View of BRC from the oil derrick

Sky High, Part I
A big wind storm blew in this afternoon and covered the city in a swirling fog of fine dust. Lots of people ducked for cover, but plenty of us pushed out into the abyss, looking for a good time. I gathered some of my crew at our camp and recommended a bike ride out to Crude Awakening to scale the oil derrick and look at the metal figures. We headed out toward 1:00 in hopes of seeing the city above the storm, and we got lucky. There was no line to climb the derrick, and the 99-foot structure afforded us a spectacular view.

The four of us hung out on top of the tower for a long time, watching the storm move around town, alternately covering one section and then another in swirls of playa dust. The sky above us was incredible, sunny and blue with miles of intermittent clouds stretching out to the horizon. The sunlight bounced around, rebounding off huge domes and then throwing shadows across the low dunes. The wind was blowing the whole time, but I never felt the derrick sway. This thing is solid. I wonder how long it would last on its own. We’ll never know though, because it’s going up in flames tomorrow night.

Gourmet spread

Camp
Tonight my campmates and I ate a delicious dinner and took showers to get ready for a big night ahead. Our camp seems pretty typical for a non-theme camp. We’ve got three trailers and two or three tents. A shade structure in the middle that consists of a custom-made awning and three parachutes held up with pvc posts and anchored by guy lines tied to rebar stakes topped with impaled stuffed animals. We’ve got tables and chairs and carpets and Astroturf. Ice chests and an inflatable swimming pool. We always have one or two new people, which makes it extra fun because we get to see things through their fresh eyes.

Camp

We have a solar shower at our camp, and we use a kiddy pool to collect the gray water. We manage to take very few showers, and we use about a gallon of water when we do. Maybe two if we wash our hair. That’s really different from the amount we tend to use at home where water is free flowing and limitless. Where we don’t have to think about what to do with it when we’re done, because it goes down the drain. Out of sight. Out of mind.

I like that Burning Man reminds us to consider the stuff we usually ignore. You have to think about trash here. You have to deal with it. Does it motivate you to consume less, or do you just take all that shit and stuff it in a dumpster after the event? Does your camp separate glass and cans and plastic from burnable paper? There are recycle centers at all the Albertson’s in Reno now, so hopefully you’ll go there on your way home.

The girls at Ambush

Gate Rocks

My friends and I headed out as a group after dinner, aiming for the Ashram Galactica and points beyond. The Ashram was closed. Suck! We looked for a friend’s bachelor party but were given some bad beta and couldn’t find it. Suck! So, we hung out at Skinny Kitty Camp and drank some different teas and coffee and spirits, listened to a live band near the Smooch Dome, and went over to see a performance by Cirque Berserk at the Red Nose District.

At midnight I met a friend at the sculpture between the round bouncy trees at Center Camp, and we headed out to a raging party at the gate. Things were ramping up because of the imminent closing of the entrance to incoming participants. We climbed up on the tower for a while and celebrated with friends, looking out over the city on one side and out toward Gerlach and Empire on the other. Back on the ground, people were listening to music, tipping over burn barrels, setting off fireworks, dog piling each other, and jumping off structures. Driving around art cars and setting things on fire, eating things and drinking stuff. Yelling at people and taking their clothes off. It was excellent.

I was pick-pocketed by an expert. First he shook my hand and took C Load’s light saber off my utility belt, which I knew, but he made it disappear behind his back, which I couldn’t figure out. Then he hugged me and managed to steal the little ring off the end of my zipper. It’s a tiny metal ring that you use to pull the zipper up or down. It was awesome. I have no idea what else is missing, but I liked that guy right away.

I chatted with Combustible Russ and Steel Toe and DA. Railroad Mike and Sendo and a bunch of the bike club guys. Summer and Alexi. Luckily, there was a set of bleachers right there, so a few of us sat down for a while, laughing our asses off as people jumped around. Panties No Panties had a signpost with an arrow on it, and it made for some high quality exchanges with Bloody Knuckles. I can’t remember what else was flying around and/or breaking, but it was a ton of fun. I want to use the word debaucherous here, but in the self-indulgent lascivious lawless excess revelry sense, not in the vile perverse wanton depravity sense. You know?

