Center Camp tiptoes back in 2023

[some seeing eye]

It took a long time for the very large cultural redirection process to work through. It is a group process so that is natural. The essence of design is fast iteration. And there is a saying fail fast and iterate fast.

In the name of decommodification, the Center Camp cafe was phased out. It required a lot of water and a lot of volunteers. It produced a lot of waste. But closing it altered the dynamics of participation of Center Camp.

So they are now they are iterating and asking beverage camps to volunteer to operate shifts in Center Camp. Message them to find out the details. One would imagine it would be bring your own water, bring your own kitchen, remove your own greywater. Center camp is on the grid, so maybe some electricity is supplied.

in: https://burningman.org/event/participat ... nter-camp/

out: https://journal.burningman.org/2022/02/ ... mp-coffee/



c Curtis and Peggy Mekemson

[Wigwam]

It was a very odd dynamic to see last year. I'm glad it's back and while I never partook in the coffee service, it seems it was at least the impetus to bring people together.

[Elorrum]

Was it decommodification or, a pandemic? What’s in is “prime event space” property management. Your gift will occur in our better space, on our schedule, if you apply and qualify. You’re welcome.

[Token]

I’d much rather have a fire pit in the center of the big circus tent, quite honest.

Still messy but appropriately primitive and tribal.

[The Rod]

Harry Larvey really nailed it when he perfected the “charge them for tickets AND have them throw your party” business model. Outsourcing of labor and guilty emotions are the hallmark of corporate success.

Glad to see it in action. Also I just love it when we pretend that burning man shouldn’t “involve a lot of work, volunteers, or produce waste”

[ygmir]

Harry Larvey really nailed it when he perfected the “charge them for tickets AND have them throw your party” business model. Outsourcing of labor and guilty emotions are the hallmark of corporate success.

Glad to see it in action. Also I just love it when we pretend that burning man shouldn’t “involve a lot of work, volunteers, or produce waste”

this.

[Token]

… Also I just love it when we pretend that burning man shouldn’t “involve a lot of work, volunteers, or produce waste”

Ha! Spectacular!!!

[Elorrum]

“Have them throw your party” and charge for attendence, genius, opportunity, luck? Unfortunately, the way I see it, the expectation that It’s all there complete when you step unencumbered off your bus or plane has trickled down from the org to the majority of the new populace as an expectation. Theme camp status can come with barren real estate to “host” other people’s hard work, or an empty museum is built to be filled with other people’s art, and that’s a special opportunity? Turning Center camp into a volunteer pop up food court makes sense then. Gee Tom, that fence painting sure looks fun. When it stops being fun to volunteer, they may need to hire the help.

The firepit is the oldest show there is, still amazing after all this time.

[some seeing eye]

In my area the yoga speak festival and concert promoters are everywhere. It's just another form of selling.

The root of the problem may have been the Oregon Country Fair started in 1969 as an alt circus and craft fair. The spectators pay and the volunteer-participants are the only ones who are allowed to stay overnight for the party.

It's likely BRC was influenced by the OCF which had an early camp at Burning Man. The OCF camp was also the first to bring the Internet to BRC and the Googlers camped adjacent to it.

Small EDM parties which charge money are highly dependent on unpaid volunteers and it is a nice cash business.

Cults are also a great business. Look at the Rajneesh! His followers gifted him 93 Rolls Royces and he would drive daily through the commune they built for him to worship him! There are several wild documentaries about that guru. I can guarantee you there are Rajneeshee burners who travel from outside the US to BRC.

