Thatdrop brings us a report on Burner favorites Dancetronauts appearance at last weekend’s Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in Las Vegas. And it sounds like they got an A+ :

The Dancetronauts brought the bass to EDC Las Vegas for the second year in a row with their world renowned “Bass Station” stage. The largest mobile stage in the United States, the 70 foot long structure pumped out 80,000 watts of sound while including a world premiere of the ground-breaking ProVision LED displays over the course of three days in the Las Vegas desert.

During the entire weekend Dancetronaut resident DJ’s dished out nonstop tunes, providing one of the most unique experiences present at all of Electric Daisy Carnival.

The illuminated stage drew attention from everyone who passed by and was one of the highlights of the day 3 parade.

Here’s some video of the Dancetronauts (and their Dancetrohotties) in action

There’s a lot more to a Dancetronauts show than just pressing play.

The Dancetronauts were also at the 3-day pool party of The Influential Network, a shindig at Mike Tyson’s house that was billed as “the largest social media event in the world”:

During this year’s Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, The Influential Network is taking over the iconic former Mike Tyson mansion (featured in the box-office smash hit “The Hangover”) for the biggest social media event ever as part of their Influential House Series.

The Guinness Book of World Records will be on hand to confirm that their off-site EDC party will take the crown for the largest social media gathering in history over June 20th-22nd. This event will be a first of its kind convergence of Tech + Music + Pool party like nothing that has come before it.

The Influential House launched during the first weekend of Coachella in April 2014, bringing the world’s biggest social media influencers from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Vine, and YouTube together for an action-packed, 3-day party with the concept of creating the most social media influence in one place, ever. The launch event garnered over 1.1 billion native impressions during the 3-day weekend, causing The Influential House’s hashtag #TINhouse to trend #1 worldwide on Twitter, over #Coachella — during Coachella! At EDC, The Influential House intends to shatter the previous mark of 1.1 billion impressions. 

This exclusive, invite-only event will host influencers, surprise celebrities guests and industry VIPs and will serve as a daytime oasis to connect, celebrate, and create social influence.

The Influential House pool party will feature top DJs like THE STAFFORD BROTHERS, E-ROCK, ICON,KARMA and electronic crossover artist MAKI HSIEH. Not to mention, additional production and art curation by Dancetronauts. Sponsors Monster Products, Cyberdust, SelfieMe, PreFunc, Breakr, JusCollege and ShirtWasCash will do brand activations and gift product to attending influencers. Media partner, Entertainment Tonight will be returning to cover The Influential House for the 2nd time. Additionally, FanPass.TV will live stream directly from the event and Equiinet will provide connectivity. LA Bloom is co-producing the event and brought many of the entities together. Additionally, the LA based P.R. firm The Confluence will also be co-hosting the event. 

The Atlantic has a story about a giant brain made out of steel, that will be hooked up to a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. Parts of the brain will light up, to “teach us” how brains work. Now if it could just teach us how consciousness works at the same time, it might have some useful scientific meaning. But I digress…

Dr. Brainlove is an enormous, drive-able jungle gym that will light up in ways that mirror actual brain function. Scientists and engineers are constructing the humongous steel brain based on an MRI scan of neuroscientist Natalia Bilenko’s actual brain…developers say they’re already getting questions about whether Dr. Brainlove might tour around to museums, science festivals, and the like

Natalia Bilenko holds a model of her brain in front of Dr. Brainlove. (photo: Asako Miyakawa)

…”A giant brain out of steel,” said Karen Robinson, an electrical engineer who is part of the team building the structure. “It’s just so ridiculous but also achievable if you have the set of skills this group of people have. That makes it a really cool thing.”

The team behind Dr. Brainlove is associated with Phage Camp, a Burning Man group that tries to infuse the festival with science—including giving lectures and setting up mobile science exhibits. (Another group of scientists associated with the camp is building a giant Tesla coil rigged up to a DJ booth so that people can “dance under freaking lightning.”)

Robinson and her fellow brain builders got blueprints for the 14-foot-tall and 24-foot-long steel structure from a company called Digital Permaculture, which draws up steel-grid model plans and provides the double-layer struts necessary for construction. (The steel structure alone will cost about $6,000, and Dr. Brainlove’s designers are still hoping to raise about $10,000 on crowdfunding site Indiegogo for the overall project.) 

The Dr. Brainlove team finished connecting the more than 600 individual struts this past weekend. “It’s all these steel bars that have to be bolted together and each one of them is unique so they’re all very carefully labeled and numbered,” Robinson said. “I find it interesting because we do so much work with mass-produced things that are very standardized. So this is a very, very different process where everything is sort of unique.”

The brains behind the brain; photo: Asako Miyakawa

…the brain structure, which weighs more than a ton, will be attached to an old Blue Bird school bus. “We chopped the top off so it is now a flatbed school bus,” said Nicholas Christie, a structural and mechanical engineer who is working on Dr. Brainlove. “It looks really cool. We’re going to mount the brain on it.”

Once the brain’s in place, the driver’s seat of the bus will be located in the prefrontal cortex—a delightfully meta detail that reflects the kind of executive function that occurs in that part of the brain. Dr. Brainlove will also be wired with colorful fiber optics and custom LED lights that are designed to look like neural pathways. (“We have a lighting wizard,” Christie says.) 

The brain crane. Photo: Asako Miyakawa

The brain’s operators will be able to light up certain areas of the brain to show people different parts of it. The lights will also be used for function—as a geographical marker at night—and for fun. “In some situations we’ll want to have them moving to the music more like a dance party,” Robinson says, “and then sometimes we will talk about epilepsy or something and have it be a strobe light.“

Because art cars make the best geographic markers! And who doesn’t want to spend their evenings at Burning Man learning about epilepsy from a strobe light.

The team is also toying with the idea of having lights respond to music in a way that would mimic a person’s real-time brain activity in response to that sound. And already there are ideas about what projects the giant brain might inspire in years to come. There’s talk of designing a skull encasing for the brain, or a spinal cord, or even a mega heart—one big enough to crawl through that’s pulsing with compressed air.

Any real plans will have to wait, Christie says. “I don’t have the brain capacity right now,” he said. 

Recent events have brought the intertwined issues of insurance and liability into the spotlight, like never before. First, the Temple plan for this year collapsed. The artist claimed the main reason was that he could not meet the insurance burden, which was shifted to him and not covered by the blanket policy BMOrg are required to have for the event.

Then we just had the tragic death of a Burner in Utah, who ran through the safety perimeter and leaped in the fire before anyone could stop him, exposing thousands to a horrific spectacle and raising the ugly specter of lawsuits once more. Some say “people trying to hurt themselves at burns is a growing problem and we should talk about it”, others say “it’s a coincidence not a trend, nothing to see here, move along”.

In the past, art cars have been involved with injuries and even death at Burning Man. If you own and operate an art car, your biggest concern must surely be someone falling off or getting run over. Followed a close second by your driver getting picked up by the many cops there for exceeding the speed limit of 5 MPH, or DUI.

Safety third is all very well and fun for Burners to say as a joke, but try telling it to a burner-hating local Judge. It really isn’t a joke. Safety should be first, and if someone gets injured by an art car, in the eyes of the authorities it will be.

The best way to keep an art car safe, would seem to be knowing who the people are that are riding on it. If someone looks wasted, or seems like a trouble-maker, you should have the right to refuse them entry or kick them off. Right?

WRONG. Art Car operators have been ordered by BMOrg that they have to give Burners rides, even if they don’t know them. Not “we would like you to behave this way” warned. That would be too polite and Burnerly. Instead, “you have signed a contract and you must do this” warned.

Don’t believe me? Think Burners.Me is spreading “disinformation” or “spin”, because the lovely and kind BMOrg would never do such a thing? Read for yourself, and spin it your own way:

If you thought it would be cool to make an Art Car for you and your friends to ride around on at Burning Man, think again. You’ve made a bus, controlled by Burning Man, which you are contractually obliged to make available to any idiot who shows up without a bike. If you don’t pick them up, you can be fined and your vehicle impounded (update: according to Chef Juke from DMV, the threats of punishment made in the DMV-announce email are not true). What is considered an unsafe number of passengers? Do drivers and crew count? Who’s counting, and who’s judging? Maybe art cars should have a sign at the entry point “maximum number of people permitted”.

What if you want to raise funds for bringing this bus to put at BMOrg’s disposal, for the purposes of transporting randoms and the 40% virgins? Well, BMOrg will threaten to sue you if you say “Burning Man” or use photos of the vehicle at the event in your fundraising activities. They, on the other hand, are free to use it in $150,000 Vogue photoshoots, royalty-producing Oscar nominated movies, merchandise like calendars, advertising-riddled YouTube videos, and anything else they can think of to make money for themselves the tax-free non-profit they control that pays them royalties.

