'14 cheers and jeers

[VultureChow]

Jeers:


2. The guy who sexually assaulted my girlfriend last year in a staff camp. That was awesome, and he still works for the staff camp in question because "he's old school". Fuck that.

3. The girl who sexually assaulted me on the esplanade this year, and her group that laughed it off and told me to get over it. Fuck you to the highest degree.

Jeers to the campmate that got all rapey with one of my virgins lying in the dust. He laid down fully on top of her while I was barking out instructions to 7 foreign virgins lying in the dust. I tried to play it light, "Excuse me, did you get full verbal consent for this contact?" and he got off of her.

You can fuck with virgins without fucking virgins.

[maryanimal]

I had the best time this year! I met a lot of new people and was able to see a lot of the awesome art this year! Crazy as it sounds and as scared of lightning and thunder as I am, the storm on Monday was magnificent. Mother Nature is very powerful!

The worst part was that young woman who was killed this year.

[theCryptofishist]

We could always have a best and worst of best and worst threads.

[AfricanFire]

Cheers -

* My rocking camp mates, Completely drama free, small group of people who know both how to work their butts off and have a good time. Some of the most fun I had was staying in camp.
* To all the lovely people who came though our camp and were so thankful and gracious after their headwash.
* To a lovely lady called Pixie who gave up her spot in line for the headwashing to let a disabled burner go ahead of her. (And we rewarded her by not making her wait too long either).
* To the 72 yr old Aussie lady there for her first burn and LOVING it. She totally got it. Made my day.
* To a guy called Banana who volunteered to wash heads and ended up washing for the entire 4 hour shift. Rockstar!

Jeers -

* To the so-called friends of a young guy who abandoned him on Tuesday night when he was so drunk he couldn't even walk.
* To the Rangers that evening who were nowhere to be found when a friend and I tried to help said drunk kid not get himself killed (he sat down in the middle of an intersection). I looked for a ranger for ages, ended up walking back to Esplanade and trying to get some help there, all to no avail. (I know the rangers are volunteers and a limited resource. Our camp does a lot to support them - it was just disappointing that they were nowhere to be found when we actually needed some help).
* To the entitled brats who got pissy when we couldn't guarantee the time they'd get their head washed. We were giving rough estimates, but they really were just estimates.

[Eric]

I've merged two of the Cheers and Jeers/ Best and Worst threads.

[caffeineslinger]

Cheers...
Sunday arrival. No problems for us!

The camp across the street from us. They hosted a great beer tasting!

Lag screws. Awesome!

Jeers...
The asshats who stomped my wifes "Take something, Leave something" trunk. Why? Who does this? She was heart broken.

The fucktard who floored it on gate road when leaving tuesday and cut everybody off turning left on 447, flipping everybody off while he did it. If you're going to pull this shit at least coverup the advertising on your RV. I will never drop a dime with lightupwire.com. Nice job pissing off your biggest customer base. No advertising on playa you fuck!

[FIGJAM]

Three loud cheers to Grey Coyote, without whom TTITD would not have been possible. He built our dome. He built uor shade. He drove the whole trip.

Three loud cheers to Elliot, who hosted us. His advice, steady support and kindness made our BM comfy.

Three loud cheers to Sadie, whose fierce self-reliance and organization is an example to try to match.

Three loud cheers to Kowtow, whose self-deprecating humor kept us laughing. Rodney Dangerfield would approve.

Three loud cheers to Chucklarone, who had the BEST burn. Adventure, explored, fell in love, fell, and flew

Thank you all for making my Burn

I'm a fucking asshole, so I didn't make it on the list!!!

[JayBobBoy]

Cheers to the guys who gave me an otter pop on the way back from the JOTS! Great neighbors make for a great event. It was our first time in that region of the city and I think we were a good fit.

[chuckularone]

Cheers to the guys who gave me an otter pop on the way back from the JOTS! Great neighbors make for a great event. It was our first time in that region of the city and I think we were a good fit.

Was it at 5&H?

If so, that was Kowtow's gift. He's too proud to admit it though!

[Zrob]

Jeers to Calliope. Their dance art car wouldn't do that car part until Wednesday, so they just decided to make it an in city club....at 4:00 and A.

