Monday, 28 August 2000

Black Rock City Population Count: Every Single One of Us Gate Edition, Volume IX • 2000

to e Welcome NO er …

h FIND W Waldo! Each day, a participant will be randomly selected (without their knowledge) to be Black Rock City’s “Waldo!” If you see him/her in the crowd, shower them with gifts, hugs, food, invitations, and your best Jerry Lewis impression. Make Waldo! happy. If you can find our Waldo! and have made him/her truly happy, drop by to tell us. The post-apocalypse is no place for tree-hug- (Bring us a melon.) We might even give you gers. In fact, there are no trees to hug. In Black a prize: Waldo’s Angel Wings, a beer, or a Rock City, there are no facilities that billow toxic hug or something like that. gases on the masses. The only fumes here are from artifacts we ignite in the name of psychic release. Yet, here where there are no endangered species to protect, lies a clarity beyond the buzzwords of A Message from contemporary environmentalism. Media Mecca Here, true modern environmentalism All film, video and DVD (motion-capturing) makes us radical deserters, for there truly is HMS Love Boat, 2:00 playa, Burning Man 1999 (WHO TOOK THIS PHOTO?) cameras must be tagged, and a use agree- “nothing” here to protect. Removed from force- we are forced to confront our own stream of also call the desert playa home, then only with ment signed, whether for public or private fed consumerism, we decompress in the stark waste, and must choose to take responsibility, hypocrisy might we expect our freedom to use. Use agreements are available at the openness of a nature where our bodies remind or let it become a crippling threat to the fabric return to be respected. Within this framework, Greeters, Check Point Salon and Ranger us that the difference between life and death is of our city’s life. Yet, through this reflection at environmentalism means we're all in this Outposts. Professional media must report a gallon of water. Choosing each item we carry our selves and our surroundings one heartfelt together. One need not be a tree-hugger to to the Recovery Room at Media Mecca for to this clean slate, we become keenly aware of message sprouts: this is our home. The blank appreciate this simple requirement of our con- proper probing. (See "Why We Tag what is for our survival and what is for “color" canvas that invites our ephemeral existence is, tinuing existence. One only needs the desire to Cameras" in this issue of the Gazette.) on the social palette of Black Rock City. We in its barren nature, the seed of Burning Man's return to ; to understand the strange celebrate the simple triumph of a head of let- future, our survival, and hope. passionate yearning the wide open emptiness tuce in our cooler, keenly aware of our depend- If we want to continue to exist here, we instills. In order to be welcomed back among ence on ice, and the combustion of fuels. must take care of our home. If by our sheer the migrating tribes of the , we BRC GRC EMP GRC BRC BUS Removed from the coddling grid of civilization, numbers we trample the rights of others who must absolutely vanish without a trace. Again, this year, Burning Man will provide — shibumi public transportation on a loop from Black The laser man The “Beaming Man” uses solid state optics Rock City to Gerlach and Empire and back. was conceived and designed specifically for harsh desert condi- Bus tickets will be sold just prior to the

designed by Larry tions (such as entanglements with stray thongs departure of each bus; no “advanced MUMBLIN REVEREND Harvey, and Russel and boas). At the core, three lasers are split into ticket sales.” Tickets are $5. Please note: Man in the Sky The centerpiece to this year’s playa bac- Wilcox, a physicist two beams each, tracing a luminous, familiar • Each person must present a BMAN tick- canal will be a mile-long elevated laser scribed currently at Law- form; another temporal body of the Man. Laser et stub to purchase a bus ticket; one tick- pictograph of the Burning Man logo. Etched rence Livermore sources at each hip generate an arm and a leg, et per customer. You must be dressed into the night sky and representative of this National Lab. The with the laser’s energy absorbed by six-foot appropriately for town, and be not obvi- year’s theme, “The Body”, this colossal figure concept and creation of a construction of his targets at the hands and feet. Another laser ously under the influence of intoxicants. will be a living art gallery. Upon and within scale in the desert was a technological chal- source at the top of the head directs a beam to • The bus ticket is only your boarding pass this body, many artists will position their lenge ideally suited to Russel’s skills. Wilcox, each ear, where they are deflected from six- to get on the bus. Your BMAN ticket stub hyper-real interpretations of the body parts in who holds four patents in