 |
|
Adventures and photos from 2010
Here are my photos, and below is my diary.
My 2010 Burning Man Diary:
This was a year of early preparations. My goal for this year was to make as much of the camp run on solar power as I could. I built a huge array of panels to run the bar during the daytime and to charge 6, 33 amp/hr 12 volt batteries for running the entire camp at night. I built a sound system using a car stereo and power amp to provide the tunes and a bunch of new lighting for the bar and commons space. My own preparations were fairly minimal. After 4 years I’ve set up a pretty solid system and have most things packed well ahead of time. My only last minute project was a decoration/shield for the Segway. Two years ago I lost my Segway when our house was broken into and I was only able to replace it a couple weeks before Burning Man. It’s great to have some closure for that chapter of life.
We really rushed last year to get the camp set up so this year several of the members went in on Thursday. I managed to get myself out on Friday. I really wanted to have a full day on Saturday to work especially if the weather were to get poor, as it did on Sunday last year.
Friday:
This year there was no caravan. I was the only vehicle going up on Friday, but I had company for the first time. Joe Shields was unable to go up the full week early with Dave so he hitched a ride with me along with all the perishables for our camp. The RV was really full of coolers. The trip up was fine. There was no traffic and a very short line to get in the gate. The RV did great and we got there about 2:40 PM.
The weather was not bad when we got to the playa, just a few dust devils and a bit of wind, but it had been a nice day there. I was able to get positioned and lock down the RV. Then all of a sudden this HUGE gust of wind came up and lifted up our 60 foot long commons structure and sent it flying. It was bent and torn to pieces. It landed on Dave’s and Rich and Ross’s trailers, just missing Ross’s truck. Joe Bruno was the only one under it at the time and one of the poles caught him and ripped his shirt and left him with a long scratch. I was in the RV and it sounded like someone had crashed a truck into our camp. We scrambled in a hurry to lock it down as best as we could, and then when it calmed down we took it apart to assess the damage. A third of it was too far gone to salvage. How it missed the RV I do not know. We worked for hours to salvage as much of it as we could and were able reconstruct 40 feet of it that evening. It was still windy so we had to wait till Saturday morning to put on the tarp.
Dinner was spaghetti and shrimp and veggies. Very good! I really like the nights before the event because it’s so quiet and you can see the stars.
Saturday:
The day started out OK. I woke up at 6;30 after a reasonable night’s sleep. Everyone else got up more like 8:30 and the wind was slowly picking up. I rode my bike out to The Man and dropped in to media Mecca to get a question answered about getting cameras tagged. The only person there was Andi Grace – 2nd in charge of the event. She was really nice and we talked for a while. She liked my necklace. I told her I designed it and she was impressed. I planned to bead up a nice necklace and give it to her later, but I never did run into her into her again when I had it with me.
Back at camp, eventually everyone got going and we got the roof back onto the Commons Space. Then the wind hit again REALLY hard and it was all hands on deck to keep the rebuilt structure latched down and to keep the bar from coming apart. Finally the wind calmed down and we just had lunch (turkey dogs). The RV was still nice and clean inside (I taped up every little hole, access cover and slot). In the afternoon I started on the solar panels and lighting. I got half the lights up on the bar and installed the stereo. After the wind died down we could see we were going to be in for some rain, so we switched gears and tried to get things ready. The guys opened the bar Saturday night and it was reasonably busy. It never warmed up all day. Long pants and jackets were needed. Andy showed up. He said Neverwas Haul got shifted back to 3:00 and I street. That’s a ways off from where they thought they were supposed to go. There were so many steampunk camps they were not able to group them all together. That evening I was unable to get out on the internet. It started to rain and it continued into Sunday morning.
Sunday:
In the morning it was raining lightly, but it wasn’t muddy. The playa just sucked it up like nothing happened. There was no wind but it did rain all night. The only thing that woke me up was when a huge UFO landed outside and was spitting explosions of fire out of the top. All I could make out was the lights and fire so I have no idea what it really was. The morning was cold. It was 48 out and only 52 in the RV. It start out cloudy so I expected I’d need to run the generator for a while to charge up the shore batteries. But the sun came out later and the two panels on the RV charged everything up. It stayed cold all day but the wind never picked up. The morning was extra clear with all the dust washed down.