I have to admit, I was pissed when the Disco Duck first showed up, and my friends and I couldn’t get onboard because we didn’t have the right wristbands. Now, having met some of the people who actually built the thing, I can understand that they had to do this because there was only so much weight it could safely manage. Too many people, and the structure could get damaged or even collapse. The best way to protect themselves as well as their passengers, was to employ someone compos mentis to be be a bouncer, counting capacity with a clicker. It still sucks to get turned away, like at any club, but there are plenty of other things to see and do.

Maybe every art car will have to have bouncers now, for “safety” and to watch the randoms. “Let us on, we promise we’re not on drugs or alcohol”. How can the bouncer know? This is Burning Man, after all. If they mess up in the club, they can be kicked out, but it’s more complicated to do that on a moving mutant vehicle. The driver, who may not even be able to see their passengers, has to stop whenever the randoms want to get on and off. If you have to go somewhere that wasn’t your original destination for these randoms (like the medical center), the gas costs are on you. The insurance? That’s on the art car owners too. Will it be a challenge, to insure a mutant vehicle that is not street legal for public use by people who are unknown to the driver and are likely to be intoxicated? One would think so.

We would love to hear comments and feedback from Art Car owners, and the rest of the community about these rules.

[Update 7/21/14 5:10pm]

As expected, this is generating a lot of comments on both sides of the argument. This is not a post about “all the art cars that didn’t give me a ride”, it’s a post about “more rules from BMOrg”. I don’t see any point in listing the former, unless someone absolutely cannot believe that there are art cars at Burning Man that are difficult to ride around on for randoms.

If you are running a crowd-funding campaign for your Art Car, it seems logical that “a ride on the Art Car” would be one of the prize items. BMOrg’s policy seems to be aimed squarely at stopping that.

One commenter has pointed out that the story is even worse than I have described it. The devil is in the details. They were told that BMOrg have a “3 strikes and you’re out” policy, if there is a complaint that your art car didn’t pick up someone who wanted a ride, they can and will give you a strike. BMOrg does not inform you if you get a strike. There seems to be no formality to this system. For example, is there some sort of appeal process? Can you find out who lodged a strike against you? Basically, it seems like you’ll be guilty unless you have a way to prove that you were innocent.

Is this policy friendly to Art Cars? Or making life hard for them? Discuss.
.

FUEL! We’ve been calling for it to be opened up to the general population, and now it has – somewhat. Black Rock City has a gas station for Mutant Vehicles, and a fuel delivery service for generators. Now Theme Camps and Art Cars can refuel to their heart’s content (as long as they get there in time, they’re not open 24/7). There are 2 different vendors (and maybe even more in the future).

Before you rush to the comments to tell us “this is nothing new”, yes yes, we know, despite official claims that “the only thing we sell is ice and coffee”, it has been possible to buy gas and other stuff at Burning Man in the past. Now it’s out in the open, and seems pretty accessible. You can’t get gas for your car, RV, or tax-free motorbike, but at least the sound systems get to keep thumping and the Art Cars get to keep on conveying.

If you want to be radically self-reliant, you still can…up to a point. There is a Nevada state limit of 1000 lbs of fuel that can be transported per vehicle, including container weight, which according to BMOrg works out to about 2 x 55 gallon drums.

We recommend calling in advance to pre-arrange delivery to your camp. The gas station is only open 3 hours a day, don’t be surprised if there’s a line…

Sierra Fuels and Haymaker are two of our approved fuel vendors this year. Theme Camps may contact one of these vendors pre-Playa to make arrangements for their fueling needs on Playa. Although fuel prices do fluctuate frequently, these vendors have agreed to lock in a price range for you when you make your arrangements. Black Rock City is working closely to ensure pricing is fair and reasonable. If you are not quoted a price when you make your arrangements, please ask for one.

These vendors are the only Black Rock City-approved vendors … others are not prohibited, but should refer to the Fuel Vendor Guidelines found here.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Your generator should be large enough to run up to 30 hours in between fills.
• Camps must keep a clear path to the generator(s).
• The fill pipe accessible area should be no more than 150ft from the access road.
• That area also needs to be clear of sources of ignition or open flames.

Although arrangements can be made on Playa if you decide you have fuel needs, vendors cannot always guarantee the ability to meet your needs if no previous conversations have been held. Please don’t wait … make your arrangements today!

Haymaker 804-647-6132 or Email: info@haymaker.net

Sierra Fuels (775) 322-2111 or Email sierrafuels@gmail.com

Haymaker will be operating a Mutant Vehicle fueling station on Playa, August 23 through August 31, on the outskirts of the camping area near 10:00 and L. Each day the fuel station will be open from 3pm to 6pm. Any vehicles with a “Night Time ONLY” Permit should use the city streets and travel along L to the fuel station. This option can be used for other generators ON BOARD and used for Mutant Vehicle purposes (i.e. light, sound, etc.).

Mutant Vehicle Owners interested in participating in this opportunity should email Haymaker at info@haymaker.com. Once contact has been established and you have a plan, you will need to call 804-647-6132 to set up a payment plan.

When making reservations, you will need to provide:

• A contact name, email address and phone number
• Camp name
• Camp location
• Type of fuel
• Type and size of vehicle or equipment to be fueled

On site, Vendors will operate as best they can in line with the arrangements they have made with you. Please remember, it is Burning Man and unexpected situations like weather delays, equipment failures and road closures may arise.

Please note BRC cannot be held responsible for the performance of external vendors. 

Messages for the fuel vendor can be left with a fuel team representative at the “Fuel Funnel”, located at Playa Info at 1:00 Inner Center Camp. The “Fuel Funnel” hours are 1pm-3pm, August 24 through August 30, and messages will be relayed to the fuel vendor daily. Pre-event, messages can be relayed to the fuel vendors through Playa Info.

There is a 25 gallon minimum fill. If you wish to obtain fuel and store it for later use you must have 4-5, 5 gallon gas/diesel jugs that are CARB and EPA certified.

NOTE: This opportunity is for Mutant Vehicles and Theme Camp generators only. This is not to be used for personal vehicles or other equipment.

Will there be even more vending to come in the future? Time will tell…

Last year my Burgin sister and I watched the Cargo Cult burn from on top of BalanceVille, an art car sleigh that raises 52 feet in the air with a scissor lift. Next to us, with a small blinky light in her hair, was Academy Award winning actress Susan Sarandon. She was super chilled, not an uppity celebrity in any way – and loving it.

“People made art for no benefit — it was made just for the interaction of it all,” Sarandon said. “People came and built huge statues and temples and all kinds of things. After a week, they take it down and it’s just gone . . . it was interesting because it was nice to see art that was created without any commerce.”

She’s just done a great interview with the Daily Beast, talking about Burning Man, psychedelics and her past love affair with The Thin White Duke.

From the Daily Beast:

In person, you can see why it proved such a gargantuan task. Few actresses—nay, people—have bitch-slapped Father Time quite like Sarandon. Combine those age-defying looks with stellar acting chops and a no-bullshit attitude and you’ve got a woman who marches to the beat of her own drummer—dating thirtysomethings and remaining prolific in ageist Hollywood.I heard you went to Burning Man last year, but sadly couldn’t make it this year.

Parasols and Celebrities at Cargo Cult

It’s fabulous. I can’t go this year because my daughter’s having a baby around that time, so I don’t think I’d feel very free to indulge if I was waiting for a message to see if she’s gone into labor. I went all around on a Segway and a bicycle, which was great, and even though people sometimes recognized me and said, “Oh, it’s so cool you’re here!” it wasn’t like walking the streets of New York. The art was amazing. You’ll find fantastical stuff like four-story women, and when the light comes up, a half-naked woman with a parasol. Despite the fact that there was more of a police presence there, it was a lot of fun and I’d definitely go back. 

Did you take any psychedelics? You kind of have to, right?

Well, it’s pretty psychedelic to begin with. But, yeah, I’m not new to the idea of mushrooms. I don’t really like chemical things, really. Timothy Leary was a friend of mine, so that acid was nice and pure, but I’m not really looking for chemicals, and I don’t like to feel speedy. But I’ve done Ayahuasca and I’ve done mushrooms and things like that. But I like those drugs in the outdoors—I’m not a city-tripper. My attitude about marijuana or anything is, “Don’t be stoned if you have to pretend you’re not,” so I’d never do drugs if I was taking care of my kids. I like doing it in the Grand Canyon, or in the woods. You want to be prepared and not have responsibilities. It does remind you of your space in the universe—your place in the universe—and reframe things for you. I think you can have some very profound experiences.

The late Steve Jobs said taking LSD was a very profound experience, and one of the most important experiences of his life.

But it didn’t make him a kinder person. It’s not going to solve all your problems. But, yes, I’m totally supportive of that means to reframe your universe.

