What is Burning Man?

I added a countdown up there near the title there for the much-anticipated event of the year (in my life, anyway). Of my four regular readers, most of you know what Burning Man is, but it occurred to me that the random reader passing through may have no idea. I only learned of it myself two years ago and since then, it has changed everything. Here's the long and short of it.

Short version:

It's a week-long art festival and experiment in community that takes place during the last week of the summer at Black Rock City, Nevada.

Detailed version:

It's a high-energy gathering of artists, intellectuals and nonconformists in the scorching heat of the Nevada desert, where temperatures drop to the freezing point at night. Radical inclusion and radical self-reliance are necessary to survive this event, which draws more than 35,000 people to this temporary city. There's no running water or electricity (unless you bring it), no public trash cans, and no driving (unless you have a mutant vehicle). Best of all....No cell phone coverage, hooray! There is a daily paper, an alternative weekly and dozens of radio stations. There are thousands of bicycles. Participation is highly encouraged, in whatever form you can offer. Some people build gigantic structures to house their campmates, others create interactive sculptures, while others serve strangers champagne and oysters. Commerce and spectators are forbidden.



It's an annual escape from the mind-numbing structure of daily life, filled with amazingly beautiful art, inspiring performance, and nonstop absurdity. The event, which has been happening for 20 years now, has caused a counterculture movement to keep the Burning Man experience alive beyond the event, every day of the year. The concepts that overflow from the event into our everyday lives are:

• Anybody can be an artist.
• Creativity and spontaneity should be part of your everyday routine.
• Watching out for others is more important than getting ahead.
• If people work together, the world can be a better place.

For me, the experience is about diving into a huge pool of authentic entertainment and pure creativity. Every day of the week, you will see original art that absolutely blows your mind, including a man-powered, life-size ferris wheels roaming the playa to hundreds of intricately designed ornate art cars to, of course, the collapse of the 40-foot burning man. You don't hear or see advertisements; there's no corporate involvement. You aren't bombarded with news about Jenifer Aniston's not-so-recent breakup, and you don't have to be force-fed ColdPlay or those creepy iPod silhouette people.

There's no repression whatsoever. Wanna be a unicorn? Okay! Public nudity? Sure! You can dance, dress and act like a total freak, and no one will ever call you weird or strange. Best of all, you constantly interact with the most hilarious, brilliant, generous, open-minded, talented people you've ever met.



For one week only, I get to exchange everything that makes this world ugly--politics, celebrity worship, propaganda, and consumerism--for life in a neon and fire-decorated city run by volunteers, where I can enjoy free pancakes and booze every morning while watching naked people dance to Prince on a giant bus that's painted like a penis. While I'm there this year, I'll be keeping a journal of some of my experiences and I'm going to post snippets to this blog.