View of the eight figures

Sky High Part II
We left the gate late and headed into town, stopping briefly at the commissary and one of the nearby camps. Then we met Entropy out at Homouroboros and piled into his art car for a trip to Crude Awakening. There was a long line at the oil derrick, but we took cuts and went straight up. (They told us to!) It was really nice up there. The air was warm and the sky was decorated with a zillion stars. We got a clear view of Black Rock City and the open playa. We bumped into people we knew from DPW and other crews, and hung out for a while with Steve 23 and Juicy at the bottom while they worked on waxing burlap. It was fun saying hi to people as they passed through the line.

After we left Crude Awakening, Entropy dropped us off at Doyle’s truck and we went in search of good music. We stopped at a bunch of different clubs and danced at most of them, but there was no hip-hop or rap to be found. It seems like that’s the case most of the time at Burning Man. I’m either missing the good stuff or it’s not here. Please let me know if you’re going to be playing real hip-hop next year so I can check it out.

We stopped at a friend’s camp and made breakfast just before dawn. People were wandering in from their night out, stopping to say hi and grab a bite to eat. We headed home as the sun came up, ending our night as others began their day. Time is flying.

- WSP

As of this afternoon the new man, Replacement Man, is nearly finished, awaiting some neon.  The Man Krew built him on site, working round the clock, and he’ll be ready to raise tomorrow.  Access to the Man base since Monday night has been limited to authorized Burning Man personnel.  It’s been fenced off and surrounded by work trucks and heavy equipment.  It’s weird not being able to go to the Man and check out the displays or look back at the city after climbing up on the base, and I haven’t had any chance meetings there in the middle of the night like in years past.  BUT!  Today was awesome…

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Last night at about 3:00 am, as the moon was fully eclipsed and thousands of people were celebrating out on the playa, someone set the Man on fire.  He’s still standing, but he’s burned to a crisp.  We had an emergency DPW meeting this morning at 9:00 to organize for action.  It was optional, but a lot of people showed up.  When I arrived, they were already strategizing.

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I spent today with Harley Dubois, Director of Community Services and Playa Safety.  As such, she’s in charge of one or two little things like:

* Theme camps & villages
* Placement
* Ingress & egress
* Volunteers
* Playa Information
* Greeters
* Recycling
* Earth Guardians
* Lamplighters
* Bus Depot
* Black Rock Rangers
* Gate & Perimeter
* Emergency Services

Like I said, just minor stuff.  :-)

I met Harley at First Camp around 8:30 am, bedraggled after two hours of sleep, and she looked resplendent in white, radio in hand, running things efficiently and proficiently from a shaded table in front of her trailer.

At Burning Man, each department has a radio channel or several, and Harley moves between them as easily as a teenager flips through the cable stations.  She is, throughout the day, responding to questions and concerns from her people in the field, making decisions quickly and dispatching solutions.  She’s got a notebook in front her to keep track of meetings and appointments, but everything else is in her head, the result of 18 years of experience and probably at least part of the reason her radio handle is “Heady.”

First up is a meeting with Big Bear, Law Enforcement Liaison between Black Rock City and the BLM, county Sheriffs, and local police.  He tells Harley that the BLM has been issuing citations for open containers more aggressively than years past, and that BLM interns were at the gate last night counting cars and occupants.  There are also reports of BLM using binoculars to look into camps.  They discuss the higher ratio this year of first-year BLM Rangers to experienced staff and what implications that might have.  Also, the head BLM honcho from Washington DC is here, and that might make a difference.  All in all, everything is going smoothly, and they plan to touch base later in the day.

A word on population and the BLM: when you give your ticket to the gate, they tear off the little stub and hand you back the large portion to keep.  They take those little stubs and count them (by weight I think) in order to track population.  Population is important for a multitude of reasons, one of which is the permit fee to the Bureau of Land Management.  Burning Man pays the BLM $4 per person per day for the right to use the playa for the event.  So everyone is interested in keeping track.

