Hot off the presses.... Bloomberg article on Sherpagate

[Simon of the Playa]

Bloomberg picked up the piece for the same reason there is so much outrage in the BM community on it: it highlights and reflects the major class divisions and economic inequality that have become quite evident over the last generation, and appear to be getting worse. The irony is that even at a supposedly/formerly counter-cultural event that bans commerce and was started by artists and culture-jammers, this shit has seeped in. It just shows how pervasive it is in American culture.

exactly....


and this is what i have repeated over and over and over again since LAST YEAR...


Jesus H.Fucking Christ.....Burning Man is an Advanced Reflection of society....we are the Artists...the Antennae of Culture and things to Come.

we smell things First.

this stench has been accumulating for a while now, and i for one, am glad the windows are finally open.

it has been lonely out here in the cold.

but it has been worth the slings and arrows to change the way we see things and the way we are going.

if i have to fight it with my last breath, my last keystroke i will.

i have spent too long Loving the Dust to abandon her now. I have spent two decades of my fucking life trying to show people what magic i had found in the emptiness.

i refuse to let anyone "Buy" her, or the Man...and if that means taking on the entire Capitalist System, so be it.



to get to the man, you will have to come through me...

bitches....





how's that for a goddamn manifesto.

[Simon of the Playa]

seriously.

[Simon of the Playa]

one more thought on this subject, i was pondering on this as i walked through the bleak white wasteland, as it looked like black rock in a dust storm.

and none of the usual crypto riddles, jokes, or snark....straight up....here goes.


I am a Sherpa Too.

What does this mean?

well, Just as The Far Right and Republicans have taken the word liberal, and turned it into a dirty slur, this whole "affair" has turned the word "sherpa" into something that it is not.

for 20 years now, i have been dragging my ass across country to go to some g*d forsaken wasteland in Nevada.

after the first year, i started dragging my friends and family along too, to show them what i had seen in the desert.

sometimes kicking and screaming, others i had to trick, or cajole, or tease, or coerce, or beg, plead or bribe....but i got them to the playa somehow...

some years were easier than others.

so....wanna know why? I'll tell you why.....I'm a Junkie.

I'm Addicted to the feeling i get when one of my "Charges" comes to me on wednesday or thursday with a small tear in their eye and a glisten and a smile and they say "Thank You"...

thats "It"....thats the shit....that is the moment, the pay off.

there is nothing like seeing someone discover that the best thing in life is to just be yourself, and love others as you would like to be loved.

a sherpa is not there to serve you, and make your burn as comfortable and easy as possible, a Sherpa is someone who takes you OUT of your comfort zone so you can find "it" yourself.

oh, there is another perk too....when you see someone who you invested your love in, turn around and do the same for their loved ones, by becoming a sherpa too.

it's not an easy job, but it is so worth it.



"if you love somebody, why not set them on fire"...

Be a Sherpa.





so instead of "SherpaGate" how about we call it "Same old Same old..."

Rich Elitists doing what Rich Elitists have done for Eons...

they have tried to buy the "Cool"..

But you cannot buy the "Cool"....you have it to earn it.

[Joeln]

Power to you Simon.
I liked the Bloomberg piece, it is one the more balanced articles I have seen from mainstream news in a long time.

[Bless]

for once i am going to have to agree 100% with Bless.

My work here is done. I may as well quit while I'm ahead...but, alas, I won't.

I may be in the minority but let me express my opinion further: I didn't personally interact with Caravancicle and I haven't heard of many folks that did. I gather that most people came home and read about it on the intertubes and were suddenly enraged. How dare someone--a board member no less--hire indentured servants to work at their camp! And prostitutes too, oh my! Who.Fucking.Cares. Did you enjoy the event? Did you see some crazy cool art? Did you have fun with your friends and playa family? That's what matters. I've heard anecdotally that the art wasn't as good this year. And maybe that's because of all the rich plug-n-plays. Yeah right...I'm sure this has been alleged for years. It's always better next year, right?

Outtrim styles himself as an investigative journalist muckraking the ORG. Who the fuck is he investigating? A private entity that throws a party in the desert? Seriously. If we were donating to a charity that claimed to save the world...maybe I could understand. But we're not. We're buying tickets to a private event that, for all intents and purposes, is a massive festival in the desert. Yes, there are no vendors and few financial interactions, but it's still a goddamn festival. A private party for which we purchase entrance tickets. If the ORG wants to donate a portion of the proceeds to charity, then good for them. But, don't fool yourself into thinking that that's why you attend. You attend because it's an awesome event. As soon as it's not, we'll all stop going.

