Burning Man Hell
Wednesday, August
28
"Always
carry drinking water, sun protection,
a flashlight,
highway flares, & warm clothing 
or blankets in
your vehicle."
Thursday, August
29
10:30
am
caravan
two
vans loaded
lawn chair,
umbrella, inflatable mattress, sleeping bag, pillow
70 gallons water, paper towels, baby wipes, toilet tissues
bowls, plates, knife, fork, spoon, wine, mushrooms, sweet rolls
peanut butter, jelly, coffee, eight cans of tuna, lettuce, tomato,
bread
Diet Pepsi, peanuts, pretzels, biscotti, sun block, ear plugs,
flashlight
candles, hat, Chapstick, garbage bags, can opener, 4 bicycles
Tiki
torches
*
Vet in beat
diesel van, surfboard on roof
Tree Trimmer, beer in hand, ready to party
Publisher in Giant's baseball cap, flowered shirt in new Astrovan
Poet, knee torn blue jeans, bulging-eyed cartoon face T-shirt
of "Manic Poet"
Journalist, straw hat on long gray hair, orange suede Nike sneakers
look for ATM,
dry ice, pasta in Oakland
Talk
Radio: "getting too popular. 10,000 expected"
Bay Guardian:
"fire & nudity brings them"
bicycle shop, pick up
parts
11:30
am
Safeway
5 Middle-Aged Men In
Straw Hats
balding
*
"Burned up by the
fire of perfect knowledge"
Bhagavad Gita
*
"Brahman is the
oblation & the sacrificial fire"
Bhagavad Gita
*
70 gallons water
180
beers
150
pounds ice
Communicate
van to van by cellular phone
Negotiate mutual speed
*
Condoms
enough for three of us
One
*
Dream
that's
Zen
Highway 80 out of Oakland
*
Accident I-80
People stand quietly
by
*
"I feel like the
missing link"
Neanderthal
Man
Hippie man
First man
Evolutionary blip
Hey man!
Crow man
Magpie Man
Crowbar Man
45 Magnum man
Deee-man & main man
Burning Man
*
Black Rock Desert
alkali flat
"Largest mammoth
ever discovered in North America
was
found at the edge
of this basin"
Craig Breedlove
wants to break speed record in jet engine car
"Use caution when
turning at higher speeds.
Tires will not slide
on the alkali & vehicles will roll over"
Omar Sosa, Cuban classical
jazz piano on car stereo
Two
vans race through Sierra Nevada alpine forest
lose
each other looking for gas
outside
Reno
*
Out of Eden,
looking for Evil
Home of Nevada
factories
where they manufacture
the odds
High desert furnace blasts
open windows
Exit 43--Pyramid Lake
1 mile
Stop piss on roadside,
find road signs, steal two
Darwin takes NORTH
Manic Poet takes ALT
Alternate
Route to karma, don't know what's left anymore
*
Charon (Publisher)
Desert boatman
drives north 447 to Gerlach
Altitude 4,000 feet
Tumbleweeds
Pyramid Lake
Oasis in hell of Great
Basin
Deserts burnt sienna
pinnacles
More vans on highway
caravan
Sign: Limbo
Sign: "Jesus is
Lord"
Sign: Town of Empire
Sign: Jalisco Bar
hot springs
casino
United States Gypsum:
"Building America"
*
Fork off Gerlach, Highway
34, 12 miles
"flat expanse of
Black Rock Desert is on right.
Near
12-mile mark you should see a 24" white dot on
the
asphalt to your right & a vehicle parked several
yards
off the road. This vehicle will be marked with
the
Burning Man Symbol. (If you can no longer see
the
alkali flat on your right, & are driving through
hills,
you've gone too far-- turn back). At this point,
leave
the asphalt of Highway 34, & drive past
Burning
Man vehicle. Follow this dirt road until you
arrive
at Black Rock. Black Rock Station will be
a
small silver trailer parked next to our check-in gate
Here
your ticket will be verified."
Not Lollapalooza
Not
Woodstock
Not
Rainbow Gathering
10 years ago, Baker Beach
First Burning Man forgets
broken heart, burns effigy, attracts friends
..Now it's a habit
Buy $40 ticket
White Out
Two vehicles side by
side ride blind 50 mph
Shout, hoot, wave arms,
hang out sunroof . . .
*
Look for Mudhenge:
"Looming mud monoliths
imprinted with the forms of writhing
human bodies will enclose
a primal mud pit.
Worship here & wallow
daily.
Bathe between the legs
of Water Woman.
NOTE: In order to enjoy
her waters you must get down in the mud."
