Just wondering...though I guess probably not...but if so, let me know and we can meet on the playa.

Please don't trash BM (cuz that would go on feeerevah and I am not in the mind to defend a whole thread on it)...I am just wondering if anyone here goes. I play (or tey to) Prince sets on the playa and it'd be cool to meet up with anyone who may be going.

i just suggested to the BF that we should go to burning man some year before we get old and look really stupid and don't have the wherewithal to engage in such an event, and he was like, "yeah, or we could just take off a week and go to france or something whenever we want" and i really couldn't argue with his logic.

I gots to say...if you are curious GO. No age restrictions. I have seen young (kids) and old (50's & 60's...but I think they are probably hippies ). It's not like Mardi Gras where you HAVE to be young just to endure it and the drinking.

This will be my last year for a while. As your BF pointed out, there's other things to do, like go to France...which I may just do next year...or Big Chill more likely. Though my partner may end up going to BM by himself next year if he chooses to. This will be his 2nd year, so it's still new to him...and he loves it...and he was a hard sell to go. Though, I told him that all of my friends go and it's a big part of my life (was at the time) and either he needed to go or let me be with it. He went and had a blast.

It's kinda like your first trip...you are never the same after and your perspective changes. But I will cherish all of my past burns. It's the only place I ever felt spirits (lots of em...seriously) and it was one of the most profound things I have ever experienced.

i'd love to go some year, actually...i dunno. i'll have to read up on it and kinda get a good idea of what it is i'd be walking (or stumbling, or crawling, or...) into. i've always been really curious about it, even when some people get all cynical and eye-rolly about it.

Definitely not this year. But hopefully in the near future.

What were your past experiences like SSBoy?

GangstaFam said:

i see a potential romy & michelle-esue expedition in the foreseeable future.....

(i'd even be the rhoda!!)

I heard the burning man festival is nothing more than a cult sacrificial ritual created by the freemasonries or the world.

NWF said:

That's why I'd love to check it out!

applekisses said:

Freemasonry freaks me out, I'd love it if they were behind Burning Man.

My sister and her boyfriend are going damn them!!!

GangstaFam said:

I’ll do my best..I’ve been to 3 burns and there have been so many experiences…but a few that come to mind

The fun house I got stuck in. It’s not your ordinary fun house it’s pretty f’d up. Doors that lead to nowhere, false walls, and fabric mazes. It’s all woven together in this 3D maze structure. Don’t lose your buddy or you may not see them for a while. And don’t wear too many things like a backpack full of crap, or you’ll get stuck in a hallway that shrinks down to about 2 feet. My friend and I were laughing so hard cuz I was stuck…we couldn’t even back out. Good times.

I dj and last year I brought my decks (not necessarily the smartest thing to do…but they made it back ok). I would spin nice chill out music in the mornings at my friends camp while they served pancakes. Camp G-Hop…G for Ghetto…gotta bring your own plates and utensils and maybe you’ll get one with an attitude and a little dust. Always a crowd. These guys liked my music and asked me to play at their camp. I told them I had some prince with me and they wanted me to play a prince set. Of course I obliged and of course I played All my Dreams as the closing song.

And the above story which I mention feeling spirits took place in what is called the Temple. They build one every year and it represents mourning/death/end of life. This one year they had built it in a sort of jigsaw/lattice-like wooden way. It was quite intricate and majestic. I had passed by it ia few times and always saw people crying and such and never really felt comfortable to go in. But the morning after the burn, I was walking across the esplanade and decided to check it out, as they burn it on Sunday night. As there were just a few people in there, I felt ok going in. I was overwhelmed. In every nook and cranny and corner were shrines, dedications, pictures, scrawlings, and letters and personal items dedicated to those that had passed. It was amazing…people had come here throughout the week and completely decorated this structure as high as they could reach. This thing is at least 4-5 stories high (you can’t go up…just in) It’s pretty big…but there was not an inch bare to put anymore dedications in. The feeling was really intense in there. I am not sure if there were spirits in there, but something sure was. I have had several intense spiritual experiences in my life, but this one tops them so far. I’ll never forget watching it burn from afar as it lit up the sky through this intense windstorm we were having.

So that’s just a few of the good ones…and not even the best. A lot of them are you had to be there to get what was going on, which I guess is part of the experience. It’s hard to relay. Thanks for asking though, I enjoyed telling a few of my stories.

NWF said:

so many theories about what it's about. it was basically a beach burn that turned into a ritual...that became a bigger burn every year. Definitely something that would come about from the minds here in San Fran. Artists/hippies/Spiritualists and many here like to go to the desert to party whatever. So this beach burn basically got moved to the desert because it was getting bigger. It just evolved from there. Like all special things that get too big...they lose their specialness.

But the basic concept IMO is to create temporary community...free from most of the everyday trappings we have in our normal lives. To express yourself through art and conversation and giving to others. It's also one of the biggest Art "museums"/installations/happenings in the world. Who'd think to put a huge chandelier in the middle of the desert that looks as if it fell out of heaven for no other reason but to do it. And even more amazing...how in the heck did they get that make that out in the middle of the desert. THAT's what amazes me. Of course it is what you make it as most things are.

what exactly is the burning man festival

I havent heard of it before

I've thought about. One of these years, perhaps.