I installed the final parts of the camp solar system and it generated plenty of power, even with being mostly cloudy all day. Just the bar lights were left to do. Since the morning was nice I went out and saw a few more sites. The weather has caused a lot of projects on the playa to be behind, so not everything is ready to tour. I got my first shower in and it was so nice to feel clean. I had been cleaning up with just a washcloth for the last couple days. I finished up the lights in the afternoon.
That evening, they started letting people in around 7PM. I think the road was super blocked so they somehow got the BLM to look the other way (at least according to Ross). The usual flurry of activity continued all night as new arrivals went about looking for a place to camp. I can’t imagine trying to hunt for a place in the dark. There’s almost no way to know where you are or who or what is around you. If you’re not part of a ‘placed’ theme camp you have to go where ever you can find – and that’s not easy, even in the daylight.
Monday:
With the solar installed and working great, I turned to getting the quad down and get ready to see some of the city on it. I use my bike to see the deep playa stuff – it’s just too rough out there past The Man.
The day remained cold and then in the afternoon it rained - a lot. This was way more rain than we got over the weekend. They close the entrance and people had to sit in line for several hours until the road dried out enough to be passable. The rain made a mess of the lounge. Everyone in the neighborhood ran for the lounge to get out of the rain and tracked in tons of sticky playa. After it cleared I shoveled clumps out of the carpet while a fantastic rainbow appeared. The playa may be harsh but it’s beautiful. Since it was still quite cold I didn’t go out on Monday night.
There was a camp behind us called ‘Cock-n-Waffles’ that had a bus they covered one side of with huge speakers and lights, then they would sit in front of it till all hours of the night smoking dope while the noise from the bus blared. This led to more than one altercation and several visits from the Rangers.
Tuesday:
Tuesday the weather was MUCH MUCH better. The day started off really cold. The clouds had cleared late last night and it got down into the low 40’s. That makes it really hard to get up. The RV has NO insulation. In the morning it’s hardly better inside than it is outside. But as soon as the sun comes it heats up quickly.
Since I was done with camp stuff I and headed out to take in the city. It remained calm all day and I took advantage of it to get way out while I could. The temple was wonderful. It was a great place for tributes and contemplative moments. It was still early in the week so there weren’t a lot of tributes yet. This was the first day I climbed up on The Man and I went fairly deep into the playa to see the far art exhibits. I ran into Andy doing a photo shoot with the Neverwas Haul people and their motorized couch, but Andy was – well, being Andy so I didn’t stick around. I continued making a big circle, passing through the 3:00 side of the esplanade and lingered at the DMV to see all the mutant vehicles getting their licenses.
I went back to camp around 4 and the lounge was busy. The solar was doing great. The radio was behaving (it was having some issues on Monday). Mostly they plug in Ipods or just play the chip I filled with Teisto and Armin Van Burrin.
Our afternoon event was ‘Tutu Tattoo Tuesday’, so everyone wore tutu’s (not me!) and we put on temporary tattoo’s on our guests. Mike, our usual guy-tattoo person was unable to get to the event before Wednesday, so I taught Gustov, our new campmate from the Netherlands how to apply the tattoos. And he really went to town! I think all the guys he tattooed came away happy.. Me, I get the handful of girls that show up. Actually, it was a LOT of girls. I like to believe they all walked away happy too!
It was just warm enough for me to go out and to take in some of the night lights of the city after dinner. I headed back out to the open playa for some night photos and to spend some time in Center Camp. I went out to The Man and close to the Temple to get night shots. I forgot my glasses so I could only guess if my focus was good. Some were, some were not. I visited Center Camp for the first time with it open and ran into Rich and Ross. Rich took us around to show the bits of it he helped build. I returned just about midnight, cleaned up and went to bed. But just as I was getting into bed Andy was knocking at my door. He had a couple items Judy P. had brought up with that day; the tribute sheet Judy had made for her departed friend Pat, and a bottle of saline solution that I had forgotten.