laser technology, is inch mirrors to the chin to form the Man’s dis- is your re-entry ticket to Black Rock City. pieces they’ve created in the spirit of our event. also the designer of a subsystem for a billion tinctive diamond-shaped head. Upon the playa, welcome to NOWhere The bus will make only scheduled stops, so Stretching out in the concave arc that is dollar laser project, and has invented new we will be like cells continually (JUMP TO PAGE 2) to re-board the bus, riders must show one the map of Black Rock City, this giant form will methods for generating light pulses used in of the following combinations: be projected from a series of thirty-foot towers. laser fusion research. He is also an avid video (a) a BMAN ticket stub and bus ticket, or The familiar outline will become our communal cinematographer, and former film grad student (b) a BMAN ticket stub and Gate in/out Black Rock City playground, as much as our of San Francisco State University. Mr. Harvey token. NO EXCEPTIONS. bodies are the theme. is known for his hat. Center Camp Café might • For schedules, locations, additional rules, be described as an urban jewel regulations and more, ask for the book in adorning the body of Black Rock City. Twenty- Center Camp at Check Point Salon. four hours a day for the duration of the event, you can get a world-class latte or a chai, hear music and see diverse performances in the 911 café’s four different environments. This is the In the event of an emergency contact a place to meet your friends or make new ones in Black Rock Ranger; or contact the Rangers some welcome shade. Check your daily Dispatch Center with a CB or HAM radio. Gazette, or tune into Radio Free Burning Man CB: Channel 9 (99.5 FM) for updates. The Center Camp Café... HAM: 2m:144.400 100 PL/CTCSS tone “Isn’t this a lot of work for just one erection?” in the center of the center. No reservations. burns with fire unseen elsewhere > HAM: 70cm:444.400 “ Dispatch monitors all three channels, 24 hours a day. Be prepared to state your Over the years, we have learned to supply journalists with plenty of context, for it is sto- name, location (theme camp, landmarks, Attention ries without context – movies, videography or intersection), and the nature of the emer- WHY WE TAG CAMERAS Citizens!!! Do you feel: Confused? articles that focus on sensational and superfi- gency. Try to remain in radio contact with — a message from Media Mecca Alone? Not-so-fresh? Want to make a the disptacher until the Rangers arrive on Burning Man is radically inclusive. This cial features of the event – that have the power difference (but don’t know how)? Well, scene. For more information, visit the means we never prejudge people. It is not nec- to harm our community. We require all jour- can’t help you with those things (sorry). Ranger Headquarters in Center Camp. essary to belong to some particular clique or nalists to learn about Burning Man. We ask But what I can do is offer a place where subculture to gain acceptance in Black Rock them to live here, and experience Black Rock you can say/do/be anything — kind of City. This is a place to do and be; and anyone City for themselves. We are also ready to like the playa itself, man, only this is a can be a part of our community. This same exclude the media. In 1999, MTV proposed to playa of the mind. Only, it’s in, like, a

somewhere the desert > Burning Man Archive basic rule also applies to members of the film at our event without cooperating in this corner. I’m talking about poetry; This year we’ll have Official Playa media. We have always welcomed the partici- process. $10,000 in legal fees later, and through brilliant, brutal or beautiful. We need Collectors walking around to collect sam- pation of journalists because we think we have the threat of law, we prevented MTV from your best… (can I take that back?) We deMANd ples of the unique and bizarre creations a story to tell to the world. broadcasting a show they had touted on your best burning poetry for the Gazette! you have made for your Burning Man 2000 national television. “Please.” Ladies and gents, animals and aliens, experience. You can donate your stuff to Our careful filtering of media coverage freaks and geeks, deposit your gems and camp them, or make a donation at the Artery in also extends to our policy regarding cameras jewels at the City Desk so that all may delight Center Camp. Hopelessly on the playa. We tag cameras that record mov- intersecting with your emissions. Include cred- Burning Man manages a growing archive bitter, its and contact info, like “Your Beloved Poetry of images, video tapes, flyers, drawings, art ing images, whether for public or private use, unusually blunt, frequently biased, mostly and ask people to sign Use Agreements. We do Editor, Captain Yum Yum, BRC.” Get published and other artifacts. Many of these items in the Poetry Corner of the Black