Burning Man is for Amateurs

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about when I hear that sound camps are scrambling to find tickets for a bunch of prominent professional DJs;  and that established burners who can’t make it in this year are suggesting that tickets be reserved for “hard core” burners who have put years in at the event:

The most counter-cultural thing about Burning Man is that it’s largely a production of amateurs.

The rest of it not only can be co-opted, but already has:  nudity and art and face paint and fuzzy boots?  Hell, you can get that on Cinemax.  DJs and electronic music?  That’s been so commoditized there are t-shirts of Che Guavara spinning beats.  Environmentalism?    That’s been going downhill ever since “save the whales” became a bumper sticker.

The vast majority of what happens at Burning Man can be replicated in a slick and professional way.  Yet every time that happens the results come out tasting like instant coffee.   McBurning Man is nothing like Burning Man, even if the french-fries are delicious.

It’s Burning Man’s rank amateur status that keeps it alive and interesting and challenging to the culture at large in a way that raves never were and TV can only dream of.  After all, the mechanism of appropriation is to bring professionals in and have them do things to spec.  Amateurs are unpredictable.  They’re in it for the passion, not the money, and they’ll follow their passion way past spec:  amateurs can’t be co-opted as long as they stay amateurs.  Burning Man can’t be co-opted as long as amateurs are the one’s really driving the culture.

And they are:  Burning Man’s “no spectators” ethos turns everyone at the event into an amateur impresario.  If you can’t sit back and watch then you have to do something, and if you’re not getting paid for it you might as well do something you’re passionate about.  That energy, that free-floating untamed passion to do something just-fucking-because, is what makes each burn vital and interesting.  Burning Man’s professional employees will be the first to tell you that they get the port-o-potties set up and the road signs in the dirt, but they never pretend to be what makes the burn unique.  That comes from 50,000 amateurs testing themselves against their own deviant muses.

The more spots you reserve for established burners simply because they’re established burners, the less of that you’re going to get.  The more professional DJs play Burning Man, the more its sound camps are going to resemble a warehouse party (yawn) in LA or a hip club (… so tired …) in Amsterzzzzzzzz.

The attempt to determine who a “real” burner is has always been misguided, and the idea of reserving tickets for some people because they’re more “Burning Man” than others is toxic to what keeps Burning Man interesting year after year.  Burning Man has a constant need for more people who don’t know what they’re doing, because they’re the ones most likely to reinvent the desert and surprise us.

This is no less true as Burning Man confronts ticket scarcity and begins the transition into a non-profit.  In fact, it’s more crucial than ever.

Burning Man has a lot of tough decisions to make about ticket sales from here on out – but attempts to make it a game preserve for semi-professional burners  will quickly leave Burning Man with all the cultural cachet of Sea World.  Come see them perform!

No less delusional is the idea that going the extra mile to get tickets to professional entertainers will improve Burning Man.  The most famous DJ in the world is actually far less valuable to Burning Man itself than a first-time Burner who has always wondered if she has what it takes to open an oxygen bar while wearing a whale costume.

The unspoken corollary of “no spectators” is “no professionals,” and it’s a big part of the reason Burning Man has gotten so big, and an even bigger part of what’s made it worth getting into an argument over.  Whatever solutions we find to today’s problems, we must never privilege the professional entertainer … or Burner … over the amateur.

That’s going to be difficult:  a lot of pressure is going to be put to bear.  But it’s essential.  Because, really now:  why would we want to make Burning Man more like something we can already pay to see somewhere else?

Or already saw last year?

