burning other people's music

seamonkey · Post by **seamonkey** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:08 pm

There is one art form in the city that dominates all others to a disrespectful degree. The techno beat. loud, always, everywhere. i don't need to be educated on the concepts of anarchy, self-expression, and incessant partying, how the beat is the heartbeat of the city, etc, etc, etc. Also it will not be productive for ravers to just flame this thread. But unless people's artistic respect grows along with their desire for self-expression, we end up with rules, like the one about not burning other people's art. the techno music was spray painting on everyone else's art.
i spoke with many people who were totally over it and annoyed. they basically said things like: it helps to handle the music if you are on drugs, it took me years to get used to it, one person told a DJ that it sounded like he was stuck in an electronic keyboard Demo track. i know one couple who left because they got so sick of it they jokingly called it the Evil Beat. i was camped centered on the esplanade and there were three locations right around there that i swear must have been blasting continuosly over the watt limit of BRC (which i didn't know existed until later) even when there was no one around dancing or listening. didn't anyone notice they were not out at the ends of the city at 2 and 10 o'clock?
lest i be considered an ascetic of some sort, the reason i don't just go on out to walk-in camping is because i want 24 hr music! i want to hear variety. one of the happiest musical moments i had was hearing blaring Rap at 5 a.m. that was about 95% swear words - it cracked me up and put an early morning smile on my face. i woke up one morning to solo violin, another morning to someone singing some kind of folk rock to a bunch of people. i love hearing art cars go by with everythng from frank sinatra, classic rock, 2001 space oddysey, reggae, a scene from a musical, TV theme songs, goth-ethereal, and yes, some interesting psy-trance, but every time, some art car with the same incessant boom-boom-boom would come along and drown out everyone, everywhere.
we called it MOOP - music out of place. when the rocket ship was launching, the artist wanted to create a faux 50's rocket launch - how trippy and fun is that?! but i couldn't really get lost in it cuz the beat still dominated. and how about shutting up for the new orleans parade style band at the burning of the man?
it doesnt make sense to me that the burning of the temple is the only BM experience considered worthy of being given sound space. Alas, the some people's sound systems are bigger than their sense of community.
How can we help BM grow past being dominated by the ravers?

Token · Post by **Token** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:19 pm

Don't camp on the Esplanade. The burbs are suprisingly quiet.

Kinetik V · Post by **Kinetik V** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:31 pm

AMEN!

IT IS ABOUT TIME THAT THIS SUBJECT CAME UP FOR DISCUSSION! And I love dance music....LOVE IT. But the thumpa thumpa thumpa of the art cars and camps on the Esplanade at times is too much even for a dance music fanatic like myself.

I too heard some different musical soundscapes this year that I haven't heard before...including the rap music that made me smile from ear to ear. But for a city the size of BRC, the diversity of music one would expect is just not there.

I hope that the community can come together and introduce some much needed musical diversity to the event that will open minds in a similar fashion to what the art does. And with that...let's see where this topic goes.

seamonkey · Post by **seamonkey** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:54 pm

thanx token, but i don't want to move out. i don't want quiet, but 24 hr a day action, music, and flame art all around that isn't out in the burbs. i don't want a few people whose art drowns out all others to make me have to escape.

brcprincess · Post by **brcprincess** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:51 am

I like dance music, but I didn't think it was particularly good this year. Dark dubstep seemed to be the dominant sound. People were shuffling to it, but the energy wasn't great. Best music I heard was at the Pink Mammoth.

seamonkey · Post by **seamonkey** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 8:45 am

i was stoked to go by this one camp where an old upright piano faced out to the street, invitingly. heard some awesome boogie-woogie. and thank you Blues Camp.
and then there was the time: i had been sitting under the Whine of the Winds listening to its haunting sounds (filtering out the thumpa-thumpa-thumpa which i am sure the artist didn't take into account in creating the erie atmosphere of the wind vanes).
i was walking back, and i heard a lone electric guitar tuning up into an amp! amazing! a real live musical instrument! the artist proceeded to do some heavy metal screaming which devolved into full volume retching sounds into the microphone, and it was like music to my soul to hear someone doing what i affectionately call "attempted art" - some works, some doesn't, some works for some people, not for others, and of course, the best part of live participation is that if you don't like it, don't worry, it won't last forever
unlike the techno beat where the DJs never get tired of doing what i call masterbatory art...going on and on in their own world without regard for the audience, or the people who don't want to be their audience the whole week.

