It’s like a memory now, isn’t it?

The dust is out of your hair and your clothes. You’ve been sleeping in your own bed again, and maybe you’ve been out to eat. And you’ve gone to the refrigerator in the middle of the night, and you’ve had whatever you damn well pleased, because you could.

And isn’t it sad?

I saw the full moon coming up the other night, and all I could think of was the LAST time it was full, and it was rising over the desert hills, and someone was saying on the radio, “Hey, you hippies, have you seen the moon?”

Everything was still ahead of us then — the light and the dust and the music and the art and the wonder.

I waited a week before getting the playa out of my car. It turns out that after all that time and all that wind and all that heat, I discovered on the long ride home that I really really loved the smell of the dust, and I wanted to hang onto it as long as possible. And when I washed the car, the last physical remnants of the experience would be washed away, too. And I wasn’t ready for that. Not at all.

I had thought, after more than three weeks out there, watching those amazing people build the city and install the art, that I’d be really ready to leave. But of course I wasn’t. When it came time to go, it turned out that I wanted to stay forever, or at least until I could help take the city down. Complete the cycle.

But I couldn’t stay, the default world was calling, and when I hit the road, it was a jolt.

I couldn’t believe what a rush people were in to get off the playa; granted, they wanted to beat the crush, but even late Saturday night, the exodus had begun. People were going fast, passing each other, not caring about kicking up the dust anymore. That brought me back to when I was a kid, in the back seat of the car as my parents left the church parking lot, and watching cars cut each other off, all the rudeness and impatience. And I thought, all that talk of love and peace inside the church, and look at you now. And I’ve always believed that those parking lot scenes were the beginning of my disaffection with organized religion.

But that’s another story, and that wasn’t the feeling that stayed with me as I hit the road to Gerlach, and then past Empire, and then into the darkest hours on Indian land. Because there was too much to remember, and too much to look forward to. Read more »

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.

Read more »

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… Read more »