Caveat is the Volunteer Coordinator for Media Mecca at Burning Man. Contact him at Caveat (at) Burningman.com

About the author: Caveat Magister

Caveat is Burning Man's Philosopher Laureate. A founding member of its Philosophical Center, he is the author of The Scene That Became Cities: what Burning Man philosophy can teach us about building better communities, and Turn Your Life Into Art: lessons in Psychologic from the San Francisco Underground. He has also written several books which have nothing to do with Burning Man. He has finally got his email address caveat (at) burningman (dot) org working again. He tweets, occasionally, as @BenjaminWachs

45 Comments on “Burning Man is for Amateurs

  • Megan says:

    Well said! Thank you; it’s posts like these that offer a solid response to all the whining and cat fighting and trolling and cultural panic that’s spreading around the interwebz like wildfire in recent weeks. Much of it is from those veteran burners who I’ve always found to be unbearably negative and burnier-than-thou.

    The hype about all the hype has ALMOST made me not want to go this year, and that’s pretty tragic. I’m still on the fence for other reasons (financial, etc), but I would hate to go this year and be bombarded by more of the pissy ‘old-timers’ who are going to ruin my experience. I sometimes feel there’s no point in engaging them in a conversation about the defense of the burner spirit that is alive and well, because to them, it was always better years ago, blah blah blah. There will always be something to criticize about something we all love. But how productive is all the complaining??

    Change is the only constant, people, embrace it! Guide your future experiences with wisdom gleaned from the past.

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  • BrotherMichael says:

    IN my humble experience, there is a marked difference between the attitude and the energy of what you will encounter here on Eplaya and the website, and what you actually find on the playa. On the message boards, there is predominantly negativity and snark.
    On the playa, joy and camaraderie.

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  • Adrena says:

    This isn’t something I’ve really considered, but you’re totally right. Veteran burners are so often “over it,” or at least that’s the attitude they carry around. What would an entire burn with just these crabs be like? The utter joy and amazement on a first-time amateur’s face is what reminds everyone else there what an incredible place the playa is. Oh yeah, I remember that feeling. Oh yeah. It’s the children that wake the dormant joy in every other soul around.

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  • Dusty Bacon says:

    Fantastically Well Put Mr. Magister! I am often asked to teach fire-spinning or give fashion-design instruction and the first thing I ask any potential student is that they teach me something. True innovation comes from not knowing how it’s supposed to be done. The improvisation of the amateur “impresario” is one of the driving creative forces that fuels the burn.
    As veteran burners we must remember that no matter how many burns you have under your belt, you have to keep trying new things while in BRC and in that way re-connect with this amateur spirit. If you only stick to those )'( pursuits you’ve become pro at, the event loses it’s magic.

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  • Scoot says:

    I agree! I often read people say… “DJ so and so and sound camp such and such, bring a lot of people to Burning Man, which brings a lot of money to BM Org.” Yes!! So if big name DJ doesn’t go, and many who wish to see them don’t go, there are lots of extra tickets for those who want to go for the other thousand things you can experience at BM. I’d be fine with amateur musicians and playlists at sound camps. The idea that BM needs to be like Coachella is horrible. People who don’t want to be at BM, but go just to see/hear some DJ will be the real problem when tickets are scarce

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  • Kaly says:

    Thank you. As a virgin burner this year, this makes me feel a lot better about going. I couldn’t help but get that little niggling voice in the back of my head that kept asking “What right do you have to go, when there are all these people who’ve made this thing a part of their lives for years and years?” This is the answer: of course I have a right to go, and do whatever I feel called to do. Thanks for helping me shut that little voice up (or at least punch it in the throat when it rears its ugly head).

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  • Mello Dee says:

    Virgin burner who would be glad to just hear someone up there with their Ipod blasting music. Don’t really care who’s playing it, their experience, etc. Just make it loud and fast. Can’t wait to see everyone on the playa. Cheers.

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  • Jim says:

    I’m kind of bothered by the people who are complaining about it being so important for them to go, and pissed that there were no tickets. They went on sale a LONG time ago, and I picked mine up in February.

    I’m looking forward to my first Burning Man – I’m camping with some veterans and a lot of other virgins, but everyone from our camp who wanted to go and had the budget has a ticket. But we have to plan ahead – we’re coming from the East Coast, and it’s not a trivial jaunt to the playa.

