Burning Man 2007

In response to your inquiry Mr LVF, my time at Burning Man this year was Mezmerizing and Exceedingly Memorable! This year Ralph who created the Deep Creek Volunteers website went with me for a 10 day road trip, first to Northern California near Redding to visit my brother, then east to Burning Man. We arrived late Monday afternoon, a week before Labor Day, which is the day the event opens. There was a bigger line getting into Black Rock City than I had seen before, but it only took about an hour to get in. After giving your ticket at one spot, you continue on for another half mile to the greeters gate. I had told Ralph that if you are a first timer, the greeters make you get out of the car, then have you climb on top of a big metal bell, then you pull your pants down, and they spank yer butt. Ralph didn't believe me, but sure enough when we got to the greeter gate, there was a newbie getting the spanking! Ralph was busting up seeing that, and wisely decided not to admit to the greeter that he was a rookie :-) We set up camp on a beautiful moonlit night, with very comfortable temps and light winds. Early in the morning ( around 2 to 3 AM ) there was a full eclipse of the moon. Since I had not heard about it, I was snoozing in my truck :-) Ralph went out on his bike for some hours, eager to see the sights of The City. Just after the eclipse, a 35 year old man lit The Man on fire with some sort of torch. He was caught running away from the scene by Black Rock Rangers, and taken from the event to jail immediatly. Lucky for him since the many thousands of Burners might of had a Hang Tie Party for that Loser!
Ralph and I first heard about the early burn of The Man on Tuesday morning when we went into Center Camp for some coffee. We rode our bikes out to The Man, finding him blackened but still standing. The Black Rock Rangers had the whole area around The Man closed to entry for anything but Burning Man personel. The officials appeared to be checking out The Man with cranes during the day, accessing his structural damage, and late in the day they made the decision to take The Man down. Finally on Friday morning, and to everyones relief, a brand new Man was erected, and the various alternative energy displays in the tented structure around The Man were opened up again.
The weather was perfect for all of Tuesday and Wednsday. On Thursday storms built up into the early afternoon, bringing with them intense winds and white out conditions for a couple of hours. On Friday even bigger storms built up. Ralph and I were both doing some independent exploring that day, and we both happened to be out in the vicinity of The Man, where one of the bigger event, the Critical Tits ride was getting under way. This ride feature hundreds of bare breasted women, most of them having adorned thier breast and bodies with paint of all colors. They form a very long line as they ride a lengthy course throughout Black Rock City. Well I was out at the Man, and saw to the west, towards Center Camp this huge brown dust front coming in from the storms. I rode as fast as I could back to Center Camp, where you can get " some " refuge from the winds. The Black Rock paper said the winds got as high as 65 miles an hour during that storm, and the dust was as thick and dark as I had ever seen it. I got out my trusty dust mask, and sat at Center Camp throughout the storm, watching all forms of strange and wonderful entertainment that Center Camp provides, all in the fog like dust storm. This lake dust has alkaline in it, and is light brown, and as fine as flour. Needless to say, it goes anywhere and everywhere :-) Ralph got caught out in the open area around The Man and just had to stand next to his bike for a while and wait for some clearing to come along. Friday's winds and storm lasted for about 3 hours, with a wonderful double rainbow appearing after a brief spat of rain.
