Will and Crimson

On the deck at First Camp, with Coyote on sax.

Crimson Rose and Will Roger, who’ve been together for 19 years, made their  relationship all official-like  in the glowy late-afternoon playa light when they stood on a deck overlooking First Camp and got married in front of a crowd of people who love them both dearly.

In a lot of ways, Crimson Rose is  the person who brought spiritual fire to the playa, as she was one of the first people to ritualize its presence here. To this day, she lights the cauldron at the entrance to Center Camp at the beginning of Burning Man, and then she and her fire conclave carry it out the base of the Man on the night of the burn.

Will Roger is the man who started the DPW, the hard-charging and hard-working group that builds Black Rock City. They put the first stake in the ground about five weeks before Burning Man, and then they pull the last one out during the restoration of the playa.  So Crimson is fire, and Will is earth, and the two came together.

Marian talked about the journey that led them here.

Rev. Billy was the officiant and emcee, and a group of people offered heartfelt performances and warm testimonials. Coyote was smooth and sexy on the sax, Marissa serenaded the couple soaringly, Holly from Jerk Church played a Joey Jello favorite on the flute, and people took turns on the megaphone to offer congratulations.
“It’s been amazing to watch this journey,” Marian said through her tears. “In a way, it’s like the way the six of us have committed to be together into the future. … These two partners are closing the circle.”

Then the high-coiffed Rev. Billy launched into a rousing stemwinder that let people feel like they, too, were in that inner circle of love on this day.

About the author: John Curley

John Curley (that's me) has been Burning since the relatively late date of 2004, and in 2008 I spent the better part of a month on the playa, documenting the building and burning of Black Rock City in words and pictures. I loved it, and I've been doing it ever since. I was a newspaper person in a previous life, and I spent many years at the San Francisco Chronicle. At the time I left, in 2007, I was the deputy managing editor in charge of Page One and the news sections of the paper. Since then, I've turned a passion for photography into a second career. I shoot for editorial, commercial and private clients. I've also taught a little bit, including two years at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and a year at San Francisco State University. I live on the San Mateo coast, just south of San Francisco in California.

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