scott.kay

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Why Burning Man 2011?

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As mentioned in a previous post, there is a lot of reasons that make this year’s “Rites of Passage” very inspiring for people to attend. Beside the usually amazing pieces of art, performances and regalia of costumes and production there is much more.

Features

This year features something never seen at Burning Man which is the C.O.R.E. Project that will include 24 additional effigies from various regions around the world; mostly in the U.S.. They will be placed in a circle around the MAN and burned on a night on it’s own.

“The Circle of Regional Effigies (CORE) consists of 23 effigies created by Burning Man Regional groups around the world. They will be placed in a ring 600 feet around the base of the Man. These effigies are a celebration of the Burning Man Regionals and their efforts to support the Burning Man ethos as a global cultural movement. Please read about the pieces, so you can understand them better, and enjoy them that much more on playa.

All of the CORE projects will burn simultaneously at 9:00 pm on Thursday of the event.” [source]


This new feature this year promises to bring a whole new dimension to the Burning Man Event for 2011 unlike any other.

The Temple

The Temple has always been quite an expression and a very special marker for the event since it is burned as a conclusion to the week’s event. The Temple of Transition with it’s six spires takes over a huge chunk of real estate out there and is expected to be a true beauty! It is physically being brought to the playa as I type this out.

Motivations

How many people have posted on Twitter and Facebook that it was a checkbox on their ‘bucket list’ to attend Burning Man in their lives. I guess “Rites of Passage” screams to those people as if it was a calling to them specifically. If this is on your Bucket List, please buy a sports car and hire a hooker instead. Maybe go to Amsterdam! Wait – those are my bucket list items.

Maybe you keep swallowing the rumors that this is Burning Man’s last year and you need to get on the crazy train before the train closes. The rumors about 2011 being the end were being cooked up fast and dirty, but the future of Burning Man is not projected to end anytime soon with the immediate re-origination of BMHq; they are going from an LLC to a non-profit.

Conclusion

All in fun and good humor, whatever your twisted reason for being drawn to the desert be sure to do it smart! Water: Piss Clear! Food: eat smart and take care of your own ass! Dust mask: check. Non-vented goggles: check. Completely open mind: __________.

Hit for your week: Pick one day and no matter what is asked of you the answer is Yes.

 

SOLD OUT!!!!

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According to BMorg online Ticket Sales for Burning Man are officially sold out! That’s right kids, one of the biggest years ever for this event, is running out of tickets. …er, ran out of tickets? Something like that.

2011: Rites of PassageIn January when tickets went on sale Tier 1 and Tier 2 sold out within hours. That meant that a buttload of tickets flew through the door in spite of the miserable management of the on-line ticket system. Patient and experienced Burners are used to the insanity of 1st day sales, but thankfully they have been working on improving that system.

Attendance

The event is limited in it’s terms of being able to grow. Last year at it’s highest point which was Friday night the highest level of people present was just over 53,000 people. There is a magic number Burning Man has to look at as a tolerance (a gray line) before exceeding the attendance limit and getting fined by the BLM. According to Marian Goodell that tolerance floats around 52,000 because for a variety of reason tickets are issued for various services and contributors; bottom line to be there you have to have a ticket even if working it.

Marian Goodell“Our BLM permit is the restriction. We are between 5-year permits and this year we need to stay with the max-population to be within 2% of last year’s max-population. We grow every year more than that, so we couldn’t allow the natural growth for 2011, we’ve had to shut things off to stay within the BLM’s comfort zone. Capacity is a relative term in the desert. We need to stay near the max pop of 52,000.” – Marian Goodell (7/25/2011)

There is a fixed in growth allowed of about 3,000 per year… and this is by word of mouth. In reality, growth is expected but there is negotiation involved between the powers that be that set those along with the required presence of Law Enforcement.

2011 Features

This year “Rites of Passage” features the CORE Project where 24 Regions around the World (YES! The World) are bring effigy’s somewhere between 15 to 20 feet tall to be placed in a ring around The Man and will be ignited a day or two before The Man burns.

The Man will be posed differently than ever before too!!! He will be in a stride, which means the entire body will be in a step.

25th Anniversary? Last year was touted as the 25th Anniversary of Burning Man going back to the days of Baker Beach. Word is that the actual anniversary, counting events, falling on 2011. Just an item from rumor control…

Rumors / Truth

There are always rumors and interesting stories flying around. Only believe what you hear from the source. Check out Burning Man on Facebook and their web site Burning Man [dot] Com.

