BM getting too much attention?

[Lakshmi]

Actually I don't think anyone knows what the essence of BM is, or what it is supposed to be.

I've gotten that sense too. I know that its about art and community, but it seems like there is more to it than just that whether it was planned or not. Maybe the essence of BM can't be explained and its just a feeling.

Whatever it is it sounds like its been good and still is. Of course all things come to and end; I just hope I'll be able to take part in it for a while before that happens.

[Bob]

Well you might say Burning Man is almost like trying to produce an Altamont year after year, except you have committees that eliminate the Hell's Angels one year, the teeshirt booths the next, the hard rock bands the next, the folksingers the next, ad infinitum. Or not.

[dr.placebo]

While the media attention and the angst about BMorg is a top-down focus, the really cool things about BM come from the bottom up. BMorg provides an umbrella, but WE provide the content. I think that the reason that BM is so difficult to "capture" is that it is not really one event. There are hundreds of inspired small groups creating art and community. Any single person can only see a small fraction of it because the real action is spontaneous and simultaneous.

[dana]

[quote="Lakshmi"] Maybe the essence of BM can't be explained and its just a feeling.
quote]

People generally start fumbling when they try to pin BM down. It really does go off in so many different directions, but an essence.....? I would have to fumble my answer to that one by calling it the combined creative, fun, crazy, orgiastic/quiet spiritual, exploratory energy of however many thousand people show up. Your experience depends only on where you find yourself, what you bring to the moment, etc. (Kinda like life.)
Bad experience in the moment? Reassess. Regroup. Move on to the next situation.
Sweet experience? Camp there!!

As far as growth, the beauty of it is that it is in this huge flat expanse with a city that can simply expand. That huge open expanse in the middle where most of the art installations are gives a nice sense of spaciousness even with so many people.
There are things that seem to help keep the experience good and the evil frat boys out. One of them is the inacessability, also rather extreme conditions for many, and finally so many folks that show up who are generally intelligent, high tech, considerate cool people. (And law enforcement does lend a presence for the worst of it.)



[But what made you want to move to Colo Spgs ??? Focus on the Family headquarters. All the people that helped Colorado gain the moniker of the "hate state."]

[Box Burner]

You... are the essence. What you bring, what you give, what you share. A smile or a laugh. Driving an art bus all day. Washing someones hair, creating an art project because you can, leaving a note in the temple, stopping at a bar and swapping ideas and tales, Serving drinks, running out of mixers and delivering the rest of your booze to another bar, walking around naked or wearing funny clothes. Flying a kite or spinning fire. Whatever it is you do, just being yourself. Beacuase when people are allowed to be themselves they are at their best. And that is a good thing. And 39,000 good things all together in the middle of the desert is a wonderful thing. And the essence every bit the same for all of us, as it is different for each of us. You cannot explain it. but you will know it when you feel it. And yes! It does feel like coming home.

[Box Burner]

Of course You do realize that I can no more define it than anyone else don't you?

Damn. where'd I put my meds?

[Teo del Fuego]

Box, that's a pretty good stab at a definition, but I don't know if it addresses the theme of dilution with growth. (Not to sound overly non-committal, but I can't say that I actually believe in the dilution theory.)

Here is the theory, however, for your consideration, and its something that has tumbled around inside my hollow head. Burning Man is YOU. As the event grows more mainstream, the YOUS that come resemble more and more the people you happily left in Defaultia. People start sweating over liability waivers, worrying they may catch a lung disease, or get hurt on or sued for an art car. Theme camps become a wee bit more conformist, playing the same type of music, not really coming up with far out ideas. More and more RVs and air conditioned buses roll in. (I aint dissing RVs, folks. )

So that's a concern some have.

I personally think that as BM grows you bring in even more creative genuises-along with mainstream bozos--who just add to the wonderful wacky stew, and maybe some of the more mainstream folks go home and let down their hair a bit.

Other than tangles with the BLM, about the only thing I see shutting down BM annual growth is a massive propane explosion that kills a bunch of people.