Wednesday:
I got up about 6:30 after a good night’s sleep. The giant bus did not crank up their music at all last night – after they were threatened by many people – and not just from our camp.
I got myself together and headed out on the playa with the quadracycle - this time going a different direction. I ran into John Cole and we took photos of each other around a really cool metal structure. I took my usual photos of the quad with The Man, and then climbed up into the Minaret and visited Center Camp. The weather was warmer but not real hot. The wind never came up. There was a lot to see this year. For one week, Black Rock City becomes the largest modern art museum in the world.
Close to lunch I came back to camp and helped with the event of the day, then gathered up and headed into the city to explore. There were the usual places, like Barbie Death Camp, but there was one bar called ‘APRIS – Ski Black Rock City’. Inside their done the place was really hopping – and it was snowing. They had a machine making fake snow – a lot of it. And they had these snowy backgrounds where you could slip into skis and look like you were skiing. How can you top that? I made a stop at the Neverwas Haul and Andy and Judy were actually there. Judy was very happy to see me – Andy not so much. He’s in his usual ‘I’m a busy professional photographer’ mode. So after a brief visit (the Haul folk didn’t seem interested in being friendly) I started to make my way back to camp for dinner.
On Wednesday night, Bill H, Joe B, Ray N and I headed out to see the nightlife. We headed across the playa to the Opulent Temple and stayed there a while and watched everyone dance. It’s just like the Tiesto videos. But since it was early (about 9:30) it was not packed. It looked packed near the stage, but just back from there, there was plenty of room for everyone to be self expressive. I took several videos. We moved on to a few other places. Some of them were dance venues; others were just to see the big party busses. There were lots of fire sculptures out on the playa. But, we were just a group of old guys so we didn’t last too long. I got to bed about 1AM and didn’t get up till 9. That’s really late for me.
Thursday:
After getting myself together in the morning I assembled the Segway and decided to see if it could get me out to the temple and back. ‘Gliding’ on the playa was pretty amazing. It worked WAY better than I expected. It’s a lot easier to get around than on a bike. It’s fast and doesn’t seem to care if there are loose drifts. The rough roads are pretty bad no matter what you’re on.
So I glided out to the temple and put up the tribute Judy made for her friend Pat. The walls had filled up a lot but there were still places. I took my roll of bright green duct tape to attach it. I took several photos of its location, and if other people take and post photos of that area of the temple the bright green tape should be easy to spot. I went out every day to check on it and clear the dust off.
After the temple I headed back to The Man to get some photos with the Segway, then over to Center Camp area just to see more sights. I then glided down to the 9:30 plaza to see the new daytime dance venue: ‘the District’. It’s a lot like the ‘Deep End’ just different buildings. Hardly anyone was there though. From there I headed back to camp for lunch and the superhero tea event. I ran over ¾ of the power down doing all that running around, but it showed I can get a long way on one charge. The weather was a little hotter; however we still had NO WINDS. It was so great out. For the first burn ever it really let me get around to see most everything in the open playa. I had taken over 700 photos so far.
Back at camp it the afternoon our camp hosted a ‘superhero tea dance’ where everyone was encouraged to dress as superheroes. It was a much better and mixed crowd compared to the ‘bike ride’ yesterday. For the remainder of the afternoon I cleaned up my stuff so I knew where everything was. We had dinner and I took a shower and headed out to see the city at night. I played with taking lots of night photos. It would really be great to have a camera that was good at low light.
Friday:
On the quad, my first stop in the morning was Center Camp. It’s less crowded then and you can just lounge about and take in ‘the vibe’. From there I climbed The Man and went back out into the open playa to keep exploring. I checked on Judy’s tribute at the temple, where I ran into Judy P. and some of the Neverwas Haul people. As the afternoon progressed we had some of the first dust storms of the week. Nothing long or bad though. I and stayed out all day and kept touring the city. I climbed the tower over on the 3:00 side of town and worked my way through several of the inner streets before arriving back in camp for dinner. I didn’t go back out that night.
