NEWS ALERT ! [color=violet] Purple Palace[/color] Raped !!

[Dave at the Purple Palace]

After much preparation, Mojo and Deadman arrived at the Purple Palace's winter home 10 miles from the Playa on August 9.

She had been Raped.

Someone surgically removed all the stereo wiring (hundreds of feet), TV and CD player, power amps, 2 $1000 power converters which step down the 220 from the bus to 110 to run the lights, etc., the red lazer (which I loved), disco ball and dance floor lights......all the PHOTOS from the previous years BM (thats some wierd stuff to steal !!), 100 feet of propane hose for our 3rd floor flamethrowers, blacklights and lightwire.

Mojo now has to go to Reno and spend THOUSANDS of $$$$$ to try and put the Palace back together before the 28th. I am sure the has the gumption to get it done, but....JEEZ.... The work we initally put into het, the expense to make it what he did.........

The property owner ( now missing) assured us that she would be safe from vandals and predetors as he took Mojos $$$$ for parking IN ADVANCE....

This is almost a disaster. Mojo has plans to add a 4th floor, 2 more tv's, saftey equipment and a superior stereo system and now has to commute to/from Reno in stead of upgrading the Purple Palace Experience.

WTF.......

I guess that the BM Love doesn't eminate very far from the Playa, eh? I guess our message, our experience, our idealistic recreation of Utopia is only ours.....THEY dont see the path we pave to a superior world, THEY dont share our vision of Nirvana, of a peaceful, loving world.

Reality sucks.

Mojo remains optimistic. The BM community owes him a lot for his commitment to his vision of the Purple Palace. He is also being blessed with a ringside seat to the creation of Black Rock City. He reports that on 8/9 the city consisted of a few orange cones out in the desert, but today is a frenzy of hundreds of trucks and people madly dashing in all directions out on the Playa.

Anybody got any SAFE parking for a 80 foot long 4 story purple bus near Gerlach?

[Dave at the Purple Palace]

After much preparation, Mojo and Deadman arrived at the Purple Palace's winter home 10 miles from the Playa on August 9.

She had been Raped.

Someone surgically removed all the stereo wiring (hundreds of feet), TV and CD player, power amps, 2 $1000 power converters which step down the 220 from the bus to 110 to run the lights, etc., the red lazer (which I loved), disco ball and dance floor lights......all the PHOTOS from the previous years BM (thats some wierd stuff to steal !!), 100 feet of propane hose for our 3rd floor flamethrowers, blacklights and lightwire.

Mojo now has to go to Reno and spend THOUSANDS of $$$$$ to try and put the Palace back together before the 28th. I am sure the has the gumption to get it done, but....JEEZ.... The work we initally put into het, the expense to make it what he did.........

The property owner ( now missing) assured us that she would be safe from vandals and predetors as he took Mojos $$$$ for parking IN ADVANCE....

This is almost a disaster. Mojo has plans to add a 4th floor, 2 more tv's, saftey equipment and a superior stereo system and now has to commute to/from Reno in stead of upgrading the Purple Palace Experience.

WTF.......

I guess that the BM Love doesn't eminate very far from the Playa, eh? I guess our message, our experience, our idealistic recreation of Utopia is only ours.....THEY dont see the path we pave to a superior world, THEY dont share our vision of Nirvana, of a peaceful, loving world.

Reality sucks.

Mojo remains optimistic. The BM community owes him a lot for his commitment to his vision of the Purple Palace. He is also being blessed with a ringside seat to the creation of Black Rock City. He reports that on 8/9 the city consisted of a few orange cones out in the desert, but today is a frenzy of hundreds of trucks and people madly dashing in all directions out on the Playa.

Anybody got any SAFE parking for a 80 foot long 4 story purple bus near Gerlach?

[Hoolie]

Oh, man this is sad. This crime goes way beyond financial damages. This person(s) violated somebody's artistic vision that brought happiness to many people. I can only hope the perpetrator(s) earned some real bad karma for this.

[Kinetic IV]

The old Islamic parable: Trust in Allah but tie up your camel comes to mind here.

I read your post and I'm just wondering about some things. Where was the Purple Palace parked? Was it supposed to be a secure area? Did you file a police report of any kind considering the extent of the losses?

