Burning Man Boot Camp

Posted Thursday, August 30, 2007, 5:03 PM by Lonely Planet

Hearing we were first-time burners, the guys at the gate made us do press-ups and roll through the dust, like military recruits. Then, we had to bang a gong and yell, 'I am no longer a virgin!'



When the initiation was over, I noticed two Nevada state troopers looking darkly on from their truck. One thing that phases outsiders about Burning Man is just how seriously the folks at this desert festival take their theatrical, carnivalistic freakery.

As well as remembering survivalist supplies like vinegar, (which stops your feet drying and cracking on the salt pan) burners arrive laden with material for performances and installations.

The first person we met was a character called Dead Letter Y, a guy from Oregon in a pink furry hat. He handed us some spray-painted envelopes and explained Pirate Mail. If you want to contact someone here, pop a note into an envelope, write a description of them - anything but their address - and hand it to another burner. If it doesn't reach them by the end of the festival, there's always next year.



In return, my friend took a Polaroid shot of Dead Letter and gave him the photo. Our first Burning Man transaction was complete.

One of my favourite performances on the playa, where the cracked terrain is dotted with towering sculptures and naked cyclists, was the Boardroom Take-over Posse. With completely straight faces, they sat in the 100-degree-farenheit heat talking into chunky phones and punching fat calculators in their suits and slick hair. The illusion of being on Wall Street was shattered only by a bottle of whisky sitting on the table and the laughter of people taking rides in a giant metal dragonfly nearby...


James Bainbridge is at Burning Man researching for a Lonely Planet book on worldwide festivals; check out the next in his series of blogs from the festival here soon. You can see more of Jonathan Clark's photographs at www.art-clark.com.

Labels: Burning Man, Nevada, The Americas

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