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  • MO7S says:

    Great article. As Burning Man reaches critical mass, the high school mentality of superlatives coagulates on the surface like the fat rendering from chicken soup. There are thousands of artists each year, whom purchase their own tickets, and create more intriguing art than any DJ’s who gets their expenses covered. As a DJ myself, I truly get disgusted talking to once Burners, Now Promoters who buy their way into a scene that further compromises the integrity of the worlds best festival.

    It is Burning Man for those who follow the 10 responsibilities. It is McBurning Man for those who do not.

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  • Dusty Rusty says:

    THANK YOU! In the last 24 hours I’ve been in mid freakout about my Mutant Vehicle. It looks brilliant (if I do say so myself), but I just realized that in heavy winds it’s going to be MOOPzilla (but recycled styrofoam seems like such a great idea).

    So, now with time pressure, work pressure, family stress and the load of being our small camp’s coordinator, I’m also facing a re-design of the Freaki Tiki. I was telling myself “it’s never gonna be as kewl as all those other vehicles I’ve seen on the Playa. I’m a smurfing CPA, not an artist!”

    Your post today has reminded me that Burning Man is for amatuers as well as artists. And my initial (yet problimatic…styrofoam…sheesh) design was pretty kewl, so whose to say that in 18 days I won’t have an even more awesome Freaki Tiki?

    Look for me on the playa: I think I’ll be the one driving Freaki Tiki mutant vehicle. And it’ll be totally awesome because I decided to do something awesome.

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  • dH says:

    Far the best article in this subject. Many, many thanks for it!

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  • I encourage all “professionals” that are making it there this year to try something else which they are an amateur at. I understand if they want to spend a little time doing that thing they are good at; but that should be tempered or even perverted by taking on a new project or idea and running with it.

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  • Sparks says:

    I hope I never feel like a pro at the burn… I hope new people always show up and bring the biggest baddest art ever (even if it is only a needle size piece physically) because that is what the burn is for. I want to come home inspired and bursting to get back into my own shop and create. There are other festivals to see DJ so and so and circus contraption that and that. Hell it seems every weekend here on the west coast one of my friends is off at some festival. The burn is special BECAUSE it invites the amateur to come and play, touch and feel, learn and grow and come back next year with new ideas to give back.

    But then again that is just my opinion and we all know how those work.

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  • Laura says:

    Nicely expressed.
    @DustyRusty: Love your attitude. You can always take your styrofoam design to a regional event. Less wind, equal parts sharing happiness. <3 upcycled creations

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  • Jude says:

    @DustyRusty : Could you lacquer over the styro with old sheets maybe? That would tie the moop to itself. No idea what the lacquer would do to the styro, of course. Spray glue? But yeah – decoupage!

    I don’t go to the big sound camps for exactly the reasons stated. I can get that anywhere, if I want. It’s the rest of the stuff – the weird little explosions of artistry and passion that excite me. It’s a creativity binge. And there’s only one week a year to see it all.

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  • i’ve been to the playa 11 times from ’98 to the present and this year will be my 12th visit. i’ve been known, from time to time, to kvetch about how burning man used to be “only slightly cooler than a star trek convention” (the image of early WIRED magazine articles was that of geeks building robots that shot bombs) and how that demographic has shifted and now frequently has that trendy club-hopping vibe. nevertheless, i do not believe i am “over it” or that i am somehow more entitled to a ticket than a newbie.

    i do, however, believe that i am more entitled to a ticket than a professional scalper. or some rich kid who will pay “whatever it takes” to a professional scalper.

    i know that when tickets go on sale next january, the borg will have to have some special new criterion for how they distribute the tickets or else the entire playa will become a bad parody of inclusiveness and be nothing but an experience that is available to the highest bidder.

