand, we have cited the hypocrisy inherent in the Org brainwashing people with the principle of oh-so-sacred Decommodification while simultaneously failing to adhere to that principle themselves. Again: allowing the media in isn’t the issue there; forbidding burner artists to make money from their own work – including photographs of their own work – while raking in cash from giant media outlets in exchange for the right to do just that – is the issue, or one of the issues.

Buck Down:
If you don’t like how big Burning Man has become, and all that goes with it – PLEASE STOP GOING AND START YOUR OWN EVENT. There’s lots of folks that would love to recapture that starry eyed idealism from the days of yore – just be ready to loose an ocean of money in the process – and know everyone is still going to probably hate you in the end for “selling out.”

Whatsblem the Pro:
You can blither and bluster all day about starting our own event if we don’t like the way this one is run, but I have little patience for such talk, for several reasons. The whole idea smacks loudly of those bumper stickers you used to see on vehicles belonging to ignorant jingoist pro-war rednecks in the ’60s and ’70s, the ones that read AMERICA: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT. It’s wrong thinking, at its very foundation, and diametrically opposed to the ideas of civic pride, personal responsibility, and “do-ocracy” that are part and parcel of burner culture.

You clearly have no idea how strenuously the Org discourages such attempts (or do you?); maybe you should talk to Corey Rosen about his trials and travails with getting his event, the DIgital Renaissance Faire, off the ground. In fact, I’d like to invite Mr. Rosen to give us an interview specifically about the ways in which the Org has actively countered his efforts in that direction.

Fuck “start your own event.” This one is perfectly good, aside from the corporate predators running it. All it needs is some representation for all the people who actually make it what it is, and some financial transparency. If you don’t like people trying to make Burning Man better, maybe you’re the one who should go find (or start) another event.

Buck Down:
Could you please site me this epidemic of artists not able to use of photographs – because a simple Google search produces millions of pictures, and every artist I know from burning man has a Facebook page jammed full of photos of their shit, and I know that virtually NONE of them had to be run through the org for approval. . .

Whatsblem the Pro:
The Org’s rules state clearly that they have an ownership stake in all those millions of pictures you mention. We haven’t been talking about people simply posting pictures taken at Burning Man, though, as you imply; we’re talking about artists being harassed and intimidated by the Org for using the pictures they’ve taken – of their own art, even – in any sort of commercial fashion whatsoever, including the use of pictures taken at Burning Man on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other crowdfunding sites.

There’s a link in the article to a direct account of the Org interfering with someone using a picture of their own art car for a fundraiser campaign if you’d care to look. . . and I personally have experienced intimidation attempts from the Org’s legal people for daring to use the phrase “Burning Man” for a purpose that serves burners and makes no money. . . so instead of getting mired in your disingenuous comments about photos taken at Burning Man, maybe we should talk more about the transition to a non-profit, the police presence on the playa, the lack of rape kits, the tiny slice of the pie that actually funds art, financial transparency/secretive profit-taking, and the Org’s habit of co-opting the unpaid work of others for their own profit and glory.

Buck Down:
What is absolutely true is that the sort of financial purity that people on this thread demand would be the end of the event as you know it. I will concede that the organizers of the event probably brought this upon themselves by espousing all this new age anti-corporate hoo ha, but at the end of the day, the demand to keep the event going and keep pace with the amount of people who want tickets, while still finding ways to cover the costs of this expanded demand, while getting pinched by the government is what it is. Any other event and the world can just sell vendor space or get corporate partners. Burning man is not perfect, but if you compare it to every single other counter culture event – you are getting about as pure as it can be done at this scale.

Like I said, I think people need to start other, much smaller events so that they can return to this sort of purity a certain segment of our community so lustily desires.

Whatsblem the Pro:
“Financial purity,” my ass. All we’re asking for is financial transparency; that and a transition to non-profit status with an accompanying change in leadership is no more than what the Board themselves promised us. Since then, they’ve back-pedaled on stepping down. Since there are many ways for the Directors of a non-profit corporation to line their own pockets while complying with the rules regarding non-profit status, it doesn’t seem unreasonable at all to ask for transparency and representation.

Again, if you really know so much about the costs of the event and the revenue taken in, then you must be pretty high up in the Org yourself, and are probably on the Board. . . how else would you know so much about it? Since you very plainly discounted the idea that Org people come to Burners.me to slam us and try to discredit us in the comments, this makes you either a liar who does actually have that inside information, or a person who is making completely unfounded and unjustified claims regarding your knowledge of the event’s financials. Which is it?

In so very many ways that we have documented here at Burners.me over the last year, the Board has proven their incompetence, their greed, and their lack of concern for the problems that rank-and-file burners face. Your counter-arguments are weak, and derived from talking points put forth by the Org at burningman.com. Your dog won’t hunt, sir. . . and given that the transition to a non-profit is our best (and perhaps only) shot at a regime change, it is URGENT that burners start talking realistically about how to effectively demand that the Board stick to the original plan and STEP DOWN, rather than blowing smoke up our collective nethers about how much we need their supposed expertise.

[Burners.me welcomes relevant comments to this article.]


Filed under: Alternatives to Burning Man, Art, Art Cars, Burner Stories, Dark Path - Complaints Department, General, News Tagged: alternatives, art, art cars, art projects, arts, black, bmorg, board, Borg, burn, burning, burning man, city, commerce, complaints, cops, Directors, event, festival, finances, financial, future, ideas, income, kickstarter, LLC, man, money, news, Org, photographers, photography, photos, plans, playa, press, profit margin, regionals, revenue, rules, scandal, shill, stories, tickets Image may be NSFW.
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Adult Supervision: BRAF Throws a Hoe-Down

by Whatsblem the Pro

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BRAF-Logo-black

The internal workings of the Black Rock Arts Foundation are a little bit of a mystery to us here at Burners.me, and given that the BRAF’s Board of Directors includes most of the people from Black Rock City, LLC’s Board of Directors, it’s both tempting and appropriate to take a suspicious view of them as a default; it’s also true, however, that BRAF is non-profit, and that their Board of Directors is much larger than that of Black Rock City, LLC’s. The presence of high-profile artists like David Best and Peter Hudson on BRAF’s Advisory Board is also comforting. . . so in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, we have chosen to regard these points as ameliorating factors that neutralize the presence of people known to be thoroughly corrupt and/or thoroughly incompetent when left to their own devices. At BRAF, the gangsters who run Burning Man — aka “the Naughtiest Children in the World” — seem to have plenty of adult supervision to keep them in check.

So. . . if you’re a glass-half-full person, you have the scratch to pay big bucks to fund permanent art in permanent communities, and you’ll be anywhere near San Francisco (a sleepy little hamlet in Northern California) in the last week of November, this event is for you:

The Black Rock Arts Foundation presents The Artumnal Gathering: Metamorphosis

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Dinner 6:00 PM, Main Event 9:45 PM

The Bently Reserve
400 Sansome St.
San Francisco, CA 94111

For the last twelve years, BRAF has enjoyed the privilege of working with artists who are breaking the mold of public art, and who prioritize community benefit and involvement in their work. We believe in their vision and are honored to offer them our support.

BRAF is nearing a pivotal moment in our evolution. We recognize that there are more avenues of growth to be explored, more communities in need of art, and more connections and collaborations to be nurtured.

Now is the perfect time to recognize our community’s extraordinary artists! Join us in celebration of our past work and collaborators, and support BRAF’s future initiatives!

BRAF’s seventh annual gala event includes epicurean delights, sophisticated libations, tantalizing treats, wondrous pleasures, captivating featured and roaming live performances, DJ’s, original artwork by BRAF’s favorite artists, dancing, raffle, gallery art sale, live and silent auction featuring exclusive experiences and items, and abundant expressions of creativity!

To buy tickets visit http://blackrockarts.org/events/artumnal-gathering-2013

Artumnal Ticket Packages

All tickets are 21 and over.
Black Rock Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit. A portion of your ticket price is tax-deductible.

The Artumnal Celebration – 9:45 pm – Late

- $40 1st tier – Sold out!

- $50 2nd tier – Sold out!

- $60 3rd tier

Includes an evening of featured and roaming performances, Djs, dancing, raffle, silent auction, art sale, and delightful surprises.

Feast of Imagination – 6:00 pm – Late

- $275 advance purchase only

Includes an individual seat for a sumptuous dinner, auction, performances, wine, dessert, and entry to the Artumnal Celebration.

Table of Plenty: A Table for 8 at Feast of Imagination – 6:00 pm – Late

- $3,000 advance purchase only

Includes a reserved table for eight guests for the Feast of Imagination dinner.

Table of Abundance: A Table for 8 with premium placement – 6:00 pm – Late

- $5,000 advance purchase only

Includes a reserved table for eight guests for the Feast of Imagination, with premium seating placement in the banquet hall, premium wine selection and other treats.

Table of Jubilation: A Table for 8 with premium placement – 6:00 pm – Late

- $10,000 advance purchase only

Includes a reserved table for eight guests for the Feast of Imagination, with premium seating placement in the banquet hall, premium wine selection and other treats.