Rock Gazette, fire haiku: honest... your Sage, will answer ALL your (dumb) this for two reasons: commercial exploitation have made it into a traveling, evolving man! Burning Man art show. This show has been burning questions, or Sage isn’t obviously your and privacy. “It is difficult hosted by galleries and art commissions in (opinionated) friend. Trust the Sage. Sage is your In a world awash in images, it is impossi- friend. *Smooch* Write your “Dear Sage” ques- to get the news from poems “LEFT IS LEFT” ... ALWAYS CONT’D ON PAGE 2) ble to control to what use an image is put. The tions down, and drop them by during business yet men die miserably collection of imagery must be controlled at the every day hours at the BRGazette City Desk. O.K? source. We object to the commercial exploita- for lack of what is found there." tion of material collected in (JUMP TO PAGE 2) — William Carlos Williams “‘And now,’ cried Max, ‘let the wild rumpus start!’" — Maurice Sendak "The highest art is the art of living an ordinary life in an extraordinary manner." — Tibetan saying “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -- Margaret Meade "Life is like Sanskrit read to a pony." — Lou Reed

San Francisco, Reno, Chicago and Los at 104 degrees and it loses most of its aromatic Angeles. After the event, you may send potency, but not before it gets smeared about in relics to the Burning Man office in San BY DOC SQUAT wHERE the everyone else’s camp, and into places where Community SPENCER TUNICK Francisco. Thank YOU! modern hygiene becomes a distasteful challenge. POSE NUDE on Friday afternoon for a Bury it? Sorry. Hidden from the sun, the lit- massive group photograph by Spencer Tunick. IN Crowd Goes Called “Community” this photo event is part of tle bugs from your butt hole survive even longer, How To Find Yourself Coprophilia is the love of shit. Coprophagy perhaps to be dissolved and dissipated over the Tunick’s Reaction Zone series, which involves is eating shit. Although these qualities may be Volunteers manage a number of services to entire playa when the rains come. One word the staging of large group photographs that unbearably common (perhaps even promoted) in help you find yourself, your camp, leave there; yuck. And, while it’s true that the ancient combine the elements of performance, sculp- the everyday workplace, they’re not so common messages, or locate your friends. bottom of Lake Lahontan is covered under thou- ture and installation. Friday, September 1, at on the playa. In fact, the conditions are so rare • The Dynamic Board at the Greeters sta- sands of feet of dead fish shit, that dump is pre- 5:00 p.m. that the standard textbook on psychology, the tion lets you indicate your location. Bring historic. You and your shit are still alive! sharp! The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental your own push pins to the giant map of So flex your sphincters, proud citizens, and entire event Disorders (DSM-IV) doesn’t even mention them. BRCity. (There’s an “evil twin” dynamic do your duty where the In-Crowd goes. A spe- will take 40 It does list “encopresis,” the repeated passage of board in Center Camp, but it’s not official.) cial effort has been made to make those cozy minutes; you feces into inappropriate places — but(t) encopre- hospitality huts available in a neighborhood • The “Find a Camp” board is maintained at will only be sis is only mentioned in the discussion of 1% of very near you! As your mother undoubtedly Burning Bell, 6:00 Center Camp. Leave nude for a five-year-olds. No probelm on the playa, right? warned, consider going early to avoid the rush. paper-based messages for pick-up. few minutes. Wrong. Though we try to be open-minded about • The BRCity Directory is a more discreet Meet at the Outhouses are mandated by the state health others’ nesting habits, specimen displays and listing service, located at Check Point Salon. Man. Wear department! Shit is just not a healthy thing to proclaimed works of art, those little brown piles Just fill out a card and tell your friends how loose fitting leave lying about. Oh sure, bake it for a few days just won’t cut it this year. you’re indexed to find the information. clothing, no costumes, no