As Grover would say: let the free market speak for itself.

[Simon of the Playa]

You attend because it's an awesome event.

and let's leave grover out of it, but yes, once again, i will agree, but with one Aside.




We Are A Community.


you can take that any way you want, you can deny it, you can pooh-pooh it, but it's there.

we have a shared history.

we know the stories that get told year after year.

we come back again and again to see "Family", our fellow burners, no matter what "genre".

i just wanna say "hi" to my friends...have a drink in the dust....check out the wonders.

and once a year, i get to do it in person.

it's just a fucking picnic in the desert, but it's with some of the best people on earth.

[Bless]

amen, brother

[Jovankat]

it's just a fucking picnic in the desert, but it's with some of the best people on earth.

Can I make that my sig line Simon?

[Simon of the Playa]

sure...absolutely...take anything you want.

i just paraphrased old cobbled together cliches.

it's like bread pudding...it's stale old shit, but with the right sauce, mmmm, mmm...

[Lonesomebri]

Sorry not to join in singing Kumbuya with the choir, but I for4 one will continue to be outraged at injustice and wrong whether I see it or make myself ignorant of it, or can dance the night away without it actually hitting me in the head. I don't see women being beat in my home, but I am against it. But how does that effect my life if I don't see it? Yeah,i'm still against it, and child abuse, and botique hotels on the playa. Even if the more enlightened live by the rule of, if it doesn't harsh my vibe, it's all good no matter the damage elsewhere. It's just such a selfish, short-sighted, delusional vision of life. I can totally see Grover embracing it. The market place, what a joke. As if life, and this event was so simple to be distilled into one unified view, if you like it, it's good, any complaints are pointless. Whatever. How do people live thinking that the only thing that matters is what they personally experience, and their own comfort, nothing more? I liked the article.

[tamarakay]

Really? The BMorg's behavior is being ranked with child and spousal abuse?

Again, I might agree with you on some things but the argument is so ridiculous I don't want to be associated.

[digital]

Really? The BMorg's behavior is being ranked with child and spousal abuse?

Again, I might agree with you on some things but the argument is so ridiculous I don't want to be associated.

"I'm outraged at the BMorg! How dare they?! It's just like child abuse and stoning woman!"

/hands over $800.- to the BMorg for ticket in protest

[Aurelia]

I am signing up here to be Simon's Sherpa !

xoA.

[Simon of the Playa]

but I for4 one will continue to be outraged at injustice

me too, for that matter.


"eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"


but for the record, i have never, ever sung kumbaya....

[Eric]

Really? The BMorg's behavior is being ranked with child and spousal abuse?

Again, I might agree with you on some things but the argument is so ridiculous I don't want to be associated.

"I'm outraged at the BMorg! How dare they?! It's just like child abuse and stoning woman!"

/hands over $800.- to the BMorg for ticket in protest

Both of these. In spades.

[Elderberry]

Yup

[vargaso]

I've been try to express my aversion to Commodifcation Camps, but this comment from a Reddit user sums it up much better than I've been able to:

marssaxman (http://www.reddit.com/user/marssaxman): the problem is not the money, the problem is that Burning Man is fundamentally about amateurism and DIY. Nobody cares that you’re an accountant in real life, on the playa you can be a bartender. Nobody cares that you’re a diesel mechanic in real life, on the playa you can glam it up and strut your stuff like a model. Nobody cares that you’re a software engineer in real life, on the playa you can sweat your ass off building a twenty foot tower with a bunch of searchlights powered by bicycle generators and people will go hey, wow, that’s ART. And you get to be an artist.

This is revolutionary and awesome and an irreplaceable part of what has made Burning Man special and worth going back to and investing so much time and money in.

The problem with the turnkey camps is less that they are inhabited by rich people full of money and more that they cart in all the limitations of the real world along with them and thereby devalue amateur enthusiasm. Instead of destroying real-world roles and limitations and economic structures, they’re bringing them along into BRC and thereby changing the character of the event. If half the art cars roaming around are built by pros with budgets, how can a DIY team possibly measure up? And if it’s no longer possible for a bunch of random friends to get together and build something in their back yards and bring it out to the desert and get the amazing rush when everyone else goes “wow”, what is the point of this whole thing anymore?

It’s not the rich people, it’s the abandonment of the amateur philosophy and the DIY ethic that makes the turnkey camps such a corrosive influence on the awesomeness of the burn.