Camp
between Mudhendge & Drum Camp
Listen
to those drums!
Real men put up tents
I inflate air mattress
under tarp
Pilar
camped beside us
turns out to be girlfriend
of my friend back home
"what does it mean?"
At corner of ALT &
NORTH
Blown up king-sized red
mattress under Tiki lamplight
*
I eat mushrooms
Pilar invites me to Rave
Camp
Laser pulse clear night
psychedelic techno music
Dogs bark, people play
Frisbee
Don't know what time
is
(vomit) mushrooms (vomit)
sweat chills
I'm going to die
Campsite of 20 year olds
Dgereedoo dread-lock
suburban white boy
gives
me Reality Check on Transcendental Meditation
but no blankets
(vomit) (vomit)
Want to go to hospital
no one will take me
Digereedoo calls me fuddy-dud
Pilar puts her finger
in my nose
Wants me to stop being
sick so we can go rave
(vomit & vomit)
Pilar shoves banana down
my mouth
Dgereedoo: "Imagine
yourself between fire & universe"
Want to break his fucking
neck
Dancing
around fire desert plays
(vomit)
Can't go forward can't
walk back
I'm
bumming him out so he takes me to
Rocky
Ranger medical tent
Interrogates & lectures
"Are
you afraid of dying?"
Yes
"You need to accept
death,"
But I have a five year
old
"That's a problem
. . ."
*
2 hours medical tent
Niacin,
water
Consoled
by experts in paranoid hallucinations
Body
will survive if I can take care of my head
Flatulence
Think back 5 years ago
Sequoia Mushrooms when I left my body
Veterinarian
says, as a doctor, it's his educated opinion one can't go out
of body
I
guess he learned this from speaking to dogs and cats
*
Lake Bed campground
Desert
heat wakes me
In
sleeping bag, shoes on
Chills
gone, emotional hangover, but renewed
*
Tattooed, naked people
bicycle campground
Sun-blocked,
sun-glassed, lip glossed
Drink
water
*
Circle of Drums
*
Motorcycles crash through
campground
Dust
clouds trail the blue horizon
*
Blue neon Burning Man
beacon towers over desert lakebed
Skull
& cross bone flags wave in midday haze
Journalist
peels kiwi with pocket-knife under umbrella
Drink lots of water
Shadows
gone
Worrying
Nirvana
Mushroom
toxin
*
Desert
Lawn Games
Badminton,
croquet, volleyball
*
Guy with tie-dye
"make love, not war" sign & water gun
Shoots me in
face to cool me
Give him apple
*
White Whalemobile
*
Drunk biker runs into
slow moving truck
Dead
on Tuesday
*
Plaster Phallus Wearing
Red Scarf
*
Man Reading Magazine
on Toilet Car
*
Geodesic Dome Tent. Pea
green parachute tent
Charon
plays conga drums
Tree
Trimmer cooks pancakes
Eat
three sweet rolls & apple
*
Silver Shark Car
*
rag, sheet, tarp, torn
shreds, crucifix
*
Stainless Steel Rocket
Car
*
Fireworks
Smoke
Bombs
Hang Gliders
Parachuters
*
Different Stages of Dawn
*
Black kites flutter high
Dust
clouds blow up
Woman in bubble wrap
bikini waves
*
Saturday morning
sunrise yoga
All night drums
greet morning sun
"Piss Clear"
alternative news arrives
"Black
Rock Gazette" official news
(not really anarchical
temporary city with nomadic zoning)
*
Lost Vegas
Roulette
No
numbers
Karaoke
Frank
Sinatra on ecstasy
Main
stage
*
Walk between
legs of neon Burning Man
Walk into Mud
Tower with Pilar
Dance with "Beyond
Race" techno, psychedelic, tribal rock
Barefoot &
naked hairy breast
Tattoo &
body paints
Another injury
Helicopter
dust storm evacuation
*
Morning
Coffee
*
Circus Man Crawls Through
Tennis Racket
*
8,000 people
107
degrees
Friday
Enter
Drum Free Zone erected after
All
night drum camp celebration
Sweltering Sani-Potties,
overflowing
Everyone does not get
laid here
*
Smiley Face Van
*
Post-apocalyptic,
Woodstock nirvana hell
(less hell than
good will)
Philosophical
evolution of 60's happenings
Institutionalization
art form
Burning Man,
non-movement movement
Flashback vomit alkali
dark
Transcendental
Meditation & tantric yoga
Vomit
on sun baked & tiled clay
Couple
handcuffed dance around fire
Mostly heterosexual
Mostly monogamous
green iguana from Amazon,
maybe Honduras, on leash gathers crowd
*
Ambulance Sirens
*
Showers $3
Open
stalls MASH style
Naked men & women
Flags, banners
Red
Cross, ski camp
Flames, crucifixes, confessions,
grace . . .
