So crazy Flash was behind the bar on the night the Gates opened, making up something he called Rocket Fuel, which involved pouring various liquids and liquors back and forth from one glass to another, adding ingredients and tasting along the way.

The result was a lethally smooth concoction, capable of knocking you off your feet even while you thought you were drinking nothing stronger than a spritzer.

Flash the mixologist

It was Opening Night, and there was also a birthday to celebrate, and Flash behind the bar pretty much guarantees things will get raucous, so the elements came together smartly for the official  start of Burning Man 2009.

Around 11 pm,  people started lining up rides to get out to the gates to watch the people who’d come blasting in at midnight. It’s a funny tradition. On the night the gates open to the public, a  lot of the people who are already inside the city go out to greet the people who have been waiting for HOURS and HOURS to get inside.

Now when I say “greet,” that covers a lot of ground. Yes there  were some cheers and shouts of welcome,  but mostly there was lots of abuse. Funny stuff. People with megaphones informing the arrivals that this is a dust-free event. Telling them to slow down.  Oh, and they were told that they should be giving lots of beer to the people who’ve been building the city for them, too.

None of it mattered. The people streaming in were laughing and dancing and just happy to be here. One guy got out of his car, naked, and rolled around face down in the dust. The call went up in the stands for him to be body-cavity searched.

One of the greeters had plugged in a vacuum and reversed the flow, and he was dousing all the arriving cars and trucks and buses and RVs with an early taste of the playa.

We had ridden out to the gates in a big, white Space Shuttle that was flashing green and blue. It had a big sound system, of course,  and Leslie had a diverse programming menu which included everything from off-the-wall comedy bits to Frank Sinatra. (The Sinatra got us all in a distinctly New York state of mind.)

We also had a guy on board whose state of mind you had to wonder about. That was Larry Harvey. I radioed that I was in the car with him, only to be told in reply that there is no such thing as Larry Harvey. I was imagining things. Oh. Ok.

Looking at what he hath wrought.

But what must have been going through Harvey’s mind as he rode shotgun? I mean here we were in the middle of the night and everyone was coming to his party. Well, not exactly his party, but the one he started a long time ago.

But he’s not taken to making ponderous statements in situations like that. He can expound endlessly in the right setting and maybe with the right questioner, but tonight he was content to bang some kind of bone he was carrying on the roof of the car, the better to get the primal energy flowing.

About three quarters of the way out to the gates, a guy and girl hopped in the back of our art car, as people  are wont to do. It was Vice, of the DPW crew, and he’d been out here for a month  working. I told him it was good to have some DPW in the house. I don’t think he really knew what the hell I was talking about, but I just let the moment slide. But it was fitting to have him there, to bring things full circle. I mean, here we were, sitting with some of the swells and luminaries of the proceedings, art critics and regional directors and all manner of leading lights, and yet here we also were with a stake-pounder and a trench-digger. It worked for me.

The whole night felt like a reunion. The people coming in were being welcomed “home,” and the people already here, the ones who’ve been here for weeks working, were having their own get-together. There were Miss Stress and Makeout Queen in the stands, heckling. There was D.A. with a clipboard, no doubt counting down the days until cleanup begins. There was Wild Child, the head of Gate and Perimeter, on probably his biggest night, looking … well, looking pretty cool, considering.  When it’s your job to make sure that all 45,000 or so people coming through the gates actually come through the right way, it makes for a challenge.  There was Rugburn and Easy Going, Fondue and Elo, Eric the Orange Guy, Montreal and Playground and Porn Star and Photo Mike … and on and on and on.

The revelry lasted for hours. Eventually, we all made our way back to camp. It was 2 in the morning, but most people were headed back out to the playa. The music was pounding, the lights were blinking, and there was more rocket fuel to burn.

Welcome home.

One guy with a vacuum gave the arrivals an early dusting

It was the day before the  gates would open, and all through the city, people were getting ready for the new arrivals. It was another day of this and that, and last-minute details. Who do we have to run out the Yellow Bikes? Who’s going to test the systems over at Arctica? Oh, and who is going to lay out the “you are here” signs at the major plazas? That would be us. So off we went, around and about, talking to people along the way, on the day before the event began.

