Burning Man. Anyone going? TFP charter...?
 

August 25-Sept 1
I was getting sad that I'm not going to be able to make the Las Vegas TFP trip when I remembered that burning man is coming up real fast! Anyone going? I've never been, but I've wanted to go for about the past 4 or 5 years, never able to because it always interfered with school.
I'm considering driving my suburban down from norcal.
Check out the website for more info, including a large background database for you that have no idea what burning man is :rolleyes: :D
http://www.burningman.com

I once posted an entire set of pics from Burning Man on the Wayside forum. Some great stuff goes on and it looks like a lot of fun. Only wish I had that kind of time on my hands...

If anyone goes, take lots of pictures for us :D

I just read most of that entire site and am still confused

Edit: But I still want to go but wont be able to work that out with the start of college and all.

I'll bring my digicam for sure if I make it. I'll post pictures for sure if I remember to take em :D

Anyone care to explain WHAT Burning Man is for those of us who are less enlightened?

I prefer to walk around naked when it's not so hot.


I burn.

My best freind has gone the past 4 years. He sets up a camp with about 40 other 'ravers' and make really really cool stuff. He said at burning man you spend most of the time on some sort of drug or another and it lasts all week.

I've considered going, but I don't think I could handle a whole week. I'd try a long weekend first. I'd also drink instead of doing drugs.

Not really sure what it is exactly but it sounds something like an annual Woodstock... for those of you who have gone -- am I close?

That the gist that I get too. But with no bands.

So, it's like the DNC?

:D

It's not you father's Woodstock! It's a week long festival with a lot of freedom and self expression. The "encampment" is 2+ miles across and 30,000 attend.

Check out the web site: http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/

in short: BurningMan is whatever you want it to be.

It takes place in the Highly inhospitable black rock desert of Nevada. The desert is flat rock, with white dust that permeates EVERYTHING. Temperatures go from extremes of 20 at night, to 110 in the day.
BurningMan is NOT a spectator event. BurningMan IS a Participatory event.
If you go, go to experience, and to be a part of it. Go and bust out. Do what is YOU and share it with 40,000 of your newest, closest friends and enemies. It's all about life.. art..... people spend literally thousands of dollars and all year creating the most beautiful installations for the event.
It's a hippy fest in the sense that each person is expected to be socially and environmentally responsible... not to mention, money is not allowed except for buying water and coffee. Bartering encouraged. The hippie aspect ends there.
Art.
There are bands. There are DJs.
I'm into goa trance, and the last few years the biggest acts in the world played. I heard the similar happened for people into other kinds of music.

As far as the rave/drug comment... it's not a rave... and from what I understand, you'd have to be a total fucking idiot to want to be on drugs while there. The whole experience makes you high - why endanger yourself by ingesting something?

I won't make it this year... next year tho...

I'm going for the FIRST time this year after my veteran friend has been trying to convince me for 4 years to go. I saw the pics of the Pirate ship on the desert last year and that finally convinced me. So I'm going. I'm a sucker for Pirate ships.

I can't wait. I think it's gonna be an incredible experience, whatever it turns out being (i've been working on outfits and 'costumes' for a year now -- I'm gonna go in guns blazing, so to speak and try not to be a total newbie)

I really wanted to see this when I first heard of it years ago. Last I heard about it was that it's become very commercial, with the local gov. requiring permits, and vendors and advertisers now being a regular occurance. Tourists and gawkers abound now instead of the people that it was really meant for. Guess I'd be a tourist/gawker myself though. :)

sounds awsome, they did a thing about it on Wild On E! sounds interesting and fun, sometime maybe.

"Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day, set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life."

When "Wild on E!" does an expose on it, you know it's over.

Would love to go. Someday, though I doubt I'll ever get my wife to join me.. I love watching people. This IS the place to do that. And more to get involved and meet people you would probably never have the chance to interact with..

Someday...

Just got home from the event. What a trip! It's going to take some time to get used to reality though :(
I took 3 rolls of non-digital pics. Maybe I'll try to get some of the good ones online soon.
Peace
-T

Never been to it, but friends of mine said it is unreal...especially if you stay in the section where no money exchange is allowed (just trade).

Just got back from my 2nd Burning Man. I brought 3 newbies with me and they all want to go again. It's the most amazing city in the world. To correct a few posts above, it has NOT sold out and is NOT full of vendors and advertisers, it's the same BM. This year I saw more cop presence, but they didn't seem to bother the naked people who were around. I think they were there to bust drugs. Drug use is there for sure, but you can be sober and just take the sights, sounds, and people in, and enjoy it. It's amazing the level of creativity people bring to Burning Man. I have no idea where some of these ideas come from. You should try it, you'll like it.

I didn't make it this year due to school. I worked every possible idea out in my mind about how I could make it work but it simply would have been too much of a hassle. Time to start planning for 2005 ;)

-T

wish I could have gone. I plan on going in 2005 and I'm saving for Bonaroo right now too :D

it's weird though cuz I'm not even close to being a hippie..I'm a metal head/DnB/Jungle Dj heh go figure

there are all types of people at Burning Man. Hippies, Ravers, Carnies, Urban clubbers.. actually, i'd say most people are pretty urban, late 20s to early 30s, just partying.. though there are people of ALL ages there, even kids. this year there seemed to be more of a kid element, which probably explained the increased police presence, but yeh, BM works for anyone. You don't have to be a hippy. I haven't made Bonnaroo, I sold my tik on ebay this year at a loss because i couldn't make it. Bonnaroo's service fees on the tickets bump an extra $20 to the ticket price, which totally sucks. How is Bonnaroo? I hear that the single road in/out causes horrible traffic problems.