Buy tickets at http://blackrockarts.org/events/artumnal-gathering-2013

Please feel free to contact us for more information

artumnal@blackrockarts.org

Thank you and see you there!

Josie Schimke
Program Development Associate
Black Rock Arts Foundation

Office hours:
9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday and Thursday.

Please note our new address, as of October 18, 2013:

Black Rock Arts Foundation
660 Alabama
San Francisco, Ca 94110
(415) 626-1248


Filed under: Alternatives to Burning Man, Art, General, Light Path - Positive Thinking, Ideas, News Tagged: alternatives, art, art cars, art projects, arts, black, Black Rock Arts Foundation, bmorg, braf, burn, burning, burning man, commerce, event, fashion, foundation, future, ideas, man, news, non, non-profit, Party, plans, profit, rock, tickets Image may be NSFW.
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Burning Man: Love It or Leave It?

by Whatsblem the Pro

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IMAGE: Whatsblem the Pro

“If you don’t like the way it’s run, go start your own event!”

When people start talking about the negative aspects of Burning Man – whether they offer solutions or not – it’s a good bet that others will cite the inevitability of change, and say things like “if you don’t like what Burning Man has become, go start your own event!”

It’s a sentiment that recalls a bumper sticker often proudly displayed on redneck pickup trucks during the Vietnam War era, that read “America: Love It or Leave It.” Like that bumper sticker, it expresses an idea that is strongly counter to the culture it pretends to support. Burning Man, like America, is supposed to be a participatory place where you take enough pride in your citizenship to actively criticize what needs criticizing, and try to fix it.

In more specific terms, “go start your own event” ignores and clashes with at least three of the much-vaunted Ten Principles – Civic Responsibility, Communal Effort, and Participation – as well as some of the most deeply-held unofficial tenets of our culture, like the idea of a ‘do-ocracy’ in which you are expected to refrain from merely complaining about problems you see in favor of actually getting involved in solving them. What’s behind “if you don’t like it, go start your own event” is a deeply jingoist attitude suitable only for insufferably flippant spectators who are assuming you are a spectator too. . . and a spectator is one of the worst possible things you can be at Burning Man without committing some kind of actual crime.

Even the corporation that runs Burning Man seems to put a lot of effort into encouraging burners to spread the culture around and start new events rather than trying to change the existing one. . . but what they don’t mention is that they insist you move forward only with their approval and their trademark licenses. In other words, you can go start your own event if you don’t like the way they run Burning Man, but you have to do it the way they — the people who run Burning Man — tell you to.

Corey Rosen, aka ‘Endeavor,’ hasn’t left Burning Man; he loves it and still works as a Greeter each year. He is, however, currently in the process of spreading the culture around by starting his own event. . . the Digital Renaissance Faire, a gathering that in spite of the name has everything to do with burner culture and burner values, and nothing whatsoever to do with the Renaissance Faire.

Since he — like nearly all burners — is creative and has ideas on how the Burning Man model could be improved, Rosen is doing it his own way instead of slavishly following the example set by the Burning Man organization’s decisions.

Possibly the biggest difference between Burning Man and the Digital Renaissance Faire is that, at Burning Man, only the corporation that runs the event — known as “the Org,” or “BMOrg,” or even “the Borg,” — is allowed to make any money. On the plus side, this means that nobody is trying to sell you drinks or t-shirts. . . but a miserly three to four percent of the ticket revenue is paid out as arts grants, while hordes of participants build and transport their art to the event without any remuneration at all, often spending huge sums to do so. In recent years, even the art projects lucky enough to get grants from the Org have had to turn to crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to raise the rest of the money necessary to build and transport the mind-blowing creations that are a large part of what makes Burning Man so popular and successful.

In contrast, the Digital Renaissance Faire issues shares to all active participants, in proportion to their level of participation. At the end of the week, any profits generated are distributed to the people who actually build the event, bring the art, put on performances, organize workshops, and otherwise contribute.

Corey Rosen and his Digital Renaissance Faire are not a threat to Burning Man; the DRF doesn’t take place the same week as Burning Man, for one thing. . . and the DRF is actually designed to facilitate Burning Man, by providing large art and theme camps with both a testbed where they can shake the bugs out of their projects before taking them to Black Rock City, and a convenient spot to store their gear year-round that is not terribly far from the playa.

Since Rosen practices transparent accounting and shares the event’s take with the artists, performers, and workers who actually build it and operate it, it would be seriously unjust to say that he’s trying to commercialize the aspects of the event that are inspired by Burning Man. If Rosen was trying to cash in on Burning Man’s cachet and ethos, he’d do it just like the corporation that runs Burning Man does it: by keeping the accounting secret, and keeping the lion’s share of the profits for himself. Instead, he directly facilitates the art, theme camps, performers, etc. by cutting them all in for a percentage. Meanwhile, at Burning Man, only three to four percent of the ticket revenue – which is not the only income generated by the event – goes out as art grants; furthermore, those grants only go to those few projects hand-picked by the people clutching the purse strings. . . and as for the workers who build all the infrastructure, most of them don’t get paid at all.

Corey Rosen, acting in good faith on the constant exhortations from the corporate heads of Burning Man, is trying to spread the culture. . . but he’s also trying to play fair with the money, and his transparent business model that shares the revenue equitably with the participants who build everything presents a serious threat to Burning Man’s Board of Directors. If Rosen succeeds and proves that his business model is sound, the tiny group of amateur oligarchs that own Burning Man will no longer be able to claim that such a business model is an unworkable pipe dream. If that happens, they may very well come under pressure to follow Corey Rosen’s lead, and finally step down from the back of the cash cow they’ve been riding for decades.

Rosen has a lot to teach us about what actually happens when you act in good faith by taking the Burning Man Org at their word, and do what they tell you to do.

[NOTE: As you read Rosen's account of his dealings with Burning Man, keep in mind that most of the Ten Principles were not written by anyone at Burning Man. . . for instance, “Leave No Trace” began as an ad campaign by the Federal Bureau of Land Management, and came to the playa via the Cacophony Society.]

Corey Rosen speaks:

My first interaction with the Burning Man organization about the Digital Renaissance Faire was back in October of 2012. I got in touch with my main contact over there to tell him we were planning a co-op festival, and he said Burning Man could not sanction the event because the participants were being paid. He then explained to me that Burning Man is working on another way to work with events similar to theirs that are more profit-driven. I came to find out that certain events given approval by Burning Man do pay talent, so I didn’t understand why an event that pays all the participants based on the profit of the event would be a problem. I also found that asking that question might cause problems, so I chose not to.

For over a month, I reached out to my contact at BMOrg to work with him on making sure we were in compliance with the event we were inspired by, with little response. Most of the responses I did receive were to tell me that he was too busy to contact me.

Once we launched our website, I received this email from him:

You are not a sanctioned event and did jump the gun to modify the Ten Principles and list them as if they were your own invention and writing. For trademark purposes it is better to not alter something and instead link to the original thing in a way that is clearly not plagiarized.

I think you should actually take them down because the Principles can be misconstrued to be something you originated and they are not. They are clearly derived from Burning Man’s Ten Principles.

Right now my understanding is that it is better to say you have been inspired by the Ten Principles of Burning Man and link to them vs. change them and make them seem like they are your own. I think you should also say “this event is not related or affiliated with Burning Man or The Burning Man Project, but we have been inspired by the guiding Principles of Burning Man.”

I am uncertain at this point if you should even directly link to the Ten Principles. So I guess the safest thing you can do right now is remove the plagiarized ones you have on your site and simply say “we have been inspired by Burning Man and it’s guiding principles” and then we can talk again.

I’d rather you not promote your event at the Artumnal Gathering until we have had the proper time to review this. I am sorry, but these things take time to properly vet. As I told you on the playa we have about fifty official regional events a year and what you are doing does not fit into the process we have in place at the moment. What you are doing is not something we have done before and we are not prepared to recognize it as official or sanction it at this time.

I enjoyed talking to you about it on the playa but I also told you then that the “profit sharing” model and this not being originated through the regional network made it something that would require careful consideration and we cannot directly affiliate with it at this time. I am truly sorry I could not get complete clarity and meet with you when you wanted. To be perfectly honest I feel you rushed the process and even now at a time when I must focus my energies elsewhere you are being a bit demanding. I realize you don’t mean to be so, but I need to be clear that I gave you no permission on behalf of Burning Man to take the steps you took.

I immediately changed the text on the website accordingly, and received this follow-up e-mail later that same day:

Thanks and forgive me if I am a little edgy right now. It has been a very busy Fall and I am in final production mode for Artumnal Gathering.

Yes, it is fine for you to talk to people about your event and fine to tell them about your unusual concept and that you are a burner and are inspired by Burning Man.

I received no more contact until I reached out to him about my not getting on the list for the Burning Man Summit in April, which I found out three days before the event. Nothing malicious there, just someone forgetting to submit my name and getting no help from the Burning Man organization.