Those were some rum thoughts I just posted, dont know why...

[gyre]

Burning man still barely touches the east side of the country.

[Fat SAM]

I think as a virgin, you shouldn't worry about the essence of Burning Man. Be like Rikki Tikki Tavi - "Run and find out!" For goodness' sake, though, don't get jaded before you go.

I first heard about Burning Man in a Reno News and Review. I don't remember whihc year it was, but it was definitely before '98. Or maybe it was '98. Anyway, I remember being intrigued, but I didn't ever decide to go until 2000 and people were already bitching then about it not being what it was back in (insert year). I've never had more fun anywhere. It's a vacation. Treat it like one. Even if it's not what it was, it is what it is. Go and dig it.

[Fat SAM]

Nevermind. I wrote that before I found out that Burning Man is a marketing convention.

[Lassen Forge]

I think I heard about it in the early 90's, but I didn't get interested in going until I met a guy who was a pyrotechie who did some awesome fireworks out there and then stopped going.

The event has, for whatever reason, gone from an anarchist-style event to a very regulated festival that claims not to be. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you're into.

Me? Know what I go for? A camping trip in the desert. That's it. Sure, we do the theme camp and are doing the villageish TC this year, and we do the whole war games and whatnot. But my real reason for going is I love the desert, and I love camping in it with a bunch of my buds, and it gives me a work-acceptable excuse to tell my boss to go shove for 3 weeks while I do that. Nothing more, really...

BTW - thanks for making me remind me of this!

bb

[MikeVDS]

I wrote that before I found out that Burning Man is a marketing convention.

It's amazing how much some stupid magazine article can change your opinion on the event. There have been similar articles for many years. It's probably changed the direction of the event some, but that one thing is not going to make the event drastically different. From all I can tell many of the camps I love hanging out at will still be there, so not a whole lot will change for me or most people. I think the idea of inviting green technologies is a great idea. The people who come because of this will either be delightfully fun to fuck with, or they'll become cool, smart members of the community.

[Teo del Fuego]

I think the Business 2.0 article probably made the middle-comers view the BM scene in the same way as the early adopters, like John Law perhaps, as "oh-so-uncool." It has definitely cooled my jets somewhat.

[Fat SAM]

I wrote that before I found out that Burning Man is a marketing convention.

It's amazing how much some stupid magazine article can change your opinion on the event.

It's not my opinion of the event that's changed. It's the event that I love. What's changed, or at least what I'm now aware of, is that the LLC views burners as an asset and a marketing tool. Marion said herself that even if it doesn't suit Larry Harvey's vision, fuck it. He's out of the loop anyway.

I guess I should have assumed as much. Maybe I just wasn't thinking the matter through.

[Zulegoona]

I wrote that before I found out that Burning Man is a marketing convention.

It's amazing how much some stupid magazine article can change your opinion on the event.

It's not my opinion of the event that's changed. It's the event that I love. What's changed, or at least what I'm now aware of, is that the LLC views burners as an asset and a marketing tool. Marion said herself that even if it doesn't suit Larry Harvey's vision, fuck it. He's out of the loop anyway.

I guess I should have assumed as much. Maybe I just wasn't thinking the matter through.

You know to the extent the event is really put on by the participants for the participants we are in a way shareholders in Burning Man,.. maybe as share holders it’s time to call for Marion's ouster . Clearly she has lost sight of the No Expectations precept in stead of letting it be what it is as it happens she wants to turn it either into a movement of political action or a marketplace,....

[Glittering Clitoris]

shareholders! When am I going to see my cut?

and


Need to seal that love affair?

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=c ... f57f3dca76

Take them to BM even it it doesn't have any relevance to your story just so you can mention Burningman, "Hey, we went to Burningman" Duh!

I'm sure it's had more meaning to their story before it was poorly edited in the short, then, "We went out to the man before they close the structure", CUT! Looks like they were there in the Year 2003 if the pics are from their personal file and not NYTimes file images.

BM getting attention even when it superficial gratuitous exposure!