And marijuana was recently decriminalized in New York.

It got decriminalized in small amounts. It will be legal everywhere, and that will cause a very interesting tipping point. Certainly, if more people were smoking instead of drinking, people don’t get mean on weed, don’t beat up their wives on weed, and don’t drive crazy on weed. They just get hungry, don’t go out of the house, or laugh a lot. I think it would make for a much more gentle world.

Although edibles are sort of a different ballgame. If I was driving and munching on a brownie I’d stand a really good chance of putting my car into a ravine.

Well, it needs to be treated as a controlled substance in that you don’t give it to kids, and you don’t drive. Certainly, liquor has caused many more deaths. There’s never been a death by marijuana. And the money spent to incarcerate people, the money spent on the drug war, and the fact that cartels are running wild, it’s crazy.

…I got married really young, which knocked out most of my 20s to be fucking around. There have been a couple of famous, pretty interesting ones. One rock star, and another actor. But I’m pretty much a nester and tend to be monogamous.

Who was the rock star?

Bowie.

Get out. That man is a legend. Did that happen around the time of The Hunger?

Yeah. He’s worth idolizing. He’s extraordinary. That was a really interesting period. I wasn’t supposed to have kids, and I’m the oldest of nine and had mothered all of them, so I wasn’t ever in a mode to where I was looking to settle down and raise a family, so that definitely changes the gene pool you’re dipping into. But Bowie’s just a really interesting person, and so bright. He’s a talent, and a painter, and… he’s great.

Follow @susansarandon

Agreed. That Thelma & Louise reunion selfie you took with Geena Davis really broke the Internet.

There was a whole photo session and then they do this interview, and then I just thought, “Let’s take one of us.” It was very spur of the moment. And you know what? My dog tweeted it.

Your dog tweeted it?

Yeah. My dog, Ms. Penny Puppy has a site, and she tweeted it. And we had no idea that it would do that. We had none. It was just a joke!

[read the full interview here]

 

cartoon by Christopher

Our cartoonist Christopher has graciously shared his art with us- thanks, Christopher! He’s so humble that he didn’t even ask us for help with his Indiegogo  campaign to help upgrade the Soul Train. He’s gonna get it anyway! Come on people, show some love, give back to a giver, let’s help the Soul Train.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/upgrade-the-soul-train

Burning Man is a loud place. It’s time for me to step up!

The Soul Train is my gift to the Burning Man community, and guess what?  I would like to give some more!  There’s nothing I love better then driving it around, making people happy, having instant dance parties wherever I go, and bringing Old School, R&B and Disco to the Playa.  I BRING DA FUNK!

Donate here.

One of the big events at Caravansary is going to happen at Embrace, an 80-foot high statue of two figures embracing. Dancetronauts are organizing “Deep Space Embrace”, which promises to be one of the biggest gatherings of art cars at the annual Black Rock Desert event. It starts at 2100 on August 28th (Thursday) and runs til 0300 August 29th.

In addition to Dancetronaut’s Strip Ship, more than 40 art cars have confirmed their attendance. We are pleased to announce some more additions that have not been officially listed yet:

Ohm Kar

Disco Ball

The Spermmobiles

Playa One

Playa Penetrator

Dawn Patrol

Please let us know if you are bringing an Art Car to the Deep Space Embrace party that isn’t listed yet and we will update.

Dancetronauts will be releasing an album soon.

“Deep Space Embrace!”

The Dancetronauts’ Strip Ship and Bass Station will be parked for an open playa dance party hosted at Embrace–80’ tall lovers locked in eternal love. What better way to live, love, laugh and dance than at this epic party towered by a symbolic art installation and surrounded by over 35 of your favorite mutant vehicles with additional sound and fire effects!

The Bass Station lineup will include resident Dancetronaut DJs and several special guests. The evening will feature fire dancing and performances by our breath-taking bass kittens–the Dancetrohotties! Among several other fire troops.

Immerse yourself in good vibes and deep BASS!

Special thanks to our friends at the Pier Group for so graciously lending us their massive and beautiful art installation and allowing us to throw their official EMBRACE camp/team party!

Tentative Lineup:
9 pm-10 pm: TBA
10 pm-11 pm: TBA
11 pm-1 am: Dancetronauts
1 am-2 am: divaDanielle & Charlie Unicorn
2 am-3 am: TBA

Additional fire effects provided by:
The Flaming Boogie Man Castle: http://mentalhall.com/mentalhall/Vid7.html

Art cars and fire dancers interested in participating are encouraged to register. Registration is not mandatory, but will help us with placement and sound.
Please register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MMiXq36r-ffM2_hX2dg5k-Vm04kn8tg0daIsV_oXgsA/viewform?usp=send_form

Do you want your art car added to this list? Join our party! And link up with our massive sound!
–Dancetronauts Strip Ship & Bass Station https://www.facebook.com/dancetronauts

–Anostraca
–APhrodite
–Barbies Mobile Whorehouse
–The BiPolar Express
–The Bleachers http://goo.gl/ZT2vvT
–Charlie the Unicorn https://www.facebook.com/CampCharlie
–Chester on Fire https://www.facebook.com/chesterartcar
–Chlamydia Playatanium
–Dancing Peacock
–Desert Flower
–Discofish www.facebook.com/thediscofish
–Disco Jelly
–DoBee
–Emergence http://goo.gl/WpFy7t
–The Flaming Boogie Man Castle  http://mentalhall.com/mentalhall/Vid7.html
–Fucking Flamingo
–The Grabber
–KokoMotive http://goo.gl/lvff2A
–Lego Truck https://www.facebook.com/pages/LEGO-Truck/270767059602818
–Luna Cat Rover
–Mars Rover https://www.facebook.com/MarsRoverArtCar
–MEGALIFTIK
–Misfit Oasis
–The Mothership http://goo.gl/AOm2Om
–Mushroom Patch
–Pilot Fish
–El Pulpo Mecanico www.facebook.com/ElPulpoMecanico
–Red Dragon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKWmFWRVLlU
–Red Rooster Ranch www.facebook.com/groups/78273083163
–Robot Resurrection https://www.facebook.com/RobotResurrection
–Shroomtown Boomtown
–The Soul Train http://goo.gl/BOJ7mJ
–The TreeHouse https://www.facebook.com/groups/117130008439709
–USS Nevada http://goo.gl/pH78Vu
–XUZA www.facebook.com/groups/xazuartcar
–Wall of Light

Thanks to Sick Dog from Ohm Kamp, a new camp this year at 10 & D, for this unofficial list of unofficial stations. There are 30 on the dial so far. If you have any more, please comment. The official one is BMIR, 94.5 FM. I’m listening to it now, they’re singing about heroin. Then some shazam-worthy hip-hop. Then some 80’s synth-pop. Sometimes you get lucky there, sometimes the choice of music and guests leaves a lot to be desired.

FM is increasingly being used on the Playa as a way to synchronize music between art cars. Circling the wagons, and circling the speakers, to make an instant stage. So the signals will not be the same strength as you could expect in a major city, or from your XM satellite radio. This is brought to you by Burners, in the middle of nowhere, running off generators. I bet there will be some sick beats…

I am very pleased to announce the newest edition to OHM!

“Ohm Kamp Pirate Radio”
Broadcasting live 24/7 on 100.5 on your FM dial!

Dancetronauts are running an Indiegogo campaign to help them purchase the fuel and propane needed to bring the popular Strip Ship out to the Playa. There are 11 days left to go in the campaign, and they’re asking Burners to please give anything they can. For $20 they’ll send you their new album. Giving more will put you in the draw to win 1 of 50 tickets to Burning Man that they have available to their lucky fans.

Danctronaut’s Deep Space Embrace party will feature more than 60 art cars.

From Indiegogo:

Dancetronauts are reaching out to our friends & fans. Need fuel to make Burning Man ’14 a reality. Santa Cruz, California, United States Music

Rockstar Librarian, President of the Galaxy, 2008

Some information is coming out about the musical talent that will be gifted to you for free by generous Burners this year. Keep checking this page because we will update it. If you have more information, please share in the comments.Rockstar Librarian usually produces a comprehensive music guide right before the burn. She will be releasing it on Tuesday, August 19. Please donate to help her bring hard copies to the Playa.

 

Burners.Me daily picks:

Catch Space Cowboys with Pete Hudson’s Eternal Return for the Monday opening party. Adnan Sharif for Tutu Tuesday at Disco Knights. Check out the Soul Train dance party at 5pm at The Man on Wednesday, before heading to Chus and Ceballos at Distrikt then Dave Seaman at Root Society. Thursday night: Deep Space Embrace with the Dancetronauts. Juno Reactor at White Ocean on Friday PsyDay. Blow your mind guest DJs at Root Society Saturday. Lee Burridge Sunday at Pink Mammoth. And don’t miss Carl Cox and friends at Playground Experience, Friday and Saturday night.