Some time after my last contact with the BMOrg, we decided to put together a decompression event. We even called it DRF Decompression. Less than twelve hours after posting the event details on Facebook, we received a message from Burning Man sent to my partner’s e-mail address, saying that we had to change the name of the event because Burning Man owns the name Decompression. I had multiple people telling me to fight it, but I chose to let it go, be cooperative, and change the event name.

The most recent interaction I had with Burning Man was right before the event. Since we are creating the Digital Renaissance Faire as a participation-funded co-op festival, we have been given many things to make this event successful. I had the idea of creating a Digital Renaissance Faire token to give out as a gift to the community that inspired us. I found a token company and we were going to buy a thousand of them and give twenty each to the DRF community members going out to Burning Man. When I told the owner of the token company what we were doing and what our event was all about, he decided to donate 10,000 tokens so I could give a hundred to each of our community members, to gift out at Burning Man. I thought this was a generous offer and graciously accepted.

Unfortunately, the tokens could not be shipped and in our hands until the Monday the event started. I posted on my page for help looking for a place to have them shipped to, and someone coming to the playa Monday night or later to receive them. Instead, I received a phone call from my partner saying she received a cease and desist order from Burning Man telling us that we were not allowed to bring our “promotional material” to the event.

I contacted their intellectual property attorney and spent almost two hours on the phone with him explaining that they are not promotional material, but gifts for the community that inspired us. Once he understood what our non-corporate community-based entity was all about, he said I could bring them out but only give them to campmates and close friends. 

If you’re in Northern California and you’d like to learn more about the Digital Renaissance Faire and maybe show a little support, you have a golden opportunity coming up on November 11th, when the DRF Synchronicity Celebration takes place simultaneously in three separate California towns: Vallejo, CA; Nevada City, CA; Lake Tahoe, CA.


Filed under: Alternatives to Burning Man, Art, Burner Stories, Dark Path - Complaints Department, General, News Tagged: 2013, alternatives, art, art cars, art projects, arts, black, bmorg, Borg, burn, burning, burning man, city, commerce, complaints, Corey, Digital, drf, Endeavor, event, Faire, festival, future, ideas, love it or leave it, man, news, Party, plans, playa, regionals, Renaissance, Rosen, rules, scandal, shares, stories, tickets Image may be NSFW.
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Return of the Yak

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I might not be at Burning Man next year. Yes yes, I know, the gnashing of teeth, the weeping of women, the wailing of virgins, et al. I’m sworn to secrecy on the details (for reasons nothing to do with this blog) and my party master host is eclipsing over in Uganda right now…with before and after Instagrams and social media location updates to prove it. If things pan out, you might be in for some interesting adventures right here  in 2014. There’s more to life than BM, kiddies.

“I’m tired of your antics. For god’s sake, we need some real men!”

WHO DA YAK?

 


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Hipsters, Scenesters, Twerkers, Lend Me Your Bunny Ears

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Scenester TV has done an episode featuring Burning Man 2013. It’s big on the blinky lights, but not so much on the in-depth analysis or factual accuracy. It’s all in good fun though, there are some nice shots of art cars and stages and you get an inside look at a luxury camp.The reporter seems rather obsessed with Miley Cyrus.

All’s well that ends well! You can see more of Burner Bowtoxic aka Erica Moore at her Facebook page.

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Art Car for Sale: Island Oasia

Want your own Art Car? This beauty could be yours for a mere $3400 ($4400 with trailer). 80,000 miles on the clock.

It’s been playa tested! We had a great year with our Alien Oasis. Has a stereo, intercom with ice cream music and many other funny noises to help people move out of the way when driving.

8 foot UFO with LED lights
5 Palm Trees lite with green rope lights and white lights for the palms
Has a strong frame around the car so it is completely “mutated” to pass the BM DMV
Comes with trailer for easy towing out to the Playa for 4,400.00 
Comes with car title.
comes with a cool Hammock over the front of the (hood). Also have a Hammock frame for camp or your back yard for the rest of the year.. You can ride in the hammock while driving
Lots of storage room in the car, under the island 
The car disassembles and stacks on the car for towing. 
Comes with removal palm trees. You can use them or change them out.

We made improvements for this year and were very happy with it. It’s time for something different.
Was approved for Burning Man 2013 for Day and Night 2008-2013
15 people can ride at once
All driver controls are on the roof, with a riding cabin inside the car.
EL wire and rope lighting for night driving.
Originally a 1991 Toyota celica
Smooth quiet engine
Takes about 2 hour to assemble on Playa (assembly only requires simple hand tools)
Frame can be used to create your own vision! Endless possibilities with this frame
I can send more pictures
Reason for selling: building new project

The hardest part is done, you get to do the fun part of adding your new idea or keeping like it is.

Call 650-336-4802 for more details

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The Old Bait-n-Switch

Scribe got the scoop of the year this year, with the news that Burning Man is charging $150,000 for Vogue photo shoots, and profiting from DVD and soundtrack sales from their movie Spark: A Burning Man story. Then he decided he was going to just shut up and enjoy the Burn, trusting that Larry and Marian would do the right thing by all Burners. He still cares though, and took to his paper’s blog to point out to us that the latest BMOrg announcement of “What’s Up With The Burning Man Project?” is a disappointment:

In a series of stories earlier this year, I outlined how the board that controls Burning Man doesn’t appear to be “relinquishing our control” over the event, as founder Larry Harvey announced would be happening in 2014. And if you want more proof of his bait-and-switch, check out this new blog post by spokesperson Will Chase on the Burning Man Project. Far from taking over the $23 million business, the new entity seems to have less going on that its predecessor off-shoot,Black Rock Arts Foundation. As I previous wrote, I’ve moved on, but I thought you’d enjoy the links anyway.

What is actually up? Well, if you donate your own money, you can help fund the “Founders” travelling around the world giving lectures:

Burning Man Project received its 501c3 status as a charitable organization in May 2012, has been getting its administrative house in order and is starting to make things happen. We’re wading into deeper waters now, taking on projects on a variety of topics. We wanted to take a minute to highlight a few of the recent ones.

 

New York City Symposium on Burning Man, Technology, Religion and the Future

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In November, the Burning Man Project joined Columbia University’s Department of Religion and Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life to present a free forum on Burning Man, technology, religion and the future, featuring panelists Larry Harvey (founder of Burning Man), John Perry Barlow (founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation) and Peter Hirshberg (disruptive cultures and technology expert). Dr. David Kittay of Columbia’s Department of Religion moderated a lively conversation about Burning Man as a philosophical movement, its history, and its predicted global applications.

More than 300 turned out for the two hour-long discussion and Q&A session.

I met Dr Kittay at his first Burn, just a couple of years ago. It’s unclear to me exactly what role he, Barlow, and Hirshberg play in the Burning Man story as “Founders”. But, donate anyway.

We’re looking to offer traveling symposia like this in more cities around the world as part of the Project’s education programming. They’re an ideal way to share the wisdom of Burner values with the academic community and beyond.

“Share the wisdom of Burner values with the academic community”? Well, if you really think that’s the same as “taking Burning Man to the world”, donate.

Youth Education Spaceship (Y.E.S.) Project

Burning Man Project collaborated Black Rock Arts Foundation, Black Rock City, The CrucibleExploratorium, and Maker Faire to work with Burner artist Dana Albany and kids from San Francisco’s Tenderloin and Hunters Point neighborhoods to build a 12′ diameter 10′ high space ship from repurposed and found objects.

Y.E.S. is a mobile spaceship classroom and collaborative art project that gave the kids experience creating and exhibiting their creation, which has gone on tour to Burning Man, the Exploratorium, Hunter’s Point Open Studios, and Maker Faire in San Mateo.

A bunch of kids re-cycled some existing materials to build an art car – cool. Please donate so Burning Man can take the Art Car to other cities. Of course, if you want to take your own art car to other cities, Do Not Use The Words Burning Man. 

I checked out this spaceship at Burning Man this year, I thought it was great. If I was going to kick money into a spaceship though, it would probably be my own art car that I would fund myself to bring to Burning Man. It’s hard to see how funding someone else’s art car to go to non-BM events, helps bring Burner culture to the world and makes the world a better place.

Crowdfunding: Trends in the Sharing Economy

Earlier this month, Burning Man Project hosted a free panel discussion on trends in the sharing economy. Crowdfunding and the sharing economy reflect our principles of gifting, communal effort, civic responsibility and decommodification, and we brought together Kate Drane from Indiegogo, Daniel Miller fromFundrise, and Harry Pottash from Kiva to talk about the future of crowdfunding.

More than 50 people turned out to discuss the state of crowdfunding, the challenges they’ve faced, and new ideas on how this movement can be used to empower underprivileged projects through the democratization of fundraising.

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50 people went to a panel discussion that has nothing to do with Burning Man. Crowdfunding is not Gifting or Decommodification. The topic, Crowd Funding, was recently heartily bashed on Burning Man’s official blog (unofficially, according to the author). Please donate to Burning Man’s not-so-new charity, so that people from Indiegogo can put on more panel discussions.

Really, BMOrg? After 3 years, this is it? This is your vision for how the big rave called Burning Man is going to help the world? Reinvest the profits back into Black Rock Solar and be done with it. Let Burners save their hard-earned money to spend on costumes, art cars, and art projects that we bring for free to increase the monetization potential of your party.


