Yoz's Adventures at Burning Man
In 2001 I went to the Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, along with 22,000 other people. The experience cannot even be remotely adequately described, although I did try in this mail which I sent from it.
(Note: I have since had a mildly heated and silly argument on this topic with Tim B.)
Along with 10 or so others I was part of the Burning Man County Croquet Club (BMCCC) which lived in the wonderful Illumination Village, the Mayor of which was Charlie Gadeken, the boyfriend of my old flatmate Pouneh.
Anyway, I took my camera along and, as usual, took a bunch of terrible pictures. The ones presented here are less terrible than some of the others.
It's worth noting in advance that:
- I took photos more to reflect my personal Burning Man experience rather than just shooting crazy stuff, because I figured that other people would be doing that far better
- None of these photos have been retouched or cropped or had their levels sorted or anything yet, because that would involve effort and competency, so I'm afraid a few of them are still rather dark. Furthermore, they're an average of 200k each.
- Sometime soon the BMCCC's own den mother Samantha hopes to put up a far better site with pics from all of us. When it's up, I'll be linking to it from here.
- There are, as far as I know, no pictures of naked people here. This is mostly by accident. I'm sorry.
If you're pressed for time or just cannot be bothered with a bunch of appalling holiday snaps (and who could blame you), here are the least least terrible pictures:
- IMG_0666.jpg The purely-lucky burn pic that I showed to everyone who stood still for long enough.
- IMG_0725.jpg "Fancy a jelly baby?" (Great shot, Martin!)
- IMG_0657.jpg The BMCCC by Polaroid: Simon, Stef, Anno, Manar, Phil, Sam, Danny, Me, Kay, Carol.
- IMG_0611.jpg Pink Party!
- IMG_0708.jpg Adam in motion.
- IMG_0675.jpg Anno and the Flaming Lotuses.
The South Bay (not at Black Rock yet)
My journey started in Sunnyvale, staying with Quinn, Danny, Gilbert and Drew. Anno arrived a couple of days after me. I also spent Shabbat with my cousins Matt and Pam and delightful sub-cousins Liat and Dov.
On our way (still not at Black Rock yet)
- IMG_0577.jpg Pausing with Stef and Anno at The Uptown, Scott's bar. (Scott was the Illumination Village chef)
- IMG_0578.jpg Scott's van, which we helped pack. It doesn't look like much of a load in this pic, but I'm still amazed we managed it. When he drove off it was visibly listing to one side.
- IMG_0579.jpg Stef and Kay.
- IMG_0580.jpg Aaawww.
- IMG_0581.jpg Stopping at the Reno Safeway to shop and repack for the fourth time. Stef drove the van, Manar and I drove the pickup. I've never seen a supermarket with slot machines before.
Arrival at Black Rock
We drove through the night and arrived at Burning Man at 8am on Tuesday morning.
- IMG_0584.jpg Kay promptly collapses.
- IMG_0585.jpg A lot of stuff.
- IMG_0594.jpg Anno, Scott and Kay in the middle of erecting our shade structure. We had two parachutes strung over PVC poles. It worked remarkably well.
- IMG_0595.jpg Me, inbetween the BMCCC and Tim & Colinne's A-frame. (More of them later)
- IMG_0598.jpg Setting up the second parachute.
- IMG_0600.jpg The BMCCC gets snug in its new home. (Phil, Anno, Sam, Danny)
The sights
Not nearly enough decent photos here. Just so you know. For the really good stuff, go look at the Burning Man Image Gallery.
The BMCCC
- IMG_0657.jpg The BMCCC by Polaroid: Simon, Stef, Anno, Manar, Phil, Sam, Danny, Me, Kay, Carol.
- IMG_0601.jpg Paper!
- IMG_0602.jpg Dunking in ice-cold cooler water was a semi-regular pleasure.
- IMG_0653.jpg In repose, from the kitchen.
- IMG_0603.jpg Phil and Anno.
- IMG_0644.jpg This turned up out of nowhere and we all spent a while gawping. It stayed for ages.
- IMG_0645.jpg Water sprays are worth their weight in gold. (B'Anna and Anno)
- IMG_0659.jpg Tom arrives, in full tourist mode.
- IMG_0661.jpg James.
- IMG_0660.jpg The Burning Man Postal Service was remarkably effective.
- IMG_0662.jpg Stef enjoying a champagne and dry ice.
- IMG_0663.jpg I get smart as the Holy Sabbath approaches. (Sam took this one, and was waiting for a suitably naked person to appear in the background - har har) Forty people showed up for the Friday night service and meal. (Of course, being Shabbat, I couldn't take any pics of them)
- IMG_0693.jpg We only made connection to the outside world for essential news. Here, Tom spreads the word.
- IMG_0658.jpg View from the camp in a low-grade dust storm. It got plenty worse than this towards the end. (And you can admire Anno's BMCCC flag, er, backwards)
- IMG_0707.jpg The main BMCCC project was the flying saucer, for which we brought a couple of weather balloons, a load of EL-wire, several very large helium canisters and some miniature speakers.
- IMG_0708.jpg Adam was on hand for orbital control. Amazing wings, those.
- IMG_0709.jpg The reason I have no more shots of the flying saucer. (Look, they said the string was perfectly good enough for a weather balloon. Still, at least we launched, which is a damn sight better than most British space projects)
The Night of the Burn
On Saturday night The Man burned, and there was much rejoicing.
- IMG_0664.jpg Tim, Scott and Dan settle down to watch from a safe distance.