I hope this first part doesn't come across as an assholic post as that's not the intent. But with only 2 weeks to go until the event it's high time for people to play hijinks on the BM community in order to get funds for this or that...or to play the sympathy card to get money to bring friends to BRC. So that being said being skeptical is prudent at first, but a little more detail will put that to rest.

Now there's one more thing that I will be a total fucking asshole of the 1st order on and it's this one line:

The BM community owes him a lot for his commitment to his vision of the Purple Palace.

Being blunt, while I have sympathy for you over the loss the Burning Man community doesn't owe you or anyone else jack shit. Nothing. Zilch, Zero. NOTHING. This ain't the Federal Government handing out entitlements here. That statement just struck me as wrong and really took away some of the sympathy I had over your loss which if true is pretty damn low.

So can you give us any more details on what happened? Do any other burners store stuff in the same site and were there any other losses? If they had the time to surgically remove all the stuff you listed was anything else taken? Is it worth spreading the word to avoid whatever place you used for storage? Spill the details....let the BS detectors do their work and then things can go from there.

[Kinetic IV]

Crossposting still sucks, regardless of the reason.

[Davoid]

Holy shit, my old adage "I hate people" comes to mind. That level of violation is repugnant, and you have my sympathies.

What was the insurance situation, both with the parking area and the Purple Palace itself?

[dragonfly Jafe]

The property owner ( now missing) assured us that she would be safe from vandals and predetors as he took Mojos $$$$ for parking IN ADVANCE....

Sympathies for your loss - I don't think I would have the steam this close to repair the damage you describe (certainly not the $$$). I was at the BM ranch earlier this year checking out our vehicle, and a neighbors vehicle had been broken into and stuff stolen, so the BM love you speak of apparently only exists anywhere for 1 week (and probably not even then universally).

So the police are looking for this guy, correct? I mean, he is either a victim or a crook. Perhaps a posted detailed list of equipment (with serial #'s if you have them) would allow folks to keep their eyes peeled this coming year...

[AntiM]

Note: merged the two threads.

[Dave at the Purple Palace]

We tied up the Camel....

No, no Insurance. Insuring eccentric art pieces just aint out there..

Police? Hahaha I am sure Mojo filed a police report but we have no expectations.

It was parked on a private ranch 10 miles NW of the Playa. The missing owner is well known to the BM community and told us he lived there "most" of the time and that the vehicle would be safe.

Mojo and Deadman will repair the damage over the next 3 weeks and the Palace will grace the Playa, but as I said, reality sucks.

KINETIC,

If "owe" means nothing else, it would here mean appreciation for sharing such a massive display of unprecidented creative mutant vehicle energy. I feel that all the participants "owe" a little bit of gratitude to those who go so extraordinarially out of their way to share their art with us, for without them, what would BM be? Anyone can show up on the playa with their bondage wear or their angel wings, but when someone go so far overboard to tickle the fancy of such a diverse group as found on the Playa....well....maybe we "own" them folks just a touch, just a bit, for taking the time to do that for US, not themselves. I know no one owes ANYONE "jack shit", that wasn't my point. And in case it is in your mind....we don't accept "donations". I'm not whining or looking for financial help, not at all.This is Mojo's vision, his baby, his loving money pit. Come spend time on the Palace, meet a very interesting guy.

I do not want to mention the property owners name, and I don't mean to imply that he was involved, perhaps we will in time, we'll see.

Stop by the Palace, Kinetic, introduce yourself to me and I am sure we can convince you that this "really happened".

[Kinetic IV]

The candidness of the reply certainly takes care of my BS detector. And I appreciate the response about the community "owing" someone something.

In this case I clearly put my foot in my mouth...Teva sandals don't taste very good. But since I was wrong I'll chew off another bite and also offer an apology for not doing a good job of assholitis prevention.

Now with that said I wish there was something more that could be done to help out. With only 2 weeks left to go it's a damn shame this happened.

I will try and look you up on the playa and apologize in person and check out the palace too. Damn, sometimes being in the Midwest sucks as you want to help out but there's not much you can do.