    i do not think that having an exclusive on-sale route for longtime theme camps and then a general on-sale with a lottery system is an entirely bad idea. i think that longtime theme camps have demonstrated dedication to the creative aspects of the event and i think if tickets are simply put up for sale the way they have been and tickets get capped the way they are this year then it will leave a wide window open for prospectors to get in on the game and buy up many of the tickets at the first tier price.

    it is easy to point fingers at those people that we think are entitled. djs are always an easy target because, let’s face it, there’s a certain percentage of them that do act like rock star prima donnas, or at least get perceived as prima donnas when they have an entourage running around trying to cover their bases for them. but forgetting the dj stereotypes for a second and applying it across the board to *all veteran burners* — would alienating the core community and making the experience only available to trust funders who can afford high priced tickets off of stub hub create a more quality event than one where a handful of veterans grouse that they can’t put rocket engines on cars and shoot guns from the window while driving blindfolded during a white-out really be an improvement? i’ll take having to listen to a few old-timers grouse about how things have changed over the alternative of having them shut out of the event because they couldn’t get a ticket for less than $700 because all the low priced tickets were scooped up by scalpers and sold to RV driving newbies eager to try something different for a week.

    ultimately, i think the entire thing needs to be retooled and i think the first people that the borg should consult are the people at grateful dead ticket sales. GDTS went through this same crisis when they had a hit single in 1987 and saw their ticket sales balloon. they created criterion for getting mail-order to veterans and were able to accommodate long-time loyal fans while still making the experience available to newcomers. they created a sustainable model and are the reason that we, the loyal deadheads, still use their ticket services fifteen years after jerry garcia’s death.

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  • Droidle says:

    Yes. Yes. Yes. The Burnier than thou attitude drives me batshit. I bring a virgin to see their minds explode in wonder…. hell my mind still explodes with wonder.

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  • zariat says:

    I’m pretty sure the people going out of their way to get tickets for professional entertainers are dong it because they actually want to hear those people play music, not out of some misplaced sense of altruism.

    Also – there are plenty of professional architects, builders, and artists of all stripes who do work on the playa that mirrors their work in the professional world, so it seems a little silly to say “The unspoken corollary of “no spectators” is “no professionals”” when, really, this city is made up of many professionals willing to donate their time in an amateur capacity. In fact, many of these “pros” are more than happy to teach their skills to others in an environment that is a lot more open than where they usually work, and that’s how a lot of amateurs get to try things for the first time that they’ve always wanted to do – like welding, running a machine, being a bartender, or even DJing.

    So let’s live and let live… If people are getting tickets this year, they’re either prepared, feeding scalpers, or SOMEBODY out there loves them. It’s not really up to you and me (unless we’re giving out our own extras).

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  • zariat (jen zariat of symbiosis?) well said! i definitely don’t want an amateur welder to test their mettle on a 30 foot structure that could land on my head in a 60 mile an hour windstorm.

    BM is great because it takes all kinds and i do love the enthusiam of first-timers. this year will be my sister’s first year and she’s getting very excited. i’m hoping she can have some of the magic that i experienced my first year when i went with no expectations. it seems harder and harder to have “no expectations” when the event is so hyped and so well documented online, but year after year the creativity exceeds my expectations, so i am far from being a naysayer.

    every year there are trade-offs. what i fear more than a playa of “professionals” is a place where a finite number of tickets dictates that only those with access to money during the early on-sale dates in january will truly have the opportunity to experience this event for the cost of a face value ticket.

    ps zariat, if you are the zariat that works with symbiosis, i went to that event in ’07 & ’09 and it was a truly exceptional festival — beautiful, sweet, artistic and joyous!

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  • zariat says:

    Hey Shady, thanks for hearing me on that. You totally got where i’m coming from.

