What if you won the lottery

[Captain Goddammit]

Let's say you somehow came into an extremely large fortune.
I might do something crazy like set up an ice skating rink (large, with real ice). Maybe I'd build a gigantic mobile parabolic reflector that bounces loud and shitty music back at it's source.

What would you do at/for Burning Man, if you had a few hundred million lying around?

[TT120]

I'd buy a boat and put it on a truck chassis so I could roll around the Playa lookin all cool and shit. Oh wait, somebody already did that.........

I'd probably buy the Playa so it would be private property and not invite the cops to the party.

[BBadger]

An exo-skeleton art "car" would be cool.

[Lonesomebri]

For one thing, whatever I did on the playa after becoming obscenely rich would then be presented as uber cool and oh so very giving.....

[Dr. Pyro]

I'd go out and buy me a whole new set of friends. Friends who really like me.

[Sham]

I would start my own theme camp and invite only people with expensive RV's and block out all the commoners.

[FIGJAM]

RVs would be included in the price of the ticket, $20!!!

[Canoe]

I would start my own theme camp and invite only people with expensive RV's and block out all the commoners.

you forgot part

Oh wait, somebody already did that.........

[delle]

This is one of my favourite ponderings.

Today I'd say something like
20% philanthropy
40% Sustainable ventures - creating local employment/entertainment
30% Savings and stuff
10% Freedom to play (Burning Man and other trips)

Outrageous amounts of money. Obscene amounts.



...it is easy to get carried away.

But such a lovely ride.

[delle]

Kenny and I have much to discuss before I complete the question.

... I definitely want in on the Cap's skating project tho...

[trilobyte]

I don't know that I'd go ridiculously over-the-top. I might do a bigger project than usual, and enjoy not worrying about the money side of it, and then I'd likely offer some financial support to art projects, vehicles, or camps. Not through any kind of grant process or anything, just stuff I liked.

I might try to help a few friends in my life get to the burn. There are a few that I think would really benefit from and greatly appreciate all the nonsense BRC has to offer, but money's often a barrier.

I'd be more interested in doing things off the playa. I'd go on a regional burn tour - spend a year going to as many events around the globe as I can. Maybe even build and bring art to them. I'd also probably go all Richard Branson and buy an island or find some chunk of land I could buy. I'd like to work at turning it into some kind of perma-culture site.

[delle]

I'd also probably go all Richard Branson and buy an island or find some chunk of land I could buy. I'd like to work at turning it into some kind of perma-culture site.

In!

[Roberto Dobbisano]

barbara streisand.....dj set.

[tamarakay]

Same as trilo. I'd do my same camp, just not sweat the money. I'd also fund art at ttitd and elsewhere. One of my dreams has always been to do something like this http://www.lhuca.org/history.html make it affordable or free depending on how big a trust I could fund. I would include a music center. Most towns have little league and other low cost sports activities, but arts lessons, music etc all are a bit pricey.

It always broke my heart to not be able to afford dance, music lessons.

[Captain Goddammit]

barbara streisand.....dj set.

Holy crap… I've never seen her looking even remotely "doable" before. In that picture she's almost remotely doable.
And by remotely I mean with a sex toy with a very long cord and remote control.

[Captain Goddammit]

It always broke my heart to not be able to afford dance, music lessons.

Hmm… There seems to a lot of broken-hearted DJs at Burning Man…

[Elliot]

How about a Two Million Dollar Prevost Marathon RV, and paint it to look exactly like my clapped-out school bus.

[Box Burner]

I would be much like Trilo and tamarakay.

for the burn I think I would fund maybe 1/2 dozen small stages. About the size of a good hole in the wall bar. Probably would be bars. Places whee anyone could just sit in. Well almost anyone. No DJs and no sampled music. Ya gotta be able to sing and/or play an instrument.

A tour of the regional burns would be fun. Buying property and making it self sustainable, that too. And a center for the arts? Yeah... that would be way cool.

[Simon of the Playa]

deathmatch robot thunderdome
free hookers
free blow
Stetsons and Sunglasses for EVERYONE
as much liquor to last and then some and whatever the fuck you want, too.
pay off the BLM/PERSHING COUNTY/WASHOE COUNTY and HUMBOLDT with enough cash bribes to keep things friendly.



and afterwards...
whatever flyranchproject.org needs to get started.

[Captain Goddammit]

pay off the BLM/PERSHING COUNTY/WASHOE COUNTY and HUMBOLDT with enough cash bribes to keep things friendly.

Yes! That would make you a hero.

[Elliot]

Nobody... I mean nobody has said "Buy Burning Man!"?

[FIGJAM]

Nobody wants the responsibility.

[trilobyte]

Good call, Box Burner, more well-appointed small stages would be awesome. I never understood the wattage arms-race, quality beats quantity every single time.

