Playa
In 1996, I went to Burning Man with a tape recorder over my shoulder to do a story for Salt Lake's local NPR affiliate. I talked to the guy who drove the Frozen Bug Van, tripped-out ravers, the cops policing the event, the people wallowing in the mud pits, the lady who ran the free chai tent ...
Unfortunately, sand got into my equipment - hard to avoid out there - and the footage was half-ruined and impossible to edit. Maybe that was all for the best; I'm glad I went. There is a great power in 1). participating in something larger than yourself, even if it involves dust storms and the occasional drunken dumbass; 2). experiencing the liberation of a gift-based, rather than monetary, economy. That, to me, was the most radical part of Burning Man, rather than the pyrophilia. But of course, the fireworks are fun too.
If you've ever been curious about Burning Man, you can take a vicarious peek at the festival tomorrow night, when St. Louis' Burning Man Community presents a prerelease screening of Laurent Le Gaul's documentary, Burning Man: Voyage in Utopia at Mad Art Gallery (2727 S. 12th St.) Doors open at 8pm, with a screening at 8:30, followed by a 10pm Q&A. The event will double as a meet-and-greet with the local "burn" community (and there's a fire spinning showcase as well, natch).
From Free Run Pictures, producers of the documentary:
"The purpose of this documentary, through our extraordinary voyage, is to analyze the conventions, commitments and syndromes of this event, which became a movement. Burning Man is a schizophrenic testimony of an American society where liberty, tolerance and individualism often live side by side with competition, totalitarianism and commodification. It will illuminate for us the hidden face of 'the man who burns.'"
And on a completely unrelated note: really pleased to have discovered Mississippi River Girl, a wonderful little blog written by Lori, who posted a comment here - which is how I found my way to her blog (I like her motto: "Think Outside the Arch.") Take a look at her page. The moss graffiti is especially cool ...