Why We Tag Cameras CONTINUED body paint, <<(( Radio City ))>> no mud, no Black Rock City. We have never allowed the CHRISTOPHER necklaces, no glasses, no hats, no watches, no 87.9 40w Vulcan Free Radio name or images of Burning Man to be regard- DYER jewelry. Tattoos and piercings are fine. In 88.3 20w Radio Free Wrybread/Cyberbuss DAMN ed as a commodity — to be bought and sold U T exchange for posing you will have the oppor- 88.9 25w WPBR J S independently of the experience of this event. 89.5 40w Bear Lair Radio (formerly KBHR) You, dear reader, are LUCKY tunity to receive a signed print of the event by Nor will we allow these images to be used to 89.9 1w Voice of the Burning Monks the artist. Bring friends & family. sell products. Burning Man will NOT become obviously some sort of mad fool. Exactly what 90.3 6w KWAK (formerly KLZ / one of the “united colors of Bennetton," nor kind of person would abandon all modern com- Blue Light District) will you see yourself pictured in a Nike ad. forts to spend a week in the confines of this desert 90.7 1w WL2K Immediately following oasis? What the hell are you doing in nowhere? 91.1 40w WHOR Privacy. More than half of our population Tunick’s photo shoot, be part of a fledgling tra- probably brings a camera to Black Rock City. Certainly you didn’t spend weeks planning 91.5 .5w Greeters Radio to survive this pilgrimage — socking away sup- dition, and participate in the Black Rock Gazette 91.9 1w CHAR “The Voice of Hamlet” It’s only natural that people would want to plies like some strung-out religious zealot — sim- newspaper’s annual “The Naked Truth” photo. 92.3 1w Radio ToA: Temple of Atonement capture memories. We eagerly await sharing ply to bear witness to a wood and neon statue Pick up your copy of the Black Rock Gazette 93.7 5w Radio E.O.M our printed photographs when we return home. going up in flames. Now-here, you are a citizen and wear it, share it, lift it high and proud, and 94.1 1w Scumby Radio And, Burning Man publishes many of these of an ephemeral city; founded on the premise romp for our BRG photographers. Sunglasses, 94.5 30w Random Trance Missions images of yours on the Burning Man web site. kids, mud and tiaras, O.K. The Naked Truth 94.9 2w G.L.O. - Radio Black Light that every one of us is contributing to the won- We do, however, require all photographers dur- photo will be published in the BURN edition the District drous, demented endeavors for which our tem- ing the event, whenever it is possible, to ask very next day and delivered throughout your 95.3 25w Radio Loose WhirrrlyGig porary community is, the world over, famous. permission from anyone they feature as a spe- neighborhood! 95.7 25w Fusion Valley Radio cial photographic subject. Furthermore, we To be among the “radically inclusive" might 96.1 20w Radio DMZ license ALL motion-capturing (video, film, be the experience we seek, but this concept was 96.7 1w Radio Tiedye DVD, etc.) equipment by requiring registration not always popular. Through the mid-nineties 97.1 1w Bi-Lateral Radio Leave No Trace with Burning Man’s Media Mecca department things were strikingly different. Burning Man on Disappearing is a creative act. 97.5 5w Poetron the playa was more a gathering of underground 97.9 1w Radio Dionysus volunteers. A Use Agreement is signed, and the issued tag must be prominently displayed art groups and friendly subversives; a giant, 98.7 KFUK dusty desert camp with no city limits — where on all motion-capturing devices in Black Rock Man In the Sky CONTINUED 99.1 20w uBANGi radio cars ruled the playa. In 1996, the designer of the 99.5 24w Radio Free Burning Man City. Do you really want to be featured, Man, founder of the event, and one of the origi- ingested and excreted by our luminous host. 99.9 15w Alien Emissions stripped naked, as a character in an amateur nal organizers of the desert spectacle, argued that A high degree of precision alignment and 100.3 35w KRAP Road Show with Jack SparX “adult" video? Burning Man should be kept “open" to all. stability must be maintained in order to sustain 101.1 1w Silver City The sign at the front gate says: “No Film a laser sculpture of this size. The source towers 101.7 10w Lahontan Broadcasting Coalition or Video Without Permission." This is the Attendance had been doubling in size every year, must be stabilized by commercial guy wires, 102.3 15w SomaFM beginning of our communication to the com- and there was a substantial pull to go the oppo- and the bottoms are mounted on a pivot sys- 103.1 40w SPURT radio munity about our rules on the collection and site direction. Harvey’s idea prevailed. tem that compensates at the ground for tilt. In 103.5 1w TikiFest use of photographic imagery. If the camera is The now familiar sights — the theme camps, anticipation of the high desert winds, this 103.9 1w ANARCO RADIO for personal use, you can pick up a form from Pepe’s midnight opera, the mad roving living Radio Anarchy allows the structure to sway at the bottom, and the Gate, Greeters, Check Point Salon or Ranger rooms, the bizarre contradiction of someone chas- 104.3 5w KBK Kanadian Broadcasting assures that the tops of the towers move only Outposts. Professional media will also have a ing down a cigarette package, twisted on chemi- Korporation by a few millimeters. The optics are enclosed visibly distinct tag of their own. Professional cals in a dust storm, so as not to leave a trace — 104.7 1w Radio Happy Lamp / Chrys N. but have motorized doors, which are sealed media tags are an indication that they've par- you might not have