[Elderberry]

There was never anything amatuer or ordinary about Burning Man.

[some seeing eye]

+1 Finely played.

The beauty of amateurism is amo, to love. It is a brain state. In common overused vernacular, the uniting of right and left brain. In the zone.

What we are talking about is the discouragement of many burners in competing with large funding built professional amateurism at the event with amateurism in worldchanging by rich people inspired by the event.

Both are stochastic.

Discuss.

[FIGJAM]

"Don't buy your burn, BUILD your burn!!!!!!!!!"

[Lonesomebri]

Really? The BMorg's behavior is being ranked with child and spousal abuse?
Again, I might agree with you on some things but the argument is so ridiculous I don't want to be associated.

Never compared the Bmorg to a child or spouse abuser, I compared the people who proudly ignore anything that does not harsh their own burn to those who ignore anything that does not harsh their own life. Dig?

It's called an analogy, it's a devise to make people think outside the narrow definition they lay down, like, as long as whatever did not harsh my burn, everything is cool. See, there is a similarity between using that as a guide on playa, and using that as a guide in life. It's an analogy, or ignore that and make it something else, instead of seeing the analogy. The repeated belief that as long as whatever did not make my burn worse, there is no logical reason to being concerned about whatever, is ludicrous and nonsense and does not hold dust. The analogy illustrated that flawed thinking, but whatever. I never claimed the Bmorg were child abusers, I stated and stand by that the people who live by a philosophy of "if it doesn't bother me, it is okay" (as per the examples I used in the analogy, dig?) are narrow-minded and selfish, and applying that maxim to the playa is wrong. Never said anyone abused anyone, only questioned where your indifference to things not harshing your own burn ends.

there's stuff i like knowing about even if it doesn't affect my Burn directly, and there are those who do not like this article (see above).

[Simon of the Playa]

I've been try to express my aversion to Commodifcation Camps, but this comment from a Reddit user sums it up much better than I've been able to:

marssaxman (http://www.reddit.com/user/marssaxman): the problem is not the money, the problem is that Burning Man is fundamentally about amateurism and DIY. Nobody cares that you’re an accountant in real life, on the playa you can be a bartender. Nobody cares that you’re a diesel mechanic in real life, on the playa you can glam it up and strut your stuff like a model. Nobody cares that you’re a software engineer in real life, on the playa you can sweat your ass off building a twenty foot tower with a bunch of searchlights powered by bicycle generators and people will go hey, wow, that’s ART. And you get to be an artist.

This is revolutionary and awesome and an irreplaceable part of what has made Burning Man special and worth going back to and investing so much time and money in.

The problem with the turnkey camps is less that they are inhabited by rich people full of money and more that they cart in all the limitations of the real world along with them and thereby devalue amateur enthusiasm. Instead of destroying real-world roles and limitations and economic structures, they’re bringing them along into BRC and thereby changing the character of the event. If half the art cars roaming around are built by pros with budgets, how can a DIY team possibly measure up? And if it’s no longer possible for a bunch of random friends to get together and build something in their back yards and bring it out to the desert and get the amazing rush when everyone else goes “wow”, what is the point of this whole thing anymore?

It’s not the rich people, it’s the abandonment of the amateur philosophy and the DIY ethic that makes the turnkey camps such a corrosive influence on the awesomeness of the burn.

NAIL ON HEAD

There was never anything amatuer or ordinary about Burning Man.

Please John, Do shut the fuck up...your contrarian bleating is really fucking annoying, and quite frankly, you werent there a long time ago so you have no fucking clue what was and how it compares to what is...

you dont like Bri...fine, we get it.

but if you continue to be a dick, then expect me and others to shove it right back down your throat...

btw you spelled amateur wrong, you amateur.

[tamarakay]

I've been try to express my aversion to Commodifcation Camps, but this comment from a Reddit user sums it up much better than I've been able to:

marssaxman (http://www.reddit.com/user/marssaxman): the problem is not the money, the problem is that Burning Man is fundamentally about amateurism and DIY. Nobody cares that you’re an accountant in real life, on the playa you can be a bartender. Nobody cares that you’re a diesel mechanic in real life, on the playa you can glam it up and strut your stuff like a model. Nobody cares that you’re a software engineer in real life, on the playa you can sweat your ass off building a twenty foot tower with a bunch of searchlights powered by bicycle generators and people will go hey, wow, that’s ART. And you get to be an artist.

This is revolutionary and awesome and an irreplaceable part of what has made Burning Man special and worth going back to and investing so much time and money in.