curiousgnate · Post by **curiousgnate** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 8:56 am

i agree brcprincess pink mammoth was fantastic. HOUSE soothes my soul. And they would shut down at night, and they were only half a block away from my camp. Thank god as the deep end is no more. I would agree that the thumpa thumpa gets really fucking annoying, and i have been a dj since 93. At my camp we had funkntaco night on tues and it was extremely well received. we decided to do it again on thurs. and an art car pulled up blasting crappy thumpa thumpa and wouldn't turn it off. they blasted over our funk( all kinds shapes and sizes) and were parked there for an hour and a half. kinda bummed me out that they took over our event and didn't have the where withall to see that we were trying to do something different without the thumpa thumpa!

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 9:29 am

I didn't see that much dancing.

Dance, hippy, dance!

falk · Post by **falk** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:26 am

Token wrote:Don't camp on the Esplanade. The burbs are suprisingly quiet.

True, that. My camp was annoyed that we didn't get the Esplanade, but after a couple of nights of being able to actually sleep, we got over it.

I'm actually ok with the sound camps that set up in the sound camp area and point their speakers away, as they're supposed to. It's the ones that lie on their camp applications in order to get placed in the middle of the city that piss me off. Last year it was Entheon. Before that, was Outpost 23. This year I heard that some camp got their speaker wires cut because of that behavior.

I understand that there was once an attempt to divide the city into quiet and loud halves, but apparently it didn't work.

pandasex · Post by **pandasex** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:36 pm

First off i lovvvvvvveeeee techno you cant have enough for me. The dubstep thing too BM by storm it seemed and it was all great. Now i camped at 530 and Kinship which is pretty far to the edge near the entrance and the loudest thing I had to deal with was the bell at the gate.

You can camp in peace just make sure your far out towards the edge. Personally though i can sleep through any techno.

lexann77 · Post by **lexann77** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 3:35 pm

Yeah after a week I was super excited to hear music with words in it again. Not that I don't liketecho, but a non-techno variety is definintley needed on the playa.

seamonkey · Post by **seamonkey** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:39 pm

well...perhaps that is very good terminology to use and *any* one type of music that takes the playa "by storm" is steamrolling over other folks. let's try blaring SHOWTUNES at full volume all over the playa for 6 days and nights straight, starting with the Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Music Man, The King and I...go through the whole history of broadway and when we get to the end, start it all over again, and see who complains.
heh heh (i have quite a light heart, so don't worry, i am laughing as i write that)
there was a small group of folks out at the monolith on the playa one day playing with digital samples, and one person said: i am hiding behind this monolith playing with this so long to escape the techno beat. and everyone laughed and nodded their heads...
so.......what to do besides beetchin' and moanin'? solutions so far:
move out of town and let the thumpa thumpas have it? nah.....not fair
cut sound cables? tempting, but nah...
walk around camps with a sound meter and report people to the DPW? not fun to be a tattletale...
put a watt limit on sound systems on art cars so they go driving by with their islands of preferred party music and the music does in fact *drive by* and go on down the road...that could create an interesting collage of sound on the playa
ask the DPW to offer to schedule silent times for big pyro performance art events on the playa like they do for the temple?
i hate anything that is rules...rules..rules...but eventually i wonder if anyone at BM cares about attendees experiences enough to read these threads.

oleg8888 · Post by **oleg8888** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 9:43 pm

I wonder if people camped near restrooms complain about the smell.........