That's just plain Mike in front of the solar panel at Snow Koan village, which provides 25kw of power to the Black Rock City grid, enough to power four camps, including Nectar Village and Comfort and Joy out near E and 8. Surprisingly enough, Mike is a solar operations manager for Energy Efficiency Solar in the default world, and here he is doing his thing on the playa. Stop by in the afternoon, and they'll charge your iPod and give you a snowcone, too.

So, if you are out and about, and you pass what you might at first think is a scary sign that says, "Brand Your Ass" (over 7,000 served), you don't have to picture hot pokers and not being able to sit down for a week. The friendly folk there will actually only put a temporary tattoo on you, but you will have to bend over and drop your pants. And, your friends might be watching. No matter. You have a lovely ass, so get a tattoo on that thing and keep on moving.

The ladies of the DPW are immortalizing themselves in a calendar this year, and Serra and Ann Marie were down at the Depot yesterday for their photo shoot. Serra is the office manager in the Gerlach office of Burning Man when she is not serenading folks in the Black Rock Saloon. Ann Marie is Joe the Builder's right-hand woman, and she's been there since the beginning as the city has taken shape. No microphones were damaged in the making of this photo.

All the Barbies were lined up perfectly yesterday, as good Barbies should be, out at the Barbie Death Camp and Wine Bar. They were topless, but then again, they weren't the only ones who were.

Three days before the event begins, I am most pleased to report to you that this year’s ART is sprouting up like playa fire flowers all around our beloved Black Rock City. Everywhere one hears the sounds of drills and hammers, grinders and heavy equipment and the white hot crackle of acetylene torches at night beneath huge floodlights. The communal unloading, lifting and erecting is moving forward full force. Some many crews of artists haven’t stopped working since they hit the playa.

In a post apocalyptic world, there is a difference between surviving and surviving in style. In our desolate lake bed, we are surviving very much in style.

I was able to pull myself away from the alternating working and cocktail parties to take a stroll around and visit with the artists and take in some of this year’s installations.

The Man on his Tangled Bank

The Man is atop a Tangled Bank this year. A forest of nailed wooden organic shapes surround him and create a space we haven’t ever seen in the Man base. The trees, or flames, or crystals, or dancers or whatever they look like to you suggest a small homage to the Belgian Waffle of years past. Whatever it is, I like it and true to the theme, it’s definitely a fresh evolution of the Man’s surroundings.

Currently the lighting, including a double helix that winds around the Man pole, and other Evolutionary Mud bug sculptures are being installed below.

The Man lighting crew, Spanky, Trademark, Wizard Wonka, Kimmy Kat and GoGo in the Tangled Bank.

The Flaming Lotus Girls’, Soma looks to be structurally pretty much fully built and I was told they were almost ready to bring in their techies to bring it to life. I spoke with Peter and Tim of Gee-Gnome, an offshoot of the Flaming Lotus Girls, and they have much of their fire and electronics ready for their piece. And Fishbug aka Chimera Sententia looks just as creepy as I envisioned it, sitting there over by the road to the 3:00 plaza. All three of these installations are placed in the same general area, to the right of the main walkway to the Man from Center camp. If the Flaming Lotus Girls are a University where Fire Artists get their degrees, they are producing some amazing graduates, and as Peter said, “We all like Art and we all like fire”, so it makes sense.

Soma by the Flaming Lotus Girls

Chimera Sententia aka Fishbug, by Rebecca Anders & Jessica Hobbs

The Flame Thrower Shooting Gallery is coming along nicely and Bill Coddington and his Burninator Grid are to the right of the Man. The Grid promises to be pretty impressive. They’ve arranged their huge tanks relatively close together and participants will be able to walk through as the Grid is controlled by a conductor on a raised stage in the middle. There is Fire this yea,r people. Prepare to get your Fire Art fix.

FlameThrower Shooting Gallery by Matisse Enze

The Raygun Gothic Rocketship is standing tall and its silver metallic skin gleams in the sun. There is a large crew of people working on it and when I stopped by they were working on the inside, putting in the first floor which is a red see-through resin. One of their crew, Talia says looks like it is made of red Jolly Ranchers. Three floors will eventually be built out and participants will be able to tour the Rocketship, where, among other cool things, you will be able to see the high voltage glass tubes inside. They’re circling the Rocketship with the L2k lights and listen for the Victory Sirens from the Crude Awakening year. Friday is lift off. Be there.