 

Soul Train

Come join the Iconic The Soul Train art car in the funkiest dance party on the Playa! This is the classic dance through two lines of people stylee and cheers will be given for originality and energy. Bring your funky clothes and get FUNKED!

The party starts at 5:00 pm at the Man, on Wednesday. Come be a part of history as we break the world record for largest Soul train!

White Ocean

Pink Mammoth

Mutant Vehicle at Afrika Burn

When superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold announced the 2014 lineup at White Ocean, I was over the moon – even though I’m not at Burning Man this year. We declared it “victory for ravers”. It seems Burnier-Than-Thous didn’t see it the same way, and White Ocean got slammed. Why? Because they made a flyer with the acts listed, and it looked a little too commercial. Never mind that most of the other sound camps also made flyers, and have been doing that for years. White Ocean had to issue an apology.

From the SF Bay Guardian:

“As you know, a few weeks ago the entire White Ocean line up went public, in a relatively big way. To add insult to injury, it also listed ‘Presenting’ parties in the most un-Burner like fashion! We know that this greatly upset each and everyone of you, and for good reason! We agree this is a huge failure, on our part! There’s no excuse!!!”

The post went on to say the camp had hired a mainstream promoter, who “proceeded to create and implement a full promotions campaign, as if he was working for some music festival in Europe. That was his perception of Burning Man, an elaborately modified festival in the desert that doesn’t sell beer.”

I mean, really – they bring Dave Seaman AND Juno Reactor to the Playa – FOR FREE – and they have to APOLOGIZE?

This shit is getting ridiculous.

burners were forced to confront the question, “Are we actually becoming just a music festival in the desert that doesn’t sell beer?” As a nightlife writer, I’ve been getting emails for years touting different pre-BM fundraisers, innovative theme camp designs, and dance performances. But it’s only been in the past couple that I’ve been getting press releases from record labels announcing artists “appearing one night only!” at Burning Man. DJs routinely brag about multiple BM experiences. (One PR person even accidentally offered me press tickets!)

“It’s true that the current generation does see Burning Man mostly through the prism of music,” Syd Gris of the music-powerhouse Opulent Temple camp told me over the phone. “Most of the draw now may be not for the original communal experience, but the mind-blowing spectacle of seeing so many of the world’s biggest DJs playing on giant fire sculptures.

“Ever since the music festival circuit became such a huge thing in the past decade, there’s been the possibility that Burning Man may end up just another stop on it.”

Even Maid Marian seems to realize it. She goes to festivals all around the world, she knows what’s going on. Her words in the BRC Weekly look like back-pedalling to me.

They’re “blaming” White Ocean for interest in the OMG sale? That doesn’t even make sense.

Rockstar Librarian’s music guide this year runs to 34 pages. Music is a huge reason why people come to Burning Man. Is Larry really going to “un-welcome” all of those camps? The event is not sold out because of TED talks and the Souk.

Is this why Robot Heart published their yoga schedule, but not their music one?

Why is this allowed, but the DJ lineup isn’t? What fucking “harm” comes from a DJ lineup? Surely “40% Virgins” and a $40 tax is more harmful than knowing where and when the world’s best DJs are playing.

Billionaire Burner (and BMP Director) Chris Bently spent more than $25,000 just on the door to his Nautilus art car. Did he ruin Burning Man?

Meanwhile we have this “rich people are ruining Burning Man” meme. Where the fuck did this come from? Rich people have always been going to Burning Man. How do you think major camps can hand out free drinks to thousands of people? People spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on Art Cars that only get used for one week out of the year. These aren’t poor people. You know all those flames you see? Every time one goes off, that’s costing someone money. What about the really big flames, shooting high into the sky? They’re costing more money.

Where does this money come from? It’s certainly not from BMOrg, I hope by now we’ve demonstrated that clearly to our readers. Burners fund Burning Man, not BMOrg. Sure, there are Kickstarters for camps and art projects, and people contribute to them. What kind of people give money to a Burning Man Kickstarter art project? People so rich that they can afford to just give their money away, for art and entertainment. They never get thanks or credit for this, and they’re not seeking it. Most of the world does not have enough money to piss away on a party – so how rich is rich?

More than half of Black Rock City’s citizens make more than US$50,000 per year. That’s enough to put them in the top 0.3% of wealth in the entire world. By definition, Burners are rich – rich enough to affored a ticket, provisions for a week in the desert, shelter and transportation costs, plus drugs. The main thing being burned at this event is money.

What’s really ruining Burning Man is the “Me” generation, and these Burnier-Than-Thou rule enforcers. Larry Harvey is quick to dismiss the anarchists and punks. He and his partner Jerry James brought their kids to the very first Burning Man. The kids radically participated by building an effigy of a dog, which they also burned. It’s clear that Larry is more interested in creating a family-friendly event than throwing the world’s best rave.

Which is a shame, because he’s throwing the world’s best rave.

Can Burning Man continue on its current trajectory? Absolutely. CBS News anchors want to come, now that they’ve heard about the gourmet chefs and sherpas. It’s very succcessful, it’s world famous, and there’s no end in sight. Ticket prices can keep increasing. Now vehicle pass prices can keep increasing too. The secondary market will continue to thrive, and all of the OMGSTEP tomfoolery just fuels it.

Will it continue to be awesome? Probably. There are some fundamental elements to this spectacle that will always make it entertaining. There are also some fundamental elements that mean it will always be a pain in the ass, as the poor souls who took 29 hours to get in from Gerlach can attest.

Will Black Rock City continue to be populated by the Burners who built it? Unlikely. The population is ageing, and maybe being deliberately disinvited. This year it’s not just me taking a break, many veteran Burners I know are sitting it out. Sure, most of us will return, repeatedly. But some of the spark has gone. The urge to create a cool camp and share it with everyone, is tempered by the Broners and the Takers and the MOOPers and the Haters. The more rules you add, the more creativity you stifle.

Paul Oakenfold said that he first attended Burning Man in the 90’s, and he’s been looking for other Burning Mans ever since. Me too! As one of the world’s biggest DJs, a triple Grammy-nominated music producer who used to be the A & R guy for a major record label, Oakey has been so big on the scene for so long he has a solid claim for being the creator of it. If there are other Burning Mans in the world, he’s someone who would be in a position to know. Being one of the Founders of EDM is quite a bit higher up the totem pole than being one of the Founders of Burning Man, a 70,000 person week-long, three decades old American event. Facebook lists half a billion people who Like Electronic (Dance) Music.

“The Regionals!”, cry the Burnier-Than-Thous and the Kool Aid drinkers. “The future is in the Regionals, they are like Burning Man used to be!” And perhaps that might become true. The event has been going for almost 30 years. Regional burns have been going on for almost 20 years. What will be different about the next 10 years for Regionals, compared to the last 10?

Big Art at Afrika Burn

It seems like Afrika Burn could be a contender for “another Burning Man”. They have been going for 8 years, and their population has yet to exceed 10,000. Africa is a long way to go for most of the world, all manner of shots are required, and many international visitors are going to be scared off by Ebola now. The Burning Man Australia facebook group is growing rapidly, since many Americans have always wanted to go to Australia, and this could be an excuse for their long dreamed of vacation. Australia already has some well established, awesome parties, that it will have to compete with, like Earthcore and Rainbow Serpent. The promoters who are successful in Australia have been so for a long time, and their talent is at a globally competitive level. It would take a lot for a new festival to usurp them on their home turf. There are logistical and economic challenges in getting art cars to Burning Seed, or to these much larger events, not to mention the extreme climate and deadly fauna. It is not a culture given to excessive volunteering. Australians would rather have a barbecue and go surfing than build a big man in their garage just to burn it. I’m generalizing, of course.

The main problem I see with “the future is in the Regionals” is BMOrg themselves. They are not the world’s most organized organization! Their efficiency, professionalism, and consistency are not up to the standards of, say, Google. The founders are finally getting the chance to cash in on their decades of work, hooray for them. They all seem to be ageing remarkably well, but none of them are dewy-eyed Millenials any more. How much fire and drive do they have left for this new, global start-up? It’s an order of magnitude increase in the complexity and stress of their Project. When their big payday finally comes, will they still be motivated to manage this venture? Maybe they’ll want to kick back and enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Sure, the corporate structure is transitioning, with some of their non-profits merging and new for-profit private companies being formed. New revenue streams like royalties, merchandise and gasoline are being developed. New talent is being brought in. Will the new suits be suit-ier than the old suits? And how does any of this help the Regionals – or, indeed, Burners?

Their web site lists only 20 or so official Regional events. One commenter here said this is an indication of how little most of the Regionals actually depend on BMOrg for.