MAP OF THE WORLD

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2011 Black Rock City

ROUGHLY speaking, and without any authority to claim one way or another, for those asking here is the general Queer Spread. There are a couple concentrations of gay camps.

The Gayborhood usually contains but not limited to:

  • Comfort & Joy
  • Camp Beaverton Home for Wayward Girls
  • Gender Blender
  • Dickstracted

The Gay Ghetto usually contains but not limited to:

  • Moonbow
  • Tiny’s Lounge

Like I said this is generally rough. Be sure and check out all the postings including the Events Page where great things are going on. The Beavers and Gender Blender have some amazing classes and events, but they post on their Google Group of which I will add to the links section to the right.

Now, there are camps that might be “queer” that have not participated with Gay Burners yet, but given Radical Inclusion everyone is a little Queer out there… just get into the Downlow Club and see. HA HA HA… Some of the camps that threw down and have a very queer vibe include:

  • Pink Mammoth
  • Mal-Mart [www.mal-mart.org]
  • Pink Heart Camp

 

Costuming

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(7/18/2011) Yesterday’s trip to the “Prepare for the Playa” and my recent involvement with “Burning Man Costume Creations” got me thinking a lot about what people are wearing to playa.

A few weeks ago I went to “Rites of Massive” which was a huge fund raiser on Treasure Island for Opulent Temple and the Distrikt which are 2 of the larger clubs on the Playa. It was huge, amazing and… opulent. On the way in I started looking at peoples wardrobe and heard a veteran burner describing to his newbie friend was is burner and what is not.

There is a mainstream of apparel that smacks of typical burner attire including for women: corsets, fishnets light tubes and fake dreads in any form; also include almost anything you might see Stevie Nicks in. For men there are these beautiful long pirate or Edwardian coats, womens skirts, more dreads either real or fake and often some kind of full on women’s outfit at some point. Note: almost anything with faux fur is a winner as in vests, animal hats and giant coats!

With all the talk of radical self-expression there is a hell of a lot of definition what is burner and what is not. It can’t all be furry pimp hats and Edwardian /  Stempunk blah blah blah, but the idea of radical Self Expression is the ability to make your own spin on the costume of your choice.

Burning Man itself is a very hetrero-centric, Caucasian, hedonistic love fest that somewhere along the way blended with the Raver community. I feel often that their radical self expression is something Queers like us already do on a daily basis; but with a little more style. (Note: hesitates with some of these words as to not seem to put us above this demographic, but note that gays – lesbians –  trans-genders – etceteras have been do this in the default world in our daily lives)

The impact on the Burning Man culture with the huge presence of gay neighborhoods has more or less fit into the culture and the costume expression that has gone along with it has been fairly uninspired on a lot of levels, but I suspect we have made a lot of effort to show how much we appreciate Burning Man and the ability to play like all the others. The biggest innovators from the gay world has been the more hard core gender bending camps that Comfort & Joy as well as Camp Beaverton/Gender Blender have brought to the scene.

Costumes for the Newb

If nothing else there is a shopping list of must haves when at Burning Man and a few suggestions. As far as what the average burner is wearing often that is defined by the economic status you are in or what you are able to create. Radical Self Expression still has to be the core that your express yourself with! You can go to things like “Prepare for the Playa” and spend hundreds of dollars on playa gear, too. What I saw on prices was pretty high, but then I looked closely at what was there and said…I can make that. Don’t be afraid to whip out your hot glue gun or Barbie sewing machine and give it a whirl.

What you Need

Tutu (or 2) | Good Shoes/Boots | Sari or wrap | Theme Costume (See posts on ePlaya)

Okay, so maybe that is a relatively short list of needed items. But the beauty of that is YOU get to fill in the blanks. I think… the billion bunny marsh is a annual tradition led by $tephen Ra$pa so you might need a bunny costume. Of course any type of cute bee costume seems to be a winner. Las year they did a whole superhero thing that went on through several days and camps. If you watch the chat boards they will start talking about something new. I did see something about unicorns… but who knows where that will go.

For survival through the week be sure to read all that Burning Man has to offer on Burning Man [dot] Com

Bikes on Playa

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Burning Man is huge. No matter how dedicated you are, accept the fact that you won’t get to see everything. However, you will be able to see and do a lot more with a bike. And as with anything else, a little bit of planning and preparation can make the difference between a comfortable reliable mode of transportation, and a wasted effort hauling a 40lb piece of junk to the playa.