It is located towards the 9:00 plaza road.

Raygun Gothic Rocketship by Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor, David Shulman, John Manyjohns (and many others)

Other fantastic projects I visited are the Fire of Fires aka the Temple. This year there is a Fire Vortex in the middle of the Temple and I was told that they tested it last night and it works, which is very very cool to behold. In the outer playa, to the left of the Temple, we chanced upon the crew of The Nest of Recollection by Matthew Schultz and Kevan Christiaens from Reno. The piece is the Bird Man’s living room and it’s definitely worth checking out when you’re out there. Nice people.

I was also very fortunate to be there when the Portal of Evolution by Bryan Tedrick was being completed as its huge wings were being placed by a crane atop the installation. This piece is sublime and beautiful. The Portal will have fire effects at night and will stand out as one of the most beautiful pieces on the playa this year.

Portal of Evolution by Bryan Tedrick.

The weather has been a bit challenging these last two days, so let us wish the best to all the artists out here who are spending grueling days building their installations to share with all of Black Rock City. To put so much of your time and energy into bringing your Art to life for this brief week of impermanence, to execute and share your Art, well, all I can say is, we are definitely in for a treat this year.

all images by Moze

The Man stands tall in the heat and the dust, even as work continues around him

Maybe we have time today for a personal anecdote.

There are only a couple of days before it all changes here in Black Rock City. There’s a poignancy in the air, because one thing is just about finished, even as something much bigger is about to begin.

And so maybe people are a little thoughtful today. It’s been a long month. The work that began so amazingly on the 10th with the fence is coming to an end. It has to, because the event is about to start. The guests will arrive, whether it’s all ready or not. But it feels  ready.

And it has brought me back to a night 40 years ago, to a Friday night in August that I’ll never forget. My family used to spend time during the summer in upstate New York. We’d be up “at the lake” as we called it, a sleepy little area just outside of Brewster, New York. And on that Friday night in August, something very different was happening in the quiet little town.

There were vans and bells and hippies and tie-dye and ribbons and guitars and music, so much music. And thousands … THOUSANDS … of young people caravaning through the streets, stopping to buy ice cream and soda and other stuff. I’d never seen anything like it, and I had no idea what was happening.

What was happening was Woodstock.

A third level has been added to the Temple, where the pace was furious

Brewster was on the way to Woodstock, and the town was crawling with long-haired hippy guys and girls on their way to see Hendrix and Janis and the Doors and Joe Cocker and all the rest.  I hadn’t known about any of it, but all of a sudden it was right in front of me.

A lot of people have been thinking about the connections between Woodstock and Burning Man this week. Whatever you want to think about what is taking place here, the arc is evident. Sure, people will say Burning Man is too big now, that it’s not what it was … and that’s true. It’s not what it was. It started as a random act in 1986, when Larry Harvey and Jerry James thought it would be interesting and fun to burn a wooden man on Baker Beach in San Francisco. Harvey didn’t do it as a celebration of music and art, like Woodstock was. It was a random act, without a lot of forethought.

It was only when he saw how people reacted that day on the beach that he thought he might have stumbled onto something. Because people gathered spontaneously around the burning wooden man. They started dancing and singing. They connected with each other around the man, around their humanity.

And that same basic thing is still happening. Yes, there is structure now. Plans are drawn, rules are enforced, and you have to pay to get in. But … what happens here is under no one’s direction. It just happens. It can’t be directed. And, to these eyes, it’s still about connection. It’s about sharing what you have with others. And letting them share their stuff — physical, metaphysical, whatever — with you.

Other things happened in the year of Woodstock. Some historians will tell you that the counterculture reached its apex in the summer, at the music festival, and that the movement lost its innocence later the very same year at the Altamont Speedway in California. That was the site of the Rolling Stones concert where the Hells Angels had been hired to provide security, and that’s where, as Mick Jagger watched helplessly from the stage, a person was stabbed and killed by the Angels. That was in December. The Sixties came to a close right then and there.