To put Burning Man’s challenge for the next stage in Silicon Valley terms: can this business model scale?

From the core of this thing, emanates a desire to control. Control seems to trump personal financial gain, or Gifting, in BMOrg’s decision making. Can they grow from 70,000 people contained inside a pentagon in an American desert, to 700,000 people in more than 100 events? Maybe. Can they still maintain the control they’ve become accustomed to, with the organizational structure that got them to where we are today? Unlikely. Will volunteers continue to be motivated to work for free, as the Founders start to pile up the millions, and the media continues to harp on about all the wealth that’s there? That remains to be seen. Maybe there will be a new career path for low-income Burners, in becoming Sherpas to the rich.

Even if you upgrade the entire management team, you’re not guaranteed scaleability. What is it, exactly, that they’re trying to replicate? The Ten Principles were only ever meant as guidelines, and most Burners probably couldn’t list all 10. Their inherent contradictions are confusing even for people who speak English as their first language. If it’s Radical Inclusion, why can’t you wear logos if you want? Why all the hating on successful people and celebrities? If it’s Gifting and Decommodification, how come we keep getting asked to donate more money to them? Is there a point where they Gift something back to us? If it’s Civic Responsibility and Communal Effort, how come so many Broners contribute nothing and have more time to party?

So…what if there were something else? Is the world big enough for more than one Burning Man?

What if there was a party full of art cars, where people could build whatever camps they wanted, but it didn’t have the cult-like 10 Principles? What if “acculturation” and a 20-page survival guide were not required? What if there were trash cans and recycling? What if you could get water if you needed it? What if the layout was different?

I’m not saying that Black Rock City needs to have those things. It’s on its course, it’s changing as it grows, and the bigger it gets the more mainstream it’s going to get.

https://twitter.com/katyperry/status/504764245892800512

Next thing we know, Hillary Clinton will be there. Bieber will be live on the Esplanade, all tatted up and ready to rumble.

Burners create Black Rock City. Black Rock City is Burning Man, not BMOrg. If there was another city created by Burners, that had many of the core elements, but was also a bit different, would you want to check that out?

I’m talking something major, with lots of art cars that you can ride around on, not events like EDC or Ultra or Decompression where you might see a couple of art cars, but you can’t ride around on them until you see the sunrise over the mountains in some random location. Something environmentally sustainable, artistic, built on kindness and gratitude – and cool as fuck.

Burners are some of the smartest, raddest, sexiest, most creative, AND richest people on the planet. BMOrg might not be able to scale their organization and their business model to ten times its current size, but there is no doubt in my mind that Burners can. There are far more of us than there are BMOrg volunteers, or indoctrinated Burnier-Than-Thous.

The question is, do people want that? If they build it, will you come?

Next…part ii – the Introduction 

Burners are trickling back from the Playa, and reporting on some of the shenanigans.

Marsea:   Just spoke to my friends who are fresh off the playa. An amazing burning time was had by all. They didn’t notice any difference in participation. They had full on fun, meaningful experience and expression and celebration of creativity. Burning Man is NOT over!!!!!

Burner Stephen: Just returned from the playa after a three year break and could see changes in just that short time period. Our theme camp ran an open bar, so we got to meet and talk with many people; seemed like there were many more virgins and college aged kids than previous years. Feels much more like a Vegas experience to me than it used to with the increased focus on the blinky lights, bigger and better art cars with private parties requiring wrist-bands and flying in famous EDM DJs. Still an event with all forms of human expression, however, I can feel the invocation of a class system of high-rollers versus everyone else that “walk the strip”.

Veteran Pam: Best burn ever. Our neighbors were the nicest. Loved the rain! Kept things nice and cool, low dust, a little disappointed by the art. (6 year burner camped with a 12 year burner started in 96. His best ever too

Burner Regina: Very beautiful year. Was a bit crowded but had lots of fun!

Veteran Brian: 12th year, possibly the best. I’m convinced the vibe you give is the vibe you get. Doesn’t matter if it’s your first year or 20th, Burning Man was once an event and now it’s becoming a movement. Most people who make it out there “get it” by the weeks end. I was afraid of the growth, but all this new energy is adding new elements to the event, like more live music, bigger productions and just people having a much better concept of what the event really is.

Veteran Stephen Brooks, master of Permaculture from Punta Mona, Costa Rica said:

Wow wow wow!! Burning man once again was BEYOND all I could have imagined. Thanks to all who I crossed paths with. The magic ended with an invite on a private plane direct to Oakland airport. I feel so grateful for all the magic and clearer and more focused than ever!

The private plane wasn’t the first luxury of this year’s burn. He elaborates further:

A glimpse of the week….. I married my dear friends Edward Zaydelman and Brooke Coleman at the temple. Gave two talks out and about and a Burning man radio interview and I served as the bridge between our controversial “fancy camp” and the rest of Burning Man. It may have been ultra fancy and there was lots of talk about it… I had the opportunity to orient each of the 120 guests to the ethos and philosophy of Burning man and truly helped guide their experience and make sure that our camp fully embraced gifting and was as welcoming as a camp could possibly be. It felt like a true success.

Congratulations Ed and Brooke. We wish you all the best for a happy and successful life together. And congratulations Stephen for pulling off a successful “fancy camp” for 120 people, and acculturating them.

Burner Tatianna:

To the fuck head dude bro that chased and tackled my boyfriend off of his bike on burn night after he heckled you and your friends for not having lights: FUCK YOU! He yelled at you for not having lights because we both almost ran y’all over. Physical agression for heckling is not part of the game. I hope you get run over by a fucking art car and get pulled over on your way out and caught with drugs. You’re an embarassment to the community.

Too soon for art car jokes, Tatianna. Too soon. We do hate darkwads, though, they are a danger to all of us as well as to themselves. They deserve to be heckled. Or at least sent straight to the Blinky Lights camp to re-up.

Burner Tenbears got told off for nudity:

So apparently you’re not allowed to be naked near the Man early Thursday morning because someone else brought a baby to Burning Man? What the F&^^$ has happened to Burning Man? You can’t be naked because there is a baby at the event? Leave the kids at home folks if you can’t handle your kids seeing naked people.

The rebbi has some good suggestions:

This Thread is a Positive Discussion on how to change Burning Man, before it Dies…

I think the Whole Event needs to Rethink its “Chi”, and make Changes Accordingly…

For me 1.: No Weapons within the City’s Boundaries. Disarm the Police at the Event.

Christopher, our cartoonist, had a run-in with a Burnier-Than-Thou.

I wanna share. I guess because I love reading the occasional debate in this group and love hearing both sides of an opinion, even if I disagree with them.

So every year at Burn night I play a specific playlist from the Soul Train. When the fireworks start, the Star Spangled Banner, followed by the 1812 Overture. By that time the fireworks are done and the man is simply burning… then I play “Disco Inferno”, “Fire” and “Burning Down the House”. Then I just play music as usual until The Man falls. I’ve been doing this enough years to know most (if not all) folks really appreciate this.

All the really big art cars got out there early, so I had to drive to the 12:15 side to find an open spot. I found one, pulled in and parked, told my passengers “We’re parking here”. The driver of a nearby art car walked over and said “Do you play during the burn?” I said “Yeah, I play the whole time.”. He said “Dammit…” and walked away. Then a ranger came over (presumably after being complained to) and asked me to turn down my speakers a bit. I never argue with anyone, so I complied…. although considering how noisy burn night is, I thought it was an odd request. I also remember thinking “If I didn’t show up here, a louder art car would simply park here and do the same thing.” But he moved his car several yards further from me, so I thought everything was cool.

Then the fireworks started, and I started playing my burn set. Then a woman came from that other art car, stood in front of me, flipping me off and was literally yelling and screaming at me. She was clearly NOT LIKING what I was doing. I think she even kicked my art car. I say “I think….” because I felt like I was doing nothing wrong and was ignoring her, but she certainly kicked her leg AT my car, not sure if she made actual contact. At that moment I felt I had to actually pay attention to her, because then she was looking underneath my car, as if she was looking for something to unplug. Finally she walked away.

I’ve been on the planet long enough to know that one has to have a thick skin around certain people…. and of course, you can’t please everyone. So I pretty much let it go, but the experience did weird me out a bit.

Thoughts?

It’s Freebird all over again, this time without the Temple. I guess this is what constitutes “Art Car Road Rage” at Burning Man. They didn’t think his cartoons, his art car giving tons of free rides for years, or his amazing contribution to the city through the Black Rock Roller Disco meant anything, compared to their requirement for Burning Man to be a quiet place.