Here are some suggestions:

Don’ts

  • Don’t bring a kiddie (BMX) bike – they may pack easily but are horrible to ride on the playa – very tiring…
  • Don’t bring a bike with skinny tires as they tend to corkscrew when turning in the soft playa buildup.
  • Don’t bring expensive bikes – leave your “good” bikes at home.  PLaya CruiserOr plan on locking them up well.

Do’s

  • Fat tire (Cruiser, Mountain bikes) bikes do better on the soft playa sand
  • Consider purchasing a thrift-store/garage sale bike and dress it up. Make it your “playa bike”. Optionally, go all out and build a frankensteinesque bike like this Chopper
  • Make sure you have a comfy seat – otherwise your rump will suffer.  You can build a comfy seat with padding and duct tape and/or cloth/fur etc.  Or buy them, but the comfy gel ones can be expensive
  • Get a cheap combination lock because bike theft/borrowing is quite a problem at BM.  Write the combo on your wrist in permanent marker and on the inside of your tent (or something you won’t easily lose).  (I have 4 combo locks and don’t know the combination to any of them!)
  • Decorate you bike and make it more than just a means of transportation. However, when you are dressing up your bike out please make sure that stuff won’t fall off and litter the playa as you ride.  Faux fur works really well – just make sure it is well secured to your bike. Decorating also helps because a unique looking bike is easier to find at popular SlimeChain Waxgathering places like Center Camp, Arctica, Temple, Man, etc.
  • At least one working brake is essential.
  • Oil the chain and make sure it doesn’t have any seized up links (one that won’t bend). I find the wax based lubes work best as the dust sticks to oil based lubes and tends to gum up the chain. And bring the bottle so that you can re-up as needed, and share with those who forgot to lube up.
  • Make sure you have good tubes (consider investing in a $8 bottle of “slime” – the goop that self-seals the tubes in case of puncture.
  • If you plan on riding at night, you will need lights (front and back). Please point your headlamps downwards so as not to blind other playa citizens. Glow sticks woven through your tubes are pretty cool to watch and make you more visible.
  • A basket or a luggage rack to carry stuff (including ice) is most helpful (Suggested by Zong). The little kid trailers also work well for hauling back ice and usually run around $20 used at garage sales, thrift stores, and Craigslist
[source the burningtribe.com]

Camping 101

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I am not the authority on camping at Burning Man. There is a whole survival guide available for the ‘how to’ and ‘how not’. This week I was talking to some people about their camping choices and it got me thinking about if any of our members were asking themselves the same questions.

Burning Man still has not released the official camp list, but they have changed the criteria for becoming a “theme camp”. The number of people as a minimum was greatly reduced so as many as 3 people can have a theme camp. The idea is to open the door to creativity and interactivity as much as possible.

Really some of the Queer Camps have done really well in this area and some of the new ones are looking pretty impressive. Everyone knows ‘Comfort and Joy‘; or at least you heard of them (see the Queer Camp page to get more details on these camps mentioned). They have things going on through most of the not the least of which are fully produced shows and the pink gym for those heavenly workouts.

The Camp Beaverton Home for Wayward Girls and their sister/brother camp Gender Blender have some great workshops you will find listed in the what where when.

These are just the big names while there is a whole bunch of camps with varying events to entertain and delight. BUT, what would make you camp with an established camp? Why? And why pay camp fees?

Well, you get the chance to be part of the machine that makes the camp work and your donated time along with your camp fee support the infrastructure of the camp. It’s like working for Disneyland and buying your own lunch at the cafeteria. Maybe you hate Disneyland and want to play alone on the Teacups???

One friend of mine on his first year had every opportunity dangled in front of him to become a part of any of a number of theme camps from the mega to the small and intimate. Yet, he chose to camp alone on something like J and 8:30… on the outer rim. He set up his camp and came home only when he was done playing. He went out to the quiet and sometimes neighborly outskirts.

I suppose that has been the complaint of some people camping much closer to the Esplanade, the lack of quiet. Rather the thump-thump-thump of roving art cars and sound camps. But I personally have spent my last two years just off the Esplanade and never had those problems. In 2009 I camped with Sin City Village on 7:30 and Esplanade. In 2010 I camped with Journeys at 5:30 and A.

That might be another alternative to Queer Camps is spending time with your region like I did.

Whatever choices you make for your burn do what you want to do. Here is some advice from other members for new and veteran burners that you too can participate in!

