Burning Man - the second coming

Posted Thursday, August 30, 2007, 11:09 PM by Lonely Planet

We're only halfway through the festival and (even by Burning Man standards) two very unusual things have happened.

There's a full lunar eclipse - which pushes Black Rock City to even greater gimp-mask-and-Dayglo-wearing extremes and someone prematurely sets the Burning Man on fire!



I hear the news from a naked, glitter-painted lady drifting past my tent. A press release at Media Mecca, a hub for dusty journalists in need of a Hunter S Thompson cocktail, reveals that the arsonist is in custody and the Man will be rebuilt.

As the singed skeleton of the sculpture is removed, the festival neon artist speeds to Reno and the outside world to buy materials.



I checked out the Man a few hours before the premature burning. There was a quasi-religious atmosphere there, with burners quietly circling and touching the wooden trunks at its base.

This arson attack is obviously big news for the community - the Black Rock Beacon even manages a special 'the Man's bacon gets cooked' issue. However, life on the playa continues as abnormal, with plenty of other idols for the neon-lit floats to buzz between...




James is at Burning Man researching for a Lonely Planet book on worldwide festivals; this is the third post in a series. Check out the previous posts here.

You can see more of Jonathan Clark's photographs at www.art-clark.com.

Labels: Breaking travel news, Burning Man, Nevada, The Americas

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