I wouldn't want to buy Burning Man. Owning or possessing it for the sake of possessing it doesn't really interest me, and while I might have a few good ideas here and there, I actually do believe that BORG/BMP leadership has good intentions and is doing the right thing (I'm spoiled in that I know a number of the ppl involved, get to go to HQ, and sit in/participate in a few meetings here and there). If I bought it, it would purely be a vanity move so I could have my name on it, and I think that would probably not be the best thing for the event, culture, movement, etc. Trying to do my own site or space would give me the chance to (/begin Frank Sinatra mode) 'do it my way' (/end Frank Sinatra mode) and help further the cause. I think the future isn't making Burning Man 10x bigger, it's getting 10x the number of events that are as big.

I also really like what's going on in Reno with the Morris Burner Hotel project (burner-owned business, bought an old hotel and art transforming it into awesome arty hotel+hostel). That and a big industrial arts warehouse space (a la NIMBY or American Steel or the Generator), fitted out with all the great tools and space enough to support other peoples' projects, too.

[BBadger]

Two words: GATED COMMUNITY.

Nah, who wants to hang out with just your friends? I think I'd probably still live out of a monkey hut in the same camp, only I'd arrive a week earlier and stay later for setup/teardown than I usually have time for (if I got EE). Regular camping hasn't gotten old yet, so I'll wait until it does. I'd also bring more friends who don't think they have the time/funding for it (maybe not, because people should have their own investment in their burns). Maybe I'd even get a trike.

But also, in addition to some art projects that I want to build that'd require more funding than I could pony up at the moment, I'd sponsor, or set up a foundation for: 1) funding art cars that must be open to the public, 2) smaller-but-dense interactive art to dot the city, 3) regional projects for those who can't attend the main event, and possibly sponsorship to take them to the burn eventually.

I would not: 1) pay to have the roads widened. That's a multi-billion dollar venture, and it'd be wasted out there. 2) Provide means to bring more people to the playa such as a cheap bus system, subsidized/free tickets, etc. We're already limited by population, and more =/=> better. People should also be personally invested in their trip. 3) Buy some plot of land to host the event. I don't want the liability, and I doubt Black Rock Desert or something like it is for sale (sorry, we ain't changing the climate!) 4) want to be recognized out on the playa for whatever I'd do above because I don't want a bunch of sycophants around me, or people acting different.

[Simon of the Playa]

on my way to the playa, before i purchase all of the hookers blow and liquor, i would shoot up the countryside along route 80 with THESE
LETS GO PLINKING!!!



Ewige Blumenkraft, Blumen fur Alles.

[BBadger]

The next time my body is peppered with seeds from a shotgun, at least I know I'm helping bring flowers to the wasteland.

[Elliot]

My quip about buying Burning Man was of course pretty much just a silly wisecrack. BM is being run as well a humanly possible, I'm convinced. What I would like to do with a small portion of Unimaginable Wealth, is donate enough to pay BLM for two weeks instead of eight days, so people could trickle in and out gradually. (To alleviate Exodus, I would move the major burns a couple days, so people would have more time to get back to work on the day after Labor Day.)

Of course, I would sponsor artists and art works, charitable causes, medical research, and all that. Common sense.

There is one project I have been thinking of for decades. I would want to design and build a new type of houses. Concrete and steel, so they would be fire-proof and rot-proof. With double roofs, with air gap, and huge overhangs for shade beyond the house itself, like we do in BRC. This is a no-brainer in hot climates. Tons of insulation and thermal mass. Such a house would need little heating and no cooling. Only problem is up-front cost, and that could be minimized with enough investment in developing the technology and bringing the system up to mass production.

[theCryptofishist]

I might do something crazy like set up an ice skating rink (large, with real ice).

Charles Schultz, is that you?

And agree with Bbadger with about having people knowing.

Fully fund Emergency Polka Camp and its sister camp, an as yet unnamed klezmer celebration--or maybe they'd be one camp with two facets. Bring Brave Combo, Apolkestra, Raving Polka, Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird, the Klezmatics to perform, even if I had to bring in a hideous support camp of just another rv in the wall variety.

Support other camps and projects as I saw fit. Fund tickets and support for seasoned burners who cannot make it for economic reasons, but who I think would "contribute" any particular year.

I'm sure there's more...

[GreyCoyote]

I would not pay to have the roads widened. That's a multi-billion dollar venture, and it'd be wasted out there.

Jeez, what a cheapskate!

Well then how about an airlift operation to get folks from Reno to the playa? A Boeing 747-400 in a single-class config can hold 660 people and only needs a 10,000 foot runway about 100 feet wide. You could likely manage that with some cement-stabilized sand for oh... 30-40 million dollars. That's moving 52,000+ people in less than 80 flights, complete with gear! And think of the dust potential!

C'mon, BBadger! Feel the love and loosen-up those purse strings!

[unjonharley]

Side from buying stock in a paper bag co. ( to keep the Cap double bagged 4 life)..

I say fuck you all I'm spending it all at the strip joint.. That way the kid will put me in a home and spend the money..