While many "hippies" attend, there are plenty who attend who would take serious offense at being called a hippy. There are plenty of "mad max" type people, artists, actors, inventors, survivalists, dancers, freaks of all types.

There are probably as many tech-heads at Burning Man as there are hippies, maybe more, plus the growing ranks of artists who are also somewhat techies, and vice versa. It's just a place for them to be all the things they can be and show all the things that they can do that mainstream America doesn't pay them to be or do. In other words, a rare opportunity to express themselves flat-out, and to get ideas from all the other people who are doing likewise.

Plus, of course, party and celebrate. The original idea of the Burning Man, as I remember it, was a festival of renewal: The Man burns. The Man is reborn. In that sense, it's also a sort of spiritual yet secular thing. And lately, they've also added the Temple of Remembrance (I think that's the name), a huge wooden temple that's built from scratch every year. People go inside and write their prayers or rants or laments or thanks on the wall for a couple of days. Then it, too, burns. The Burning Man, the burning temple: you can find correspondences within most major religion, and yet these ideas of construction and renewal apparently go back to the dawn of humanity, long before any religion that now exists. I think that the founders of Burning Man wanted to get back to those elemental ideas and symbols, without any of the gingerbread that has been layered around them through the millenia.

Yeah there really isn't any one type of person there. I go for a few reasons. I'd say the first is the really spaced-out feeling I get when I'm on the playa (yes, while sober ;) ) It's like being on the moon or something. There's virtually no reverb on any noises and it's just so damn flat.

The second reason is to see the weird inventions of the tech heads. This year there was supposedly a wireless phone booth that actually worked. The creator posted the phone number on the BM website and it could take incoming and outgoing calls. I love the ideas of some of the people there..
-T

hah, being on the moon... That's really the only way I can attempt to describe it to friends who haven't been. I see a pattern here.... My many-year veteran of BM who finally convinced me to come, he never really said anything much about it. He showed me his pics and just said "It's like nothing you'll ever see, i promise you".... Well, after my first Burn, I wouldn't shutup about it. I kept talking about my experiences... but now after my 2nd burn, I clearly see a change in attitude. I haven't talked about it at all. I've simply said "Man, you just gotta go. There's nothing like it on the planet"... hah, I'm now a VETERAN! I realize that you really can NOT explain what burning man is. If I had to say anything, it's what "-Ever-" said in the post above -- you REALLY feel like you are on the moon at some crazy party where all races of the freaking GALACTIC FEDERATION go to. It's crazy. It's indescribable. I saw a single-seater UFO disc thing floating across the desert, and I saw a Llama carrying 3 people buzz by me. I saw a speed boat sail by me full of people. I saw some 'what-the-hell-is-that-' bug kind of --THING-- that had 4 people on it ?drive? past me. It's insane. It's utter freedom of your soul. Go and enjoy it.

It's not all good - there are times those dust storms and the elements really get to you - there were several moments throughout the week where I said "man, I can't f-king take this, this is my last Burning Man" - but when the storms subsided, and it was clear, and everyone is out again just exploring, you realize that you're part of it.

Go. Go to Burning Man. It's going to be tough. It might very well be one of the toughest thing's you've ever done. But it will also be one of the most rewarding things you've ever done. Just be prepared. You're going to go through all emotions.

Sounds to me like a week song celebration of uninhibited human expression. Whether through art, technology, or any other way you feel best to express yourself and the possibilities that can be achieved, Burning man is a place to expand your thinking and the limits placed on you by convention. And something more? i'm not sure. I guess i'll have to go see it.

I've just purchased my ticket for Burning Man 2005. The first 10,000 tickets for $150 sold in 5 hours. I got mine at $200. Which is fine with me, I feel a bit better buying it at that price, as they tell you to buy what you can afford. I can afford $200 as much as I can $150 I guess, but flying out to Reno, renting a van, paying friends for yearly storage of our camp gear (nice shelters and dome tents and couches), plus paying for my share of the rental truck from San Fransisco, I end up dropping a grand ---easily--- for the week. Not even including the $$ spent on costumes and stuff. It adds up. But, I digress. Everyone should go. And if you want to get your tickets, get em now.

Dangle, Jones, and Junior Approved! :thumbsup:

http://www.comcentral.com/images/pho...2_photo_11.jpg

haha, that was a great episode. And believe me, it's not just a bunch of gay men at Burning Man, like they suggested in the show. 30k people, I'd say it was half-half, at least, there certainly was no shortage of hot women.

I went to burning man in 1999. I had a lot of fun. Burning man reminds me of one gigantic gypsy city. It has rep from every walk of life. You have to be careful of people driving there crazy art cars around the playa drunk or on LSD though. If you go bring a bike.

Someday I will be able to make it.....

Heading out on a long roadtrip to BM tomorrow. You can find me at:

7:30 and either Fetish or Gestalt.

Please stop by if you're in the area!
-Tim