Hot Topic at Thunderdome? Sugary buds?

yellowdog · Post by **yellowdog** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:14 pm

What was up with the Hot Topic sign atop Thunderdome early in the week? Someone informed me that it was a logo for some mall-rat goth clothing store or something...And what about the flying ad banner for "sugary buds". Was that really an ad for some pot growers fertilizer or something? I'm so far out of the culture loop, I can't tell irony from adverts. Help me.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:18 am

It's no longer Thunderdome.
It will forever be known as Hot Topic Dome.

I heard people giving directions calling it that already.

pandasex · Post by **pandasex** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:31 am

i thought as soon as i seen the Hot Topic thing it was FOR SURE a slag on the chain store....I mean the peeps at Thunderdome HAVE to hate that store. I hat that store took the creativity out of the fashion statement.

Sugary Buds....everyone is soo confused on if BM let them fly over or if they have no control of the airspace. If some one has the answer let me know.

Everyone i was sitting with was just shocked.......I found the most shocking thing that a person could see at BM is advertising. It scares ppl (myself included).

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:33 am

I thought the flying ad was "performance art"......that it was a spoof, especially using a helicopter...........
but, it seems I might have been wrong........

pandasex · Post by **pandasex** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:36 am

i thought a number of times watching tha banner and the helicopter that it was going to crash because the winds were just knocking it everywhere. I heard not one but 2 ppl in 5 mins say "if i had a rocket launcher i would shoot that fucker down."

i was like really? i dont know if i would go that far but i guess who ever was flying that thing was lucky huh.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:39 am

maybe that's part of why it was so high and stayed outside the perimeter.......

justfred · Post by **justfred** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:47 am

My concern (other than crass commercialism) was that the wind was going to take the copter/banner down. I can't imagine why you'd try to fly a helicopter in those conditions at all, let alone dragging a banner. A little unexpected futs of wind and dust would have put copter parts all over the playa, worse still if it fell on the city. Maybe it was so that they wouldn't have to use the BRC airport, as I guess you're allowed to launch a copter from pretty much anywhere? Either way, it deserves to be called in to the FAA, if any of the pictures show his tail number.

And they were probably thinking that most dirty pothead hippies don't own rocket launchers.

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:53 am

for the record, a rocket launcher can be replaced by a well thrown molotov filled with white gas

mojo · Post by **mojo** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 12:29 pm

Does anyone know where the flight originated? I know I was furious when I saw it and I hope it caused a backlash of boycott.

What was the company? - I think I will send them an e-mail.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 12:40 pm

Fire_Moose wrote:for the record, a rocket launcher can be replaced by a well thrown molotov filled with white gas

you must have one hell of an arm.............

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:06 pm

/whispers

(I wasn't there so I got no idea how high it was flying. You must throw like a girl

)

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:10 pm

I do my best, but, I'm just not that big and strong.......

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:39 pm

perhaps you should put yer brain into a robot body...?

Playaface · Post by **Playaface** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:46 pm

Back to the subject!

I think the hot topic signage was pure genius on the deathguilds part!

Guess you have to have a sense of humor to understand it wasnt really advertising.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:12 pm

Same banner flown behind the same chopper at the Seattle Hempfest
http://www.celebstoner.com/20090906291 ... -buds.html

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:12 pm

Playaface wrote:Back to the subject!

I think the hot topic signage was pure genius on the deathguilds part!

Guess you have to have a sense of humor to understand it wasn't really advertising.

Pure genius in rebranding.
A huge marketing coup and achieved with total deniability.

It has been noticed, though, that the Deathguild had a sudden and mysterious infusion of cash.
And some of the Deathgulild cars now appear to be based on something less prosaic than old fords.

lhyr · Post by **lhyr** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:56 am

the hot topic thing was a prank pulled over on the deth guild kids (i'm to understand one of them is a manager at a hot topic, and yes they all hate the chain of stores). early one morning, i encountered some folks looking for a climber who was confident in doing rigging while over forty feet up. by the next day, the banner was up.

as far as the advert-chopper goes...

all air space in america is relatively controlled, but it's not hard to get permission to fly. however, nevada, and in particular the law enforcement around BRC, is a bit more anal. flights around BRC are between 100ft and 300ft up, and go clockwise around the city.

that mutherfucker in the copter was flying lower than a hundred feet so we could all read the "advanced nutrients" banner, and flying counter clockwise. he refused to respond to our radio chatter, so DPW called the air force on him. they made him land and directly escorted him to jail for flying in controlled air space without any form of permission or clearance or need. he's prolly gonna lose his pilot's license over this, and if he wants to keep flying have to switch to ultra-lights. but that's the price he pays for deciding it was worth the money for the job to shove an ad in our eyes that morning/afternoon on whatever day that was.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:28 am

Roger, copy, over and out.

mars · Post by **mars** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:31 am

Wow, it's great to get some actual information. Thanks.

rodiponer · Post by **rodiponer** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:34 am

No, he's lying.

Here is a quick summary of the discussion on the Burning Man aviators list:

It is against the rules to tow a banner below 1000 feet, and to tow a banner near an airport without first contacting the airport. The helicopter flew over the airport, and in many pilots opinions, was below 1000 feet.

The FAA Safety Inspector needs photographs, video, and sworn statements from people who saw it fly below 1000 feet.

I'm not sure if they have identified the pilot yet. If you have a clear photograph, where you can read the tail number, then that would do it.

SNJacobson · Post by **SNJacobson** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:01 am

http://snjacobson.com/BurningMan/images/mBMC_09-453.jpg

Hope this helps

LensCap

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:18 am

I think they want one with the helicopter.

SNJacobson · Post by **SNJacobson** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 10:26 am

Your prob right .. but thats all I got

RedHeaven · Post by **RedHeaven** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:56 am

OK so my friend works for that company, I took a pic of the banner and he saw it on my facebook. So, it is advertising. GRRRRR. Theyre in Colorado I think.

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:59 am

Yeah and what about the huge Costco sign!!?!?! Wait, wut?

Post by **actiongrl** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:33 pm

Confirmed - we are looking for photos of the helicopter, especially those that display its tail number and/or how low it was flying.

RedHeaven · Post by **RedHeaven** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:38 pm

Sorry, my pic is super crude
I can still attempt to post it (Im learning)

LostinReno · Post by **LostinReno** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:06 pm

actiongrl wrote:Confirmed - we are looking for photos of the helicopter, especially those that display its tail number and/or how low it was flying.

I do have a picture of the helicopter, I zoomed in as much as I could, it appears that it was a red helicopter with most likely black lettering. I can't make out any lettering.

I'm not fluent in photo shop or any other "clean up your photo" software. The only other point of reference in the photo is one of our guy wires. If they weren't below 1000', they were close! PM me your email addy and I will send you the pictures I have.

klondike_bar · Post by **klondike_bar** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:37 pm

apparently the hot topic dome was pulled off by the DPW...

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:05 pm

klondike_bar wrote:apparently the hot topic dome was pulled off by the DPW...

Apparently.

The word on Tribe.net is that it wasn't. And my basic thought is that whether or not if was DPW, they are the ones that would be automatically credited/blamed by a majority of the people who credit/blame anyone.

Hot Topic at Thunderdome? Sugary buds?

Hot Topic at Thunderdome? Sugary buds?

I have a clear photo of the banner its self