It's a good thing they go ti fixed because I'm fairly certain the neighborhood was about to hold a spontaneous correction of attitude for them.

[smilemore]

Cheers to all those fantastic people who kept us from making it to just about all of our intended daily destinations. Each of our daily sojourns were continuously and delightfully interrupted by many fun and interesting people.

Cheers to the rain as it allowed us to experience an impromptu night on the shore of Pyramid Lake with a couple hundred other Burners. What a beautiful way to begin our first burn ... a cool night-time swim before hitting the dust!

Cheers to the guy walking down the street handing out exquisite fresh cooked bacon on Saturday morning!

Cheers to Elliot. I have never before received such generosity, enjoyed such good humour or benefited from such thoughtfulness ... from a naked guy. Your sincerity on ePlaya reassured us for the months leading up to the burn and your bikes carried us through it.

I've really no legitimate Jeers.

I chose the name Smilemore because I've needed to do just that for sometime now. I feel that this experience (for the past 8 months) culminating on Sunday has provided me with a greater clarity of how powerful that simple act can be.

Now, to start working on how to afford our return!

Cheers!

[GreyCoyote]

Cheers to FIGJAM and his little bucket cooler. We did a back to back test with my Port-O-Cool 3000. His had the SAME outlet temperature as mine... And cost $800 less and used 500 less watts!

Cheers to MaryAnimal and her Taco Tuesday!

Cheers to Unjohn for being... well... a cantankerous old fart and throughly lovable waste of human protoplasm!

Cheers to Martini Steve for reminding me what a good chocolate martini should taste like.

Cheers to Kowtow, Sadie, Chuck, and Sunbeam for being the little birgins that could.

Cheers to Elliot for letting our motley band of campers share his space.

Cheers to Lexi and Laura for reminding me what it is like to be young and insane.

Cheers to Burning Skies for being awesome neighbors.

Cheers to RobbiDobbs for being the voice of potty propriety in a shitty world.

Jeers to the moopy asshats who would throw entire fresh rolls of TP into the jots. I know who you are and I called your mothers.

[gibson_]

Jeers to Calliope. Their dance art car wouldn't do that car part until Wednesday, so they just decided to make it an in city club....at 4:00 and A.

It's Kalliope. That's my camp. What were we doing that was making you sad? Did you come over and talk to anybody about it? I'm sorry if something was bumming you out. I think it was on Monday night we had all of the Death Guild camp over for a party, and then on Tuesday, it was our yearly Pink Party.

Again, sorry if any of it was bumming you out.

[zorro sings]

I will commend you for stepping up here to address the issue of the extremely loud volume coming from Kalliope on Tuesday night.However you do know the"suggested" limit is 300 watts outside 2 and 10 not 3000.We had a music party at 4:30 and Esplanade and had to turn up our volume just to be heard over an event that was coming from 4 and A.No problems after Tuesday which I am sure everyone in the neighborhood was thankful for.

[gibson_]

Again, sorry if it was too loud. I am almost positive that if anybody had come by and said something, we would have turned it down. Everybody in the camp is *extremely* reasonable, and has the #1 goal of making everybody's burn be the best burn ever. "I'm gun make mah thing SO LOUD" is not really on anybody's radar, except when "really loud" is the thing that would make somebody's day .

Here's a funny story from that day: we had an awesome camp across the street from us called Totem Wolf. Their burn involved playing death metal at extremely high volumes. At first, it was really frustrating, but we talked to the people from the camp, realized they were all really really cool, and became friends with them. Their super loud death metal became part of the neighborhood charm, imho.

Well during the Tuesday event, one of the guys from our camp went across the street and asked them if they would mind turning their music down for a while, which they graciously did (they actually turned it off...which...a bunch of headbanging metalheads turning their music *off* for the PINK party across the street is pretty awesome of them). After a few minutes, one of the dudes from the camp comes across the street, climbs up on top of Kalliope into the DJ area, and says to the DJ: "Hey, we turned our music off for you, would you at least have the decency to turn yours the FUCK UP?".

Certainly doesn't help you having to deal with really loud music, but a funny story anyway.

Next year, if it's a problem, go ask somebody to turn it down, and they almost definitely will. If you can't find anybody, come and find me. My name is Ryan M, and I'm a big bearded dude with a shaved head.

