Sights and Sounds of Burning Man 1998
by Allan Lundell
Every Labor Day weekend for the past 14 years, thousands of revelers gather in the desolate Black Rock desert of Northern Nevada to participate in a radical art experiment. Almost overnight, a little city, replete with hundreds of interesting and often quite bizarre structures arise from the "tabula rasa" of the dry lake bed playa, each with its own purpose or theme. And many strange and arcane inventions also dot the playa, promising a special show for the temporary inhabitants of Black Rock City.
Why does Burning Man happen and what's it all about? This is best explored by visiting the Burning Man website, as its history is rich and colorful. What we have to offer you here are some video clips of this year's festivities, brought to you at high risk to our coveted and valuable video gear. The alkaloid dust of the dry lake bed, you see, is very fine and likes to permeate everything, including our equipment, often rendering it useless unless disassembled and cleaned immediately. When one of the frequent playa dust storms strikes, we run for cover, stuffing our gear in plastic zip lock bags, hoping that we have averted equipment disaster.
THE MAN BURNS!
RealVideo 28k, 56k, 112k [Note: Links are dead]
The first video clip we offer begins with a view of the majestic Man just before he burns, with flame throwers heralding his approaching fiery demise. Stuffed with over half a ton of pyrotechnic special effects this year, the burning of the Man promises to be the most spectacular yet. What we see next is an amazing new illusion, never seen before. Someone has figured out how to make a bicycle appear to be a glowing galloping horse, at least at night! Very cool, the galloping bicyclist never fails to draw ooohs and aaahs from the crowd. I managed to catch him with on the way to the Man while traveling the playa with an amazing inventor and fellow reveler Pat Flanagan. We shot the neon galloping horse video with Pat's Sony TRV-9. Hmmmm...just how did he create that galloping horse effect? We are investigating...So far, we've found that the people who did this fantastic illusion also create the monster Tesla coil out on the playa, reputedly the second largest on the planet. Watch for our upcoming net clip featuring this awesome lightning generator.
In our current clip, you can see the Man being ignited by a fiery human torch, flaming from head to toe. It's also been confirmed that the Man started burning much more rapidly than expected, so before the human torch can light the Man's second leg, some pyrotechnics go off, and he runs for his life. Flame on!
Also, check out the colorful fireworks exploding from the Man this year. The white-hot Magnesium heart flare was especially endearing to all the lovers in the crowd. A very special touch... Quite spectacular!
Notice the shift in the crowd as the Man plummets to the playa. It would have been interesting to view the scene from above. We would have seen the surrounding crowd begin to rotate counter-clockwise around the Man's burning pyre, creating a massive spiraling galaxy of human motion and dance. And every so often a large burnable object, like a couch or canoe, would make it's way to Galaxy Central, and further brighten the scene. Wheeww Hoooo!
The man ecstatically drumming while singing "Burning Man!" after the Man falls is none other than Fantuzzi, a world-class musician and a founding brother of the Rainbow Tribe. He has carried the flame of celebration and music since his appearance at Woodstock, back in 1969, when his image was emblazoned (with a fem counterpart) as the icon of the era, on the cover of Newsweek magazine. You will see him again in future clips from Burning Man, performing with the amazing Maui Tribal Trance band, "Lost at Last."
You may notice that many of the celebrants are illuminated by an eerie green light. This is the look of Sony's "Nightshot," a sweet little bonus feature found on many Sony camcorders. It's a very handy feature, allowing us story tellers to record events in complete darkness, using invisible infrared illumination. So far, this feature has been particularly handy in capturing an audience's attention and reactions to stage performances, making it very apparent that a "show" is not simply what's happening on stage, but also what's unfolding in the audience, and how that affects the stage performance, etc., etc. I am often amused at what I have seen...
Too bad Nightshot has been discontinued. Apparently, under specific circumstances, its possible to see through clothing with it. Our experiments have confirmed this is true…
In this net vid, thanks to Nightshot, you can see various cybertribal digerati ecstatically celebrating the Burn, among them, the brilliant and beautiful cyberauthor/poetress Alex Utterman, acupuncturist and technoshaman Steve Zilber, photojournalist Maggie Hallahan, this year shooting Burning Man for the German publication, STERN, riding on the shoulders of playa paraglider aviator "Sebas" (from Icarus Camp), Verbum publisher/Digital Be-in/Party meister, Michael Gosney, with the stunning Carla King, just back from her epic solo motorbiking trip across China.
The Burning Man Experience, Part II
We begin a day at Burning Man as thousands of others do, lounging around in our RV, entertaining each other and our guests, getting ready for another extremely unique, fun-packed day. This morning Lumina Lovestar, designer of love temples, and reporter for New Earth News, joins RV captain John Graham and me, ready for the day's adventure.
Soon the Butterfly Man arrives with his electric-powered fluttering chariot, ready to give the cute ladies in our camp a free ride on his winged insectoid steed. Camp mate Yellow Crystal Star goes for it, and we get to see Butterfly Man do his thing...notice that awesome acceleration!
As we walk by the Radio Free Burning Man in Center Circle in the 100 degree F plus heat, a fellow reveler comments on the day so far...
To give you perspective, we take you to the roof of our RV, behind the radio station. Check out those brilliantly illuminated mountains behind the playa.
Next, we catch a Burning Man marching band while bicycling. I recognize the Viking Girl with the javelin as Karie, a UCSC student who made last year's Burning Man a major anthropology project. This year, it looks like the scientist in her has really come out to play...
Riding further out on the playa, we pass a large, flowing tropical fish-like wind sculpture. When I first saw it, I thought it might be some kind of flying contraption, but on closer inspection, it was, well, a fine example of playa art.
While taking a stroll out on the Esplanade, fellow camp mate Princess Rowan and I observe a happening mobile band cruising by on the playa… "They are rocking, literally!" she exclaims.
But not all is milk and honey in Playaland. After all, what's life without a little drama? Almost out of thin air, a temperamental dust storm descends on us, creating whiteout conditions, flinging dense clouds of super fine alkaloid dust particles at us in gusts of up to 50 mph. Yum, pass the water! Lumina and I escape into a nearby work van, where we take a moment to document our current condition.
Aaah, natural states of Burning Man bliss return as Lumina, myself and Yellow Crystal Star visit the Water Woman Goddess Temple. Here, sheltered from the heat and dust of the playa by a large tent crafted from surplus parachutes, is a real honest-to-goddess hot tub, big enough for a dozen people!
With Pepe [Ozan], the grand old architect of Burning Man classics like The Temple of Ishatar, watching from the side, Lumina and Star take turns floating each other, helping each other de-stress from the travails of the day. Sisterly love at it's tenderest!
De-stressing is the name of the game as poetress Alex gives her acupuncturist prone friend, Steve, a deep Reike massage at Icarus Camp, off the Southern Promenade...She has gotten very good at this!
Now, watch carefully, as the camera pulls back, pans up and zooms in to reveal one of the world's largest Tesla coils, sitting right out there on the dry lake bottom, ready to deliver 20 foot bolts of raw lightning to those who are ready to receive.... Are you? If so, click on the movie below...
A word of warning, however...Experiencing the Tesla coil in action may give you a little jolt of adrenaline, a bit like a shot of cappuccino. You may want to play the clip again and again, and again to whoever else is in the room with you. Ok, you've been warned....now enjoy!!