    Over the years of producing Symbiosis (thanks for the props and love!) i have often struggled with the challenges of feeling that artists need to be compensated to make a living, and simultaneously being frustrated that people won’t just “do” more on their own without some kind of carrot dangling in front. I balance these challenges by producing events professionally throughout the year, then throwing what i can into Burning Man for free every year. This will be my 9th year coming since 2002 – i missed ’03 because i was living overseas… :)

    In those years, i’ve been part of mega theme camps, tiny theme camps, weekend warriors sleeping in the back of a truck, co-owner of a short-bus full of virgins from Australia, done tech for Gate, you name it… This year, full disclosure, i’m sharing my “professional” skills and contacts as a main organizer of a large art and sound camp, FractalNation Village – 2&G. I’m leaning on my friends (aka professional entertainers, stage managers, builders, etc) to do favors left and right. Often times the leverage is that they know i’m more than willing to pay them for other gigs, but i expect this work to be done for free. This is part of my gift to BM, and to myself, whether or not everybody values it… I’m not doing it for the props. I just do it because i can’t imagine doing anything else, really. It’s the reason i imagine many of us do this crazy stuff!

    I personally enjoy making spreadsheets and wikis and websites, as perverse as it may sound, and then i love coming out early and staying late and getting to lift things and use power tools… I don’t really get to do all that in Symbiosis. At Burning Man, i can contribute my usual “professional” skills, but i can also step outside that box and pick up new ones – and i do – every time. I also like to think i can help seed other people with the interest and ability to keep the spirit of BM and Symbiosis or their favorite camp or WHATEVER alive through out the year, in a capacity that is suited to their interest and abilities.

    So i agree we shouldn’t fence off some elite list behind a velvet rope in the desert of all places, but i respectfully disagree that BM is a place for amateurs to be elevated above all others. I have too many friends donating hours and hours of their *very* valuable time to BM, people from Gate to DPW to Sanctuary to the many theme camps, because it’s something they all believe in… We may be professionals in skill, but that’s not the issue. The issue is equality, and anyone willing to put aside rank is welcome to me – regardless of how they make their living the rest of the year, and however they get their tickets… I have no idea what the BMorg will do to handle the sellout and scalper problem next year – that’s an issue i’ve only dreamed of having with my events! ;)

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  • zariat says:

    PS – I personally feel like saying you’ve already seen a particular musician last year isn’t any more fair than saying you’ve already seen a particular visual artist’s work last year… Or at another event… Do you think Peter Hudson or the FLG are bringing the same things? Why do you assume the other entertainers are? They do grow, change, and make new sets, you know. Also, you can pay to see the FLG at Coachella, but that doesn’t make them any lesser in my eyes.

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  • H3R3TIC says:

    I think this discussion would be far more interesting if we owned the land.

    Why rent?

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  • Diana says:

    The article hits home for me, even though I’ve been going for many years, I’ve hated that arrogant air that many long-time burners get. Like a who is cooler than who attitude. Thanks for writing such a direct and wise message!

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  • Flame says:

    Well said! …but I do have to add a point. I’ve often found that veteran burners complain lots and talk about it being better before and worry about Burning Man losing integrity, but there is something to this that is perhaps deeper. Once you’ve been to Black Rock City enough, you long for it always. It’s that perpetual longing when you aren’t on the playa, and the fear that it may disappear, that the complaining stems from. Take one of these veteran burners, and step them through the gates, and something magical happens. The fear disappears, the complaining subsides, and they are all aglow. This is what it means to come home. So don’t be too rough on the old-timers. They are mostly just home-sick.

    But at the same time, all you old-timers, here’s my message to you. The spirit is alive and well. The new peeps (this will be my second burn), we get it. We believe in it too. We won’t let the spirit die. Trust. And quite your bitchin already! ;)

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  • Flame says:

    Well said! …but I do have to add a point. I’ve often found that veteran burners complain lots and talk about it being better before and worry about Burning Man losing integrity, but there is something to this that is perhaps deeper. Once you’ve been to Black Rock City enough, you long for it always. It’s that perpetual longing when you aren’t on the playa, and the fear that it may disappear, that the complaining stems from. Take one of these veteran burners, and step them through the gates, and something magical happens. The fear disappears, the complaining subsides, and they are all aglow. This is what it means to come home. So don’t be too rough on the old-timers. They are mostly just home-sick.