Filed under: Dark Path - Complaints Department Tagged: 2013, alternatives, art cars, art projects, arts, bmorg, commerce, complaints, event, festival, future, ideas, kickstarter, news, press, scandal Image may be NSFW.
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Cars of Cargo Cult

Barnorama has published a nice selection of the Art Cars of Burning Man 2013. It’s by no means definitive (no Mayan Warrior!), but there’s some great examples on display. See their whole collection here.

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Filed under: Art Cars Tagged: 2013, art cars, city, fashion, festival, ideas, photos, stories Image may be NSFW.
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Ice Ice Baby [Updates]

Maybe BMOrg thought that selling gifting scarves for $150 wouldn’t raise any eyebrows in the Burner community. Comments to our recent post Burning Man Project Now Selling Merchandise suggest otherwise. Predictably, the BMOrg cyber-army came out of the woodwork to try to deflect the heat from their beloved masters, by attacking our credibility. An ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy, where the attacker personally insults or tries to discredit their opponent, rather than making arguments with verifiable facts, references, or logic.

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Rather than continuing this debate in the comments to that post, let’s give it some more prominence for those who give a shit and wish to participate in the discussion. If you don’t care, you don’t have to read – the majority of content on this site is not critical of Burning Man, there’s 759 other posts here that you can check out. If you want to attack our credibility though, you better read this, and come back with some data (or point out some errors in ours) to add to the conversation. Warning: a lot of maths coming up!

To recap: I said I think it’s fine if they want to sell merchandise, the whole thing has become a massive money-making machine. A giant crowdsourced party, where they get all the music for free, 99% of the art for free, all of the art cars for free. They get to promote the hell out of it in every mainstream media outlet you can think of, and tell stories that “it’s not about money”, “it’s all for charity”, “it’s helping the world” and so on to make themselves look good. All on the back of the time, effort, and expenditure of Burners who trek across the world and across the desert to make this party what it is. We Burners are not even allowed to use the words Burning Man or photos of the event to raise funds to bring art, camps, and art cars there. Once there, Burning Man can and will profit endlessly from them.

What I have a problem with, is expressed well by Burner Jim in this comment:

Maybe Burning Man can get past the quasi hippie socialism mirage that it’s mired in and promote the freedom of true free market capitalism. The smoke and mirrors of Burning Man LLC is the true problem, not the free exchange of goods and services using money. Just like the capitalism of Wall Street isn’t the problem, it’s the fascism.

You can’t build an empire of altruism on falsehoods, tricks, and propaganda. Or, maybe you can – because it seems like they have – but you shouldn’t.

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“There are only two things sold at Burning Man: ice and coffee”
is a myth. They sell gasoline to the art cars, they sell propane. You can buy honey wagon “pump-n-dump” services for your RV. One year, they bussed me and a bunch of other suckers potential investors out from First Camp to pitch a real estate deal. Only one company has the monopoly on propane sales on the Playa, you’re not allowed to arrange your own supply. There is no information publicly available about how big the gasoline and propane sales are. They don’t tell us anything about the dollar value of ice sales either, we’ve had to infer it from their information that they sold 2, 140, 000 lbs of ice last year.

Here’s some of the case against us:

Boring said:

this site sells drama. Nothing against you doing that but when you post things like BM had a million in ice sales to make it appear they profit from this, and that is not true, one can see your slant is not for truth but drama.

Frosty the Snowman said:

Perhaps the fact that ice sales benefit local charities is not as widely known as Boring assumes. Presumably you’ll revise your story accordinglyhttp://www.burningman.com/participate/ice.html

Boring said:

That profits from ice and coffee sales go to local charities has always been the case and for BurnersXXX to not know this shows the lack of facts in the financials he totes. Same as Vogue paying to take photos on the plays, a statement never corrected by Scribe.

Why should Scribe correct Maid Marian’s statement? Was it false? Or did he just misquote her? I know he still has recordings of those interviews, though I haven’t personally heard them. To me, the fact that he hasn’t published a retraction, and we have no evidence that BMOrg ever asked for one, is indication that her statement is true.

According to the official Burning Man FAQ, profits from coffee sales go to the coffee staff, not local charities:

Profits from the café go directly to the commissary to sustain the onsite nutritional needs of our kick-ass staff

This is just one example of the apparent double counting in their financial reports, which claim a $1.3 million food spend AND account for the costs of the commissary separately (lumping them in with the ice and merchandise costs).

Anyway, I see no need to revise our stories – only to provide further details supporting them. These guys are missing the point. The WHOLE THING IS SUPPOSED TO GO TO CHARITIES NOW. They sell ice, they sell coffees, they sell scarves. So that they can donate to charity.

The “financials I tote” (tout?) are THEIR financials, FFS. Any “lack of facts” is because they’re not providing the facts: these are murky financials, not open, transparent accounts.

Is the Burning Man Project in charge of ice sales now, or is that a different set of books again? They say “all proceeds from ice sales go to local charities”, where is the accounting for that then? Why do they shy away from telling us about these good deeds, in specific terms instead of vague statements? What does “proceeds” mean: revenues? Profits? How is the ratio of ice sales:ice donations calculated? Is the only cost the ice, or does Arctica have to contribute to DPW, BLM, or anyone else? I don’t know, and they’re not telling.

The Afterburn reports have a whole section on ice sales. The only firm data is that in  2012  $13,000 in tips were donated to Burners Without Borders to help polar bears (WTF?!?) I can find no information about Burners Without Borders helping polar bears at all, let alone an accounting of how much of 2012′s $13,000 the charity actually passed through to the polar bears. http://www.burnerswithoutborders.org/projects-home

In a 2010 blog report, the now ousted old-timer Andie Grace shed some light on Burning Man’s sharing with charities:

Every year since 2003, Burning Man has used proceeds from ice sales at the event to make year-end donations to various charitable, art and service organizations in Northern Nevada and the San Francisco Bay Area. For 2010, we worked to increase the total dollar amount of our donations, committing a total of $159,850 for the year

…Below is a list of charitable donation recipients for 2010: 

Black Rock Arts Foundation
Black Rock Solar
Best Friend’s Animal Society (in memoriam Bill Carter)
The Crucible
Yick Wo School
Lawyers for Burners c/o Trip Knight
Leave No Trace
Surprise Valley Chamber of Commerce (Cedarville)
Nimby
Circuit Network
Dogpatch Neighborhood Association
Nevada Organizations
Gerlach Volunteer Fire Department
Gerlach High School
Gerlach Gen. Improve. Dist.
Gerlach-Empire Senior Citizens Palace
Crisis Call Center
Friends of the Black Rock
Nevada Museum of Art
Nevada State Museum
Historical Society of Dayton Valley
Sierra Arts Foundation
Bruka Theatre
Nevada Discovery Museum
Kiwanis Bike Project
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada
Lovelock/Pershing Organizations
COUNTY CHARITIES
Pershing County Government General Fund
PRIVATE CHARITIES
Pershing County Senior Center
Eagle Scholarship
Pershing County Community Center
Pershing County High School (Athletic Department)
Pershing County Domestic Violence Intervention
Pershing General Hospital & Nursing Care
Pershing County Humane Society
Lovelock Frontier Days
Lovelock Lion’s Club
Friends of the Library
Marzen House Museum
Kid’s, Horses & Rodeos
Lovelock Food Bank
Lovelock Boy Scouts Association
Lovelock Little League Association
Lovelock Chamber of Commerce
Pershing County Arts Council
Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary
Project Graduation

Note that #1 and #2 on the list are their own charities. No information is given on how much of the pie was sliced up for each recipient. There are 45 charities listed, making an average donation to each one of  $3552.

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There is almost no information available about how much ice was sold in 2010, or any other year. In fact, bizarrely, the Afterburn ice reports for 2009 and 2010 are almost word-for-word identical – including the exact size of tips given to the cent, and warnings about specific safety incidents that gave them concern for “that year”. The 2011 report claims that 32 trucks of ice were emptied in 2010. 2011 was 43 trucks. From digging back all the way to the 2006 Afterburn Artica report, we learn that each truck is 21.15 tons of ice.

For 2013, we get our ice information from a posting on Facebook by Jennifer Spitfyre:

“Factoid for the day.. We at Arctica sold 2.14 million pounds of ice at Burning Man this year! Every single pound of that was hand carried by BRC volunteers from ice truck to BRC citizen’s hands! Big increase from last year where we sold 1.68 million pounds of ice!”…that’s 1070 tons of ice.”

Information about the price and dimensions of ice sales is not readily available either. Why all the secrets, BMOrg? Ice can be bought in single 5 lb bags, or a “6 for the price of 5″ discount. In 2009 the prices were $3 and $15 respectively, if anyone has updated figures from 2013 (or can confirm that prices and bag sizes stayed fixed) please let us know. 

But, working on the assumption (for the sake of simplicity in argument) that all the ice sales were $15, for 6 x 5 lb bags of ice…yields $1,070,000 in ice sales. That’s (2,140,000 / 30) * 15, for those who care to follow my workings.