Heather reported that the fire test at the Temple went very well

And it makes you realize that it’s all the more remarkable that this Burning Man thing is still happening the way it’s happening. Sure, it’s gotten a lot bigger, but it HASN’T lost its innocence. And people seem to realize just how precious and rare it still is, and how fragile, too.

“They’re not going to let us keep doing this forever,” Logan was saying after the last DPW morning meeting. “It’s going to end, or we’re going to say, this is how far we’ve come, and we’re not going to go any farther. But it won’t last forever. … And I’m going to cherish it while it’s here.”

Logan  had looked out at the dusty, dirty and very tired crew a little while earlier, and he had told everyone to do the same thing — look around. “Look at who’s here, and at what you did. It’s never going to be like this again.”

And that’s the truth. Whatever primal thing that we’re tapping into here, it’s still happening. People are still gathering around a burning wooden man, gathering around their shared humanity, and it’s no more simple, and no less profound, than that. And it’s not going to happen like this forever. So make the most of it now, while you can.

—

In  other news …

The city gets thicker and thicker, again seemingly by the hour. The commissary is full of new faces. The roads are getting filled with theme camps. And, oddly, it seems like the more people there are, the fewer clothes are being worn. Maybe it’s like Carmen was saying at lunch: There’s a crowd mentality taking over. One person doffs the clothes, someone else sees it and thinks, oh hell yeah. That’s a good option. And so it goes on down the line.

–

The wind is up a bit, but the dust is up a lot. It’s something to keep in mind. It’s mostly us who makes the dust. And the more of us there are, the more dust there is.

—

There’s a third floor happening at the Temple now. Things are kicking out there. Extra crews were put on this morning, and they are swarming all over now. They tested the fire effects a couple of nights ago, and apparently all went well. I was told they are shooting for a Tuesday debut, but that’s unconfirmed.

The Raygun Gothic Rocket Ship is poised for launch

So, a few words about playa conditions -- they are not bad. Yes there are chunky areas. Yes there are areas that will force you off your bike. But in general, not bad at all. There is a surface crust of an inch or so in most places, with some patches, like the area above, a bit deeper than that. The surface is hard-packed right now, but obviously that's going to change when everyone gets here. Will there be dust? Yes there will be dust.

So maybe you’ve been reading about the people who have been building the city for you for the past several weeks, and maybe some of you have been kind enough to say stop on by when you get here and have a drink. That’s really awesome and great and appreciated, but you know what? You can help even more if you want to.

There will be dozens and dozens of people here for weeks AFTER the event, too, cleaning up after everyone. Yes, this is a “leave no trace” event, but … well … it doesn’t really work out that way. Lots of people leave lots of traces, and it takes a lot of work by the Playa Restoration Crew and others to get the playa back to the shape it was in before all this started.

So that’s where you come in. These people need simple things, like food and drink. Yes, people donate their leftover stuff on their way out of Burning Man, and that is very much appreciated. But you might even think about PLANNING to give some stuff to the DPW crew. You have to remember, they are the ones who have been out here busting their butts to make this thing happen, and they will be here for a long time afterward. And, like everyone else this year, they are having money troubles. So if you want to show your appreciation for their efforts, maybe do more than offer free drinks during the event. Drop off some good stuff and help them make it through the year. Thanks so much.

—

There was some doubt that the Thunderdome people were going to make it out to the event this year, but rest easy: They arrived Thursday night and are setting up the dome as we speak. And DPW fight night at the dome is Wednesday, so you might want to make a note of that.

—

Goat Man Dan of the Nimby crew, near the Museum of Unnatural Selection

The sculpture outside of Center Camp looks completely awesome, and it hasn’t even been fired up yet. It’s called the Museum of Unnatural Selection, and it’s the creation of the Oakland Nimby crew, specifically Goat Man Dan, Lex and Jen. They were putting on the finishing touches Friday, getting ready for their pyro inspection later in the day. (Yes, all the pieces and vehicles that involve fire have to pass an inspection. So you can tell your mom that everything is quite safe out here.)

—

Are things getting a little testy out at the Temple? Maybe.