[zorro sings]

Thanks its cool.I walked past your camp that night just to see what was going on.We were doing a Pink Floyd night and"Echoes"just started so had some time.It was funny.Right across the street from your party,at full blast, was the metal DJ guy playing as loud as he could for one dancer gyrating frantically in the corner.Did not know who to feel sorry for, him,you or us.

[VultureChow]

Next year, if it's a problem, go ask somebody to turn it down, and they almost definitely will.

Last year I suffered for three hours when a large MV parked outside my tent in the wee hours in the suburbs (4:40 and E). It was abusively loud. I got to the point of weeping in frustration, but I didn't want to confront them.

This year, Sunday night, someone with a much smaller car did the same and I went out and asked him to turn it down a bit. And he just moved on! No fight, no tears. We saw each other several times that week, and he always joked that I had ordered him to move on.

Lesson learned.

[JayBobBoy]

JayBobBoy wrote:
Cheers to the guys who gave me an otter pop on the way back from the JOTS! Great neighbors make for a great event. It was our first time in that region of the city and I think we were a good fit.


Was it at 5&H?

If so, that was Kowtow's gift. He's too proud to admit it though!

It was definitely Kowtow. I knew you'd recognize yourselves! You guys were great neighbors. I was the Fish Car driver and one of the leaders at the Cosmic Casbah Camp (Pyramid Zipline) right across the street. I was able to introduce myself to Figjam and Maryanimal (she took my picture).

Thanks for all the fun!

[bluemiragemi]

Cheers:
- Pretty Pickle Camp - I met my family. YAAAAAAY.
- All the Eplayans who helped me with ideas and thoughts and perspectives along the way. The EZ-Up and small tent worked, and I went with 10 inch rebar. Everything worked great.
- ELIOTT! And his sweet ass bicycle.
- VIDEOGASM and their amazing get my gear to the playa services.
- Robot Heart and Opulent Temple and DISTRIKT for being my dancing hot spots.

Jeers:
- The folks who stole the Pretty Pickle Porta Potty chandelier and radio. really? Bad form.
- The creepy guy at Opulent Temple. I don't give a fuck that you're high. I told you not to hug me. I said no. Then you did it again. And again. And tried to kiss me and hug me one final time?! I was about ready to lay your ass out flat, but I moved on to Robot Heart instead. Don't be a fuckwad. Ugh.
- Control freaks. Stop that. Right now. Breathe and be.

[Papa Bear]

Sorry, gibson_, but I'm going to add my voice to the jeers for Kalliope, though I'll also give you a cheer for showing up for the conversation. It's a shame - it was a beautiful rig, and one I made a special trip over to see and really wanted to like.

As an example of the effect Kalliope was having, I wandered by the Dusty Swan down the street from you that night. Both the people tending bar there and a few people who came in from neighboring camps were quite upset. Over and over, I heard complaints that Kalliope was killing participation in camps along the entire street because it was so loud nobody could even hold a decent conversation, much less hear any other music, and so people who weren't into your sound just abandoned the neighborhood to find other places to be (I eventually did that too). That was true well beyond A; even over at 4:30 and E Kalliope's sound still dominated the scene.

I did consider coming over and asking you to turn it down myself, but you were pumping so much volume I honestly couldn't have handled getting that close. And frankly, when a group appears to be that inconsiderate in the first place, it doesn't raise anyone's confidence that they'd bother to listen to concerns, which may well account for why others might not have complained. That may not be completely fair of them, but neither is shifting the burden to your neighbors to let you know when you've crossed the line in the first place. Regardless, it is human nature, and as such isn't likely to change, so you might want to try a different approach.

If you're serious about making things right and being a good neighbor in the future, I'd suggest being proactive about it. Save the blasting for the open playa, stick to more reasonable levels when you're in the city proper, and send ambassadors out to scout around the neighborhood on a regular basis just to check up on how you're affecting others. Make sure those ambassadors actually talk to people rather than just judging the sound levels themselves. Also, make sure they know that sound can resonate and travel in unexpected ways - walking down A away from 4:00, there were spots where Kalliope seemed to get considerably louder despite being farther away, so talking to just immediate neighbors really isn't going to give them a complete picture of how the sound is affecting people.