[Dave at the Purple Palace]

Kinetic,

Thanks for that, I appreciate it.

I had to eat my Tevas once. They are much better with Vermont maple syrup. Not that cheap shit you get at Costco, but the thick brown kind from the tree farmers.

And take all the time you need. If you scarf them down all at once, you won't be able to shit.

Looking forward to meeting you. If the Midwest is getting you, try Colorado, just down the street and closer to the Playa.

[skygod]

I'm getting a little misty-eyed.
People like Mojo are the reason I go to BM.
Someday I hope to contribute as much.
I hope your negative experiences don't stop you from loving and taking care of us with your art.

[Lassen Forge]

Damn. Hagey last year with the BRIBH, the Purple Palace this year...

What is wrong with people any more???

bb

[Kinetic IV]

Bump!

I'm curious how the reconstruction effort is coming along and if there's been any news on finding out who did this?

[HughMungus]

I guess that the BM Love doesn't eminate very far from the Playa, eh?

Wrong.

I don't mean to be a jerk with this question, but, why didn't you park it at a secure location? I have my RV parked in secure parking. $150/mo.

[Kinetic IV]

Perhaps not everyone can afford $150 a month? Yowza, that's steep. Do you get Vaseline or KY with that?

[Dave at the Purple Palace]

Kinetic-

send me your email, Mojo just sent me updated photos of the "addition"

Mingus-

We were assured that the location was safe. We, busting full of that post BM Utopian Buzz, accetpted his offer with much relief, parked her next to the Contessa, locked her up and ran off to drink Tequila with the TUNA GUYS (Yea!! Tuna Guys !!!! Woo Hoo !!!) on Monday night when a great time was had by all. We took all the REALLY valuable electronics and left whatever was stolen. Never again.

Its hard to trust, isn't it?

Sooooooo... where you be parkin, Mon? I assume the Rv was unmolested. We're interested.

[skygod]

Its hard to trust, isn't it?

It's the only game in town.

[MrMojoinCO]

[size=18][color=violet]I had no idea this was going on while building the bus. I just dont know what to say but thanks. I'll think of something and post again. I have a very big story to tell I guess......


Mr. Mojo[/color][/size]



New Photo of the palace: htt[url]p://static.flickr.com/112/263434432_b91eeb26a0.jpg[/url]

[stabrippystabstab]

My most sincere appologies to you and yours. I am not thee owner of the ranch, but a family member of JG. We thought it would be a safe place but accidents happen, for instance a fire ripped through our home on the ranch, and since we had sold the land, we were only allowed to live there until JG died. we could not build any more homes upon the land, so when the house burned down we were forced to move to Fernley, taking nothing from the land including our burned possessions. We no longer had contact numbers for anyones art cars, (you werent the only one). Once we had left, anyone was free to roam about the land and loot our belongings. if you have any more questions you can personally e mail me and i will give you a phone number for JG.

[stabrippystabstab]

OHHHHh and ps.

if it was a man named dan, he truly is a piece of shit that needs to be shot.
He claims he owns the land, but dose not, and if you gave him a lump sum, i'll give you his address, you can go cut off his balls

[HughMungus]

Perhaps not everyone can afford $150 a month? Yowza, that's steep. Do you get Vaseline or KY with that?

$150/month vs. "thousands" to replace the gear. Makes sense to me.

[CapSmashy]

Perhaps not everyone can afford $150 a month? Yowza, that's steep. Do you get Vaseline or KY with that?

$150/month vs. "thousands" to replace the gear. Makes sense to me.

Precisely.

You pay a premium to mitigate against the potential for theft or vandalism.

Sure, $150/month may sound steep for a parking space for an RV on the surface, but you are buying a secure fence, security cameras, the lot attendant and their liability insurance that covers damages to your vehicle while stored on their bonded, secured lot.

[MrMojoinCO]

Well, to all those that think it may have been safer elsewhere, it cant go elsewhere. It's to big. It cant go over 20 and that would be unsafe. It's to tall. It would take down every power line in gerlach and every other town south. We took most everything off her this year so we shall see how she faired. Thank you for your concerns. Please say hello on the playa this year.
Mr. Mojo www.purplepalace.org - photos and detailed description