Illumelodie Seeks A few good Women for practice/training

[maladroit]

Walk in, see the walls, floor, and ceiling lined with plastic sheeting, walk out.

[gaminwench]

Report:

Pitchforks down, guys.

Lazer was totally respectful and completely non-threatening; there was no perv in the room.
My 'chaperone' found it quite enlightening.

The experience:
A sound driven sensory exploration of utmost enjoyability.

The analogy of playing an instrument is most apt.
One's skin is the largest sensory organ of the body.
Lazer's gift was to 'play' the instrument to a sound track that was varied and interesting.

Many different sensations.
All pleasurable.
NO boundaries challenged.

I mentally put myself in 'playa-mode'; Wednesday in the dust.
To receive the gift of focused, yummy, centralized attention to musical detail, tailored to my personal 'instrument', is an amazing playa blessing.

My only regret is that I feel that Lazer was constrained by eplayan's censure. Originally, his intent was to practice with new soundscapes (absolutely necessary, IMHO); due to the response here, he felt the need to perform for an online audience and chose to forego his 'training' in order to pacify the naysayers, using a soundscape that he'd utilized many, many times. (this is my own observation, not his.)

There was feedback, there were hugs, and hopes of on-playa connection.
(If I weren't all booked up this year, I would volunteer to be trained to perform this gift, and I would have gladly served any gender/sex/whateverispoliticallycorrect )

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, y'all.

[maladroit]

There are just a lot of things that only make sense, or seem non-creepy, on the playa. Hell yeah, I'll let a dirty loud guy drag me off the street to crawl into his weird little teepee to see what is purported to be a magic show. Sure I'll watch your silent film while drinking something that might be kava.

I guess this is proof that there's still a reason for Burning Man. We're all suffering from 10 months of defaultization...ePlaya is not the Playa...Trust The Weirdness is too dangerous out here.

[Jackass]

snack food glory hole, you can't risk it on the outside...

Glad you had a good time and no one was dismembered or violated, yay!

[gaminwench]

Yay, BM serves a purpose, real and concrete!!

Life in defaultia (mostly) sux.

Precautions were in place, not necessary.

Living in (with) BRC opens one to the possibilities of YES!

Soooo necessary, I believe, to a life well lived. (cite:me)

Carry on, comrades.

[chuckularone]

Carefully placing my spiked bat back in it's carrying case and folding up my ninja mask.

[Ratty]

IllumelodieLazer, Score one for the good guys. (That's you.) Hey, I hope that includes all of us. Thank you for hanging in there to be vetted by a bunch of strangers. Now that you've been awarded the Eplaya Seal of Approval I want you to join us. Post some controversial opinions here and there, visit some of our camps, come to the Meet & Greet on Wed of the burn. Some of us will be finding you. Visit Elliott's Bike Repair and you can get in touch with scads of us. Thank you for doing what you do. Whatever that is???

[VultureChow]

Dammit. Now what am I going to do with my righteous anger? Quick! Someone write a DJ/ticket begging post.

[Lonesomebri]

So the "practice" went alright? How many apprentices were trained that session? Was the chaperone trained in the technique using dudes wife as practice? The game worked then?

[GreyCoyote]

I say we tar and feather him anyway.

Wench could be posting under duress. I mean, how do we really know? (go with it).

[gaminwench]

Bri:
As I wrote, Lazer (regrettably) didn't practice with his new soundscape (due partly to *your* negative attitude), he was relegated to 'proving' the validity of his gift; this session wasn't intended to train new apprentices.
Lazer's wife is pregnant (which he shared in his very first post ), and quite far along, which deems her unsuitable for this particular experience.
My chaperone is now eager to have this experience for himself; although untrained, I'm going to give it a try with him for fun.

Ratty: DO IT! Spanky's wine bar is hosting this gift this year.

VC: I suggest aiming for Dan Love, he seems to be the target of the moment!

Grey: NO FEATHERS!!!

TK: your post brought me to tears, so much love in you, woman!

[GreyCoyote]

Damn. So many feathers, so little crime..

[Jovankat]

I'm so glad to hear this went well. I wish I was in LA so I could help with a training session. I'll try and find you on playa though.

[Savannah]

I'm glad it was a positive experience!

I still don't see any problem with insisting on boundaries and guidelines with a virtual stranger who requests access to one's body. I think Lazer could rightly expect some skepticism.

Fortunately, however, since everyone kept it fairly civil in terms of both asking and answering questions, I don't think any harm was done to anyone.

Kinda fun to see a thread on ePlaya with this much potential for madness come out okay.

[Melonblue]

So glad things went well, Yay! (and that you're home safe )

Thanks Lazer for choosing to face the curiosity/fear/distrust of the masses (including my own) to share your gift. I can imagine how difficult that was. But I also appreciate your efforts to change minds.

I have additional questions! Soundscapes...can you elaborate? Do you mean like the soundtrack? Can you provide examples without spoilers?
Or do you mean like natural soundscapes, oceans, forests, urban traffic? (sorry, I get pretty curious about "the process")

Thanks for being brave, (braver than I) Yay!

Good luck on the Playa Lazer! I'll come find you in the dust and say Hello and likely ask a zillion more questions.

[gaminwench]

Soundscape: a soundtrack of varying types of music; provides a base for the 'performer' to work with, and adds to the sensory deprivation aspect.

Melon, you should really look Lazer up on the playa, you'd enjoy this experience.

[Melonblue]

I think I will, Yay! (the best thing for biz' is a happy customer sharing their good experience)

[IllumelodieLazer]

Thanks again Gaminewnch for coming out last week. I really enjoyed meeting you and your friend!