Next is a meeting with Marsha, Headmistress of Arctica and the Center Camp Café.  This year there are two additional ice stations, at the 3:00 and 9:00 plazas, and they’ve been having problems with the drivers from Crystal Ice- some of them have never been here before.  Now, I know for some of you getting around BRC is second nature, but if it’s your first time at the gate, you might have some trouble finding your way to 3:00 and Boreal- polar coordinates aren’t necessarily intuitive to everyone.  Crystal Ice had to ramp up their staff and use more trucks this year, so they are busy trying to iron out the kinks.

During their meeting, Harley found out that the lines for ice at the 3:00 and 9:00 plazas were really long and interfering with traffic, while there was virtually no line at Center Camp Arctica.  Hmmm, people seem to have found the new shops.  Time to re-route ice and personnel.  Marsha gets right on it, used to the pace after 14 burns.  She oversees everything at Center Camp including lighting and décor, 1,000 volunteers at the coffee shop alone, and all the artists and performances.  She bids adieu and promises to check in later.

Harley meets briefly with Dave Galat, head of handicap services, and reschedules a placement meeting for 11:30.  She talks to Marian about issues and services at First Camp then meets with Miss Foam, the Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF) Executive Director they managed to lure away from the Exploratorium in San Francisco.  During a brief moment of relative calm, Harley explains that she already met this morning with the gate and Seadog, who runs the Black Rock Rangers.

The Placement Team arrives and tells Harley that there have been a lot of border disputes between the camps.  Shadow spent an hour and a half watching people try to take space at 3:00 and I, explaining the system as best she could between placements, and when she went back two hours later somebody had set up an entire camp right in the middle of the designated theme camp area and pulled out all the survey flags.  They all agree it’s getting almost impossible to keep people out of theme camp spots.  One suggestion is to open the gate at 8:00 am next year instead of midnight so it’s easier to see the survey flags and figure out where to camp.

The placement meeting ends with a round of swag for the group, and everyone heads back out.  Harley and I walk over to the Senior Staff meeting and take a seat on a bench.  Ever wonder what it’s like at the upper levels during the event?  Well now you’ll know…

Joseph from Emergency Services opens with radio issues.  Marian in particular has been having trouble with delays and inaudible transmissions.  A lot of other people agree and Joseph handles their concerns one by one.  Radio performance is critical out here.

Danger Ranger reports that the gate opened smoothly at 11:45 last night and that the Krishna Temple Camp at Estuary & 9:00 is getting press in India.

Odwally says that the DMV was busier on Sunday than usual and that there’s too much driving on the Esplanade.  They need better signage next year since the Esplanade is off limits to motor vehicles.

Will Roger tells us that the airport is up and running with scheduled flights landing and departing daily.  There is currently a Russian bi-plane out there.

Coyote has been on rumor patrol and has nothing of substance to report.

Cujo brought the group up to date on ticket sales and population and says that he was super impressed with the Burning Man staff at yesterday’s law enforcement meeting.

Bex reports the Regional Information Center is up and running with events scheduled during the week, and Steven tells us about Los Angeles and New York Regionals radio PSAs.  He also mentions café performances and decompression schedules.

Mean Bean said the box office was hopping last night (Ya it was!) with six windows open and 50-60 people deep.

Kimmi and Robin reported briefly on HR and accounting.

Hazmatt told us all to look out for illicit potable water sales.  Some company is driving around vending to participants.

Playground has been putting out fires (virtually not literally) and doing last-minute hiring.

Entropy started to speak but was interrupted by a loud round of applause for the gate.  He said that they’ve got a great crew and 80 new volunteers.  They burned a lot of sticks and twigs last night (no plants allowed), but otherwise things went really well.

Marian reported the arrival of a billionaire bigwig by helicopter for yesterday’s bike ride.  She was also very moved by the professionalism at the gate last night and caring for volunteers.

C-Load gave props to Jake at the D-Lot.

Harley thanked everyone for working so hard and doing a great job.

Super said things are going really smoothly and heavy equipment is keeping up with demand.  Marian chimed in that Support Services & Heavy Equipment are the heroes of the playa.

Camera Girl gave a quick summary of internet access and tech stuff.

Andie Grace told us to be sure and check out happy hour at Media Mecca.

