BURNING MAN 1998

I had been warned that Burning Man was likely to be spoiled by
"spectators and hangers-on," after all the published photos and footage
of crazed and naked people leaping about. But its not a spectator type
of event - if you get there it is because you are meant to be a part
(and the majority are clothed). Burning Man is like a festival of the
American spirit, freely expressed by 12,000 of that continent's maddest
inhabitants, each one with something to say, show, or do to the rest of
the diverse community.  We arrived from all over that continent in a
variety of bizarre vehicles, vans, and rented wheels - travelling the
final few hundred miles through virtually empty desert landscape from
which few have ever managed to scratch a living. The destination is a
strangely powerful, elemental flatland that forces us to recognize our
humility, whilst letting us witness the grandeur and competence of the
universe that we partake in. As organizer Larry Harvey told me, when
delighting in the sandstorm that had earlier ripped through the playa,
"I don't want people to think they are coming out to some god-damned
air-conditioned mall in the desert."

The tickets affirm that "by attending, YOU VOLUNTARILY RISK SERIOUS
INJURY AND DEATH" and the location is a yearly changing site within
hundreds of square miles of a smooth, flat, baked-dry lake bed. In Oct
1997 a British team set the world land-speed record of 763 mph at this
location. There aren't many places you can drive for long at that speed.
Each year now, the Burning Man festival sets new heights in
consciousness out on that vast playa. There aren't many places that you
can get this far out.

There is just about nothing for sale at Burning Man and all the events,
offerings, and performances are free. Instructions are to bring
everything needed to survive, especially water and food - and leave no
trace when you go. Nothing to carry money for - many feel no need even
for clothes. There is a minimal presence of those in the uniforms of the
state - perhaps you see a pair every few hours or so, wandering about,
dazed by the strangeness and peacefulness off it all. We are off the
beaten track, well off any known track in America. Though I have been to
no festival similar to Burning Man in Europe or Asia, the vibe of
self-sufficient self-organized freedom reminded me a little of Britain's
still-obstructed Stonehenge Festival. This free celebration of the
British spirit was a true example of "synarchy" in action - a tapping of
the natural organizing powers of our chaotic culture in a situation
devoid of central control and regulation. It, too, celebrated our link
to the greater universe

For a friend of mine, who made her way to join us there, this was not
only the fabled Burning Man festival, but her first outdoor festival of
the alternative, free-form kind. An M.D., now practicing homeopathy, the
experience led to a deeper understanding of one of the most difficult
things she confronted in her clinic...but I'll quote from her own email:

"If I were to identify the one malady I see more often than any other in
my dealings with people it is the profound and increasing sense of
isolation. It is easy to see why, yet I think much of what passes for
culture is the result of that deep feeling and not the cause - as is so
easy to assume. The more people feel isolated - in all levels - from
each other, from society, from life, from joy etc., the more they make
efforts to be less isolated. Yet so often those very efforts just make
the isolation more. Joining the fads, being politically correct, forced
multiculturalism, having the right possessions, etc. theoretically
should be connecting people together by "common" bonds,  but it all just
seems to highlight the desperate nature of the isolation. What I saw in
Burning Man was a confirmation of what I have understood from Homeopathy
- that the more we are each ourselves, glorified in our unique
individuality, the more connected we are. It is a paradox - yet the more
we express our singularity in an honest and full way, the more we escape
that plague of isolation. That is the real community building that went
on at Burning Man - a community of self expressing individuals who were
all part of a whole."

It is hard for most Europeans to appreciate the degree to which culture
and social behaviour is subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, regulated
in the U.S.A. - enforced by the power of law and social codes. Many
city's cops give pedestrians tickets for jaywalking (crossing when the
little green man isn't walking) and have curfews banning teenagers from
the streets after dark, amongst a multitude of other enforced
regulations that mandate behaviour - having nothing to do with crimes
involving victims. In Clearwater, Texas the cops will tell a teenager to
turn his baseball cap back to the front. And though we laugh at it here,
political correctness (why is it called "political" ?) is a social
tyranny that many Americans must adapt to in their daily lives -
sometimes reminiscent of the surreal behaviour control required to
survive in Stalinist Russia. Yet somehow the freeness and individuality
of the American spirit survives in many of that often confused and
oppressed race. If you ever had any doubt of it - then get to Burning
Man

Burning Man brings together a concentration of those pushing the
boundaries at the edge of America's changing culture - meeting in one of
the few remote spaces where it is possible to explore total freedom of
expression. It is a bringing together of diversity, a cross-cultural
pollination - and it all fits together exceedingly well. We moored our
R.V. at the northwest end of camp, where the trance techno pioneers of
America's west coast had settled, putting up several brilliant domes
with dj's through the night. They also put together the final night's
"Community Dance" party - out on the playa and after THE BURN.

The final night - a full moon lighting up the scattered clouds, slipping
between them as it rises over the mountains ringing the horizon. The Man
gets torched sometime after 10, fireworks ripping from its heart to
light up the sky and elevate our spirits. After the flaming spectacle
peaks and wanes, an asbestos-clad man wrestles the burning remains to
the ground, at which the wide ring of thousands of revellers rushes
toward the hub of the remaining blaze - drumming, whooping, and dancing
wildly around it, in all states of pagan dress and undress. Like all
good parties when they kick in, the action is participation - with
spectators and cameramen few and far between.

Towards midnight, we follow the flashing green laser road to the superb
Tonka sound system pointing out into the emptiness of the playa, with
lasers and projections,.The music started sometime before midnight, with
Lucas (Metal Spark) leading in with the first set, followed by Goa Gil
building us up to a glorious sunrise at six, handing over to Space
Tribe's Ollie Wisdom to play out until the generator was unceremoniously
switched off before ten. Stopped before the ambitious line-up could
bring us Tsuyoshi, Nick Taylor or the special mix of new Shpongle stuff
prepared by Simon Posford for the final hour. Still, this was the
closedown day. Each of the DJ's picked well from their best sounds,
showing respect for the grandeur of the setting - and the Yanks danced
through the night and into the morning, along with assorted Japanese,
British, German, Australians, and others from the world techno
community. Despite the abrupt ending, the party, set in this cosmic
event, must rate as a milestone in the cultural history of North
America, helping to waken that country from its deep sleep before a
third decade of its evolution is mindlessly distorted.
Praise the Lord and Bom Shanka!
 Gregory Sams

The Official Burning Man Site   
Gregory Sams' Website