- IMG_0665.jpg "burn".
- IMG_0666.jpg Out of all my BM pics, this is the one I'm proudest of. Of course, I got it completely by accident - just held my camera in the air and clicked.
- IMG_0669.jpg More burning.
- IMG_0670.jpg To accompany the burn, a bunch of dust devils appeared.
- IMG_0672.jpg I had fun playing with the light board.
- IMG_0673.jpg James putting his photos on my laptop.
- IMG_0675.jpg Anno and the Flaming Lotuses.
- IMG_0676.jpg The BMCCC watching the Lotuses. Note Danny in his "Where The Wild Things Are" get-up.
- IMG_0677.jpg Stef, Kay, Manar, Danny, James.
- IMG_0678.jpg The headtorch and glitterball kept James amused for hours.
- IMG_0679.jpg Dave X (Ill Vill's chief pyromaniac) and Polly.
- IMG_0680.jpg Polly attempts to restrain her excitement at sharing a photo with me.
- IMG_0682.jpg Thomas Loosemore Is Unwell.
- IMG_0685.jpg Patti and Tom back at camp.
- IMG_0687.jpg Sunrise.
Illumination Village
- IMG_0586.jpg Some of Charlie's massive canvases. He spends three months making them and then burns them at the end of the festival.
- IMG_0607.jpg The Mayoress wanders through her domain.
- IMG_0642.jpg The view from the Bad Art camp in Ill Vill. You can see the nearly-lethal ferris wheel.
- IMG_0646.jpg After making friends with a handy megaphone, I became the official town crier. (Thanks for the fab placard, Smoo!)
- IMG_0694.jpg The Rhino Patrol arrived to administer free beer and cocktails. Here I am enjoying a Mudslide. (Kahlua and chocolate and cream, or something like that. Very lovely.)
- IMG_0695.jpg The Ill Villers would frequently gather in the A-frame.
- IMG_0697.jpg Unfortunately I don't have the Ill Vill group shot, due to shortage of time, but this is the aftermath. The main one of Charlie's canvases burned.
- IMG_0698.jpg Pink Pleasure Bunnies!
- IMG_0699.jpg We like things that make fire.
- IMG_0700.jpg The Mayor and Mayoress.
- IMG_0710.jpg Some more Burning Art.
- IMG_0724.jpg "I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Gallifrey..." (Props and photos by Martin, whose talents continually amazed)
- IMG_0725.jpg "Fancy a jelly baby?"
Barlow's Bunch
John Perry Barlow, who used to be in some hippy band and now shouts about the Internet, was around. I mainly hung out with him because he's constantly surrounded by gorgeous women...
Michael & Elena's Wedding
Packing Up
Reno
The nearest city to Black Rock is Reno, where we stopped for two nights on the way back to San Francisco. (We only meant to stop for one night, but got waylaid by nice people and parties) The contrast from Burning Man was enough to do our heads in, so we got on with the business of bathing, gambling, partying and general bewilderment.
- IMG_0735.jpg I returned from the casino to find Manar passed out in the jacuzzi. Boy, was that suite worth the money.
- IMG_0737.jpg It was huge: sofas, bar area, steam shower, the works. And so tastefully done, too.
- IMG_0739.jpg The wallpaper, for my mother, who appreciates these things.
- IMG_0742.jpg Manar and Phil attempt to shut out the sheer horror of the hotel reception.
- IMG_0743.jpg "Found it! Okay, we can leave now..."
- IMG_0750.jpg Tim & Colinne, ever the consummate hosts, stage another salon.
- IMG_0745.jpg Tim gets happy in the tub.
- IMG_0746.jpg Cedric and Mia.
- IMG_0747.jpg Colinne and Kirsten.
- IMG_0748.jpg Charlie, counting the seconds to bedtime.
- IMG_0749.jpg Michael.
- IMG_0751.jpg Essential therapy.
- IMG_0753.jpg The morning after. Tim, Scott, Pouneh (in Jackie O. mode, apparently)
- IMG_0755.jpg "Look, darling, I've picked up a hippy!"
... and back to where we started.
- IMG_0759.jpg Manar got to drive.
- IMG_0760.jpg A big, impressive bridge.
- IMG_0763.jpg A bigger, more impressive bridge.
- IMG_0767.jpg Manar, Nixc, "I Am Boy, Hear Me Roar"
- IMG_0768.jpg Everyone back at the Uptown. Back row: Manar, Phil, James, Anno, Nixc, Jennifer. Middle: Kay, Z, Seb, Danny, Mia, Kirsten, Stef. Bottom: me.
And so it only remains to thank...
- Manar, for being my travelling partner
- Patti, for various reasons, along with Aaron, Douglas and Lisa for entertainment and great mix CDs (oh, and Nick Sweeney says hi)
- Tim & Colinne, for doing so much to make my first Burning Man a fab one
- Martin & B'Anna, for hugs and continual works of genius
- Charlie & Pouneh, for creating and running a fantastic theme camp
- Scott, for feeding and inspiring us all
- All of the Jewish Burners, but especially Menachem for leading us in the desert, Jay for acting as mashgiach and David Gross for hosting
- Barlow and his gang, especially Annie
- The Pink Pleasure people (and Tent Repair Camp), for the wrestling
- All of my good chums in the BMCCC
- But most of all, Mr Stefan Magdalinski, without whom I very much doubt I'd have gone at all, who kept us all working together, and who hardly ever whinged about his injuries keeping him in agony for most of our time there. Stef, I love you.
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