PLEASE SCHOOL ME - WHERED CONTESSA GO?

Post by **mdmf007** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:32 pm

I am sure theres a reason, but alli have is conjecture and rumor. Where did Contessa go, and why is this marvelous artwork not allowed back?

I have heard,

Drama between Owner / BMORG
Fell apart / Unsafe
Ran somone over -
Drunk Driving

so fill me in folks. I loved that ship, and had some of my best memories of BM on her.

ibdave · Post by **ibdave** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:49 pm

mdmf007 wrote:
Drama between Owner / BMORG
Fell apart / Unsafe
Ran something over -
Drunk Driving
.

All of the above.......

Post by **mdmf007** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:26 pm

http://afterburn.burningman.com/03/play ... tters.html

thanks for the link - question answered

Lorgasm · Post by **Lorgasm** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:30 am

To the folks of La Contessa and to The Shark,

I am so blessed to have seen you both. My first burn in 2002 was phenomenal (sp). I was in awe to see such fantastic works of art. I love sharks and I love seeing a ship sailing through the Playa. The memories are forever stored in my brain and heart. Thank you again.

Thanks for the drink Shark Man.

Peace and Love to you and yours,
Lorgasm

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:16 am

Can I truly be free if I am not in danger?

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:34 pm

La Contessa was at the event last year (2005) but broke down, I heard it broke an axle or something but in any case it became immobile toward the end of the event.

Anything that large has to be a huge time/energy sink. Maybe they just got tired of messing with it.

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:32 pm

The beautiful Contessa is a bit too wide of beam for it's bus chassis. It has an unsprung wheeled outrigger on both sides for stability. It experienced a mass shift that was too great for the outrigger. Being unsprung, there was no give and it broke the port-side outrigger and stove in the hull a bit.
When I last saw the Contessa, she was being repaired on the playa.
An ABS was welding on a piece of 5/16 galvanised plate with a 125 volt wire welder using flux-core. I do hope that it was only a temporary repair just done to move it.
dan

motskyroonmatick · Post by **motskyroonmatick** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:20 pm

wow! what a ship. i saw it being repaired and offered my welder to help out but they said they had it under controll. then i was immediately kidnaped by people needing a welder and i helped them fix and install a broken steering assembly on their ship. that was a great bloody mary they gave me and i don't like blody marys.

david

Monkeypoo · Post by **Monkeypoo** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:27 pm

Wow..and a whimper inserted here too. My first year at Burning Man was incredible and totally Beyond Fucking Belief...and La Contessa and the Shark Car were only just a small (but HUGE) part of that experience. I will always have my memories and the photos and the everlasting fuzzies that those years brought to me -- seeing those massive structures of ART flying across the playa.

Damn it. I will miss that.

stabrippystabstab · Post by **stabrippystabstab** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:13 pm

Contessa actually was not allowed to be mobile on the playa, due to unruley conduct. The last visit we had, a rum mishap led to mobilization of the ship, and we accidently ran over the orange fence, and a golf cart slammed into the hull.

as for the shark car, i am in desprete neeed to getting ahold of the crew members. molly, nate kelly or sydney!!!!!!!!! if anyone knows theese people, contact me!

they also were a little mischevious a few years past. they tried to change the car dramatically so they could re enter, but it didnt fool the dpw, and they were banned.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 7:06 am

The Contessa is dead...she was maliciously burned(supposibly by unsavory neighbor) about 2-3 months ago in the BMBRC graveyard....so sad....

stabrippystabstab · Post by **stabrippystabstab** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 8:49 am

Are you sure she burned? It could have just been my house. They were quite close to eachother.

Bin Noddin · Post by **Bin Noddin** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:11 am

Are you really in Gerlach, Stab 'n rip?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iasxcG7gtTY

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:32 am

ok, nope Im not sure she burned...all hearsay!

stabrippystabstab · Post by **stabrippystabstab** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 10:55 am

yess'um im a gerlachian. Raised here. sad I know.

Oh my word, I just watched that you tube video of the burned tessa?!! no one mentioned that to me! I wonder if simon knows about it. If it was really arson, then I have some pretty good ideas to whom it could have been. Im devestated.
This poor ranch has sufferd through 3 major fires in the past 2 years. First our mexicans houses, then our house, and now the tessa! I have a veryyyyyyyy strong feeling that I know who did it and why, but im going to keep that hush hush just in case the slight chance i am wrong slips up.

I know all the long hard hours simon, kelic and their crew, even I spent working on that gallion. In the design room, they were going to make it out of sheetmetal but it was far to expensive. Maybe they should have.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:23 am

the landowner admitted publicly to torching the Contessa, claims he thought it was abandond and didn't know how to contact the owners. Landowner is also guy who tried to shut down BM a few years ago. Its well "documented" elsewhere on the Net.

I really wish someone or group of people would band together and create a huge Chinese junk or another non-identical large scale ship to replace the Tess.

Archantael · Post by **Archantael** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:45 am

La Contessa's Eulogy:
http://www.techgnosis.com/chunks.php?ca ... 2158-0.txt
(Tiara posted the link over on the 3Playa)

Some of the critical voices on blogs, the 3Playa, and other sites try and poo-pooh La Contessa as being nothing more than a power trip, and a poor excuse for art. I disagree. When a piece of art moves people to have a memorial after it's lost, IMHO that proves that it went beyond being eye candy, it struck chords deep inside people that will continue to shape their opinions on art and creativity for years to come. When I look back at La Contessa I see her as the standard for large scale art vehicles. It's set the bar that anyone wanting to put together a large scale vehicle should shoot for. In that aspect it's memory will live on long after the ashes have blown away into the Nevada desert.

To all who dreamed, built, and helped in anyway to bring her to the playa....THANK YOU!

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:51 am

To bad a bunch of us burners couldnt afford to buy up a scrap of land, for our fellow burners to be able to park their art on for 11 months.
but then again, sounds like vandilizm will still happen.

PLEASE SCHOOL ME - WHERED CONTESSA GO?

PLEASE SCHOOL ME - WHERED CONTESSA GO?

Re: PLEASE SCHOOL ME - WHERED CONTESSA GO?