Let’s work this out a little further. 2010′s 32 trucks brought in 676.8 tons of ice, or 1,353,600 lbs. This netted donations of $159,850 (reported as $168,000 in the 2010 Afterburn report – the extra $8,150 of donations must have been in addition to the ice donations). Applying the same ratio, ie (2,140,000/1,353,600) * 159,850, 2013′s 2.14 million lbs should have led to a year-end donation to the community of $252,717. If the same 45 charities get the money, their share should now be up to $5,615 each.

How does $1 million of ice sales, end up as a quarter of a million in ice-related donations? I mean, I know it costs a lot to send each 80,000 lb semi-trailer of ice to the desert, but 75% overhead? It’s not like you’re paying the same for ice at Burning Man as you do at your local grocery store, ice is (understandably) expensive out there!

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line arctica

all these people are waiting in line to conduct commerce

From the 2012 financials, the cost of ALL the coffees, ice, and merchandise was $369,132 (yes, it’s not just us saying “the Burning Man Project sells merchandise”, it’s right there in their own financial report). However, this doesn’t add up, because the amount of ice sold should be way more than this. Using the same calculation above with Arctica’s 2012 numbers, (1,680,000 / 30) * 15 gives us $840,000 in ice sales – netting $470,868 (after Arctica covers all their own costs, plus all the merchandising costs, and the costs of center camp). In 2012 the line item “Donations to local Nevada schools and organizations” is $238,976 – presumably, this is the donations from ice sales, and doesn’t include Black Rock Solar or BRAF’s activities. There’s a missing $231,892 for 2012! Maybe a lot of the ice brought in melted before it could be sold. A lot, being 27.6% of all the ice. Or maybe certain camps get their ice comped.

$238,976 in donations, compared with our estimate of 2012 revenues of $24, 045, 986, is slightly less than 1%. Meaning that 99% of all the money they take in is eaten up in salaries, travel costs, food, costumes…and profits.

I’m not making these numbers up. I’m going to a lot of effort to piece together a picture from their own published information. I shouldn’t have to do that, if it’s a non-profit they should be transparent. No-one is paying me for all  my time to do this: that’s why it really pisses me off when people say “BurnersXXX doesn’t know what he’s talking about”, “BurnersXXX should read the Afterburn reports” etc. You haters should read the fucking reports!

Burner Timothynh pointed us to Guidestar.org, a site that measures the performance of non-profits. Here’s what it has to say about the Burning Man Project:

  • This organization is registered with the IRS.
  • This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.

Forms 990 filed with the IRS are not available for this organization.

I’ve ordered Guidestar’s detailed report on BRAF, which shares many directors with the Burning Man Project; look for us to dig deeper into this in a future post.

We questioned the Vogue photo shoot story originally published in the San Francisco Bay Guardian in this post here, after a high-level insider raised some doubts with me at a private function. After that, I personally asked Maid Marian to correct the details, and as yet she hasn’t – which indicates to me that the story is true, or perhaps the true story is BMOrg asked for the $150k and Vogue balked.

Yet again, BMOrg-allied online shills and trolls have come onto this site to attack our credibility, with weak ad hominem attacks instead of actual facts, numbers, or logical arguments. Maybe our detractors never got paid any money from BMOrg in their lives, but they sure do seem to be taking their side here. This is just a smoke screen to deflect our readers away from the real issue: the lack of transparency or activity from this 2-year old “new” charity, and the increasing commodification, commercialization, and mainstream media mass marketing of crowd-sourced Burner culture by BMOrg.

Is it OK to violate the principle of Decommodification, if it’s in the name of charity? Is that what these guys are trying to say? If so, then why can’t others also do that? Is this a case of “the ends justify the means”…with the “ends” here being the nebulous Burning Man Project motto of “Creative catalyst for culture in the world”? Or is it more a case of “one rule for the rulers, and one for the masses”?

I’m trying to say the Ten Principles are as whack as crack, and hamstrung by hypocrisy. The world’s “Largest Leave No Trace Event” burns a mind-blowing amount of fossil fuels, and leaves hundreds of miles of highway littered with trash afterwards. “Radical Inclusion” doesn’t extend to “Upper Class” people who want to enable those who can’t afford it, to attend the event by working for it in a role that suits their talents. “Gifting” is supposed to be unconditional, without expectation of anything in return: and yet, donate $150, they gift you a scarf. “Civic responsibility” doesn’t include providing open accounts to all the donors to the charity – supposedly, everyone who buys a ticket is now a supporter of the Burning Man Project, although so far, ticket purchases are not tax-deductible donations to an IRS-registered charity.

The Ten Principles were originally published to be a suggestion for Regional events, now they are becoming a cult-like doctrine to be used to brainwash people around the world who’ve never even been to the party. Larry Harvey repeatedly says “this event has never been anti-commercial”, and we’ve never claimed that it should be either. It’s clearly commercial, massively so. The problem is two-fold: one, the “smoke and mirrors” trying to pretend they’re not something which they so obviously are; and two, they want to be the ONLY ones who can ever make any money from it. It’s all taking and very little giving.

The non-profit Burning Man Project wants to help the world by spreading culture, and how do they do that? Shutting down others with nasty legal letters falsely claiming ownership of things that aren’t theirs, doing what they can to assimilate the “global” ecosystem into their borg only; and at the same time expanding their revenue streams in seemingly every direction at once. This is more the behavior of a for-profit business than a non-profit. As Burner David pointed out in the comments on this post in our Facebook group, over the last few years Burning Man has tried to clean out the “dead wood” accumulated over nearly 30 years of volunteer labor, and replace them with professional management. That’s fine, but the professional management needs to get the spirit of Burning Man, particularly now that the non-profit Burning Man Project owns the party and everything else. The party is created by the Burners: all the art, all the gifting, all the music. That’s how it has grown over decades to be the “counter-culture phenomenon” that it is today. The efficiency of the Burning Man charities to date has been less than stellar (if you don’t believe me, check out the Wall Street Journal). I, for one, don’t want to donate my charity dollars to an organization that is going to spend the money on lawsuits against Burners trying to raise money to bring art to share with everyone, at events exclusively monetized by them.

Here’s an idea for the Burning Man founders: forget this “transition” crap, just take this thing public. Donate 10% of revenues to charities. Provide audited quarterly accounts, let us know where the money has been spent. License the brand to regionals, to clothing designers, to artists. Make as much money as you possibly can, so that you can donate as much as you possibly can. Reap the rewards for your labors, and let the community share in that too.

I can predict the responses now…“if you don’t like it, start your own”!

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radical inclusion cult
[thanks Nomad Traveler for this pic!]


Filed under: Dark Path - Complaints Department Tagged: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, art, art cars, art projects, arts, bmorg, charity, city, commerce, complaints, donation, festival, gifting, ice, non-profit, Party, regionals, scandal Image may be NSFW.
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Playa Chicken Madness

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keiralexa
Just came across this video of Burning Man 2012, from Scenester TV. It’s got something in here for all the haters: Playa chickens, Segways, Playa chickens on Segways, tribal headdresses, glitter, plug-n-play camps, luxury RVs, Burgins who think they’re in a position to tell us everything about the event (like, there’s no Wi-Fi, when she’s standing in the middle of a free Wi-Fi zone).

Hey, we’ll give it a pass, because host Keir Alexa is ridiculously easy on the eye – and she sure knows how to shake that ass on a Segway! We’re also fans of DJ Isaiah Martin, and his gorgeous  art car with musical instrument engine. There’s a killer soundtrack too – quite literally, with Mr Brightside pumping out at one point.

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Isaiah Martin's amazing Electrolux art car

Isaiah Martin’s amazing Electrolux art car

 

 


Filed under: Burner Stories Tagged: 2012, art cars, fashion, festival, Party, playa love, stories, videos, virgin Image may be NSFW.
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The Theme is Caravans, but Don’t Bring One

They’ve finally announced 2014′s theme: “Caravansary

For countless centuries, travelers along the Silk Route crossed paths in caravansaries, a network of oases and sanctuaries that dotted the 4,000-mile road from Europe to East Asia. These bustling caravan stops offered more than just shelter from the desert wilderness; they were vital centers of cultural exchange, bringing together traders, pilgrims, monks, nomads, traveling entertainers, and wild-eyed adventurers from all points of the compass to share their stories around a common fire. Though fueled by mercantilism, their legacy to us is a grand commerce of ideas — a swirling exchange of languages, legends, technologies, philosophies and art that helped shape nearly every aspect of our modern world.

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….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

…et cetera, et cetera. You can read more about it on the official site.

So the theme is “commerce and trade”, with an Arabian Nights twist. At the same time, they are revamping their marketplace – related? We’re assuming that trade will continue as always with coffee and beverage sales in Center Camp, ice and so on.

Personally, I liked Cargo Cult a lot better. What is this throw-back to the ancient Silk Road going to mean? A lot of people dressed up as sheikhs? Camel art cars? Hookahs?

