The big tower at the far reaches of the playa

Strong winds put the Burn on hold for awhile last night, but The Man finally went up in flames around 11 p.m. The harsh conditions earlier in the evening forced the cancellation of the fire conclave beforehand. By the time the big guy burned, though, the dust storms had cleared and the night had turned beautiful.

Lots more pics and a wrapup post in a day or two.

The Man burns in 364 days.

The Flaming Lotus Girls' Mutopia is so beautiful it almost hurts your eyes.

They’ll start tearing down the structures at the base of Man tonight, and tomorrow morning, they’ll attach accelerants and fireworks.

Getting ready to blow.

What Center Camp looks like these days. Three weeks ago, there was nothing there. Three weeks from now, there will be nothing again.

Danger Ass played a big part in making the Camp what it is now.

The Lamplighters head out to the light the way.

The big Mutaytor vs. Gooferman show at the Cirq Bizerk tent

Black Rock citizens gathered at BMIR to listen to Barak Obama's speech at the Democratic convention.

A fun little video from the night we filmed the staff tutorials with Banyan :)

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It's hooper heaven along the Esplanade

More random thoughts, because that’s the only kind we are capable of, and really, trying to get your arms around this beast is pretty damn impossible right now.

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We crashed a fancy party last night, and things were very fine. It was an outreach network gathering, bringing together a lot of the far-flung Burning Man operations.  The Black Rock Arts Foundation, Black Rock Solar, Burners Without Borders and a lot of the regional clans were represented.  For a lot of the folks, it was a reunion, like the people who were down in Peru helping after the earthquake. And there were regional reps from all over the world — Canada, South America, Japan … it’s a big Burner world out there.

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Maybe it’s just me, but there seem to be many more live performances on the Playa this year. The Red Nose District is in full swing, but it seems like there’s a lot more of everything live, too. Last night at around 8:30 and Esplanade, we watched a beautiful dance piece, the  dancers glowing under black lights in the desert night. Beautiful.

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If you live in the Bay Area, it must seem like you have the city to yourself these days. On the bright side, certain restaurants might be a little easier to get into. (And oh how we long for a restaurant experience, ANY restaurant experience:
Even though I have been eating relatively well (and by relative I mean probably better than I do at home), still, we will soon go to a restaurant, we will sit down, we will pick something off the menu, anything we like, and then they will bring it to us, and perhaps there will be wine. Oh yes, we are ready for that.)

There are lots of babies here, and Juniper was having a blast yesterday.

But still, the Bay Area has to be lacking a certain energy. And maybe a common sense of longing for those not able to make it out here this year…

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You have to wonder how the BM people try to gauge the event; there’s no way of predicting, really, where the energy is going to go when people get here. At least I don’t know if there is. I’m sure clues emerge in the artist proposals and the theme camp registrations, but the hundreds and hundreds of camps that are off the grid or out of the book also help determine where this thing is heading. But who really knows? It’s not like the event can be directed in any major way. “It’s pushing with a feather,” as one insider put it.

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There seem to be more than a couple of people walking around with tired eyes today, and the reason might not be exactly what you’d suspect. “I got plenty of sleep last night, but I still feel kind of tired. I’m not waking up,” one campmate said.  The diagnosis? Dehydration. You don’t know you’re even sweating out here. There’s no clue, because there is rarely any moisture on your body. But you lose water just the same. So yeah, for those of you not here, we’re really suffering. I know you feel for us. Really, I do.

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Thunderdome is in full swing, with places to hang onto the bars and watch the battles already hard to find. There was a cute scene there the other night; a young boy with a man we’ll say was his father were in the ring. The little guy was really going at it, taking out all that pent-up resentment of being told what to eat and when to go to bed and when to do the homework. The dad, admirably, was just doing a little jousting, pretty much love-tapping him when appropriate. No doubt they’ll use their words later …

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There's fire everywhere ...

The “wheel” area of the camp is very much expanded this year, and it feels like there’s a lot more room. A lot of the familiar camps are still here — BMIR, Picasso Camp, the Information Booth — but it all feels more spacious. The Jazz Cafe is also going pretty much around the clock, and that’s a place I hadn’t checked out before. It’s kind of a combination performance/seminar scene, with lots of hot playing, but there are also lots of conversations about what’s being played, the influences, and the progression of the genre. Cool stuff.

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We’ve been pretty wired to the election season in recent months, and it’s very strange to be out here and so out of touch. You don’t get much sense of anticipation about Obama’s speech tonight. Same with the Olympics; for the people here, it’s like they pretty much didn’t happen. But I’m looking forward to catching up via digital recorder, and I’m pretty sure Obama’s speech will be in YouTube shortly after he delivers it. So it’ll be there for me when I get back.

Politics feels more personal here; there are a lot of activists, but I haven’t come across any from the major parties. Instead, there are people who’ve learned how to do things like hang doors and frame houses and pour concrete at Burners Without Borders operations. There are a lot of Peru veterans here. It’s the politics of the planet.

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The clown out in front of the Wheel leading to Center Camp looks a lot different at night

Tonight’s plan; back to the Red Nose District, maybe another visit to Altered States, then out to the Temple (which I haven’t been able to get to since it opened), and then on way way out to Babylon and Peter Hudson’s Tantalus. It’s an aggressive schedule, given the condition of the playa (which is really challenging this year). But, hard as it is to believe, time is growing short. See you out there.

