Yesterday I went to see “SPARK” in San Francisco at the Roxie Theater where it is showing on Saturday and Sunday at 4:30pm. And, just a recommendation, right around the corner is Puerto Allegre with some seriously good Mexican food!
I cried through half of the movie as I saw an amalgamation of 5 years of my Burning Man experience played out on the screen with footage that went back to 1989. It did gave the sense of a scabs and all view of Burning Man but that was simply not the truth.
The story was amazing. The visuals were inspiring. It was all very touching and a fairly honest expression of Burning Man and the people responsible for it’s existence.
Three people are credited for the first Burn on Baker Beach in 1989: Larry Harvey, Micheal Mikel and John Law. John dropped out of the scene around 1996 and divorced himself from Burning Man for his own reasons while Harvey and Mikel (aka Danger Ranger) continued on with a new cast of crazies that included Harley, Marian, Crimson and others that are all in the movie and credited as “Co-Founders”.
Queers in the Film
There were quite a few Queers in the movie but only 1 talked about his orientation was John La Grace founder of Playa )'( School theme camp. Although this is not a Queer identified camp it gives that deeply help ideology that BMorg seems to continue to perpetuate is that LGBTQ and the rest of the burner community blur together seamlessly.
The Film
This is a fantastic film but it is clearly a tool of BMorg in answer to their ticketing fiasco of 2012. It is an amazing film in spite of that perception. The often staged sessions of angst in boardroom discussions are 2 dimensional based on some of my personal history with some of the people I have known in those meetings.
Fact or Fiction
The movie is amazing. My previous comments should not be taken as a negative reaction to the film, just an observation based on personal experience. My favorite person in the film was Otto Von Danger working on his project from 2012 called “Burn Wall Street”; he gave the most honest portrayal of anyone there.
It has to be seen. This movie should be seen by every Burner. But then again, it was like a trip back to the playa over my lifetime as a Burner. Joy.