[Papa Bear]

A few more cheers:

To Homeslice, the Better Bunny Bureau, and especially Spirit Dream - we could not have had more enjoyable (and respectful) neighbors. And man, do the folks at Spirit Dream make terrific espresso!

To Figjam, for the swamp cooler and lag screw advice. Those were invaluable.

To Sunbeam, for those yummy bacon tamales.

To all those people my lovely campmate AfricanFire has already given cheers - you rocked, and more than one of us should say it.

[spacetime]

Cheers to Pope tart, my neighbor and friendly mentorish burner holding down the opposite corner of 615 and i. Thank you for getting me to do a shift at center, terminology discussion, demonstration of mooping everywhere and patiently providing other burn info to a wide eyed noob. Cheers to Pope again for gifting an awesome burner cup after seeing me using a mangled garbanzo bean can after I lost my lame cup on day 2.

Cheers to whoever ran my shift at center and patiently explained that there was other shit I should be doing when all my dishes were caught up.

Cheers to the Spectators art car. I only rode once but really enjoyed the snarky comedy of the one guy and delight it brought turning a lonely art car into a dance party at every stop.

Cheers to Ratty who hooked me up with a cooler and riser for use all burn because I couldn't fit my own due to BxB luggage restrictions. I never even got to see her.

Cheers to everyone involved in the the man burn. It was one of the most spectacular displays I've seen in my life.

Cheers to everyone involved in temple, where I was able to lay to rest something I've been carrying for a year now.

Cheers to Spanky's which served me my first drink (after id'ing me) on my first night out early Monday morning and helped put me at ease.

Cheers to folks in these forums that provided feedback and encouragement despite my late preparation for the burn.

Jeers to James Express bus line and whoever selected them as a vendor for Burner Express. There was no AC all the way back to SF. Including 3 hours in hot traffic in Sacramento. Also a missing window shade. That bus was a POS, and easily the hottest I was all burn. I have more jeers for BxB I'll save for a later post.

Jeers to me for blowing bringing a non electronic offline list of everything I wanted to do, including the eplaya meetup. :p

Jeers to Ticketing. I got 2 tix via omg. Had an extended delay in Gerlach to get said tickets via BxB. Had to repeatedly demonstrate I had two full price tickets and not a single low income ticket. Jeers again because there was no way to get the second ticket allocated or moved to front will call gate without me physically riding all the way out to the gate. (Although it was an interesting solo ride being stopped repeatedly by pwc asking wtf I was doing riding out to main gate) jeers one more time for never answering any of my questions about this process that I posed through official channels. Not even a "you'll be sorted out in Gerlach." Just silence.

Jeers to the people who could not manage to sit through the man burn and started trying to leave after 20 minutes.

[gibson_]

Sorry Papa Bear. Having ambassadors walk around and ask people about the noise is a really good idea for next year. I like that idea a lot.

[Papa Bear]

No worries, gibson_. I really appreciate how well you're taking the feedback (it's got to be tough to hear), and your willingness to look at changes next time around!

[FIGJAM]

Simply sticking to the sound guide lines within the city would fix most of this.

[Canoe]

Simply sticking to the sound guide lines within the city would fix most of this.

+100

[Canoe]

And cheers to FIGJAM for helping so many with his Lag Screws being Safe/Strong/Fast for securing things to the playa (2014 feedback starting here viewtopic.php?f=277&t=68556&start=210#p1037992), and his swamp coolers, and ...

[pink]

Yes, there are in city guidelines, that anyone hosting a dance/party space should know & adhere to.

[Drawingablank]

The fucktard who floored it on gate road when leaving tuesday and cut everybody off turning left on 447, flipping everybody off while he did it. If you're going to pull this shit at least coverup the advertising on your RV. I will never drop a dime with lightupwire.com. Nice job pissing off your biggest customer base. No advertising on playa you fuck!

I saw that asshole on his way out of the city and was really upset at the commercialism. It's not like he was driving a landscape truck or something - that was just blatant advertising for his own shit.

[theCryptofishist]

How many mv or sound camps own a decibel level measure. (Whatever it maybe called.)