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Here are a few snappies from the Regionals bash yesterday:

Larry Harvey and Maid Marian

Miss Kelly

Bex and Neil

New York is in the house

Burners without Borders people had a reunion at the Regionals gathering.

David Silverman of Simpsons fame broke out his flaming tuba.

The multi-talented, hard-working, flame-playing Lily doing her thing.

Things are in full swing, and words are becoming kind of beside the point. The activities are taking off in a thousand different directions, with thousands of people at the helm.

So here are some random sentence fragments and ill-formed thoughts:

a) Weather completely gorgeous (moderately hot, with a chance of dust)
b) Esplanade very big and surprisingly easy to get lost on at night. Weird but true.

Tom at the helm of the rig

c) Where would we be without Moto (who can fix broke-ass art cars)? I’ll tell you exactly where we’d be; still trying to push the Trojan Sloth back home.
d) Fire, fire everywhere.
e) There is a drop-box for glow-sticks at around 5:30 and D. Use it.
f) Pabst is the vitamin water of Black Rock City, and Jameson’s is the WD-40.
g) Ice cream. Must. have. ice. cream.
h) What the hell day is this?
i) Reverend Billy is a good dancer.

Black Rock Roller Disco, on the Esplanade

j) One of the most phenomenal photographers here is Dimitre, who had a reception last night at the Commissary. He’s so good he makes you want to put away your  camera  and weep quietly in the corner. Also? An amazingly good guy.
k) Age is just a frame of mind; except when you feel it in your bones.

And here are some pictures (the black and whites are by Dimitre, too). I hope they suffice for now.

Michael Chastain's piece. Photo by Dimitre

Photo by Dimitre

Wherever you go, you're likely to see flames.

An another of Lily, from her midnight show

It’s gorgeous again; bright, sunny and cool, even at almost 10 am on Tuesday. “Could we get this to last all day?” my campmate Scout asked. “I’d pay money,” I said, but there’s no commerce on the playa.

Well, almost none. Coffee and ice. That’s it. Everything else you have to score (although that’s probably not the best way of putting it). But you can buy lemonade and electrolyte fluid in Center Camp now, in addition to the coffee and latte and chai.

Yesterday seems like a long time ago. There aren’t a lot of happy ways of dealing with dust. Ed had to choose between getting hammered in the tent, or suffocating in the car. He chose the car, with an occasional blast of AC.

There's still plenty of room in the outlying neighborhoods.

That's not how you start this Russian plane, even though that's what he was doing at first.

(But don’t think for a second that I am suffering any kind of deprivation. Remember the other day when I said you didn’t have to bring all that food, because people were going to feed you unexpectedly? It happened to me in the morning; Maid Marion had a brunch bash, and there were beignets, and chocolate-drizzled bacon (You heard right. Try it. It rivals cookie dough ice cream for genius combinations), and fresh fruit and coffee and … well, you get the idea. And you really don’t have to be a fancy-pants First Camper for this kind of thing to happen.) (But today? Half a cheese sandwich I bought in Empire. It comes and goes.)

The early part of the week is still my favorite time. Things aren’t quite pumping at full strength yet, and because so many people need help setting things up, you can be of use to others. It’s all very communal.

Even the night time is at a good pitch. There are lots of impromptu dance parties, and not necessarily at the big clubs out towards the end of the Esplanade. Last night everyone thought Glitter Camp was nailing it just right; the magic just seems to happen at some places some times.

Down the road, there was a huge crowd at the Opulent Temple, although huge on Monday night is a lot different than huge on Thursday or Friday night. Last night you could still maneuver around pretty easily, and the mood didn’t have that end-of-the-night desperation that sometimes sets in as Burn night gets closer.

At any rate, the kids were grooving, and you were reminded that that yeah, this whole thing is one big dance party, too. Fur and glow and and thongs and chests and boots and heels and dancing. At one point, the DJ ditched the music to welcome everyone and say how hard Opulent worked to get everything ready to go on the first night. “And two other things,” he yelled. “Don’t effing litter. … And tell Burning Man what you think about having dance clubs on their playa!” Roars from the crowd, a blast of fire, and the music was back on.

Not too far away, but past some dunes that were worthy of the Sahara (it’s a bitch getting around this year. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. You’re peddling along and then wham! you hit a patch of playa that’s four or five inches deep.There were a bunch of times I just couldn’t power through it, and I’m usually pretty good at it), work was proceeding on the Temple.

There was still caution tape up, and even at midnight there were a whole bunch of people working. The site was lit up like a ballpark for a night game, so bright and shiny that it was almost unreal. It was getting pretty chilly out there; the cold front that was promised had arrived. Small knots of people were gathered behind the police tape, briefly checking out the scene, then wandering off.

Work goes on pretty much around the clock at the Temple

We made out way back to Center Camp, which has really turned into something beautiful. The Decor crew has been laboring mightily, it’s clear. Marsha and Danger Ass are huddled constantly, details details details. But the space is really pretty, and different. Funny little scarecrow-like figures with glowing globe heads stand like sentries as you enter. Multicolored string lights have been attached to the center cables, and last night, they contrasted nicely with the glowing rings that the hoopers were working with.

There was a guy playing an electric violin, and there was plenty of room on the couches, and the vibe was extremely chill. Rest and recovery and respite at the end of a howling day.

Center Camp is a thing of beauty.