Lady Bee said that the keyhole piece at Center Camp is excellent.  (I think she means the bike sculpture.)

Marsha said that Center Camp Arctica is slow, the slowest start in years, due to new locations at 3:00 and 9:00.

Crimson Rose let us know that the Artery is up and running and very busy.  They are a little bit behind at the Man Pavillion.  Also, the cauldron is still missing and she is bummed.  There’s an APB out for it, but no one has been able to find it.

Big Bear reported no major problems but told everyone that the #1 BLM Ranger is here from D.C.  There have been some questions about surveillance and questions about federal versus state jurisdiction.  People have been getting pulled over for no registration tags while they are driving on the playa and there has been a zero tolerance approach for any open containers in a vehicle.

Last to speak was Larry Harvey, and I’m just going to let you wonder…

- Marnee

Loose Chains and Steep Hills
Today was the day we got to ride Yellow Bikes (the green ones) en masse from the work ranch, formally known as Black Rock Station, to the playa.  We were supposed to meet at the Depot at 3:00 and get a ride to the ranch, but there wasn’t much in the way of drivers, so a call went out from Dispatch to all comm looking for multiple cars or a bus to transport everyone to the ranch.  Well, it just so happens that Doyle and I ran into my friend Joe Snider this morning on our way to get my car from Crane Camp.  We were driving the Gremlin across the open playa after unsuccessfully looking for Joe’s camp near 2:30 and Freshwater, and Joe was driving his bus in the other direction.  Joe had just arrived to BRC from Reno and had stumbled across my Subaru at 9:45 and Coral Reef.  He left me a note on my windshield, and how the hell was I doing anyway?  It was so good to see him!

So now I drove over to Joe’s camp and asked him how he felt about giving 30 or 40 people a lift to the ranch.  He said sure and we scrambled to empty out the fully loaded bus.  We managed to get most of the gear out of it, and then we drove over to the Depot.  Half the DPW piled into Joe’s bus, and we headed out the 12-mile exit.  I was stoked we made it up the hills considering the heavy load and the advanced state of disrepair on the old bus.

We disembarked in front of the bike workshop and greeted the crew.  I intended to take a few pictures and go back with Joe, but I realized as soon as we got there that I couldn’t miss this ride.  The first of its kind on community bikes most of us had helped assemble, and so many people jazzed to take part, including Jack Rabbit and all the Black Label kids.  People were everywhere choosing bikes and taking them out for test drives, making adjustments to seat posts and handle bars.

Everyone gathered around a big flatbed so Travis could say a few words to the group, and then we were off.  The first part of the ride was littered with people on the side of the road examining their bikes.  Chains were coming off and seats were falling down.  Minor adjustments all of them, and soon everyone hit their stride.

The ride was a blast.  Some people were fast and some were slow. Some people were peddling like the wind, and some were cruising along at pub speed.  Ray Posado was in a support truck up front, keeping an eye out for passing vehicles and making funny comments on the radio.  Nipps drove the fluffer van and refreshed us with beverages and treats.  Camera Girl and Game Show were driving beside the group, documenting the ride.

Jack Rabbit was awesome.  She rode the entire time with a smile on her face, responding to radio calls and making sure everyone was safe and happy.  For some of the taller riders, like Doyle and Sleep Dep, the average size bike frames were barely big enough to ride, but they powered it out.  And for me, I started out slow but couldn’t help charging up the short hills, enjoying my first exercise in nearly a month, despite my poor choice of footwear (flip-flops).

Fifteen miles flew by.  Before we knew it we were flying down the hill toward the 12-mile entrance, and everyone was laughing and cheering.  We rode through town loudly and did a lap around Center Camp before heading down 5:30 to the Depot.  Happy friends and cold beer awaited us, and we all celebrated this great new tradition.

One of the guys on the ride (I can’t remember his name!) told me that he had decided to cut off his dreadlocks at the Ghetto tonight because his experience at Burning Man this year had convinced him that he was over it.  No more hippie hair for him.  Well that wasn’t going to work at all, because once word got out, some scissors appeared and we all took turns snipping a strand off his head.  It was awesome.