[Lonesomebri]

Well, I always thought that drink sales at Center Camp was odd. And the grounded appeal of entertainment, sitting, art, people watching. A weird connection to hip default culture. I missed the past year but heard that the vibe, for good or bad, had really changed. It was a space needing something, like a coffee house. Reopen coffee,/mocha,/lemonade/ iced sale at Center Camp. Charge some stupid high amount to detour, punish those buying. Say the funds are going to deprived third-world regional burners still using glow sticks, or something. But have reduced prices for Burn org volunteers. Make people in line bitch about the prices, with it escalating when they hear the discount others, volunteers, are charged, and then directing them out to gate with their iced mocha. Or impound volunteer labor right there at the coffee counter at an hour a cup. Not so sure individual camps stepping up to put on the barista cap is gonna restart the mojo. The people who go to Center Camp to get coffee, want it's availablity to be certain, not iffy. And serving the volume of people at odd times, or mornings, meeting that uncertainty. But some big camp will do it. Probably going to work with placement to provide convenient area for service camps promising to put activity at Center Camp. Heck, the argument could be put in to allow a Starbucks staffed with volunteers, some management training getaway, with a percentage going to good stuff for the world.

[Papa Bear]

I never liked having coffee and beverages for sale at center camp. Nor did I ever buy into Larry's justification for it, so I'm glad they're gone and hope they stay that way.

One could argue that the org shouldn't even build center camp at all anymore, just as I've been known to argue that they shouldn't build the man - if participants want it, they can go create it. Not a very popular opinion, of course, nor one that is ever likely to be adopted.

As long as they keep building Center Camp, though, I'm 100% cool with it being a place that smaller groups who may be interested in creating some kind of offering for a few hours, but not for a full week, can use to try that out. The best model for that, I think, is what Golden Guy Alley has done the past few years.

If that means that the people who are drawn to Center Camp are there to be curious, to see what's going on *right now* as opposed to going for the surety of their favorite latte order, then I think that's a win even if they are fewer in number.

[Lonesomebri]

As long as we are here...
Okay, a camp providing the coffee lattes for the community? A camp with infrastructure, resources, know how, people, equipment, a deep seated drive to serve. Real. True. Burners. A camp that is placed near, next to, Center Camp, like right there on the Esplanade corner... What's the First Camp that comes to mind? Getting one with the people. Now get me an iced mocha.
I have very mixed feelings. Complex people can have conflicting beliefs. The coffee house thing is a blasphemy to the ethic, but I loved it. It's not just the coffee, but with a butterfly effect, the whole scene. Things not connected to coffee sales. There was a kinda shopping mall vibe going on. You could go and walk the circle. There's art. Hell, you can add your art. Get a message. Do some yoga. Watch weirdos do yoga. Meet Ted and Alice for a cafe dustalatte. Check out the wonderful odd entertainment on the big stage. Question the life choices of the people making out on the dusty benches in the shadows. Note the option of those dusty benches if camp turns south on you. Wander and wander. But, like the mall, there's a lot of life happening outside those walls. I would warn new people that if they went in, note what way they went in, where their bike is, and limit the time spent in there. Don't get sucked in and comfortable.
That's what orgy dome is for...
I understand all the things Center Camp provided are available elsewhere. It's a interesting dynamic. Having camps provide the entertainment and activity mojo is great, but that weird coffee house dynamic...
This one time, I was with a woman, so I was maybe doing things I wouldn't have been doing without. We reached the front of the coffee line, wearing our blue windbreakers and baseball caps printed with "CSI Black Rock City" and carrying clipboards (having just returned from inspecting a crime scene at the porta potties). "It's on the house!" The Burn barista offered. We tried to explain.

[The Rod]

Luck, genius, and opportunity are often confused for one another..

...

One year, '13 or '14 I think, I found the secret lawn. They hauled out a few a thousand sq ft of grass sod and laid it all out under shade cloth and misters. It was absolutely magical. I started chatting with someone from the camp, when I asked about the "no live plants" rule, they said "Oh we've been doing this a long time, we take extra steps to make sure we don't moop and they make an exception for us".

I might be wrong, but I never thought anything about Burning Man was about ideological purity and rigid adherence to The Principles. Yes, egregious violations like full-on PnP operations or leaving a filled to the brim porto-potty as moop are definitely a scourge that warrants vigilance.. But there is something novel and special about "breaking" the "rules" at an event that started partially because a bunch of people wanted to go party somewhere without a bunch of rules.