    But at the same time, all you old-timers, here’s my message to you. The spirit is alive and well. The new peeps (this will be my second burn), we get it. We believe in it too. We won’t let the spirit die. Trust. And quite your bitchin already! ;)

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  • Madame Buddafly says:

    “The most famous DJ in the world is actually far less valuable to Burning Man itself than a first-time Burner who has always wondered if she has what it takes to open an oxygen bar while wearing a whale costume.”

    YES, exactly.

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  • Buff Sanitized says:

    I echo Madame Buddafly’s sentiments posted above 100%. Absoutley.

    Thank you, Caveat Magister. What a perfect blog entry!

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  • Arjen says:

    Dear Mr. Magister and Dusty Rusty –
    I hope you’re feelin’ the love, because you both exemplify the best aspects of BurningMan. Every year I come out there with my horribly amatuerish “art vehicle” and every year I get all kinds of love from my passengers. The idea behind my ride is to be able to give a couple of tired, dusty walkers a ride somewhere and have a “flash friendship” on the playa. One year I gave a wonderfully pregnant lady a ride across the playa so that she could get an ultrasound from a nurse in a tent with a portable unit. It was a beautiful experience that I will always remember – I sure don’t remember any of the DJ’s from that year.
    My rig is designed by me (a desk jockey who finds complete release from the difficulties of the default world when I have a welder or grinder in my hand). Most often I find that the artist behind the art is more interesting than the art itself.
    F#*k the Burner prima donnas, who gives a rats ass whether Daft Punk plays – stay loose, have fun and connect.

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  • HELL YES! BRING ON THE VIRGINS! SACRIFICE THEM TO THE MAN!

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  • Meg says:

    I believe burners are born and not made. How and when they make it “home” is just logistics.

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  • J-reezy says:

    Very good knowledge indeed. One important lesson Burning Man might be about is the temporary aspect of all things. To feel like you own or have rights to something there is contradictory. Peace!

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  • Taylor K says:

    WOW! Hear, hear Caveat!!! This is a great fucking article. Many thanks. Great perspective. Keep doing what you’re doing.

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  • iMac says:

    Totally. This will be my second year. If next year rolls around and I have a friend who’s never been and is keen on going, and tickets sell out before they can get one…mine is going to them.

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  • Captain Pan Galactica says:

    I get the point but it’s essentially going nowhere. Burning Man is entirely self selecting. None of us has any real sway over who goes there, even if they don’t quite fit our ideal.

    As for the golden age syndrome…

    I remember at my first burn in 2000 someone told me how much better BM had been in 1994 before all the rules came in and you could burn shit anywhere… then I heard something similar in 2006, how great it was back in 2000 when the Man was still on straw bales and before all the suburbanites and yahoos took over, etc etc. In 2015 this year’s virgins will look back fondly on the magical year of 2011.

    I went to Bali in the 90s and everyone told me it was so much better in the 70s.

    Even in the time of Shakespeare there was a lament for a golden age that had been lost.

    I guess it’s all down to this: it’s your experience and you just have to take responsibility for it.

    Peace.

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  • Roland says:

    I completely agree with the sentiment of this article, but don’t know what strategy will prevent the secondary market from rendering the recommendation of the author irrelevant. One idea I had, was to tie ticket sales to an individual identity (i.e. make resale impossible). In this scenario, a ticket buyer would be able to return a ticket for full value to Burning Man but would not be able to sell it to the secondary market. Burning Man could then resell that ticket at the gate to those brave enough to take their chances at the gate. Only amateurs would have the hope and spirit to do that.