I was doing the thing I’ve been doing for awhile now, just kind of walking around, taking snappies, trying to be as invisible as possible, when a guy sanding one of the panels in the center of the structure said I had to get out. So I just backed outside. No problem. And then I started to walk around to the other side, and he said, “No, I mean out beyond the cones,” which are like 30 yards  away. Hmm. Not too many “people shots” out there. So I walked back inside for a second and went over to him and asked softly if there were anyone I could talk to about getting access to the site, because I’m doing it for the Burning Man folks and all. And he said nope. No one to talk to. Not now there’s not. This is an active construction site, and I was going to have to leave. So I left.

It’s a beautiful piece, the Temple. It’s quite complex, and there are a lot of moving pieces, so I totally get it. But I was remembering that last year the Temple didn’t open until the middle of the week, so really, this crew has plenty of time. But I think they’re going to open on schedule. And I can’t wait to see how the flame works in the middle of the thing.

—

Word is that there’s a lot of pink eye going around the playa. About 30 people have it so far. So when you get here, wash your hands a lot. There were a ton of people coughing at the DPW meeting this morning too, so that’s another reason to practice good hygiene.

—

It's really hard not to smile around Helen. Why? Because she's always smiling, and you can't help yourself.

The flags on top of Center Camp may be an endangered species here at Evolution Burn. They may not last until the time the gates open. I haven’t yet found out exactly what the issue is, but I was told that the issue was discussed at a senior staff meeting, and it has something to do with a construction thing. More when I know, and we’ll have some pictures for historical purposes, at least.

—

A cold front was expected to move through the area Friday afternoon, with 30 mph winds coming along with it. Uh oh. Batten down the hatches. The good news was, it was expected to blow through quickly, then calm down again. And the weather forecast is looking good through Wednesday.

Lily is the cartographer for the city ... in other words, she mapped it all out before there was anything else here. She's also an artist and a fire dancer. She's like a lot of other people here, in that she has a very diverse skill set. Hi, Lily, and thanks.

—

Today is miniskirt, tutu and kilt day. And again, I find that my radical self expression has once again not included this aspect of the festivities. Tomorrow is Stoopid Joke Day. Ok.

If I Were A Boy

The Man had a healthy glow in the early morning hours

Stuff is happening everywhere. The city gets thicker by the hour, art pops up where there wasn’t any before, the rocket ship seems ready for blastoff,  the last spire was placed on the playa, and somewhere, right now, no matter what time of the day or night you are reading this, someone is pounding a stake into the dust and trying to get their camp squared away.

At night now, the “WHOOSH”es are getting louder, as more and more propane-equipped playa vehicles shoot huge bursts of flames into the night sky. It shakes your timbers and rattles your bones, and it’s only just beginning.

The folks who have been here for awhile still have tons to do, because the big party starts in three days. (People will come streaming through the gates just past midnight on Sunday and, ready or not, we all will be launched.)  But the ones who have just arrived are doing the basics — the tent unfurling, the stake pounding, the carpet laying, the light hanging and all the hundreds of other things that need doing before it all gets done.

The last spire was planted in the playa on Thursday

And if you’re not here yet, and that certainly means most of you, oh my god it’s all ahead of you. Maybe you’ve rented the RV and maybe you’ve bought the 20 gallons of water and maybe you’ve got the daytime and evening costumes all squared away. But then again, maybe not.

So there are a couple of strategies that it might be good to hear right now. First, and this is a new one for me, more than a few veteran Burners break up the trip into two days. Especially if you are driving from Southern California, but even from the Bay Area, it’s really not such a terrible idea to spend a night in Reno on the way in. Think of it as the last supper. (And maybe the last shower.)

You can do pretty well for yourself in the biggest little city on Earth. (And what does that mean, anyway, the biggest little city on Earth?  … No matter.)  The thing is, it’s a casino town, and even the lavish hotel rooms are so cheap and sweet it almost rots your teeth. Think of a suite the size of your apartment, with a walk-in shower, maybe a hot tub in the main room and a view of the hills from the 35th floor or so, all for about $75. True, the last thing you want to think about now is spending more money, but if you really want to get yourself ready for this dusty ordeal, or if you want to recover in style, think about booking a room before or after the event.