The whole experience was excellent, and I’m so glad I didn’t miss it.  I had a blast and I think everyone else did too.  I would definitely do it every year.  Thanks to the bike club for making it happen.

They’re Here
The gate opened to the public tonight.  You had to see it to believe it.  Thousands of cars backed up to Wadsworth, filling up six lanes side by side on the dirt road two miles deep, all heading to Black Rock City.  I was there, working the 12-6 shift, and it was a great spectacle.

Doyle and I drove out together just before midnight, and he went to help in D-Lot while I checked in with the gate shift leader.  I’d be working with a team of three or four other people, responsible for lane number four.  For every vehicle that came through, we had to take their tickets, search their vehicle, search their trailer, check art car registrations, and tear their tickets if they were good to go.  We were looking for anything illegal- like firearms or drugs- as well as stowaways and unlicensed motor vehicles.

I worked the front of the line and received hand signals from people in the back, telling me which cars had already been cleared and which ones were mine to check.  Jordan and I teamed up, one of us talking to the people and checking tickets while the other one searched the vehicle and trailer.  It was cool either way, getting to chat with participants from all over the country or rummaging through their trailers and jumping up on top.  Most people were super friendly, but a few were jerks.

There were hundreds of people in line at Will Call, picking up pre-purchased tickets or buying new ones, and hundreds of people in the D-Lot, trying to get out after waiting hours or days because they showed up early without prior authorization or because there was some sort of problem with their ticket/vehicle/camp.  The tower and shade structure for gate headquarters was full of music playing and people working, eating, drinking, or hanging out with friends.  There were light towers everywhere, shining on the gate and incoming vehicles.  Just past the entrance, gate personnel with megaphones were shouting at people to drive slower and merge safely.

For those of us checking cars, there were six lanes of bumper-to-bumper headlights creeping toward us.  Engines running and our voices loud enough to be heard over them.  All manner of vehicles coming through, including wacked out school buses, art cars, and monster RVs that cost more than some houses.

First thing you do is ask the driver to put the vehicle in PARK, so that they don’t accidentally drive over your foot or move forward while your partner is on top of their trailer looking for illegal passengers.  You have to move fast because everyone is anxious to get in, and you have to try and keep people in their vehicles so nobody gets hurt.  At one point a woman jumped out of car and insisted I give her a spanking.  “Look lady, I’m not a Greeter.”

Then there are the problems.  There’s the guy with a dog in the front seat (not allowed) and no ticket who says a friend of his works for Burning Man and told him he could just show up and get in.  Then there’s the guy with someone hidden in his rig, trying to sneak in.  There’s the vehicle that stalled in the middle of gate road and the guy with two ATVs on his trailer, thinking he’s just gonna cruise around town on his three-wheeler during the event.  Then there’s the guy whose friends are “a few” cars back, and they have his ticket.  Then there’s the guy who doesn’t have his DMV printout, but if we just call so-and-so, they’ll vouch for him.  Etc, etc, etc.

I have to tell you how amazing the gate crew is.  All of them, but especially Spider, Entropy, and C-Load.  They run the gate for the duration of the event, including set-up, 24 hours a day seven days a week.  They have to handle all sorts of disputes and problems, and they have to organize all the shifts and volunteers.  They made sure we had everything we needed while we worked, and despite the pressure and lack of sleep, they were always responsive and good-natured.  Add to that the D-Lot cleared out in record time, and the gate opened at exactly 12:01, and you get an idea of how hard they work.

The gate crew caught 15 stowaways tonight and nine people at the perimeter trying to get in.  (I didn’t find anyone, shoot!)  The only other problems were reported by the BLM, who were pulling people over when they passed the Greeter Station if they saw anyone in the car with a lighter (could be a joint) or a beverage (could be a beer).  Maybe this is an exaggeration, but they were being pretty strict.

We headed back to camp before sunrise, tired and ready for bed.  I’ve got a 7 am meeting with Harley tomorrow, or today I guess, but I don’t think I’m going to make it on time.  I’m beat and I need to get some sleep.  Burning Man just started six hours ago, and I’m already wiped out.  Can’t wait to see what happens next.

-Wanda Reduced Power