Monday, August 24, 2009

Burning Man 2009

People keep asking me what Burning Man is. My answer to that is: Whatever you want it to be.

50,000 people journey towards Reno every September.... to celebrate the Burning Man Festival. Held in-the-middle-of-nowhere desert - an entire city is created. Difficult festival to explain - because it not so much a festival but a CITY! Black Rock City has it's own police, post office, waffle house, music venues, tea houses, yoga centers, clubs, magic shows, a circus, even a Ballet show from NYC. Fire dancers, hoola girls, vampire strippers!..... Everything is Free. No currency. Kindness and bartering. An eclectic crowd. Residents come from all over the world - I have held conversations with scientists from NASA, teachers from the inner city Bronx, a 20 year old kid sailing the world in his sailboat, stealing food from wedding parties and surviving off adventure....

Every minute at Burning Man - something fantastic is being created and experienced. Want to know what I am talking about? Check out the Burning Man website - read through their Theme Camps - experience the photography - you will (kinda sorta) understand what I am talking about.....

Where else can you find a REAL diner with stainless steel counters, with coffee and grilled cheese sandwiches, and a pretty lady in a hair net..... 3 miles in the middle of no where at 5am in the desert?

Where else can you get lost in the desert and find a pay phone and talk to God?

Where else can you ride a bike in your underwear, covered in Camel Fur, wearing Swim Goggles, with two fingers up your ass? And when you get off that bike - someone with a Hippo suit will want to give you a hug?

Burning Man creates a culture that should exist in every day life.... Neighbors are golden! Judgment is rarely passed. Respect for the weird and the outrageous! Breaking out of the box. Art and hugs. Everything is so weird and so strange and new and beautiful - it is hard to keep up with the city as it grows.... Matthew and I spend a lot of time at the HeebieGeebie camp, a healing camp, a meditation camp full of soft spoken spiritual types - I strive for the way that I feel at Burning man. Want to bottle it up and encompass it in my everyday life.... I find myself there, I get lost, I get scared, I meet new people, I ride my bike till I cannot breathe, I roll in the dust, I hug strangers, then the sand storm comes and dusts up my glasses.... Fucking Burning Man. So grateful it exists. So so so grateful that this will be my third year attending.

As I type this, thousands of hard working volunteers are out in the desert - staking out well organized roads, setting up the perimeter, building camps, creating a trash fence, preparing for the rest of the family to show up.... next year... I want to go in early. I want to see the city rise out of the lake-bed and into city.....

Oh Sunday cannot come quickly enough..... 2,500 miles stand between me and that glorious moondance across the desert. Bring it!

12 comments:

Ivan said...

I've been reading your blog since the last BM post (sh*t, a year already ?!).
If I ever put my foot down on US soil, it will be for BM.

Anyway, have fun and put some more photos this time.
Ivan from Croatia

BNFinite said...

the photo is wild. i like that. seems like i'd love to go to Burning Man as well...

one day...

enjoy...

BNFinite said...

nice pic w/the Stormtroopers...

Paul said...

You and the Stormtroopers is a fav pic of mine....of you as it says "Yes I am having a fucking blast!"

Paul said...

You are quite incredible london, maybe one day ill run across you randomly, be able to help you fix your broken down roadtrip mobile, cook you a meal when your broke, or take you midnight kayaking. Im gonna work on manifesting that. Meeting smart, driven, conscious people who are chasing their dreams is rare!

paul (oly,wa)

vikingman said...

Third time I get to read Your lovely, very descriptive picture ot BM !

New and thrilling all the time.

Makes me want to be there too, this year you managed to describe the essence of BM, as far as I can judge,hope You don't mind some quotes?

"... Everything is Free. No currency. Kindness and bartering. Not a hippie culture - an eclectic crowd.

...Burning Man creates a culture that should exist in every day life.... Everyone helps their neighbor! Respect for the weird and the outrageous! Breaking out of the box. Life full of art and hugs.....
...I strive for the way that I feel at Burning man. I bottle it up and encompass it for my everyday life...."

Last year I started thinking about joining it sometime, being one of those volunteers that set it all up and pack it in afterwards, sometimes...

Thank You for sharing all this ,
so much warmth and light in between Your lines.
Have a good trip there!
Awaiting new impressions and pics from this year !!

hugs from the North

[ b ] e c k e r said...

hey london, i am leaving for BM tonight. i'd love to shoot with you out there. i'll be at a theme camp called Camp Photon at between 7:00 & 7:30 and Adapt. follow me on twitter @thebecker so i can DM you.

London Andrews said...

On my way to Vegas this afternoon! Tomorrow night we will be driving into Black Rock. You should see the car - we can barely see out the windows, we have so much stuff!

Vikingman! Where have you been! How is life on the other side of the world!?

Hope someday everyone who reads this blog and announces,"I live vicariously through you.". Makes it to the Burn.

Look me up in the computer database at center camp! I should be camped near 8 and Chaos... Maybe 8 and Biology. *hugs*

PD said...

Well, you have been jacked up for this for a while. Hope you & the gang have a great time. Can't wait to hear about it.

You're right, great to hear from our favorite Viking again!

Live it up London!
:)

vikingman said...

Thanks so much for this warm "welcome back" !

(London and PD !)

PD, like Your new picture much better than the old one! All the best to You!

Where have I been?
Busy travelling 800 miles for long weekends, up and down Norway, dating a lovely Lady.Spring and summer. Receiving her at my house, holidays...

Finding in the end,sth stopped somewhere, not good, not loving, so strange.no explanation.same feeling in her.
Found later that head and body were drawn towards her, the heart said "no", quite soon,and repeated, but I ignored it, every time.
Needed to learn that the heart can not be ignored in the longrun,
needed to learn that I can not give up my lovely place in the woods beside the river,my friends here, my job, though I thought, if it matched, I would...
Know now, that my PLACE is here.

Lovely summer anyway, discovered I can not only manage dogs and cats, but horses as well!
Maybe I 'll have one eventually!
New impulses for my house and now, with a healed 100% ok knee, some kitchen and lounge building, before the snow comes.
Maybe in October or November.

All was worth it.
Got all talked over afterwards, been an eye-opener for both of us, good to have experienced it for future life.
No hurt feelings anymore,all tidied up,
life goes on, strengthened and happy and HERE, in the valley of my dreams!

Again Coelho has proved right:

Listen to Your dreams and listen to Your heart!

( Hint hint, wasn't someone dreaming about making a trip to London, sometime...., hint hint????)

forgive me !!

Have a safe trip to BM today!

My heart says, we'll make it there sometime in the future!

Envying you, as always!!

SJRene said...

I have seen storm troopers before... but they never looked so good! I always said, one day I will go, but it is going to take some planning for me, because I do not want to go as a spectator, I want to DO something... and you gotta do it with chutzpah at BM!

Anonymous said...

it is all about keeping it real =]