This year, while camping on 530 & G, it was the quietest camp site ever, we didn't even need earplugs

ThePaperLeaf · Post by **ThePaperLeaf** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:10 pm

This was my first year. Even with earplugs, I found the constant blaring of the same music to interfere greatly with the varied experience I was looking for. They were musical bullies and no one stood up to them in a way that mattered. The fact that no one seems to be able to come up with a solution will probably keep me from returning. I love music and I know that there is quite a range of ages of Burners, so I'm sure there is quite a range of music enjoyed by them, just like the range of art...

Another RV of virgins parked next to us left after 2 days & will never return. Several people in our camp left early. One of my RV-mates was handing out industrial strength earplugs as swag.

Zoning by music type? sounds like a form of segregation. OTOH, noise abatement 'officers' sounds good to those of us suffering from their casual disregard for their fellow burners space. Why would a large music venue place their speakers blasting back towards campers? Why would they keep the music blaring way past when anyone was there enjoying it? Why would it be so loud that only those drug-impaired would be attracted to the intense stimulation?

I'm not so naive that I think we can always get along, but if one part of what is Burning Man gets this out of control, why would 'they' let it risk the integrity/longevity of the whole experience of BRC?
Sam

curiousgnate · Post by **curiousgnate** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 12:02 am

don't let this keep you from coming back! there are quiet(er) places to camp. hushville, or anywhere not around a main road towards e or f. i know it would suck to move but maybe checking out noise on mon night and then moving would be better. I hate to think that we are losing potential fabulous burners due to thumpa thumpa.

brcprincess · Post by **brcprincess** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:22 am

I love techno and a big part of my time spent at BM is enjoying this type of music. But I also understand that there are people who do not like it.

This diversity is what makes BM great. There are many different music styles catering to many different people.

If people don't like techno, they can avoid it by camping in quieter areas and avoiding 2am and 10pm in the evenings. As for the art cars, I heard more art cars playing genres like blues and disco, than I did techno. Funnily enough, I thought that there wasn't enough techno on the art cars this year!

My father always says that the sign of a good compromise is when neither party is happy, so maybe that's what it is. You think too much, I think not enough.

The beauty of BM, if you don't like something, there's always plenty of other choices available to you. So many exciting things to discover..

seamonkey · Post by **seamonkey** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:17 am

again...the solution of just camping out where it is quieter is not one that respects people. it is not fair because i am not talking only about being able to escape and sleep. i am talking about being able to be in the heart of things and not having the soundspace overrun by a small group of DJs to the point where people are so uncomfortable that they are talking about not coming back. no one would accept someone spray painting on everyone else's art because they are a marvelous grafitti artist.

pandasex · Post by **pandasex** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:22 am

man i dont want you to take this the wrong way but.....come on if that is enough to ruin your whole experience than you missed out on the big picture. I mean thats like saying the playa is TOO dusty and the sun is TOO hot.

try and relax next time and camp in a more quiet area. If thats not enough maybe BM isnt for u

seamonkey · Post by **seamonkey** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:05 am

good analogies about the dust and sun...i am sure you'd be pissed if these elements were human caused....some artist thinking it is *soooo cool* to blow huge dust storms over the camp, so they set up big fans and vats of taclum powder (heehee, isn't that a funny image!)

i agree with Paper Leaf:
"The fact that no one seems to be able to come up with a solution will probably keep me from returning."

This is what is so sad...that thump junkies tell people - if you don't like it, well, i guess burning man isn't for you.

If someone came up to me and my friends and said: man, your flame throwers are melting our sculpture, or your fireworks are being set off too close to our camp so little holes are getting burned in our tents.....would I reply with: move farther away then, or maybe burning man isn't for you? i can't even imagine being that egoed out.

Aren't there some burning man elders somewhere who can help moderate solutions? Or does someone have to commit arson on the man for DPW to pay attention to when radical self-expression goes too far. :) I couldn't find a place on the BM site for suggestions. Does anyone know if there is one?

pandasex · Post by **pandasex** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:09 am

dude i didnt mean to upset u....there are things i would say im not "excited" about at BM but it NEVER over shadows my love and excitement about the event. Your sounding like this is sooo bad that you cant take it anymore and are forcing your views of music on others. Its just silly

Artemis · Post by **Artemis** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:24 am

pandasex wrote:and [you] are forcing your views of music on others.