Saturday:
Saturday morning started with our traditional camp pancake breakfast so I didn’t get out as early as I’d usually like, but the breakfast with friends makes up for it. The wind was coming up and it was going to be a dusty afternoon and evening. I headed out to the temple on the Segway and brushed off a lot of dust on Judy’s tribute. On the way out I stopped by The Man for the last time and witnessed a few hundred people dressed as Superman. I think they were trying to set the record for the most Supermans in one place. After the temple I headed back to Center Camp. The dust storms were getting nasty and the static charge they caused to build up on the Segway was a concern. At one point I was getting shocked a lot and I just turned it off and sat down in the storm until it cleared enough to proceed.
Center Camp was very busy. I purchased iced tea (always bring your own cup) and watched the flow of people and the contact dancers. Since it was so nasty out I returned to camp and did temporary tattoos in the bar for the remainder of the afternoon.
We do a camp potluck on Saturday nights before gathering to go watch the burn.
For the burn, I went out on the Playapus at about 8:30. We didn’t really have a good viewing spot so we walked up a bit, I tried to set up my camera but the crowd was too big to see over. In the process of trying to set up my camera I dropped my goggles, I noted them missing fairly quickly and I had not moved. Someone must have picked them up right under me. I decided I’d go back to the Playapus and try to set up there. Suddenly a large black man collapsed on the Playapus. I think he was not at all prepared for the playa and was dehydrated and overwhelmed. We got Ross to get in touch with medical, but with the huge crowd there was no way they could get an ambulance to us and we were boxed in. I did get to see and video the burn however. This was just all happening behind me. The dust storms got bad after The Man was already burning and at times I could barely see it. It cleared a bit, The Man fell and so goes another year on the playa.
Since it was going to take a long time to resolve the situation with the collapsed man, I decided to walk back (with Rich). This was not easy to do into a blowing wind with no goggles. I had tied a t-shirt over my head and I just covered my whole face and walked most of the way back with my eyes closed and covered. After getting back I helped Rich open the bar and bartended for a while. There was no point going to bed because the assholes behind us were blaring their music too loud to sleep. I finally tried anyway at 3AM when they turned it down somewhat. They quit playing at 4:15. We’re going make sure they do not get placed as a theme camp next year for violating many of their responsibilities!
Sunday:
I got up around 8 and glided out to check on the Temple and see the remains of The Man. They had already closed access to the Temple. So I took one last spin around the open playa and then it was back to camp to take down the Lounge.
Disassembling the Lounge has become a ritual over the years. Many parts of it are choreographed like a dance. There are set ways everything packs into the trailer and we keep the music playing right up to the end. It was actually fun. I have to scramble to get the wiring and lights down. Since they are the last thing to go up they have to be the first thing to come down. I left up the lights on the commons space and moved the main battery pack there so we would have lights that evening. I then took my solar panels off the RV, loaded up the quad. Almost all the camps around us were down or had already left. We had a quiet evening. The assholes with the bus packed up too so they wouldn’t be able to run their crap that night.
I decided I didn’t want to go all the way out to see the Temple burn. I had lost my clear goggles the night before and it became nasty out that night. Since my internet connection was good I stayed inside and watched it over streaming from the internet! Judy was at home watching it too so we were in Instant Messenger and sort of watching it together.
Monday:
I got up about 6AM, did my last breakfast routine and pulled down the commons lights. That day the remaining crew would take down the commons area and roll out on Tuesday. I diverted a bit on the way out to drop Catherine off at the BRC airport. I was in line by 8:00AM and still didn’t get to Gerlach till 10:00AM. The earlier out the better!
And that’s my diary for Burning Man 2010. No matter how much work it is, no matter how nasty the weather, I always look forward to my one week residency, home, in Black Rock City, NV.