known that it ever existed. Themum during the day and open only at night, like ticipated in an initiation and have agreed to Now, Black Rock City is a true “communi- 105.1 25w 105 Dust Devil Radio nocturnal eyes awakened to watch our folly. our rules. ty.” If this is your first burn, you will quickly 105.7 20w BMIR (Burning Man learn that the oft-used phrase “participants The giant figures carved into the Nasca Information Radio) Should you encounter a person with an only" isn’t just Burning Man jive propaganda — Plains of Peru have held humans facinated 106.5 5w K-SVERT “the 5 w MOBILE un-tagged camera, suggest they check in at it is the only real way to make sense of the long before they were first seen from the air. flame thrower” any of the above listed stations, to sign an Their builders probably never saw the finished 106.9 1w Burnin’ Mon Radio agreement in cooperation with Burning Man. beautiful and the damned. Degenerate, outlines to scale unless there really were some 107.7 50w KAOS If you have an immediate problem, please con- Caligula-type imagery aside, perhaps the larg- flying aliens about. We assume that these enor- tact a Ranger. If you feel your privacy may er meaning of this year’s theme is: the body of For contact and more info, see: mous carvings were part of an ancient tribe’s have been compromised, report the person and people around you. http://www.ihot.com/~maquio/BM2K/ endeavor to explain the experience of corpore- the tag number from their equipment to a Here the fast way to find yourself is to al manifestation. Media Mecca volunteer in Center Camp, Black become completely lost. Lose yourself in your surroundings; assault your neighbors with treas- No doubt, from a passing plane, Beaming Find out what's happening! Rock City. ures. Be a stranger to no one. To hell with the Man will rival the shock of Peru’s timeless Tune in to Big Bear’s “Silence is sometimes Ranger Radio notion of bartering, just go about bearing gifts. glyphs. But unlike the Nasca carvings, this every afternoon at 3:00. the best answer.” — the Dalai Lama Show mile-long, illuminated figure will last a short Radio Free Burning Man 99.5 while; beaming through the nights of our time FM, of course! in Nowhere as part of the larger body of cit- If this were a commercial, you would now be hearing a series of annoying beeps. izens in Black Rock Please! Don't dig holes in City. Yet, both mar- the playa for a vels serve to remind us generator of our most fundamental or any other connection to the natural reason. world: the realization that Holes leave a trace. everything is temporary and eventually will pass to memory and dust.

Vicki Olds, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief Schurman) ~ Dani Russ Josephs, Poetry ~ Zac Bolan, Operations & Volunteers Price, Distribution Reps Captain ~ Corner ~ “QUIPS” con- Pythagorean theorem: 24 words Manager ~ Ed Ingraham, ZONE & Barbara Flaska, Operations Captain ~ tributed by Fang, Edge, the EIC & the The Lord’s Prayer: 66 words Crossword & Webmaster ~ Larry Breed, Cleo Winters, Lead Graphic Artist ~ BRG staff ~ Contributing Writers: Archimedes’ Principle: 67 words Chief Copy & Proof Editor ~ Blue Collar The City Desk: Chris Dyer & Mark Greeter Dan, Adam Wells, Hank The 10 Commandments: 179 words "Greeters have more fun!" Hello! Express Bob, I.T. Guru & Systems Acquisition Furman ~ Dennis McMillan, SIster Sosnowski, Larry Madill, Sosha Gettysburg Address: 286 words yourself while welcoming citizens to the land of (BRG2000 masthead designer) ~ Ty Dana Sez ~ Colin Campbell, Sage Zaretsky, Barney Ford, Steve Mobia, the Man. Show up and show off, cause we need Billings, Circulation, Bags & Signs ~ Advice ~ Julia Tenny, Graphic Artist Elisabeth Steadman, Dion Nissen- Declaration of Independence: 1,300 words Managing Editors: Tim McCrary and ~ Photographers: WeeGee, Bryce baum, Andy Hilal, Jeremy Hockett, U.S. Government regulations on the you and your friends for a 4 hour shift (they start David Rattray ~ Renny Hart, Lead Perry, Bob Meyer, Garth Huddleson, Shibumi, Ember ~ “POST-MODERN sales of cabbage: 26,911 words at 8am) anywhere ‘round the clock. We need vol- Designer ~ Jamie O’Beirne, Obtainium zMan ~ Illustrators: Matt Dineen, ENVIRONMENTALISM” extract edited from Burning Man: Beyond words unteer Greeters, especially for the night shifts Guide ~ Shibumi, Production ~ Matt Alex Rosmarin ~ “Bernie’s Index” an original work by James Lamb ~ Wednesday—Friday. Come by the Greeters station Sorrenti, I.T. Captain (dos) ~ Cartoonists: items: Heather Schramm (Statistics SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Marian Goodell, /// Dave Cherry , Otto & the Badger (S.D. Hoarder), Mumblin, Mambo, Edge ~ and Darryl Van Rhey We are a people so primitive we call our planet DIRT! and ask for a lead greeter, anytime! Experience - Peter A. Isaacson (aka PENFOLD) unnecessary. You’ll never forget!