What? When did seamonkey force his view of music on others? Since when does asking to open a dialogue become forceful?

seamonkey · Post by **seamonkey** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:36 am

thanks for standing up for open dialogue, artemis. i thought maybe my post sounded really grumpy, texting can come across that way - i am a very smily person, even with all this discussion, pandasex, and i love your pic, by the way. actually, if i "just couldn't take it anymore" i wouldn't bother to be trying to discuss this.

and...uh.....the exact issue i am talking about is people forcing their musical taste to be a huge part of everyone's burningman experience...also, as I have tried to show, there are many people besides me who have an issue with this, or else i would agree that i am just an old stick in the mud.

i talked to some long time burners, folks with double digits in their history - when did this techno beat start, has it always been this way? do you think burning man will outgrow it? and it sounds to me like there are some pretty nostalgic memories out there...someone said that the Rave community started holding big fundraisers for burning man during the year, thus got to move in to setting the whole tone of BRC, whereas it was at one time a rave camp a couple miles out. not sure if this is true but it does reflect the fact that there's alot more to BM than this one genre, and maybe someday the event can grow past being dominated by it.

Again, I would like to know do the BM event planners have a place to listen? they do make decisions on how things are run, where things are placed. so where does one place a note in a suggestion box?

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:41 am

You may think you live in a quiet burb, but when an oonzmobile rolls by, you might as well be living in Rave Camp.

pandasex · Post by **pandasex** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 11:08 am

well have u thought of starting a NO TECHNO!!!! theme camp? I think there would be a lot of ppl interested. And it has a built in theme

you could fill it with broken techno CDs,

im being serious its something i would do if i didnt like techno.

peace · Post by **peace** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 12:24 pm

I thought this was one of the quietest years ever, almost too quiet- way fewer of the smaller rave camps in the 'burbs and fewer art cars roaming around. Techno has been a dominant factor for 2 decades -good luck changing that!

The annoyance that came up this year was drunk a-holes with megaphones slurring pathetic raps and laughing at themselves. The craze to amplify stupidity will hopefully pass or I'm going to start a busted megaphone sculpture garden next year.

Post by **AntiM** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:35 pm

I woke up Saturday morning, early pre-dawn. All I could hear was the faint hum of a generator across the street. I didn't know where I was for a moment.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:39 pm

Pandasex, you obviously don't go that far back in BM history. There was a time when there was no techno on the playa, with the exception of a very remote Rave Camp. Things have changed; the sun and wind are eternal.

pandasex wrote:man i dont want you to take this the wrong way but.....come on if that is enough to ruin your whole experience than you missed out on the big picture. I mean thats like saying the playa is TOO dusty and the sun is TOO hot.

try and relax next time and camp in a more quiet area. If thats not enough maybe BM isnt for u

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:40 pm

AntiM wrote:I woke up Saturday morning, early pre-dawn. All I could hear was the faint hum of a generator across the street. I didn't know where I was for a moment.

boy howdy is that the truth.....we were just 2 blocks down from you on Chaos and, we all commented how quiet it was, even at night........

the random art car with sound would go by, but, other than that........

the fire elf · Post by **the fire elf** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:06 pm

so you've got this person that loooves escargot

like, raves about the stuff

but, they can't seem to eat it without getting it in your mouth?

or that deep base phenom they dig that, to flush out the spectrum, takes kicking up the input

and they share and give and share... one thing to another, and it's meme, meme, me

stratify?

treat them like the kiddies?

pretty soon it's all organelles, and then where's all the pretty chaos gone?

maybe you could invent a system to assess and compute to send out cancelling waveforms

i know... seems farfetched

but so's nanobots

seamonkey · Post by **seamonkey** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:09 pm

maybe you could invent a system to assess and compute to send out cancelling waveforms

that would be cool...think i can get a BM grant to develop it?

burning other people's music

too much techno beat?

burning other people's music

well said