Hmmm, yes, that makes sense, I want somewhere quiet so I go to literally the world’s largest rave with the largest number of sound systems and stages over the most area. And then I really want it to be quiet at the climactic moment of the entire week long event. Sounds fair to everyone else who also chose to spend their vacation time there! [/sarcasm]

Christopher’s playlist was not exactly to my taste, but then neither was BMIR’s selection of dark gothic death-rock. To each their own, though. Surely, if there is one event in the whole world where you’re allowed to play your music without getting told to turn it down, it’s Burning Man, right? An event featuring many of the world’s best DJs for free with your ticket price, which happens in a remote desert powered by ten thousand or more generators and  a thousand or more 10kW+ sound systems. In which the many large music stages are packed with people, because of how popular they are with the residents of the city.

The solution’s simple to me: if you don’t like the music next to you at Burning Man, turn your own music up! If your stereo isn’t loud enough, go somewhere else in the 1000 acres to do whatever your trip is at the time.

It seems not everyone agrees. Burner Karen says: Reflective question on Burningman – why do the art cars have to play loud music by every burning art piece. I have heard enough dub step for my ears to bleed (and I actually like it), but what I don’t get to hear in life is the incredible sound of the raw power of a fire burning a structure. I would love to have heard that sound.

….Burner Nick: This was especially annoying by the large art piece made up of many white cubes / speakers that was playing classical music with choreographed visuals. I stopped by to show a friend and an art car was parked right next to it blasting its own music. Rude.

Burner Jill: I think having everyone wear headphones is the best way, then they can listen to whatever they want. silence is something that ANYone can break for EVERYONE. but choosing what you listen to privately? that breaks no ones silence and silence is WAY harder to come by. That said, and I hat dubstep too, I do like stumbling upon a dance party. I just don’t like having the value of silence taken for granted so much.

Burner Marsea: Interestingly, a few years ago there was a Giant Bass on the playa and it actually played, but the bMORG wouldn’t let them turn it on because it was “too loud” for the other art pieces in the vicinity. I thought that was hilarious given the noise level of art cars and everything in general. And I thought it was tragic that they were trying to put that much control over the art. Safety, yes…but noise? Ridiculous. If you don’t like the sound somewhere, walk away and come back later.

Alex: the silence is not a right or a rule, and at no point during the rest of BRC’s week long existence are you ever even given the option. Sound is everywhere. Therefore, why expect it somewhere and force the stifling of someone’s expression of tribute to a person who helped build the damn city.

We’ll let Reg have the last word:

You do realize, don’t you, that if Burning Man were tailored to just your likes and dislikes …you’d be the only one there.

TTITD is chaotic by intent, design, and execution. It assaults all the known senses …and some you didn’t know about. And this is exactly what it should do. I came home fried, burnt, exhausted, 4 pounds lighter, sore, badly in need of sleep, ready to kill for a cold glass of milk, and will probably blow playa clay pebbles out of my nose for the next week.

To you whiners, let me quote the words of an unknown sage: “You’re doin’ it wrong.”

Next year, try the entertainment section of your local paper. It will list any number of structured, orderly, properly loud, PC events at which you can lean over to the person next to you and whisper, “Gawd I’m glad at not at Burning Man.” …and you know what? The rest of us will be glad too.

…and people wonder why I often say I’m glad to be old. Too many of the current gens are largely self-entitled, self-involved twits.

(Now ask me how I really feel)

Here are some photos from Burners:

Limor Ness – “first time Burners turned die hard Burners”

photo: Peter Wardlaw

Shagadelica art car to the left. Embrace was a $266,000 structure made with 170,000 lbs of would that they burned Photo: Frank Sindermann

photo: Peter Wardlaw

Dennis Kucinich gives a talk. Photo: Stephen Brooks

photo by Eli

photo: Eleanor Preger

It seems that, behind every weary merchant visiting the oasis with a caravan of treasures to gift, is a team of Sherpas to wipe their ass. According to the New York Times, the rich people of Burning Man try to “one up” each other with the lavishness of their camps. Whether it’s prototype inflatable dhomes or stackable cubes or 5-star teepees, just having an RV is no longer enough.

Many Burners have expressed outrage at this behavior, believing that “Radical Self-Reliance” is at odds with “getting others to do your shit for you”. Personally, I think a designated driver is a major safety issue. It sucks to be that person at Burning Man, so if a few people can chip in and pay a driver, Burning Man will survive. I can’t cook, so I don’t mind if someone else cooks for me. If I have to buy that person a ticket, and give them a place in my RV, that’s fine. “Oh you can’t come to Burning Man, you can’t cook”.

I think the deeper shame in this is that the Super-Sherpa-Burners have lost the point. If you want to one-up other rich people at Burning Man, don’t do it on the level of creature comforts and luxury goods that you airlift in with private planes.

OUT-DO EACH OTHER WITH THE ART

Perhaps one way to facilitate this would be promoting a closer link between Big Art and Art Cars, and the Theme Camps behind them. As in, “we’re Thunderdome Camp, and our Art Contribution is Thunderdome”. Or, “we’re Star Star and our Art Contribution is Daily Circus performances”. Right now, shit is going on everywhere, there’s cool shit everywhere to look at, but it’s all pretty anonymous.

Burning Man has been called the Special Olympics of Art – just getting there is good enough. The all-inclusive nature of the art means that there is no requirement for talent, nor indeed any form of reward. There is no real after-market for art of this type, and whatever there is has been cobbled together by Burners. Logistics are left up to the creative types, who each have to figure it out for themselves. BMOrg seem more interested in the artists working at their event(s), than getting their art into the broader community independently of their tentacles. And their answer to “people tagging the art” is not “promote the art as sacred”, it’s “more rules”.

Burners pay inflated ticket prices, and only a tiny amount of that goes to the artists – and gets split over just 63 projects. It’s about $12 per ticket – less than the ticket processing fee, or the government cut for all the LEOs.

Many of the artists who are awarded Art Honorarium grants are wealthy in their own right. Why award the project to them, and not to the starving artists who can’t produce a piece without money to buy the materials? The answer lies in politics as much as merit or reason or justice. There are no guidelines for art grants, it’s at the whim of BMOrg, and if they prefer to favor their friends when they come to dispensing our money, who’s stopping them?

If the rich people were to direct the focus of Burner attention away from their own personal comforts and vanities, and towards the contributions they make to this awesome party, I’m sure that would ease the ire of many in the community who feel passionately upset by gentrification.

Will Smith chose not to take one of his fleet of these to Burning Man this year

I’m on your side, rich people! I need A/C too. It’s the desert, FFS. I was using an RV at Burning Man before there even was “radical self-reliance”. I didn’t stop being a Burner just because Larry wrote a page of words one day, 20 years into the event. “Oh, Larry wrote words! Better disable the generator!” Lecture me with the Tin Principles all you want, it doesn’t make you a Burner or take my 11 burns away from me.

To me, going to Burning Man automatically makes you rich – but I accept that many Burners are seriously rich. I know that rich people give SO much to Burning Man, that there wouldn’t be a Burning Man without them. The whole event is based on the premise of ridiculous destruction of wealth for the purposes of temporary entertainment. It’s like people lighting cigars with flaming hundred dollar bills – times a billion.

The Burnier-Than-Thous have it wrong, saying that rich people don’t get it. It seems to me that they are being radically self-reliant if they are smart enough to want privacy in their camps, and playful social interactions with randoms on the Playa. Part of self-reliance is being able to defend yourself and your tribe from dicks. The number of dicks is skyrocketing, and now they are publicly advocating their dickish actions. It’s not the fault of people who can afford to rent RVs that privacy is required; and just because they sleep comfortably doesn’t mean it’s impossible for them to “get Burning Man”.

More than anything else, I think it is the government infiltration of Burning Man – both overt and covert – that is driving the walled off RV compounds. You used to welcome any random into your camp, and the first thing you’d offer them would be a beer. If you were passing a joint round – which people did, since it was hundreds of miles away from anywhere, in the middle of the remote desert, at a festival – then you would take a hit and pass it on to someone next to you, even if they were a stranger. Puff puff pass, just likes kids have been doing at festivals since the Sixties.

Then, the cops started doing “stings”. Dressing officers up as Burners – “off duty clothing” – and trying to entrap them into breaking the law in front of them. They’re looking for drugs, for people serving alcohol to anyone underage, for people sharing food, public displays of lewdness, and anything else that could be banned and ticketed. Give them an excuse, and they’ll come to your camp with sniffer dogs. Meaning that one random wandering into your camp and lighting a joint, could spoil it for everyone.

This year, it sounds like the cops were much better – chilled, enjoying the party, taking pictures with Burners. But it’s too late – the trust has been destroyed. This is no longer a city of friends. The trust hasn’t been destroyed by rich people; it’s by all these spies trying to bust innocent Burners, while letting the thieves and vandals run rampant. What Burners want to do is illegal, despite being harmless – from smoking a joint to driving at 6mph in a 5mph zone to shirt-cocking. Rich people didn’t make those rules – alright, technically, at the top pulling the puppet strings of government are the Uber-rich who do make the rules, and yes many Bohemian Grovers go to Burning Man – but most of the rules that have led to these RV compounds and private entrances were made by BMOrg in co-operation with Federal and State authorities.

