Burning Man!
What is Burning Man?
Every time I hear that question it amazes me and confounds me at the same time. It amazes me as to how is it possible that so many people have not heard of this colossal yearly event that brings over fifty thousand people out to the dessert year after year? How could they have not heard about an event that keeps people talking about it year round, and a lifestyle and energy that people try to take with them when they leave and try to live it or replicate it for the rest of the year? Then it confounds me as to how do I describe this event. How do you describe a color? How do you describe something that has to be experienced? It is so different than anything else, and so removed from everyday life that you need to take some time to describe it when asked, for trying to answer it without giving it its due definition, is an injustice to the person asking the question, and injustice to Burning Man, and disrespectful to the hundreds and thousands of people that spend year round preparing and building this thing. So no! It is not just a festival in the dessert.
Every time two people meet that have been to Burning Man, the conversation always leads to a warm smile and knowing nod, and an immediate unspoken bond of meeting another “Burner”. The bond is there because we both have shared something “magical”. I imagine it’s the same feeling survivors of plane crashes or hostage situations feel when meeting each other. Or maybe its the fact that going to Burning Man takes a certain type of personality, and it’s a nod of approval for being that person. Maybe it’s because between the two, most likely they have seen more naked tits than a retired National Geographic photographer, who has spent his entire career in Africa, but the unspoken bond is there, and it’s there because of a shared experience that’s hard to describe.
The best line I heard when it came to describing Burning Man, was when I was with my friend Owen in Turks and Caicos. When Owen and I are together it’s the Leo and Owen show, and we become a comedy duo. We took it upon ourselves to anoint ourselves as the hosts of the (singles) Club Med there, and we proceeded to go from table to table, introducing ourselves, making some jokes, and overall making sure the accommodations were up to par, never mind we did not know what par was. We met this young group that were there as a bachelor/bachelorette party and we sat down with them. The subject of Burning Man came up, and there was another burner at the table and we gave each other that aforementioned nod. When asked what Burning Man was, he gave the best on the spot answer I have heard yet.
I have to preface the fact that…
It is two hours away from the closest civilization which is Reno. It is a vast dessert no man’s land; Burning Man is in Black Rock City which is an inhospitable environment consisting of dust storms, heat , and lack of any kind of water or facilities of any sort. The sand that covers you and invades every inch of your skin, your RV, your clothes and destroying anything and everything that comes in contact with, is an alkaline based thin layer of dust, that at first bothers you, but then just coats you in a form of protective sealant. The freedom and energy that is the trademark of Burning Man is a result of total surrender. The surrender happens when you finally give in and declare “I cant fight the dust anymore, so I don’t give a shit how I look, feel, act, or think” and you surrender to the dust, physically, mentally, socially, and psychologically. It is a surrender that is the underlying foundation of Burning Man. That surrender is what breaks down every barrier, it breaks down exactly who you are in the real world and creates a new you; a care-free you that is immune to the societal norms. The environment forces you to band together as a group and work in Unison to survive the elements, while the dust provides the component of forced relaxation.
Getting back to the Turks and Caicos story; this is how he described it in a more profound way. “When you drive to Burning Man a mile before Black Rock City in no man’s land, there are signs leading up to the gate. Multitudes of signs, each sign containing one word. As you drive and read the signs, together they make up different sayings, quips, one liner, poems and things that make you think”. He said “when he left burning man, there were only ten signs, ten words, one sentence;” It said “
Welcome to the default world, whose fault is that?
Burning Man is essentially an art festival. They call it radical self-expression. It is thousands of camps, art installations, groups, large music domes, and craziness. People dress up in zany costumes, and every exhibit, every costume, is made to either make you go “wow” or “who the hell thought of that” or make you laugh. The leave no trace behind policy says, that you create an entire civilization from the ground up based on these principles and after seven days everything gets burned to the ground. People spend all year working on this temporary civilization that will inevitably be burned, but will be etched in peoples mind as part of a lasting experience.
The entire world lights up at night with millions of flashing LEDs , glow sticks and lights, it is magical. The term Burning Man comes from the fact that at the last night they burn what is an effigy of a “Man”. It is the culmination of the party, it is a massive fireworks display and explosion of pyrotechnics that is the highlight of the week. They also build what’s called “The Temple”. This is usually an intricate building of architecture (last year it was five towers) that people go in there to leave messages, or thoughts or memories of loved ones. It is very eerie to walk in there and read and see some of the stuff people leave there. It could be a ring of a bride that died that year, shoes of a little boy that got killed in an accident, messages of hope, love, pain, and sorrow written all over on the walls and in pictures and items. The night following the burn, they burn the entire temple. It is some sort of sacrificial release, burning the memory and starting new, or memorializing it, but it is a very spiritual experience both walking through it and watching it burn.
Some of the more notable installations I remember are the tower of nothing. It was a twenty story, metal beam structure, with each floor made of glass that had nothing but stairs that lead to the top. The top had nothing but a microphone, with the speaker somewhere far out in the dessert, and you can scream and curse into nothingness for as long as you like. I attended a wedding there, that was more like a scene from Alice in Wonderland than a wedding. This year they had an entire Wall St. replica. It was like a movie set, with buildings called Merryl Lynched, or Goldman Sucks. They had a fuck cancer camp and fuck cancer wall, where cancer patients or survivors can write messages of hate towards cancer. It’s this kind of creativity that sets the mood and energy that you just feel like you are in a place where nothing matters. Then there are the art cars. The art cars are the only things aloud to drive on the playa (beach in Spanish) which is the circumference of the man. Art cars are mutant vehicles. They are vehicles that have been rebuilt as some sort of a weird hybrid of car, machine, art, party vehicle, or just weird. Its as if the contestants of robot wars, monster truck rally, garage Inc. Project Runway, lights and sound engineers, have all come together to build a hundred vehicles, that just drive around all night, flashing lights, playing music, serving alcohol, and giving you rides around the playa. You can spend all night walking on and off art cars meeting people and having fun.
Whatever you want or are looking for in Burning Man you will find, but it doesn’t define it. Yes there are drugs, but it’s not about drugs. Yes there is sex, but it’s not about sex and hedonism. Yes there is nudity, but it’s not about nudity. Yes there is music but it’s not just about music. It’s about whatever you want it to be, or make it about. It’s about experiencing a brief moment and snap shot of what life would be like if nobody cared so much, and there weren’t that many rules.
There are many stories that happened in Burning Man to me this year and over the years, and maybe some of the pictures and videos can speak for themselves, but I will not be writing about it. You cannot verbalize something that has to be experienced, I urge you to experience it at least once.
A Journey Through Black Rock City