(Ok, an admission: I went off the reservation a couple of nights ago. I went to Reno, and I did the things I described above. I didn’t have to use a Porta Potty, and there was running water. I slept in a very comfortable bed, and there was no dust in the sheets. I know, I know, you don’t feel sorry for me even one single bit, and you shouldn’t, but  I am telling you: Think about it for before or after your trip. It could be a life-changing event. It pretty much was for me, after three weeks spent mostly in the desert.)

The view from behind the handlebars on my little playa scooter

Reno is also your last chance to get what you need in the way of supplies. There is a huge new Target store on the far side of town on Route 80, in the middle of some gargantuan “marina” development. How could there possibly be a marina in Reno, you wonder? Well, if you build an artificial lake, you get to have a marina, and a huge shopping complex called “Legends”  where the Target is. But be warned; there is no real grocery store there, so you’ll have to stock up on beer someplace else.

For costumes, if you haven’t hit the thrift stores sufficiently already, there is an awfully good one off of Kietzke Avenue in Reno, called Savers. It has a collection of funky items that haven’t been picked over quite so aggressively as the ones in the Bay Area by now, so if you’re looking to score those perfect playa boots, or even (heaven forbid) you’re still in the market for some glow sticks, Savers is very Burner friendly.

All of Reno seems Burner friendly, in fact. The airport has Burner greeters to help you get where you want to go, and it seems like every place you go in town, someone wants to strike up a conversation about Burning Man. Sure, we put a lot of money into the local economy, but it seems more genuine than that. People are friendly. They tell you stuff (whether you ask about it or not, actually) and they seem to want to hear about you.

The Raygun Gothic Rocket ship is poised for takeoff.

Like the clerk who told me that she and her husband bought a three bedroom home on 13 acres for an absurdly low price. I mean, absurdly low. The mortgage is cheaper than the rent on a studio apartment in San Francisco. And there is parking available.

Of course, and I’ll turn snarky just for a second here, if you buy a house in Reno you’d actually have to live in it, and that means blazing heat in the summer and freezing cold in the winter, and much of the landscape is somewhat reminiscent of an open-pit mine. No trees, no green … just brown hills and rocks and concrete.

Enough on Reno for now. But stop on your way in or out, and make yourself happy.

Other advice, and you’ve heard this before so we’ll just race through it, but it bears repeating: Bring less stuff. You’re going to eat less and drink more when you get here. You won’t need all that food. You won’t need all those flashlights. You won’t need all those blinkies. You WILL need the earplugs. You WILL need the vinegar to soak your hands and feet to counteract the alkaline playa dust. You WILL need the moisturizer and sunscreen. You WILL need the shade structure and chairs to sit in, because you are going to get tired of walking around, and it will be nice to have a place to crash you can call your own. You WILL need the things that are easy to snack on, because you are not going to feel like cooking. And if you WANT to bring extra chocolate chip cookies, well … I say OK. I can help with those.

—

The spires leading toward Center Camp glow in the afternoon light

Center Camp is looking prettier by the day. There are flags and lights and carpets and sound systems, and Blondie and Sophie teamed up on some cool new drapes for around the center area. You can almost picture the place mobbed now, with all manners of Burners, the gawkers and the geeks as well as the veteran chic-sters, the hoopers and the yoga people, the body painters and the massagers, and the constant stream of talkers and singers and on the sound stage. It all feels very close. The only thing missing is  the thousands of bikes crowded around the outside.

—-

There’s pretty much a theme for each day out here now. It’s posted in the Decor headquarters around Center Camp. Yesterday was “Best Pickup Line” day. I didn’t know that when someone asked me if I were a parking ticket. Huh? … “You’ve got fiiiiine written all over you!” Haha! … Today was hot pants day. I did not participate. Others did, and I was happy for them. But my radical self-expression, which is so much a part of the Burning culture, does not extend to hot pants. … It was enough to be wearing the short skirt the previous evening at Ladies Night. I will not subject you to  the pictures.

–

Think about whether you want to even bring your phone up here. Yes, they are working, at least sporadically, on the playa. Yes, there are legitimate uses for them. (”Uh, Joe, can you pick up a car battery for me in Reno? My car is dead …”) … But mostly, think about whether you want to walk around with a cellphone in your ear, or whether you want to be bumped into by someone sending a Tweet. … There is more than a little talk of staging some cellphone interventions when the event begins.

The Burning experience starts very early for some lucky people, like Juniper