Burning Man heats up
Posted Tuesday, September 04, 2007, 3:48 PM by Lonely Planet
Last night, between visits to the festival's English, Irish and German pubs, I checked out some of the more interactive entertainment on offer. The best, apart from the roller disco of course, was a game called Dance Dance Immolation. 
Contestants in heat-resistant suits had to dance to bad '80s music; if they stopped or stepped out of tune, they were strafed with a jet of fire.
It was just another night on the playa, the salt pan in Nevada's Black Rock Desert that, for eight days a year, is overrun with wild-eyed 'burners' from as far afield as Australia. Artist Larry Harvey and friends started the happening in 1986 and shifted it to the outback in 1990, when San Francisco police moved them on from Baker Beach. At a press conference this week, Harvey said that Burning Man, in its idealistic mission to influence the way people live in the world beyond the festival, is succeeding where the '60s failed.
Certainly, the event is much more than an annual holiday for devotees such as the 'Euroburners' running the English bar. For 51 weeks of the year, they keep the contents of their elaborate camp in a storage unit in nearby Reno.
Another example of the serious sense of purpose underlying the event is its various themes. This year, as part of the green theme, there are schemes in place such as bio-diesel generators and the world's largest per capita communal bikes project. The theme will live on after the event when Burning Man gives the largest ever solar power donation to two local towns. In return, the state government will rename nearby Rte 447 as the Green Highway.
Like the '60s, Burning Man may not change the world, but it certainly has a profound effect on everyone who experiences it... even if their moonwalking skills aren't up to Dance Dance Immolation.
James Bainbridge is at Burning Man researching for a Lonely Planet book on worldwide festivals; check out the last 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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4 Comments:
James, I think I met you at the festival. I have some photos to send you if you're interested. Sorry about posting on the public blog, I lost your contact info. mmmdean@gmail.com
Yay Burning Man! I think that I forget that Burning Man is a big trip for many people. For me, it's pretty much the only time of the year that I head home to the US! It's funny, though, that even though it's practically in my backyard here in Nevada, it feels a whole lot stranger than most places I've travelled to around the world. But "strange" is pretty much the name of the game out there, right? haha.
Hope you had a great burn, and looking forward to next year already!
Hey James, you and I hooked up at Fandango, I think it was Wednesday or Thursday night, when they were doing the mashup party.
Good times.
-mike
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