The City: “Rites of Passage”

Have you seen the new map of the city? 16 new streets this year! Sold out ticket sales!?!?! WTF? Check out these street names:

  • Esplanade
  • Anniversary
  • Birthday
  • Coming Out
  • Divorce
  • Engagement
  • Funeral
  • Graduation
  • Hajj
  • Initiation
  • Journey
  • Kindergarten
  • Liminal
I may not know what a couple of them are, but I love them all!

Burner + Virgin = Birgin

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General Burning Man Image

So many people lately have told me they have never been to Burning Man and always wanted to go. The ones who are not blowing smoke out their asses sometimes ask questions about it. It’s definitely not all naked people and drugs! It is so much more.

The question often asked: what is Burning Man? Anyone who thinks they can answer that question and do it successfully should have a Pulitzer. The experience at Burning Man is so personal, so individual, and not dependent on anyone else. Even if you go with your best buddies, the only person that can screw your burn or make it the best ever is YOU.

Burning Man Survival

Burning Man has resources for you on their web site for what to prepare for that are an absolute necessity to read. There are any number of members out there sharing their experiences and their variations of survival out there. Do me and every other burner a favor before going out at a minimum:

Respect the world you are going into and respect the people ahead of you as well. Don’t get caught up in the party and miss out on the art and performances that are mind blowing, inspiring, and life changing.

Image from tamalerocks.com

Preparation

Besides and the resources above there is some evaluation you need to consider and this too shall help shape your burn. Where are you camping and with whom? Our Queer Camp list here on GB will get an update soon of the Gay /  Lesbian / Queer / Trans friendly camps of which there are many. You are not limited to a Gayborhood / Gay Ghetto (areas where gay camps have collected) because they still span the width of the city. While some are private and some require a camp fee.

Maybe you want to go it alone and camp on the outer rim? A lot of people do that with a lot of success. All you have to do is arrive and plop your butt down in any free space. Often I hear the benefit of that is you may have access to cleaner toilets through the event.

A Personal Note

This coming year will be my 3rd year on the playa while we have many members on the site who have many more. Burning Man has changed over the years. I have managed to spend some time reading and learning the history of Burning Man to what it was before the Opulent Temple, before Root Society and Distrikt. It is a value to know where this sprang from and what started it.

Contribute in the way that works for you or dabble in the different things you can do because if you go as a spectator for the event it will be very different than if you participate and add yourself to the machinery that makes the city work. I found my passion in the art of Burning Man while I know a lot of people who find their passion as a Greeter, or as a Front Gate attendant and Ranger. Working at the ARTery, the DMV or the Cafe is all rewarding, but that depends on what gets your vibe going.

And finally get involved with a local Burner Community. Stay out of politics if you can and let your relationship with the local community grow naturally and with the idea that you are there to support the concept of community. COMMUNITY! This is the big word that I think some people gloss over. Being a member of a/several communities means you are a part of that element. YOU are one of the neurons of that atom. Without you that atom is incomplete.

I am going to "Rites of Passage" and staying:

  • With a Gay themed camp (45%, 46 Votes)
  • With any camp that will take me (26%, 27 Votes)
  • ...on the outer rim (17%, 17 Votes)
  • With them Beavers (7%, 7 Votes)
  • Comfort & Joy (5%, 5 Votes)

Total Voters: 102

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In Closing

Gay Burners has a place in the culture of Burning Man because when it comes to Radical Self Expression and Radical Self Reliance it is definitely something we queers have been doing for generations. Some times just to survive in a world hostile to us.

In my observation I have seen people exploring their concepts of sexuality, sexual identity and the boundaries of their body image. Some of us from the older generations can appreciate that and maybe rural gays. We can support and honor not only our queer identity as Burners, but the exploring blurry lines of all the other Burners.

Principles and Blurry Lines

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Chuck-WeirdAmericaHelcoAtBurningMan1996905

With a recent discussion of monetization on the site and this author possible getting a gift from someone who wanted to post an ad on the site I thought it important to expand on at least one of 10 points in the ideology we opted in to when we joined the Burning Man community and decided to participate.

Let me start by saying that I will be receiving nothing from the person who wanted to advertise here. The policy will remain the same unless the community (you guys) say differently. That is: Create a New Post from the Dashboard menu at the top of the screen after you login. Only verified members can do this. Email me if there is a question on what that is.