Friday night there had been a big event sceduled, at the huge art piece titled " Crude Awakening ", which consisted of around 7 or 8 very large metal sculptures, all in differant poses, looking like they were praying to a huge wooden Oil Derik that had been built before them. The idea, how our societies worship oil. Incidentaly, before I went to Burning Man I had purchased a DVD entitled " A Crude Awakening ", not knowing anything about the art project that would have the same name at Burning Man. This DVD discuss world energy supplies, clearly defines the predicament that we look likely to soon be faceing regarding the imminent depletion of oil and natural gas, and is the best documentary I have seen on the subject yet. You can get it online, and it presents information that is highly important to all our futures. Anyway, the Crude Awakening art piece was sceduled to display at the site a massive fire works show, and the biggest Diesel Cannon mushroom explosion ever at Burning Man. Since it was canceled for the evening due to the problems with winds, I went out to check out a huge music dome, where hundreds of people were dancing to music produced by a sound system that felt like it was jostling around my internal organs. Music you can " really " feel in side :-) Just crazy and wild the things they put up out on that dry lake. I stayed there until 2 AM, and my ears will never be the same :-)
On Saturday, the day of the Big Burn, Ralph and I left our bicycles at Center Camp where they would be safe from the trampling of the thousands upon thousands of people who go out into the massive open area around the man to see the Burn. We got there early, and were only a couple of rows back from the front edge. Before they burn The Man, there is about an hour of fire dancers and twirlers that do a great show around the entire inner ring. Then when they get done, The Man, who is lit green with neon tubing, finally raises his hands to the sky, greeting all the Burners! Shortly after, fire works start coming out of his sides, arms and legs of The Man. Then there is alot of fire works, after which great Diesel Cannons fire up a mushroom cloud which envelopes the man, and when it disipates he is fully engulfed in flame. Now things start to get really loud with all the cheering thousands and the sounds of drums beating loudly. All around the many thousands of people standing towards the center ring, is a Huge cirlcle of art vehicles, many being busses transformed into rolling party ships complete with patios and bands aboard! After The Man burns down, the Black Rock Rangers finally let the Burners close in on the remenants of The Man, and a huge tribal dance of monumental proportions ensues!
Meanwhile, the Crude Awakening Show was scheduled to begin about an hour and a half after the burning of The Man. Thousands of people ( this years attendance topped 48,000 at last count! ), and art vehicles of every size and shape where now moving like a myriad of colored ants out towards the Crude Awakening art structure. After The Man burned, Ralph rode back to our camp to download his full camera. Ralph got a new digital camera, and during the duration of our road trip and week at Buring Man, he took over 1,200 pics! I told him that he beat my Burning Man picture record by about 1,000 photos :-) So while Ralph was gone I went out to check out the Crude Awakening show. They first did the most amazing fire works show I have ever seen! It last for a good half hour. Then the fireworks stopped, and everything was quite for some moments, then suddenly, these MOSTEROUS diesel cannons fired in unison, and created a Fire Ball of immense proportions, and my jaw dropped, it just kept getting bigger, and hotter, and I raised my hand in front of my face to shield it from the heat! I was probably a good 250 feet or more away from where they shot the Cannons off. The front rows of people who where closest to the Fireball got incinerated immediatly, Ahhhhh, just kiddin :-) I'm not kiddin about how big this Fire Ball was. It looked like some miniature nuclear weapon went off. Biggest one in Burning Man history!
So what could top that, well, I rode out around The Man, in the middle of Black Rock City, and just stood for a long while looking at what feels to the senses like a scene from another world, another reality, and all around you, there is so much sound, so many differant shapes and colors, huge art vehicles, the sounds of fire being shot into the air, thousands of people walking and riding thier bicycles like strange creatures with all kinds of bright lights of all colors as thier adornment, people dressed in all manner of delightful clothing, naked people dancing around the glowing coals of The Man, a haze of dust being lifted from the Playa from all of the activity, and it is all truly a mindboggling and aweinspiring vista, and it all never ceases to amaze me, the creativity, the intensity, the energy! I'm already looking forward to Burning Man 2008 :-)
I just got back my photos today and have been working on them in the computer. I put 4 photos at the Wizard's picture link below, the last pics on page 42. The photo files are bigger than I usually do, but then just maybe, the extra detail will make you will feel like you are there :-) Two photos show The Man, one the morning after the Wayward Burner torched him, and he is standing but significantly burnt and blackened. The second photo shows The Man after being renewed, reborn, and restored! Below the New Man you can see the damage to the tented structure from the Early Burn. The third photo shows a sweet gal, adorned in her finest paint, in front of Center Camp with its colorful flags. The fourth photo shows what was a very striking art stucture, which had four main gas cannons, with also a ring of smaller gas cannons around it, and they would shoot off according to a pre-arrange format, increasing in intensity and height, culminating in massive blast form the four big cannons. At times people were allowed on a large circular platform in the middle of the big cannons, and at other time various acts where going on with fire twirlers and other interesting entertainment of unexplainable dimensions :-) I'll post more of my photos to Wizard's pictures in time. I'll post here when I put the new ones up. Well thats a trip report for ya. I could go on and on since Burning Man provides such a cornucopia of experiences that words and photos just don't do justice to want you truly experience when your in the grasp of its DREAMTIME!