"Is that the beach
over there, mama?"
No,
it's like this everywhere
no water, alkali dust
. . .
Blue Collar hides behind
romance labor
Middle
Class behind security status quo
Nouveau
Riche behind manifest destiny & success
Bourgeoisie
behind educational contributions
Upper
Class behind stone circle money
Underclass
can't hide
*
Unicyclist in Red, White
& Blue Crash Helmet
*
Bicyclists stir
at 4 pm, gathering in packs howling
wheel around not yet
Burning Man
Saturday afternoon
sunset
*
BANANA BICYCLE
*
Tarps flap wind
flap
flap
flap. . .
Pilar in banana bike
wants picture
Smile
Pilar!
Sandstorms
Dust
Devils
*
Skeleton with Cow Skull
on Cart
*
Sunrise
Sunset
Screaming revelers howl
around burning neon Burning Man
Orange
smoke
Firecrackers,
drums, chanting . . .
What did I miss?
Which
ticket did I get for how many events?
Occasion
of meeting, this gathering . . .
Darwin Meets Eurydice
In Hell
Meant to Be
Soul Mates
Meant to Happen
Serendipity
Synchronicity
Déjà vu
(at least)
Morning chill
Sun slow warms face
Hot Air Balloon goes
up 5am
Afterdark porn movie
projected on side of truck
Like
drive-in movie
Man in moon above all
night blow jobs
Buckaroo
walking
barefoot, carries boots with fiancee
Someone
stole his truck
Announcement :"If
Playa not clean the Man will not burn!"
*
Loren, red hair, San Francisco girl
Ready
to rock, kick back, works administration
Beer,
pot, cigarettes, 6 am
Born
Feb 12, Aquarian, water sign, born spacey
Darwin: I finally met
someone who has same problems
(being Aquarian is burden,
we have to be fair)
*
Mosaic Car of CD'S, Cones, Beads Pulls
Man on Desert Skateboard
*
Water
Great
Basin, stretches Nevada to Utah
Bicycle with flame adorned
box
Quotes
Lord Byron invites deposit burdens within
For
burning . . .
MTV tent
Lake Lahontan, created
Pleistocene epoch
Clovis
people
Then
Northern Piutes
*
"The Arrival of
Empress Zoe" created & produced by Pepe Ozan
"Here in the desert
we will tell the story of the arrival
of a soul in hell."
Burning Man's first opera
"a
hell of a story depicting the saga of a soul's journey from
birth
to death"
"Big Mantra Sing
Along"
"Centerpiece
of Opera is a series of fire Hingham towers."
"phallic tubes constructed
of re-bar, mesh & mud
with
a vagina-like opening in the base."
Two men chained to empty
box
Thrash
around burning towers
Crowd
chants: "Fire Unite, Satan Tonite"
(Buzz Kill!)
*
This is the real thing
Oh
my god!
*
Sunday
1) 5 Rave camps 4 miles
into dark
Lasers
Tent
Projections
2) Burning Man
Blue neon edifice, procession,
drums
Hay
bales burning
Explosions
Burning
Man burning down
3)Mudhenge
Burning
People
run flaming pillars
Two
collide, one falls into flame
Second
degree burns
(Fire
Chief interviewed: "The vibe was strange Saturday
night. It concerned me.
But it settled down on Sunday.
The burning went off
well. Best yet.")
4)Drum Camp
Bridge into camp burned
Drums
okay
5)Fires
Everywhere,
apocalyptic campgrounds
Like
fall of Saigon
Drums
thunder
Traveling
bands, howling
Tricksters
scream burn it, burn it, burn it!
Redneck kicks burning
hay bale
Spray
of orange embers
"How many times
in life ya gonna get a chance to do this?"
Darwin: One
night visitors for Labor Day festivities shift vibes
This was never meant
to be for spectators
There's
no art without spectators
*
Tripping to oblivion
& there we were
Sand expanse of Lake
Lahanaton & stars
Labor
Day
Bunch
of fucking freaks in dirt"
Burning
things
Redefinition
Christian concept hell
"Drastic Beauty,
Tender Fury"
*
Bicycle Playa
*
Hot
Springs John Casey's place
$5
entrance
Excavated
for mercury mine
Muddy
hot pools, marsh grasses
Rolling
into valley by rocky