No-one is affecting your enjoyment Burning Man if they got a free ticket, or didn’t have to pay for their flight. How is getting $400 cash different from getting a free ticket? For many who aren’t rich, getting casual employment for a few shifts at Burning Man is the only way they can attend. Crack down on Sherpas, the rich will still be rich and do whatever they want, but now these poor Sherpas – willing to work for their ticket, instead of being Sparkle Ponies – won’t be able to go.

The answer to this is not “ban Sherpas”. How could you possibly police that, if you can’t stop bike or sign theft? It has been going on for years, and fighting against it now is pointless, in my opinion. The horse bolted a long time ago. You might as well ban planes, RVs, delivery trucks, dance music, cars newer than 2010, and so on. Stealing signs will change nothing, and may lead to violence as people try to defend their property against drug-fuelled vandals with political grudges.

The answer is to change the focus.

Let people do whatever they want in their camps. That’s their private area, where they and their tribe of friends and family and fellow travellers make their “home within a home” for a week. If they want randoms in their camp, let them make clearly marked “random zones”, where you can come and hang out and get to meet them. Don’t just assume “I’m at Burning Man, and Radical Inclusion says I’m entitled to fall asleep in the middle of your camp”. Usually these “party roadkill” people pass out on the most comfortable spaces, preventing other, awake people from using those.

Burning Man is not about invading your neighbor’s space, in the name of some misguided class war protest.

It’s about the art.

BMOrg make the rules, but Burners make the city.  There is something we can do, if enough readers want to help.

Together, we can try to re-direct the focus to the art. Camps should be proud of which art pieces they are bringing to share with the rest of us. If rich people want to sponsor art anonymously, Burning Man lets them hide anonymously within a Theme Camp, and even more anonymously behind a Playa name. Larry Harvey likes to say “no artist at Burning Man ever signed their art”, but let’s change that. Let’s promote the amazing artists behind the event a bit more.

How Will We Do This?

Starting today, we are going to have a competition. “Best of Burning Man”. And it’s going to be as crowd-sourced as we can practically make it, at short notice and with the limited resources of a Gifted blog.

You guys submit here, in the comments on the Web or Facebook, your nominations for best art piece. We will collect the nominations, then present the most popular finalists for a vote. Everyone votes, and we declare a winner.

What does this mean for the artists? Even if they don’t win, they can get a sense of how their piece was perceived by the community. If they would like to participate with the rest of the community, they might want to share something about themselves and their art, and the meaning of the piece.

This is the direct opposite of the way Burning Man does it – receive thousands of applications, and pick a few winners arbitrarily. Every artist can be included in this, and to win, you have to be the best in the eyes of the people. Even to be in the final 20, you will have to have pleased a lot of people.

Categories are:

Best Art

Best Art Car

Best Camp

Best Music (camp or Art Car)

Best Music (artist)

Best Photo

Worst of Burning Man – could be Will Crawl, Exodus, rain, bike theft, David Kiss’s performance art piece, anything.

Over to you, Burners. Nominate away! I’m interested to see how this turns out.

Outside Online has a gallery of art cars from Caravansary. What were your favorites?

From outsideonline (photos by Nick Kelley):

“A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” – Irina Dunn

Gonkirin the Dragon

Just another punk in a tutu, surfing at the beach

check out the “dickstand”

Finnish?

Kalliope has been getting big praise online for its sound this year

Appropriate for Year of the Horse

And some photos by Peter Ruprecht:

Ohm Kar from Laguna Beach made its debut this year

Fish Tank, looking good

Diddy loved Henry Chang’s Fusion art car so much, he may have bought it:

He also had a great time on Tha Shagillac:

photo: Peter Ruprecht

2013 – we invented the remix, and the man-brella

Diddy start a trend? Parasols galore

Some other notable images:

Icarus – now that’s a Mutant Vehicle! Amazing. Yes those are speakers. photo: Luc Asbury

an “Art Cart”. This guy is a true Burner. Check out the suit and tie under the trenchcoat. photo: Bill Richmond

I nominate Cartman for best Burner. Look at him, he’s ready for anything! Sunglasses, Pens, toothbrush, suspenders, some rope, and a necktie. photo: Gary Schwartz

Another art cart. Good way to get around

Ohm Kar, designed by artist Adam Pollina. photo: Jaime Lynn Krause

From Bali to Laguna to the Black Rock Playa, #ohm is at Home. photo: Shane Umbach

If you didn’t win it, you’re doing it wrong. Check out this promo video for Hangover Pictures, by B3BR:

The Lost Coast Outpost has some very exciting news about everyone’s favorite art car, El Pulpo Mecanico:

Local artist, kineticist and LoCOcoaster scribbler Duane Flatmo has been on something of a winning streak lately. The rising popularity of his creation El Pulpo Mecanico has garnered him e-ink in People Magazine for his Burning Man exploits, a central role at Calgary’s Beakerhead art festival and thecompanionship of certain Mythbusters.

Tough stuff being Duane. But frankly, the aforementioned accomplishments were small time when compared to El Pulpo’s upcoming star turn.

Recently, Flatmo had it confirmed that his flaming cephalopod will be immortalized in a Nov. 16 episode of The Simpsons. According to Duane, at this year’s Black Rock City gathering, El Pulpo was boarded by Simpsons producer David Silverman. Apparently, Silverman has been a longtime Burning Man attender and steampunk octopi appreciator and took the opportunity to inform Flatmo that his creation would soon be animated alongside yellow-tinted burners in a Burning Man-themed segment.

Insert Homer-esque “Woo hoo!”

Stay tuned for the 2D version of El Pulpo. In the meantime, you can check out video from yet another major media appearance: On last night’s episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver suggested that an “eight-armed, metal fire beast” might be a great tool for battling the Chinese government. (The visual gag comes near the end of the clip below.)

“Not even a Chinese tank is going to take on the “pyroctopus,” Oliver joked, a truth Humboldt has known for years. 

We covered the Firechat app in Saving the World With Apps and Demonstrating How The Principles Mesh.

David Silverman, aka Tubatron, is a big-time Burner. You may recognize him by his flaming Tuba:

He played a massive role in The Simpsons. From Wikipedia:

David Silverman (born March 15, 1957) is an American animator best known for directing numerous episodes of the animated TV series The Simpsons, as well as The Simpsons Movie. Silverman was involved with the series from the very beginning, where he animated all of the original short Simpsons cartoons that aired on The Tracey Ullman Show and went on to serve as director of animation for several years…Silverman is largely credited with creating most of the “rules” for drawing The Simpsons. He is frequently called upon to animate difficult or especially important scenes…Silverman is also the director of the The Simpsons Movie, which was released July 27, 2007

Here’s some more Simpsons Burning Man for you:

Filed under: News Tagged: 2014, art cars, el pulpo, festival, funny, future, john oliver, last week tonight, news, simpsons, tubatron, tv, videos

The Simpsons go to Burning Man this Sunday, November 16 at 8pm on FOX. The name of the episode is “Blazed and Confused”, and it guest stars Willem Dafoe as a Scarface-like teacher, and art cars Dusty Rhino and El Pulpo Mecanico.

From simpsonswiki.com:

Bart faces a tough test at school when he gets a new teacher, Mr. Lassen (guest voice Willem Dafoe), who vows to crush his spirit in the all-new “Blazing Guy” episode of THE SIMPSONS airing Sunday, Nov. 16 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX

David Silverman, aka Tubatron, is a big-time Burner. You may recognize him by his flaming Tuba:

He played a massive role in The Simpsons. From Wikipedia:

David Silverman (born March 15, 1957) is an American animator best known fordirecting numerous episodes of the animated TV series The Simpsons, as well as The Simpsons Movie. Silverman was involved with the series from the very beginning, where he animated all of the original short Simpsons cartoons that aired on The Tracey Ullman Show and went on to serve as director of animation for several years…Silverman is largely credited with creating most of the “rules” for drawing The Simpsons. He is frequently called upon to animate difficult or especially important scenes…Silverman is also the director of the The Simpsons Movie, which was released July 27, 2007

The Simpsons will join some other popular comedy shows that have featured Burning Man:

Malcolm in the Middle

South Park

Dusty Rhino. Image: flickr

El Pulpo Mecanico. image: Oliver Fluck

The now not-for-profit, charitable organization The Burning Man Project could learn something from the Simpsons. Co-creator Sam Simon was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2012 and given 3 months to live. He pledged to give away all his $100 million fortune, to stop animals from being killed in shelters and to feed the homeless. He’s still doing it: read all about it in this Vanity Fair profile.

