Burning Man

[MarkBC]

Here is a like from the NYT's http://www.nytimes.c...ml?ref=business

Good catch, Barko!

Here's the part of that NYT article that makes that previous-posted rumor not complete fiction -- the owners of Burning Man are getting out, and sounds like there could be changes in the next couple years:

While the festival is flourishing, its financial structure is changing. Mr. Harvey announced several months ago that he and his partners were planning to liquidate their ownership interests in Burning Man. As part of a three-year plan, the company’s six owners plan to cash out their stakes, then hand control of the festival to a new nonprofit called the Burning Man Project, where they will constitute the minority on a 17-member board.....“We’re going to treat Burning Man like what it always should have been: not as a commodity, but as a gift,” Mr. Harvey said, explaining the festival’s multiyear transition strategy during an April 1 speech in San Francisco.

 

[generubin]

I've never been to Burning Man. Way too many people for me. Plus, I don't get how they have the right to charge so frickin' much money to visit my own "public lands". A few years ago, I was selling something from Burning Man on ebay for a friend, I don't even remember what it was. But I do remember clearly that I had a barrage of phone calls from some law firm working for Burning Man that was threatening to sue me for saying "Burning Man" in the listing. Jerks.

 

[Barko1]

I've never been to Burning Man. Way too many people for me.


I guess way too many for BLM as well


Burning Man Crowd Exceeds Limit Set By BLM
Posted: 4:04 pm PDT September 4, 2011
Updated: 12:43 pm PDT September 5, 2011

RENO, Nev. -- The annual Burning Man festival on the northern Nevada desert drew a record crowd of nearly 54,000 people -- more than the 50,000 allowed under a permit with federal land managers.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials said Sunday that they'll address the issue with organizers after the dust clears from the weeklong celebration of art and radical self-expression, which ends Monday on the Black Rock Desert, about 120 miles north of Reno.
A peak crowd of 53,735 was reported late Saturday afternoon, which was nearly 4,000 people more than the maximum limit set by the agency and roughly a 9 percent increase over last year, said BLM spokeswoman Lisa Ross.
She said she thinks organizers sold over 50,000 tickets on the premise that not everyone would show, and BLM officials planned talk to them about the matter. The agency imposes limits on the crowd size in an effort to protect the sprawling desert's environment.
"They're permitted for up to 50,000 participants, and this year's crowd was definitely over the amount that's permitted," Ross told The Associated Press. "I think they've increased in population almost every year."
A phone call to Burning Man spokeswoman Marian Goodell was not immediately returned.
Ticket sales were cut off in late July after the festival sold out for the first time in its 25-year history.
Thousands of participants began leaving the gathering after its traditional climax late Saturday night with the torching of its 40-foot signature effigy.
On Sunday night, remaining revelers planned to torch the Temple of Transition, which was billed as the tallest installation art structure ever erected at Burning Man.
The structure, which covers more than 45,000 square feet, features a 120-foot tiered, hexagonal central tower, surrounded by five 58-foot tiered, hexagonal towers. Inside, participants meditated, chanted or wrote notes to late loved ones.
BLM officials on Sunday reported no major problems during the gathering. As of Friday night, they had made three arrests and issued 42 citations, mostly for drug-related offenses. Total arrest and citation figures for the event will be released later.
A small plane took off from Burning Man and crashed upon its return Friday night, but the pilot and passenger walked away from the accident. The festival has a landing strip on the desert.
One participant died of unknown natural causes on Wednesday, Ross said, and the festival's medical center assisted many revelers for dehydration and other health problems.
"It's been a successful year as far as things going pretty smoothly, especially with that many people," Ross said.

 

[ski3pin]

we need a burning man report along with photos...............

 

[Overland Hadley]

we need a burning man report along with photos...............


x2

 

[Mushhuskies]

Well, I said I'd post something on this years Burning Man, so here goes. How to explain Burning Man? Hmm, well you wake up at noon, open the door to the camper even though you’re not wearing a stitch, (except maybe the feather boa that was gifted to you the nite before when you were riding around the playa on a double decker art car be bopping your ass off to this wild techno music, and the whole car, even tho close up and far away you could just swear it was a giant rooster and yes this was stone cold sober, was shaking and rocking and blasting sound at decibels that defy logic), as the drunken karaoke Hee Bee Jee Bees belt out another classic rendition of Killing Me Softly with his Song and noticing that the gals next door are taking a solar shower together but there doesn’t seem to be a shower curtain, and the fellow from across the street in the Cluster F*@+ United camp has his bullhorn out again and is belting out such witticisms like “You, yes you down there in the red hat, its much to be hot to be wearing underwear!” but that’s literally all he has on except of course for the red hat. Then there is the stream of guys riding by on the most fantastical bicycle contraptions in their pink tutus or better yet nothing and that makes you think how uncomfortable that must be, the lotus dancer in her gold lame, pasties, and headgear, the art cars belching fire out of their propane cannons, and ever-present in the background this incredible wall of sound that is part auditory hallucination, part auditory nirvana. The dust. Its everywhere and it just is. Everyone and everything has a layer of dust. Riding Daisy (our bright yellow tandem) across the Playa at one in the morning engulfed in a dust storm and getting spit out the other side and voila! there’s the temple emerging from the murk. Oh just fantastic. In short, it was the best time my wife and I have ever had!

We were fortunate to camp with a theme camp that was located fairly close to the playa but far enough that the sound camps didn't overwhelm us. They had a big shade structure, an "open" shower, and three fire belching art cars. I did not use the shade structure I had made/built for the FWC as it would have been shredded by the winds but the camper when oriented correctly throws a sittable shadow plus the camp with its own shade structure had more ambiance and better to watch the passerby's!! We were also doubly fortunate that the weather was the best they've had in 25 years of this event. Perfect temps, no rain, and minor dust storms. So to a certain extent we're still BM virgins in that regard.

The camper/truck made it thru without a hitch. Yes, there is playa dust everywhere and I dont think you ever get it all out but thats okay since we're going back next year. Going earlier to help set up the camp and plan to stay till bitter end to avoid the 8-9 hour exodus to Fernley (90 miles). We left on Sunday nite before the temple burn but I wish we had stayed. One thing that really saved our sanity was to be able to use our new porta-loo in the camper instead of making the trek to the porta-potties and standing in lines for what could be a trashed poo station. Overall the portaloos were not bad given the masses and drinking going on. You just have to time your visitation. For me dumping our camper loo in the wee hours was painless and a hell of alot more convenient. The new LED lights worked great and since we're directo to the truck batt alot more comforting to know its gonna start at the end of the week. The advice to pack extra engine filters is spot on. Just the transit into and out of BM packed the filter.

Okay enough jibber jabber. I will upload some pix probably this evening. Some are from my camera before it puked on the dust, some from a fellow camper Tom-O who has a better eye and better camera protection. Will upload in a day or two. Nice weather here = get things done 'afore the snow hits. Toodles....MH