Here’s what the Man is going to look like, seems like it’ll be bigger and burnier than ever

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2014 Man Pavilion
(Design by Larry Harvey and Don Clarke, illustration by Andrew Johnstone and Jim Pire)

Now, on to tickets. The $400,000-odd ticketing contract has been taken away from Inticketing, and given to Ticketfly. They are charged with implementing what looks like essentially the same ticket price tiers as last year – 3,000 early bird tickets for $650, 15,000 invitation-only VIP tickets at $380, 38,000 regular tickets at $380, 1,000 last minute tickets at $380, 4000 low-income tickets at $190. This adds up to 61,000 – same as last year, where the population was capped at 68,000. Are there an additional 7,000 free tickets handed out? I doubt it. These are probably gate or insider sales. Yes, yes, I know “there’s no gate sales”, but I also know that the official line from BMOrg is not always the same thing as the truth – and I know more than a few people who purchased tickets at the gate in 2013.

Unless you’re on the World’s Biggest Guest List, you’ll still need to create a Burner profile, log on to register, then log on at a later date to purchase. The point of this system is not clear, I remember it being a real pain in the ass trying to get in at exactly noon PST from Envision in Costa Rica. It is certainly not an easy system for the global travelling caravansary of Burners that they’re trying to promote.

The most significant change is that if you’re bringing a vehicle, you’ll need a vehicle pass, which costs $40 plus “applicable fees” – since they don’t just say “taxes”, presumably there are going to be other expenses added on top of these ticket and pass prices. Vehicle passes have been capped at 35,000; each person can buy up to two, but if you buy one of the 3,000 early bird tickets, you can buy 4.

Leaving the unknown additional costs to one side, BMOrg just made themselves another $1.4 million. Thankfully they managed to keep the ticket prices the same.

It is not clear whether you can only purchase 1 vehicle pass per ticket, they’ve said nothing so far to indicate that, but some online have speculated it.

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, January 22 for the first tranche of tickets at $650 each. If you’re so keen to go, or so afraid to miss out, that you want to pay almost double for your tickets, you will need to register between January 16 (noon) and January 20 (noon). Once registered, you will be able to log on after January 22 to purchase.

After that there will be a “Directed Group sale” of 15,000 tickets at $380. If you’re on the World’s Biggest Guest List, you will be invited to log on from February 16. Yes, it’s invitation-only for these tickets, and they don’t have to muck around with the “register then log in on a different day to purchase” shenanigans that the rest of us must endure.

Regular punters, who just want to get a ticket to Burning Man, can register to get tickets between February 20-23, and then log on after noon PST on February 26.

Low income ticket purchasers will just have to wait their turn, there’s no information about when they’ll be allowed to purchase tickets. The STEP system will be implemented, so that if you buy tickets and don’t need them, you can lose money on them by recycling them through BMOrg (encouraged) rather than making money by selling them on the secondary market (you’re bad if you do this).

Here’s the official justification of the Vehicle Pass from the Jacked Rabbit:

Traffic is the greatest impediment to the growth and sustainability of Black Rock City. Burning Man is under pressure from the Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Department of Transportation to reduce the number of cars entering the event. Highways 447 and 34 are at max capacity during the event and we’re being asked to pay for road damage caused by participant vehicles. Road travel represents 60% of the carbon emissions related to the event.

And the #1 challenge experienced by participants last year? Entry and Exodus.

Clearly, it’s critical we address the traffic issue — and we can only solve this problem by working together as a community.

We conducted a poll on the biggest issues to Burners last year. The Top 10 issues were:

Cops – too many and too much (24%)

Rape Kits on the Playa (14%)

People in plug-n-play camps (11%)

Too many people (7%)

Bicycle theft (7%)

Too much dubstep (6%)

BMOrg not helping artists raise money (5%)

Not enough gifting (5%)

Too many rules (4%)

Too many virgins (4%)

Exodus/entry problems/waiting times came in as part of “other”, with a total of 27 votes – not enough to make the top 10.

The idea of limiting carbon emissions is a noble one. I believe the motivation is more likely to be a deal cut with the authorities, along the lines of “if you cap the number of vehicles on our roads, that reduces the concerns in our community about traffic, litter, and accidents; so we’ll let you have more people total”. Meaning they can sell more tickets. If you’ve ever played Monopoly, you’ve probably been assessed for street repairs before. The more houses and hotels you have, the bigger the bill. Capping the number of vehicle passes seems like a way to cap the street repairs bill for BMOrg.

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exodus plants
Note that the wording says “all vehicles driving into Black Rock City will now be required to have a Vehicle Pass”. This means it’s not just for Burner cars. Trailers bringing art cars, art installations, camp equipment and supplies will all have to have passes. In previous years there have been 15,000+ early access passes. Before Burning Man starts, there are literally thousands of trucks coming in and out with deliveries. The passes that go to these service vehicles, are passes that won’t go to Burners. It seems that they’ve taken their Gate count of an average of 1.9 people per car, and calculated from last year’s population of 68,000 that 35,000 should pretty much cover it. 68,000/1.9 = 35,789, so only 789 extra people have to carpool, right? Well what about the delivery vehicles? And what about people who buy 2 car passes but only need 1? 

Here’s our prediction: this new system is going to lead to 2012 lottery-style chaos. The 3000 people rich and stupid enough to pay $650 for $380 tickets, are able to buy 4 vehicle passes each. Which, it seems likely, they will all do, thinking to help out friends who are going to need them. I mean, if you’ve got an extra $270 each to pay for the same tickets, you probably have a spare $160 on top of that too. So that’s 12,000 vehicle passes gone, or more than a third of the total allotment.

Then, the VIP, invitation-only ticket sale will start . Since almost all of these people are part of a theme camp, they will all buy the maximum number of vehicle passes (2 each), knowing that everyone in their camp is going to need them, particularly build crews and delivery vehicles. If you’re on this VIP guest list, there’s a good chance that you’re a regular Burner and will have an RV. There’ll only be 23,000 passes left at this point, so 3,500 of the 15,000 won’t be able to get vehicle passes. Theme camps won’t know if they’ll be able to get their delivery vehicles in, trucks pulling art cars and large art works, and so on.

By the time regular customers come to buy tickets, on February 26, there will be much concern in the community about getting vehicle passes. If my previous assumptions were wrong, and the vehicle passes didn’t already sell out, they will now be gone in minutes. Seconds, even. Most of the 38,000 people trying to secure tickets at this point, won’t be able to get vehicle passes. If the system says “you can get a ticket, but not a vehicle pass”, they might pause to consider the logistical implications of this. The chaos and confusion will lead to a lot of half-completed database transactions, which in turn will melt down the system.

Planning your trip to Burning Man is going to be much harder, if you can’t take a vehicle. It’s one thing to say “everyone should just ride share”, it’s another to say “you can buy a ticket, but you can’t get your RV in”. 

And what about the heavy-handed police presence? What happens if you offer someone to share a ride in your vehicle, and they have drugs? Are you supposed to search all their bags before you let them in? The cops are usually focused on the driver in these situations. If it’s someone else’s bag, then probably that person AND the driver are going to get in trouble. The driver is an accessory to the trafficking.

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burning man exodus 2 line
It’s not easy to get to Burning Man without a motorized vehicle. Even if you can get to Reno, there’s still hours of driving on empty desert roads ahead of you. If you’re coming from San Francisco, Burning Man is 342 miles away (550 kilometers). You want to ride share, everyone’s going to need to be ready on time, and want to go at the same time as you. One thing I’ve learned from millions of miles of road trips in dozens of countries and states, is that the more people you add to a vehicle, the more time your journey takes. Bathroom breaks, photo stops, and general dicking around. That’s why I prefer to travel with a smaller group.

A quarter of the Burners are from a different country, for these punters planning ride share is much harder than for people who live in the Bay Area or Reno. Sure, they can get one of the many buses, but it’s not easy to travel around the world with tent, coolers, camping gear, etc. They need to rent a car at the very least and buy that stuff on the way; or, more likely, they want to rent an RV and sleep in that.

There are also a lot of Burners coming from other States, many of whom are used to driving with their bikes, costumes, and the rest of their gear. They probably plan on meeting up with their friends once they get to the Burn, not rendezvouing beforehand. A giant parking lot of cars is going to accumulate somewhere, probably Reno, as these people meet up with their friends to rideshare in – this will be rich picking grounds for criminals.

Last year, Lightning in a Bottle moved to a new location in Temecula, near San Diego. They brought in a system of selling RV passes. The RV passes sold out in about 3 minutes. Because of this, I wasn’t going to go, until pressure from friends at the last minute convinced me to look on Craigslist. I was able to buy an RV pass on the secondary market, for more than  double the original price.

I predict the same thing will happen here: these vehicle passes will go for a lot of money on Craigslist, Stubhub, eBay, and everywhere else black market sales occur. BMOrg insiders will all secure all the vehicle passes they can get their grubby little hands on, in order to make money for themselves re-selling them at a premium. Everyone who knows a BMOrg insider, will be hitting them up for tickets and vehicle passes, so they’re assured of a nice cashflow stream.