Those of you who kept an open mind, thanks so much! It is a tough thing to describe, and our friend has given me some great ideas. On the playa, we have no lack of recipients, off-playa, doing the practice and training has always been the tricky bit. I knew that I was in for some furrowed brows posting to ePlaya but I'm glad that it all worked out.

We're not far off from ttitd and my crew and I will be ready and looking forward to sharing this with you. If anyone else wants to come by pre-burn to help us train, shoot me a message.

Please do stop by Spanky's Wine bar, even if it's just to say Hi. I'll be working Eros Tangere, and when I'm not doing that, I'll be running Lazerdome in the main bar area.

I invite you all to come by Thursday night for our Electro-Swing Soirée. It's a great event!

Happy Independance Day Burners!

[delle]

So yeah... This thread has reflected for me the very best and the very worst that burners and eplaya have to offer.
I’d be there in a heartbeat, Lazer, if proximity weren’t an issue. What you’re offering sounds completely delightful to me.

I’m really saddened by the way that distrust and fear overtook the mass opinion here in the beginning – sullying your gift. I have read and re-read your original post, looking for the ickyness they keep pointing to, but I just can’t for the life of me find it. To me it reads as someone innocently and as best he can trying to describe something he knows is wonderful but might be misunderstood. I can’t say I’d have done better under the circumstances... and I certainly wouldn’t have been so brave...

To me it reeks of glorious detachment of the mind from expectation to focus on harmonious sensation. The majority don’t get many opportunities for that in this world. The mindset of intimate physical interactions having a “goal” needs to be released completely – and for some that might be a bit of a stretch. Until they experience it.

Lest we forget:

“The practice of using touch as a healing method derives from customs and techniques rooted in ancient history. Civilizations in the East and West found that natural healing and massage could heal injuries, relieve pain, and prevent and cure illnesses. What’s more, it helped reduce stress and produce deep relaxation.

Massage therapy began as a sacred system of natural healing. However, cultural shifts rendered it a disreputable form of indulgence for extensive periods of history. Enduring these turns, massage has experienced resurgence in modern times.”

And that’s just “massage”.

Anyhow, best of luck to you and your wife and hope to find you out there... even if just to compare "notes".

[lucky420]

This^^^

Plus most of the naysayers were men...jealous much?

[trilobyte]

I don't know that it was a case of jealous male naysayers, and I certainly wouldn't say I was sad or disappointed with some of the fearful/distrusting responses. The sad and disappointing reality is that there are predators out there on the playa, and sexual assault is a real thing. Burners of both genders should be and are protective of each other and keep an eye out for creeps.

IllumelodieLazer's original post was nebulous and could easily be construed as creepy (looking for practice women that would get naked and let them blindfold and touch/play like an instrument in private sessions for up to an hour). While some may have been dismissive or closed their minds, the general response was to get more info and some clarification, which IL provided, and it's turned into understanding and acceptance. It would have been sad and disappointing if people had chased him away altogether, or arguably worse if there had been no community 'vetting' (for lack of a better word) on something questionable.

[Captain Goddammit]

IllumelodieLazer's original post was nebulous and could easily be construed as creepy (looking for practice women that would get naked and let them blindfold and touch/play like an instrument in private sessions for up to an hour)

I maintain that it's exactly that, but if it's working then party on.
I've got no problem with it, I'm just calling it what it is.
And it's probably fun for all involved.

[delle]

IllumelodieLazer's original post was nebulous and could easily be construed as creepy (looking for practice women that would get naked and let them blindfold and touch/play like an instrument in private sessions for up to an hour)

I maintain that it's exactly that, but if it's working then party on.
I've got no problem with it, I'm just calling it what it is.
And it's probably fun for all involved.

And how, pray tell, given what it is that he's offering, would you have worded it?

[trilobyte]

I have no idea how it should or could have been worded (not something I or my campmates offer, so I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about it. I think some concern and apprehension is a good thing. I posted my concerns (and readily admitted that I may have been reading it wrong), and IllumelodieLazer responded to them. Kudos to him and to Illumelodie!

[delle]

And, to be fair, to you yourself for having removed his link thus allowing him to remain at all.

[trilobyte]

I think you misunderstand. The links that were removed were to a commercial business. The OP (who has changed his name to IllumelodieLazer) remains on this board (with numerous replies in this thread, most recently yesterday afternoon).

[Ratty]

No trillo, I think you misunderstood. Delle is saying 'Kudos to you' for only removing the commercial links and NOT vaporizing the entire thread. (At least that's the way I read it.) I'm writing this one in my journal for a visit.

[delle]

That's exactly what I was saying, Ratty.

I should have used more words, but I was recently told I can be a bit verbose.

[trilobyte]

Ah okay, sorry for the confusion.

[maladroit]

Burning Man (and especially ePlaya) is not a PLUR party. We're super accepting of weird and wonderful behavior of all stripes, you can go do and be whatever you want and hardly raise an eyebrow. That extends only to your immediate person...when you're soliciting people to join your own version of wonderland, you'd better expect skepticism and scrutiny. First, we're generally protective of each other and want to make sure that we don't ignore the possibilty that someone could get hurt in a way that's a lot harder to heal than a rebar gash or broken arm. Second, everyone has their own idea of what they want, and you're inviting people to share YOUR idea of what you want...that will take some convincing.

This was a great thread, nobody went too far in any particular direction, everyone voiced valid points, and it didn't turn into a witch hunt.