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  • Roland says:

    I completely agree with the sentiment of this article, but don’t know what strategy will prevent the secondary market from rendering the recommendation of the author irrelevant. One idea I had, was to tie ticket sales to an individual identity (i.e. make resale impossible). In this scenario, a ticket buyer would be able to return a ticket for full value to Burning Man but would not be able to sell it to the secondary market. Burning Man could then resell that ticket at the gate to those brave enough to take their chances at the gate. Only amateurs would have the hope and spirit to do that. Thanks!

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  • re: the golden age, it is pretty solidly documented that the event shifted radically twice… the first time when it was kicked off of baker beach and the cacophony society suggested they take the wicker man to the black rock desert and a second time when the cacophony society and larry harvey had a massive falling out following the 1996 burn. brian doherty’s book “this is burning man” goes into a lot of the nitty gritty on this.

    i arrived in ’98 and was told i “missed it.” in many ways i *did* miss the “real thing”… even ’98 was far more anarchic than ’99. and every year after ’99 was rules, more rules and more rules… but also in many respects a friendlier, sweeter, more blinged out beautiful and far, far, far more expensive event. oh, and lots more cops, too.

    just because one of these old-timers says something doesn’t mean it’s automatically “not true.” there was a different event with the same name and that is the event that many of these people claim to miss. it is not like there’s another event happening somewhere that has the spirit of the old black rock desert. the previous event, call it the cacophony burn for lack of a better way to phrase it, *did* exist and it does not exist anymore. anywhere. that much is pretty solidly documented.

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  • Roger says:

    It was better next year.

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  • AndyMonkeyBoy says:

    Burning Man is so totally random in so many ways – it’s fitting that scarcity will affect virgins, hardcore Burners, and performers of all types and tenures indiscriminately.

    And just think of how fast 2012’s first few tiers are going to go! This year’s unexpected sellout will probably be the only time this goes down like this. It adds an element of intrigue to this year, no doubt.

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  • Nikki2sox says:

    This is my 10 year playaversary and I’m so much more excited to do the things you can only do at Burning Man and see the things you can only see there. Like spending a day visiting all the crazy food and drink camps and seeing all the amazing playa chefs out there. Or running around trying to find a random ridiculous karaoke camp. So many people create these quirky off the wall camps (Barbie Death Camp + Wine Bistro!) and those are the things you truly can’t find at Coachella or any other festival.

    I love the sound camps, but I don’t need to go see so and so “kill it” again at the “fill in the blank” camp.

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  • Remo says:

    And that’s why I read all 41 responses, for number 39. Thanks Roger,
    p.s. I can hardly wait till last year.

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  • Sunshine says:

    Great article and comments! Before I went to my first Burn last year my sister told me that one thing was sure to be the same from every other year – someone would tell me it was better last year. ;) She was told that back in 94… As people have commented, life changes and evolves and that is a beautiful thing.

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  • Thanks for this wonderful post. It is my second burn and I still feel very much like one excited amateur. I have so many vigin friends who are busting their butts just to take part in such a giant project, I can’t wait to see their heads explode!

    That being said I am from one of those BIG sound camps- We are pushing ourselves in new & foreign directions & dumping tonz of personal cash, not to mention countless hours & late nights; making, organizing & planning. We do it as donation, to our PASSION, to each other.
    Though there was some initial pannick about tickets & late ticket purchasing DJ’s we had already confirmed, we only lost about 3% of our line up – Where there is a will, there is a way. And oh man what a line up!!!!!! We kept to the Burningman ethos & expected the DJ’s to be radically self reliant to purchase their own ticket & get there of their own volition. As far as I am concerned it is a privilege to play on our Temple no matter how big a name DJ you are. Our blood sweat & tears will bring it to the desert – a gift to Burningman and proof to ourselves we are the stuff Burningman is made out of…. A bunch of kids with big, big ideas willing to give it EVERYTHING….Just because. I can’t wait to see those dusty, shit eating grins from a job done well. See you on the Playa! Rebecca G….. The Hive Collective & Temple of Boom!

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  • Alejandro says:

    Right on target.

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