Dr Andy Levy talks about the “miles of smiles” inspiration behind his Fish Tank art cars, which are notable for being designed to be totally open. Hop-on, rock-on.

Like Fish Tank on Facebook, and support the car by buying some of their gear.

The Fish Tanks don’t just go to Burning Man. They have also been to the Houston Art Car Parade, Art Basel Miami, Electric Daisy Carnival, and the Art Car Fest at the Reno Museum of Art.

You might want to hit mute before you watch this next one. There are no speed limits at Juplaya…

photo by Gilles Bonugli

photo by Peter Ruprecht

Fish Tank at Electric Daisy Carnival

Fish Tank at Fertility 2.0

Fighting Fight Tank in the Houston Art Car Parade

Fighting Fish Tank

Fish Tank at Distrikt

So far the most exciting announcement about Burning Man 2015 is not the $800 VIP tickets, or the “chumps and suckers” circus theme…it’s Big Imagination, who are going to bring a 747 Jumbo Jet as their art car.

This is surely the most ambitious project ever on the Playa. As we were packing up at the end of Cargo Cult, I heard a rumor that there was a plan to bring an art car that required 100 crew. I dismissed it at the time as bullshit – “what art car needs 100 crew? A cruise ship?” – but some rumors are indeed true, and this is very real.

3 stories tall, 4 buses wide, half a football field long, on 18 squishy wheels, able to carry more than 300 people. And it moves.

747Ken is one of the main instigators of the vision, and he’s someone who knows what he’s doing. He designed the very popular Charlie the Unicorn art car, and was part of the Robot Heart team.

I’m the knucklehead who dreamed up this crazy idea.

My Playa background was being a workerbee on Robot Heart from 2008-11, then I designed and built Charlie the Unicorn (with a lot of help). In the default world I have a varied background but experience in managing large, complex projects from aerospace to film.

Charlie The Unicorn. Image: Jun/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Big Imagination Foundation is a arts and education non-profit. Specifically, the mission is to incubate and support projects that bold, inspiring, and visionary. We’re purposely trying to stay flexible on our first project.

As for why this big thing? I sketched this out on the Playa dust in 2009. I swore I would never do another art car after Charlie unless it was truly epic. When I found out we could get our hands on a scrap 747, welllll, it was just too good of a chance to pass up. Once in a lifetime, right? I’m not necessarily shooting for the “biggest” just because. We could do a plane-oriented project much easier with a smaller fuselage. However, the 747 is iconic, and that upper deck is spectacular. When this baby rolls down the playa, peoples minds are going to melt. [Source: Reddit]

Truly epic is right – my mind has melted already. If you have the resources, better to do something like this and share it with everyone, than sell exclusive hotel rooms with porcelain toilets to VIP guests who hand out a few popsicles.

The top of the plane will be cut open to make an outdoor lounge.

The latest design…the “mohawk look” is gone

Despite what some Internet armchair pundits have speculated, they will not actually be flying a 747 onto the Playa. The aircraft will be chopped up and moved by truck from the Mojave Desert airplane boneyard. The route has already been surveyed for the length they are considering.

A couple of years ago, I stopped to get gas in Inglewood, Los Angeles. If you’re familiar with LA, or hip-hop music, you know that Inglewood is not exactly Beverly Hills. “The hood” would be one way to describe it. So when I saw 3 helicopters hovering above me, I was somewhat concerned. A crazed shooter on the loose, perhaps? Then I noticed thousands of people lining the freeway overpasses. What was going on? As it turned out, the Space Shuttle had been retired, and Endeavour was being towed through the streets to its resting place at the California Science Center. How did they get the Space Shuttle to LA? On the back of a 747. That’s how big this aircraft is, Space Shuttles ride on top of it.

Space Shuttle Endeavour being carried to LA on a 747. Image: Nasa HQ / Flickr (Creative Commons)

The Space Shuttle caused quite a scene on the streets of LA. Image: J Jakobson/Flickr (Creative Commons)

A full size Boeing 747 is 231 feet long, and its wings are 196 feet wide. Its fuselage is 32 feet high and the tail section reaches to 63.5 feet. The aircraft weighs just under 200 tons without fuel or passengers – more than enough to sink into the Playa.

This is not quite full size. They are not bringing the 4 engines, the wings, or the tail section – not to mention all the wiring, hydraulics and seats that will be removed. They will chop the Jumbo’s fuselage at 120 feet, about half the total length. In the future they may turn the tail section into another art car, able to move independently and perhaps “form like Voltron” when the 2 art cars get together at the same event. The cut-down Jumbo will weigh 55,000 lbs, which is about the same as a semi-trailer. The fuselage width is 21.3 feet, as opposed to a standard semi-trailer width of 8.5 feet and a road lane width of 12 feet. The 747 will take up 2 lanes of road for the nearly 500 mile journey between the Airplane Boneyard at the Mojave Air and Space Port (CA) to Black Rock City (NV). All care and consideration is being given to the necessary permits for transportation, and minimizing impact on the Playa. They have a moving company that has been “hauling big ass structures for years”.

A 747 dwarfs regular commercial airliners. Image: Airliners.Net (via Kampungkai)

Big Imagination are considering a variety of options for moving the thing around at Burning Man, including towing it behind an aircraft tug. One spokesperson for the DMV has said that the tug needs to be a mutant vehicle too, it can’t just be a stock airport vehicle. Safety third! It would be a shame if this wonderful project was green-lit by the BLM but got killed by BMOrg’s bureaucracy. Big Imagination have been speaking to the DMV and seem to have support at the right levels.

An airport tug is not exactly a small vehicle. Image: Christian Junker/Flickr (Creative Commons)

I have complete faith that these guys know what they’re doing and can pull this off. Hat’s off to Big Imagination: it will undoubtedly be the greatest thing Burning Man has ever seen, and will be the place to party at Carnival of Mirrors. Expect massive amounts of press coverage – it has started already, with stories in Mixmag, Gigwise, Bangin Beats,  Music Times, Cool Hunting, YourEDM, Dancing Astronaut, EDM Tunes, Less Than 3, EDM Nations, EDM Sauce, Pulse Radio, Festival Sherpa, Fest300…and skeptics at Airliners.Net and Yahoo Answers.

They are looking for volunteers in LA (and possiby Tucson) to help them out – that’s the “100 crew”. Get involved at bigimagination.org. Support the project with a donation.

The non-profit Big Imagination arts foundation has a broader vision than just a week’s partying in the desert:

Here are some further comments from Big Imagination about the project:

Zero wristbands…We are focused on “radically inclusive exclusivity”. Everything will be First Class and top shelf, and everyone is invited. No private events, no “hot chicks only”, no “we don’t know you”. Hey, we WANT to know you. As long as we’re safe and not too full, everyone is welcome. And we should have plenty of space…

I spoke with the BLM this morning.  They said there are zero restrictions on weight and as long as the DMV/BORG give us the green light, we’re fine…this plane has been completely gutted.  No seats, no hydraulics, lots of wiring out, I could go on and on.  The heaviest parts left are the wingbox and and the rear landing gear.  I’d be stunned if we tip the scales over 70,000 lbs. Just to give you an idea, when the front 80′ are scrapped (section 1200 forward, I believe), it comes out to about 30,000 lbs of aluminum and such.  We’re going to section 1480, which includes the wing box and gear.  

We won’t be leaving marks any more than anyone else…

We’re aiming to drive around deep playa but could come into closer to the space between center camp and the man if a single spire of each 3,6&9 o clock trail is removed. That way, we could have a path to drive into the circle…

The 747 is a substantial upgrade to previous aviation-themed art cars.

Black Rock Air Force F-15. Image: Ranger Twilight/Fest300

Playa One. Image: Sick Dog/Facebook

Playa One at sunset. Image: James Santos/Facebook

Here’s a great idea for an art car that could be used in the real world to spread the mission of The Burning Man Project. I think it would be more effective than panel discussions preaching to the converted. They could even hand out their “death of god” book club material they’re so fond of.

From BoredPanda:

Raul Lemesoff, an eccentric artist in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has created a bizarre tank-like ‘Weapon Of Mass Instruction’ (Arma de Instruccion Masiva) that he intends to use to battle ignorance and spread knowledge.

Lemesoff converted a 1979 Ford Falcon into a bizarre tank-like vehicle complete with a swiveling turret, a non-functioning gun, and space to store about 900 books – inside and outside of the vehicle.
A video about the project made by 7Up shows him driving through the streets of Buenos Aires and delivering books to young and old alike. His only demand – that they promise to read what he’s given them. “My missions are very dangerous,” the artist jokes in a video about his project. “I attack people in a very nice and fun way.“

Images: Bored Panda