12:01 AM Monday, August 29th 2011: must be time to burn. The calendar says so.

Burning Man is in full swing. There are hundreds…no, clearly thousands of auto headlamps visible on Gate Road, something that Danger Ranger once referred to as the “String of Pearls”. Swarms of clean people are pouring out of the radial streets onto the iinner playa…and I just saw one guy belly flop with joy into the dust. And the art. The art is up, and more is coming. I can’t see it all. I can’t shoot it all. I can barely even decide which of the 3000 images I’ve captured in the last few days to display here.

So, without further ado, here’s a small sample of what Burning Man 2011 has in store for you.

“Orgasm” by Brian Tedrick

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One of the Black Rock Arts Foundation‘s 2009 Grantees, Cardboardia in Moscow, put on a Haute Couture Fashion Show recently and it is delightful. It put a big smile on my face!

That moment when you’re leaning against the railing of some art car, dazed, head lolling to the music. It’s chilly and late, and you wonder if your night is over. Then again, it isn’t up to you. It’s up to the driver of this mutant vehicle, and she doesn’t seem to be very interested in the 3 o’clock plaza, your corridor back to camp. Your fellow Burner pokes you in the ribs.

“Wake up!” he insists.

“I’m awake,” you concede.

Photo: Mischa Steiner

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The moment a passer-by smiles at you from underneath a carved, wooden wild boar mask with broken, black tusks.

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The moment the man stands up in the sweat hut, as naked as everyone, and starts singing “Hey Jude.” You wonder what his job is in the default world.

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Photo: Chance

The moment you slice your knuckle with the dull multi-tool trying to punch the last hole in the last tennis ball to cover the last stake, setting up your tent on the first day.

You would have been done, ready, finally at home, but now you’re washing blood and playa off your hand, opening last year’s dusty first aid kit, swabbing with alcohol, wrapping a bandage, and laughing at yourself. Read more »

Yes, I know what this picture is, and yes I am aware of the irony in using it here.

You’ve probably never heard of Stefan Zweig.

I only discovered him recently.  He wrote this book, you see, back in 1942.  An autobiography.  It’s called The World of Yesterday.

All of a sudden, people out of nowhere were recommending it to me.  An old college professor.  A friend’s wife.  My mom.  My freaking mom asks me on the phone “Have you ever read Stefan Zweig’s autobiography?”

So I call up a local independent bookstore.

“Green Arcade books,” says the man on the other end of the phone.  “How can I help you?”

“Yes, hi.  I’m wondering if you have Stefan Zweig’s autobiography, The World of Yesterday?”

He responds immediately.  “You’re JOKING!”

I give this some thought.  “No, I’m pretty sure I’m not.”

“Okay,” he says.  “Yes.  I have The World of Yesterday.”

“Great.  How late are you open?”

He considers.  “I don’t know.”

“Well, you’ve been a great help.”

“There’s a poetry reading tonight,” he explains.  “I don’t know how long it’s going to go.”

Stefan Zweig would have loved Burning Man

The thing about Zweig is, he was once a world famous author.  You’ve probably never heard of him … I’d never heard of him … but he was published in all the big literary journals for almost half a century.  He was friends with Rilke and Rodin.  He knew Freud.  He knew Borgese.  He knew Yeats and Pirandello and Gorky and Ravel and Joyce and Anatole France.  He was kind of the pre-WWII Johnny Carson.  He was a big deal, is what I’m saying.  I kind of want to be him.

The thing is, he saw that whole world wiped away by the Nazis.  Gone.  Obliterated.

This had actually happened to him before.  (Yes, yes, I know:  I’ll get to Burning Man eventually.  Stay with me.)   Read more »

Otic Oasis Concept Drawing (click to enlarge)

Now and again, amongst the incredible things that are headed to the playa, something particularly interesting comes across our radar, and we like to bring those to your attention.  The Otic Oasis fits the bill. Its planners write:

“The Otic Oasis is not an art installation or theme camp, it is our community defining a need and all of us contributing to make it happen!  During our residence in Black Rock City, we all experience the ubiquitous thump/thump of the deep bass beat of the electronic/trance/Burning Man branded music 24/7. This year, there’s a new installation that intends to bring citizens an audio antidote by providing an alternative of peace and quiet. The OTIC OASIS will be the first structure in a cordoned off wilderness area in the City, a part of the City where no motorized vehicles are permitted and large scale sound systems don’t penetrate – deep in walk-in camping. At last, a wilderness retreat where the aural options are in keeping with the indigenous stillness and aesthetics of the Black Rock desert.

If embraced by the community, the OTIC OASIS is intended to be a perennial structure: to return each year, as the Center Camp Cafe does, to continue to provide shade and shelter to weary travelers who might require a bit of tranquility in order to recharge.

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