The rest of the community, finding that vehicle passes have “sold out”, will realize planning a trip to Burning Man has become an order of magnitude harder. And will probably lose interesting in going, or decide to skip a year. By the time the event comes round, what has been billed all year as a “sold out event” will turn out to be down in population from the year before.

That’s my prediction, I’d be happy if I’m proven wrong and everything goes smoothly. What do you think about the new vehicle pass system, Burners?

 


Filed under: General Tagged: 2014, art cars, bmorg, city, commerce, complaints, event, festival, future, news, scandal, tickets Image may be NSFW.
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Music of Cargo Cult Camp Compendium [Updates]

I’m no librarian, but I’m in a good mood today because I got my visa and I’m…

So this one’s for all the ravers, all the players, all the player haters, all the lovers, and all the Burners. A round-up of what’s on Soundcloud from Burning Man 2013, organized by camp. By now, most of the DJs have had the time to upload their sets. Some camps like to “trickle” them out. Image may be NSFW.
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horse art
Maybe there’s some still to come. I can’t say I’m going to continually update this post through the year, as every new DJ sends a mix in. Check the comments for other mixes, I might do 1-2 passes of updates. Nor can I promise that I’m going to do this every year; take it as my Chinese New Year gift to you all for the Year of the Horse.


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chicken dicken
For the haters, hey, this is nothing special. It takes no special skills, not like Chicken John’s beloved “comments of the olden days”. Whatever that means! Any one of 68,000 people at the party last year and 530,000 on the Burning Man group could have done this for you at any time.  Even one of the year-round BMOrg’s 50+ employees could’ve been tasked to do this, squeezing it into their busy schedule of inventing themes and schemes.

But, the thing is, they didn’t.

Maybe something along these lines would be a better present from the people who bank the buck$, to the Burners and DJs and Sound Camps and Art Cars who gave so much…instead we’re blessed to bask in the wisdom of the Jacked Rabbit, and pay new taxes so we can fund Larry’s international fatherhood trips and tips. These are the official ways that customers of Burning Man can  Gift the Globe with culture.  

Apologies if I’ve missed anyone (I’m sure I have) , or associated any DJs with the wrong camps, or the grammar . Please correct in the comments.

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distrikt 2013 crowd
Distrikt

Brett Rubin

Darren Grayson

Elite Force

Fort Knox Five

Isaiah Martin

Kramer

Kramer (Saturday)

The Scumfrog

Syd Gris

Disorient

David HÔhme

Erika Mysti

Loomer (Burn Night)

Wolf and Lamb

Abraxas

K Dust live sunrise

Ashram Galactica

Kenny Harris

Boomrock Saints

Sundae Sushi – Camacho

Camp Feral Fauna

King Plow

Camp Pink Fuzzy Monkey

Mike Van Houten (Sunset)

Camp Questionmark

Anthony Motto

Danis of Chains and Frames

Camp Random

Lord Pyro

Camp Tetrion

Beat Freak (live)

Circles and 3′s

Apple Cat

Cosmic Giggle

Ras Gonzo

Dancetronauts

Dancetronauts Mix

Philthy Phil Temple Takeover

Darwin Fish Tank

Loomer

Decadent Oasis

Bunny Bill

Chipper

Cosinzero (Fri)

Dave Simon (Mon)

Dave Simon (Fri)

DJB Live (Fri)

DJB (Sat)

Erc

Funktor

Hijinx (Mon)

Hijinx (Fri)

J Miah

Joseph Lee

Kem (Mon)

Kem (Thu)

Kev/null

LeftCtrl

Left/Right

Lt Daaan

Lt Daaan and Lisa Rose Tag Team

Mo Corleone

Neon bunny

Shrimp

Telene

Trespass

Xane Fm Live (Fri)

Digital Apex

David Isaac

Gydyr

Dirty Beetles Boogaloo Car

iPunx

Disco Knights

Anthony Mansfield (live)

Dustfish

SaneDrac Hunter

Fractal Planet

Swami Harami Temple Burn

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giant cock car

Giant Cock Car

Loomer

Heart Phoenix

Alistair

AM Rebel (Burn Night)

Vitamin Devo

Zita Molnar

Hookah Dome

Kanizzle

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mayan warrior
Mayan Warrior

Blond:Ish

Dharma (Wed – Pt 1)

Dharma (Wed -Pt 2)

Galen and Adnan Sharif (live)

Jason Kendig (live)

Rick Korach

Shadyvil (Part 1)

Shadyvil (Part 2)

Music Savages

Waifs and Strays

Mystical Misfits

OZan

Nexus

Feathericci

Nutz Camp

Elite Force/Simon Shackleton

Kramer (live)

Opel 

Syd Gris

Osiris

3PO’s

Dirt Junkee

Icon

Pink Love Bunny

Techmonkey Sunrise (pt 1)

Techmonkey Sunrise (pt 2)

Pink Mammoth

Adnan Sharif

Andy Caldwell

Gravity

Jonathan Will

Marques Wyatt

Rolf (Wed)

Tara Brooks

Vivi-ann (BLONDish) vs Phillip Jung (M.A.N.D.Y)

Zack Walker

Play)a(Skool

Lexel

Peter Napoli

Reverse Cowgirl Creamery

Linzi Oliver

Robot Heart

Art Department (Live)

Bedouin

Behrouz

Benjamin Alexander

Blond:ish

Bob Moses (Live)

Damian Lazarus / Rebel Heart

Damian Lazarus

Eduardo Castillo

Hoj

Lee Burridge

Pachanga Boys

Pauline Rochas

Robert Reyesp

Swamy and John Dill – Burn Night

Tennis

The Scumfrog

wAFF

Shadyvil

Dharma – Roots Underground

Dharma – Daytime Disco

Slut Garden

Pope Rajulio

Space Cowboys

Shisla

Tiki Village

Loomer – Thursday 

Loomer – Burn Night

Treehouse

Mike Gano

Scott Meyer

Skez – Black Light

Sylvain Perron

UFOm

B.B. Tschack

BELI3VER

White Ocean

Kimba

Paul Oakenfold

Tek Freaks Saturday Night Live

Psytrance

Coral

Other DJs

Ceri’s set from Jamie Jones and friends party

Cargo Bleep

Chongbomb

 - Bass Set

- Sunrise Set

Chris MacKechnie

DJ E10

Hernan Cattaneo (what! can’t believe I missed him)

Indecent Noise (Live)

Kelly Kidd

Lord Vishnu

Maxx Polishuk (vinyl set)

Michelangelo

Robbie Rickard

Tommy T (if it was Tommy Trash he would probably say that, right?)

TYMK

Yental Beats


Filed under: Music Tagged: 2013, art cars, event, festival, music, Party Image may be NSFW.
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Sheriff Reserves Right to Protect Kids

Guy Farmer of Carson City is a long-time critic of Burning Man. Recently in Nevada Appeal – the Lahontan Valley news – he shared his opinion about Burning Man’s “staring contest” with Pershing County.

Although both behemoth bureaucracy Black Rock City, LLC (aka BMOrg) and little-‘ole gun-totin’ Pershing County recently reached an agreement out of court, two local Judges (Jones and Wagner) and the District Attorney still think that the party, with all of its sex acts and drug use, is not a suitable place for young children.

A complex legal battle between Black Rock City, LLC, the powerful Bay Area entity that operates Burning Man, and sparsely populated Pershing County has ended in a judicial standoff in federal court. But if this dispute was a boxing match, I’d give the decision to Pershing County on points.

It was a David (a small rural county) vs. Goliath (Burning Man) battle from the beginning. The Burners sued the county last year, claiming that local authorities had no jurisdiction over the annual naked drug festival, which is held on federal land near Gerlach, about 90 miles north of Reno. The Burners objected to additional charges for law enforcement expenses and claimed the county couldn’t regulate their behavior on a remote desert playa in a national conservation area.

At the time he filed a countersuit against the Burners, Pershing County District Attorney Jim Shirley told me that “public servants shouldn’t back down just because a large multimillion-dollar corporation wants to bully us into not following the law.” The corporation, which grosses more than $20 million a year from Burning Man, opposed a modest increase in law enforcement expenses proposed by Shirley and the county, and rejected suggestions that the county could bar underaged children from the X-rated event. As an aside, it’s relevant to note that the festival’s federal landlord, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), rakes in more than $1 million per year from the Burners.

As an aside, the event is not X-rated. First of all, that’s a voluntary rating applied to films by the movie industry. Secondly, it hasn’t existed since 1990. It’s also worth mentioning that the event currently pays more like $2 million to the Feds and other authorities.

Although Black Rock City unleashed hundreds of highly paid attorneys in the battle against Shirley and the county, both sides eventually reached an out-of-court settlement that gave the county most of what it wanted, starting with increased law enforcement expenses.

It was all about the money. Not freedom of speech and expression, not nudity and over-exposure to a Bacchanalian revel for thousands of underage Burners.

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Although Federal District Judge Robert C. Jones criticized the settlement, calling it “illegal, unenforceable and absurd,” he acknowledged that he lacks jurisdiction to void the contract and repeated his concerns about exposing children to public nudity at the annual festival.