The problem with the turnkey camps is less that they are inhabited by rich people full of money and more that they cart in all the limitations of the real world along with them and thereby devalue amateur enthusiasm. Instead of destroying real-world roles and limitations and economic structures, they’re bringing them along into BRC and thereby changing the character of the event. If half the art cars roaming around are built by pros with budgets, how can a DIY team possibly measure up? And if it’s no longer possible for a bunch of random friends to get together and build something in their back yards and bring it out to the desert and get the amazing rush when everyone else goes “wow”, what is the point of this whole thing anymore?

It’s not the rich people, it’s the abandonment of the amateur philosophy and the DIY ethic that makes the turnkey camps such a corrosive influence on the awesomeness of the burn.

Now this, this is a wonderful. A friend of mine attempted an art car. A couple of the hotties at dmv sniffed at it and called it amateur. My friend was crushed. She had worked hard and tried new things. A third hottie hugged her and acknowledged that not all of us have 10,000 to 20,000 to spend on our cars the first year they make an appearance. She was in line with some of the islands, and megaboats. Her little car has not made another appearance at the burn.

There does need to be a balance. It does take money to burn. Like it or not. But having this place where anyone can try anything needs to be protected.

[lucky420]

I've been try to express my aversion to Commodifcation Camps, but this comment from a Reddit user sums it up much better than I've been able to:

marssaxman (http://www.reddit.com/user/marssaxman): the problem is not the money, the problem is that Burning Man is fundamentally about amateurism and DIY. Nobody cares that you’re an accountant in real life, on the playa you can be a bartender. Nobody cares that you’re a diesel mechanic in real life, on the playa you can glam it up and strut your stuff like a model. Nobody cares that you’re a software engineer in real life, on the playa you can sweat your ass off building a twenty foot tower with a bunch of searchlights powered by bicycle generators and people will go hey, wow, that’s ART. And you get to be an artist.

This is revolutionary and awesome and an irreplaceable part of what has made Burning Man special and worth going back to and investing so much time and money in.

The problem with the turnkey camps is less that they are inhabited by rich people full of money and more that they cart in all the limitations of the real world along with them and thereby devalue amateur enthusiasm. Instead of destroying real-world roles and limitations and economic structures, they’re bringing them along into BRC and thereby changing the character of the event. If half the art cars roaming around are built by pros with budgets, how can a DIY team possibly measure up? And if it’s no longer possible for a bunch of random friends to get together and build something in their back yards and bring it out to the desert and get the amazing rush when everyone else goes “wow”, what is the point of this whole thing anymore?

It’s not the rich people, it’s the abandonment of the amateur philosophy and the DIY ethic that makes the turnkey camps such a corrosive influence on the awesomeness of the burn.

YES! So well said.

[Aurelia]

Yes !
well said indeed

FINALLY

xoA.

[forty_eight]

you can't go pro in burning man

[FlyingMonkey]

Since this thread has completely drifted anyway from the dock, I need to ask some of the "old-timers". Was the first yacht or pirate ship that much different than say the proposed 747 going to the Playa this year? When I first saw it I felt a little sick thinking that Burning Man is becoming an event for people with tons of money & the average artist on a budget will neither get any appreciation or even bother to try & compete. I know free expression has nothing to do with "what the other guy brings" but I feel a little uneasy after the whole "Sherpacamp", camps acquiring over 100 tickets & selling the "experience" far above what the average person can afford, & a 747 (Really? A freaking 747?). Don't get me wrong, the 747 looks like a neat idea & from what I read the folks bringing it seem cool.

I personally love the art that involves more talent & imagination than money, but are things changing, and if so are they changing as fast as I feel they are? I have only been going since 2012 so I would like some well seasoned burners to chime in.

[jneilvindy]

I'm sure others who have more info will be able to verify it or not but I'm thinking the group bringing the 747 are hard-core burner artists who's whole angle is BIGGER! So they are basically just competing with their prior year's stuff and their art is all about size.

although we all know size don't matter.... right ladies? right???

[FIGJAM]

A solo badass burner had very little room in her small car for a project.

She made a big banner that just said "Finish Line".

She got someone to hold the other end over a street, and when anyone crossed under the banner, they would cheer wildly for the person making it to the "Finish Line".

I find that more impressive than the 747.

[Aurelia]

Look it is all a living breathing miracle and as burners we do

every time live and breathe and so on...

I think it is important to continue the research on size and the research on what matters

Myself, I really prefer perfect

xoA.