10 Principles

Of the 10 Principles the one that came under fire here is about monetary gain under the entity that is Burning Man or by using any logos or representations of the organization. Gay Burners is not in any way an officially sanctioned or official part of the organization. This amounts to being a fan-site supporting a sub-culture of Burning Man itself. And yes, I can say they appreciate what this site is and who we are catering to.

Decommodification: In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience. [source]

On a recent trip to gather with Burners one of the topics of discussion was about money. Certainly we all see that Burning Man could not exist unless they raised money and paid salaries. I hear people jabbing their fingers at coffee and ice at Burning Man, but that money goes to some important causes. Have you seen the financial reports Burning Man posts publicly on how much it costs to put the whole thing on?

Things cost money. People make money and that money goes into their tickets, camping equipment, gas to get to Burning Man so reality is that money is more often turning around and going right back into the machine anyway.

There are some seriously blurry lines in this space because the cost of local events beside our individual journeys is getting more and more expensive.

Gay Burners Site

It costs me almost nothing to have this site and manage it. I paid for hosting and I paid for the domain name and annually that is about 20$. Yes, you see AdSence on the bottom of the pages, but there has been no revenue from that in all the time I had the account. And this is actually on a few of the sites I manage. I want people to have resources and options but not some namby-pamby corporate hoo-hah wanting to come on here to take advantage our audience.

We have about 150 members right now on this site plus 162 on the Facebook as of this posting.

The same person who criticized me in email made a dismissing remark about the population of this site and whatever anger or frustration that came from it was hurtful. What you guys don’t see are the analytics of the site. We actually are getting more than a thousand people a month looking at this site! Wanna see some of that? Look at the link in the left column in the section that says “Who’s On Line”.

[source of cover image featuring Hellco]

Decommodification on GB

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I got some rather harsh feedback on the last email from a particular member that gave me some food for thought. There was some issue with the question I put on there about the request to place an ad and some remuneration to me for doing so. There is a reason I put the question out there.

Although the reaction was a bit over the top I understand the point of view and am willing to concede. I did not create this site with expectation of personal gain. Not a penny. Not a singe thing. So were all good on those notes I am stating it clearly.

When we look at the 10 principles even the people running Burning Man admit there are some seriously blurry lines on those principles and for everyone they blur on different levels.

So, we will just continue to put links as they are provided. Any member that wants to shout out on a favorite vendor or their own product you can have one posting page for it. Myself or any other Admins on the site can help post links as well.

Thanks for your understanding.

 

What? Who? Where? WTF?

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I will not presume through this page to ass-u-me I know everything there is to know about all of you. The mission of this site and it’s members are: ‘LGBT plus all the blurry lines in-between‘. What is gay or queer or lesbian or trans or whatever is less important than the ties that bind us is that we are just who we are.

staywithfamilydotcom

Radical Self-expression is something a lot of queers have known for years. Besides being a gay male, a burner, and a self described artist I am often identified as: “off”  or  “quirky”  or  “artsy”. I got to Walmart in my kilt and boots that have metal plates on them up to my knees. And I am very comfortable doing so… in fact going anywhere.

We, the queers and off-beat, are radical self-expression and more for years long before the 10 principles.

When I see the things some Burner Queers are doing I have to sit back cheer them on! Of course most people are familiar with Comfort & Joy as well as the Camp Beaverton camps what really put on quite a production every year. in fact a lot of our queer camps do some amazing stuff and it is very worthy to watch the Queer Camp List.

The Queer Camp List will be updated in July when BMorg releases the official list of theme camps and villages. Involve yourself with these camps if you can and help support their infrastructure. Participate in the making of something very special.

In a blog I wrote in 2009 I was really blown away by what I witnessed in my first year at Burning Man. It was the only year I went and just stepped back and observed, tried learning about the people of the Burner culture, and came away with some really interesting observations.

I felt, while watching a lot of people given permission to be outside the box (possible the first time in their lives), sorta spiral into a short circuit frenzy. There is an insurmountable amount of men inspired to dress as women or wearing women’s clothing and a lot of expression of sexuality.

There is nothing wrong with any of it, with any healthy expression, hopefully making the journey back into the default world a new journey, too.

It took me back to the 70’s and 80’s (yes, I am that old) where gay and lesbians were finally stepping out the shadows in droves and were demanding more and more recognition which has been growing consistently.

We are all not “gay” or “lesbian” on this thing called ‘gay burners’. We are the blurry lines and make no apologies for it. We support your right to explore your own identity/orientation/none-of-the-above. Feel free to share your stories below.