The county’s concerns do not center on nudity, but rather on the blatant sexual conduct and the (illegal) drugs at the event,” Shirley told me in a recent email exchange. “The (Pershing County) sheriff still has all his rights to enforce Nevada law relating to children.” I sincerely hope the sheriff will exercise that authority when the 2014 edition of Burning Man rolls around in early September.

I’ve repeatedly objected to the presence of young children at the festival based on my own experience during a daylong visit to the event in 2008. That’s when I saw a naked middle-aged man cavorting dangerously near the area reserved for children. This occurred after several child molesters had been arrested at Burning Man in recent years.

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We told you about a pedophile who got busted, and was found to have made plans to attend Burning Man for a kidnapping. One of America’s Most Wanted is kite enthusiast Thomas Hanley, a child molester known to frequent Burning Man – a perfect place for someone who’s on the run, since no-one would think twice if they wear a mask.

We don’t know about any other arrests for this, but there are definitely registered sex offenders at Burning Man – and the presence of nubile, scantily clad teens is surely a case of statutory rape waiting to happen (age of consent in Nevada is 16 for straight sex and 18 for gay/bi).

My criticism has always been based on the widespread use of illegal drugs (not just marijuana) on public lands, and the highly inappropriate presence of children at an event featuring pornographic “art” and public performances. For example, there was the mechanized depiction of sodomy at the Jiffy Lube Camp a few years ago. You get the idea.

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The issue is not just nudity. It’s tens of thousands of sexual freaks in a place where almost everyone is partying out of control for a week, on every kind of drug you can imagine, including Viagra. There are fetishes, polyamory, bondage, all kinds of freakery – and it could be going on anywhere. Last year I met some burgins whose first act at Burning Man was to slide down a rat’s ass into an art car – filled with gay guys tied to the wall wearing ball gags! They just thought they were going on a cool slide, boy did they get a shock.

Mr Farmer concludes that it’s all about the money:

A Reno newspaper recently estimated that Burning Man generates some $35 million worth of economic activity in Northern Nevada, and Reno Mayor Bob Cashell has warned Pershing County not to interfere with that sizeable cash flow. BLM remains silent on the issue. In other words, collect the money and forget about the children. My hope, however, is that Pershing County will exercise its authority to regulate public conduct at Burning Man, and that the more enlightened Burners will finally decide to leave the little kids at home, where they belong.

Make Burning Man an over 21 event, and suddenly the “sting” goes out of it. There’s no danger of statutory rape, and no need for any camps to check IDs. Leave your wallet at home when you go to Burning Man, showing a drivers license to be gifted a shot defeats the purpose of “Decommodification”.

[Update: this article has generated a few comments on the Interwebz. We should remember the effects of Playa Dust on young lungs. The Scumfrog expressed it very well:

The more arguments you give to defend children’s presence at BM, the more I completely fail to see the point of ever bringing your child there. Let’s face it; if you strip away the drugs and the loud music and the open playa and the radical self expression; you might as well go to an outside art exhibit in the real world, topped off by an hour on the trampoline, and of course doing all of this while the kids are wearing their favorite costumes. You don’t need to be at Burning Man for that. In short; a good parent makes sure that their kid’s life is like BM every day of the year. Because kids can live like that. Adults need to escape to this special annual event to act like kids one week a year, but kids can act this way year round! Bringing your kids to BM is like opening a Starbucks inside a Starbucks. There is no need for it whatsoever. The only need is the need for the parents to proclaim their extreme liberalism to the outside world. There is not a single lesson that an 8 year old can only learn at BM and not anywhere else in the world. Those special lessons that the playa provides are life lessons for adults. WE benefit from BM in that way, but for kids, it’s all just a playground.


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New at Burners.Me: Cartoons!

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Just like Burning Man, we’re taking it to another level on the Web this year. We’re pleased to welcome Christopher as our resident cartoonist, helping spread joy to the world of Burners We asked him some quick questions:

B.M: How many burns have you been to?

10 burns.

B.M What are your 3 favorite Principles?

Gifting, Self Reliance and Communal Effort.

B.M What are the best and worst parts of Burning Man?

The best part of Burning Man is living in a world dedicated to art and self expression. The worst part is the dust. Fuck dat.

We look forward to many chuckles in the future, thanks for sharing Christopher!

 


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Blinky Lights – the Next Level

El Pulpo Maker oh!

Goli Mohammadi has a story about El Pulpo Mechanico over at online maker movement zine Make:. It was just in San Francisco at the World Maker Faire, did you see it?

It’s interesting to see El Pulpo in broad daylight!

One of the most popular and spectacular Burning Man art cars ever, it’s great to get to know more about the artist behind it.

From Makezine:

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El Pulpo is a 25-foot-tall mechanical octopus made from found objects and scrap iron that spews fire from its mechanical tentacles while the eight eyes pop in and out of its head. The brainchild of Eureka, Calif.-based artist Duane Flatmo, with electrical panels and flame effects by Jerry Kunkel, El Pulpo is a sight to behold in person. We chatted with Duane to find out more.

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Duane Flatmo (left) toasting Jerry Kunkel (right) on a job well done.

1. What inspired you to build El Pulpo Mecanico and how long did it take?
I’ve designed a similar version of this mechanical sculpture a few times over the years and realized that it could be a really cool sculpture if it were much larger. Having gone to Burning man for 6 years prior, I knew that I wanted to build it for that upcoming year: 2011! Every year we head down to our house in Mexico for two months and work on our own artistic projects — and this was mine. I would design a small, working model to use as a guide for the big one when we got back. I collected junk all over the roads near our house and built the model from that. When it was done, I disassembled it and brought it home to our lab. The Spanish name El Pulpo Mecanico means mechanical octopus.

2. What are some of the materials used in the build?
I have a great working relationship with Bonnie at our local scrapyard, Arcata Scrap and Salvage. I started by realizing that the scale was going to be determined by a 55-gallon rusty drum as the tentacle size. The scale was derived from that. Most of the parts are made from rusty junk metal with embellishments of silver steel and aluminum.

3. Was this a solitary build or did you have a team working with you? 
I have been working for 32 years designing and building kinetic sculptures for the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race here in Humboldt County. My partner Jerry Kunkel was the co-builder and handled all the electrical panels and flame effects. Jerry is an amazing diverse tinkerer. He can build anything. Working together on this project was a definite high point in our building repertoire. Then our good friend Niel Wangsgard along with Lucas Thornton put in many hours to help with the overall project.

4. How did you get into building large-scale art? 
I guess all the years doing the Kinetic Sculpture Race prepared me for this. I have done some large-scale projects in the mural business. Three-dimensional art is much different and more challenging.

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5. Have you been building all your life? How did you get started and what other types of things do you make? 
I’m a graphic artist and mural painter mostly. That pays the bills. But I’ve had a build and tinker mentality since I was a kid. We lived near Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm when I grew up, and I was always fascinated by these places. I would come home and want to build stuff.

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In 2001 I was on a team called “Art Attack” and we were one of the first eight teams sent to London for the American series “Junkyard Wars.” We ended up taking 2nd place and spent a month in London filming three episodes. Ken Beidleman and June Moxon were on the team. That was a blast. Then two years later we were asked to race huge monster trucks in China at the Strange Vehicle Games. We spent 17 days in China and competed with 15 other teams from around the world. We each received $2,000 and had to build a vehicle to compete. They would send it to China and we had to leave it there after the games were over. That was another event that inspired me to build larger stuff.

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6. Where have you displayed El Pulpo in the past?
We’ve been to Burning Man three times and this year will be our fourth. Next year we plan on constructing something new. That should be a fun task. We’ve been to The Electric Daisy Carnival in San Bernardino and Las Vegas, and got to shoot big fire at the “On the Move” project for the SF Exploratorium.

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Trey Ratcliff - Burning Man 2012 (269 of 441)-X2

Photo by Trey Ratcliff

7. How many gallons of propane do you go through on a show night?
El Pulpo mecanico holds a total of 200 gallons of propane. That lasts about four hours if we don’t hit the fire buttons too much. That’s 200 gallons a night at Burning Man, which can really add up.

8. What is one of your favorite El Pulpo stories?
Well, having Susan Sarandon join us on El Pulpo at Burning Man last year was pretty cool. But watching the firemen from San Francisco line up to watch the fire show, with the head fire inspector hitting the fire buttons and giggling like a child. The connection with the sculpture becomes so pronounced when you have all the fire power at your finger tips. It’s actually 1/2 fire and 1/2 percussion. You can play this thing like an instrument.

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01:48 - El Pulpo Mecanico

Photo by Cat Laine

9. What makes you most excited about sharing El Pulpo with the Maker Faire community?
It will be nice to show people El Pulpo Mecanico up close. We love to see the gears turning in peoples minds as they look at the simplicity of the cams that run the beast. Many people think it’s all hydraulics until they look inside. Fun stuff!

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Screen shot 2014-03-26 at 3.35.25 PM


Filed under: Art Cars Tagged: 2013, 2014, art cars, el pulpo, maker Image may be NSFW.
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