Bri just said it. Complex People and Complex Ideas. If one is only capable of binary thinking, then cognitive dissonance is usually a pretty unpleasant experience. Can we hold two seemingly opposing ideas at once and form an understanding that includes nuance and possibility? Or is it a zero sum formula for conformity?

...

My vote goes towards a Starbucks franchise and donation funds to level-up some third world burners with shitty chinese LEDs

.

[lucky420]

I vote for fire pit

[ygmir]

I vote for fire pit

no bbq grates on the ground....

[Token]

Luck, genius, and opportunity are often confused for one another..

...

One year, '13 or '14 I think, I found the secret lawn. They hauled out a few a thousand sq ft of grass sod and laid it all out under shade cloth and misters. It was absolutely magical. I started chatting with someone from the camp, when I asked about the "no live plants" rule, they said "Oh we've been doing this a long time, we take extra steps to make sure we don't moop and they make an exception for us".

Xara Dulzura, or just Xara … did that thing for ~ a decade and did it well. 2000’s so fewer rules back then.

Huge blackout tents painted inside in trippy UV paint jungle/forest with wall to wall lawn and cool humidity.

Trippers paradise until the thing got hit by a freak high caliber dust devil and got leveled in 2012 …

They branched off and did nice regionals in San Diego.

[The Rod]

It was against the rules. But it happened anyways. And created a wonderful and memorable experience.

Kind of like the cafe...

[DoctorIknow]

A decade or more ago, I'd go mostly for Piss Clear. I swore off the coffee attraction when a woman in our camp had just finished her shift and was happy to announce she had just made $23 in tips.

I'm very happy to ride around the blocks around my camp and I'll always find people making coffee as a gift. Their opening times can be awesome (like sunrise until they want to stop).

[Davoid]

I volunteered at the cafe in '02. Before my second shift we all got a talking to by the shift lead that there weren't enough tips coming in and that we needed to step it up and speed it up. She took the angle that some of the volunteers (presumably her) were relying on the money to help defray their BM costs. It felt pretty slimy, especially as I was there mainly to get myself out of my shell by interacting with the customers, which was fun. Didn't volunteer there again! But I do enjoy the hub aspect of the place and hope it still has some of that charm as I return this year after a long hiatus.

[The Rod]

Camp THREAT has submitted our application to the Center Camp Overlords to serve shitty coffee at Center Camp 2023. Will bring a tip jar so that ya'll will have something to complain about/make your ideological stand against going into next year.

[ygmir]

Camp THREAT has submitted our application to the Center Camp Overlords to serve shitty coffee at Center Camp 2023. Will bring a tip jar so that ya'll will have something to complain about/make your ideological stand against going into next year.

if I were to be there, I"d make a special trip to center camp, just to see you and your crew, and even leave a tip, but, just the tip...

[The Rod]

Important Update Concerning Shitty Coffee at Center Camp:

10 am - 1 pm on Thursday Aug 31st:

Camp THREAT and the BRCCP Present: SHITTY COFFEE At Center Camp

Are you looking for the perfect camp outing/lunch/date to set the vibe for your Thursday afternoon at Burning Man? Burn Week is officially more than halfway over! Thank the gods. Honor your diety(ies) of choice by stopping by Center Camp and consuming some SHITTY COFFEE!

This is Camp THREAT and The Black Rock City Communist Party’s contribution to the languishing center camp coffee consuming culture. We will be wearing our finest in communist regalia (red and gold) if any of you filthy heathens would like to come out and support the cause in costumed solidarity.

Our Mission: The proletariat of Black Rock City need their caffeine and there’s no point in hanging around center camp unless you are consuming legal and socially acceptable drugs. And speaking of legal drugs, we might even have some halfway decent scotch to add to your shitty coffee.. Only for those Comrades who are of legal drinking age as dictated by the governments of the USSA of course. Be prepared to furnish your identification papers to prove you are as old as you say you are and legally allowed to attend the Burning Man Festival.

For freedom! For Burners! For Coffee!
Free Coffee For Burners!
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