More on Burning Man Moving to the Mid-Market Neighborhood

According to this post from the SF Bay Guardian Politics Blog, the deal to move Burning Man HQ into the Warfield building at Market and 6th has fallen through, but Larry Harvey, BM head honcho, says "We are determined to move into the mid-Market area . . . The city has been telling us and proving it with their actions that they really want us down there." Let's hope it works out; as I said in my previous post on the matter, having BMHQ in the heart of the city would be both an acknowledgment of the role that BM has played in shaping The City's culture, as well as making a difference in a part of The City that really needs it. As Harvey is quoted as saying in the blog post, "If we can get a foothold down there, those are the values [self-expression, community collaboration, and a decommodified gift economy] that we would demonstrate. We're nobody's window dressing and we never will be,” Harvey said. “We want to find common cause with the resident population. We know what it's like to break into a community and win people's trust.”

Burning Man on Market Street?

From Hank Drew at the San Francisco Public Press comes word that the Burning Man Arts Organization is considering a move from its HQ in China Basin to the Warfield Theater building at 6th and Market:

The group that builds a temporary city of more than 40,000 creative vagabonds at the end of each summer is in talks to move into the nine-story early 20th century Warfield Building, at Market Street where Taylor and Sixth streets converge

As I've said many times in the past, Burning Man, as both an organization and event, contributes more to the life of The City than most people realize. If you've ever been involved with a camp, large or small, you know how that kind of cooperative undertaking brings together a very diverse group of people, and creates a bond between them, and other participants, that goes well beyond those few days in August. Bringing the organization to mid-Market would not only provide some potential relief for the blight in that area, but would also make a statement about the values and ideas that are at the literal heart of San Francisco's civic life, and would be an acknowledgment of Burning Man's role in promoting them.

Paul Addis Pleads Guilty to Arson Charge for Burning the Man at Burning Man

I heard a rumor last night, but today The Laughing Squid confirms that Paul David Addis has pled guilty to arson in the burning of The Man at Burning Man last year. I guess he and his lawyer realized that the whole cutesy story about a covert operations group, which Addis concocted out of his Hunter S. Thompson fantasies, wasn't going to cut it in front a jury. Now he's looking at one to four years in a Federal pen (because he committed the crime on Federal land), and has to fork over $25,000 in restitution.

Update: Apparently the charge Addis pleaded guilty to was not arson, but destruction of private property.

Event Review: Camp Zoom Fundraiser, Oasis in Oakland

Saturday was a solid Burning Man day for me, the boyfriend, and J, who, along with our friend Tari, will be on the playa as Pixel Zombies. We went over to the little park at Corona Heights to set up a tent on loan to us (and had a typical BM experience of trying to put up a giant sail in a high wind and having it almost take off on us, resulting in a bent support leg), then that night we went to Oasis in Oakland, where Lord Kook was on the DJ bill as party of a party to raise money for Camp Zoom. I was a little leery of the whole affair at first – it was, after all, in Oakland – but it came off as a wonderful affair that reminded all of us why we enjoy Burning Man culture so much in the first place.

Oasis put me in mind of the bars I used to frequent in the South, in that it is obviously geared toward outdoor entertaining. There was a small bar and dining room on the inside, but the main action was on the large concrete patio area, which had a fully-equipped DJ booth, another bar, a lounge area, and a BBQ grill. It was a pretty chilly night, but that just meant that everyone in Burning Man gear was already well prepared. The theme was Superheroes on Vacation, which is a pretty easy them to interpret, costume-wise. I wore a studded leather visor cap with stand-up doggie ears, a lot of chains, and some military-looking clothes, and was Junkyard Dog, proud defender of the gay community (my superpower was the ability to paralyze my enemies with noxious fumes, while my vulnerability was being easily distracted by big bones). Honestly, all anyone had to do was put on a mask and a cape, or some crazy outfit, and they looked like a superhero.

The odd wrinkle in all of this was the regulars who showed up and at first wandered around looking very bemused. I was a little concerned about how they would mix with the Burning Man freaks, but by the end of the evening everybody was smiling and dancing together, and the bar owner was talking to his staff about what a “beautiful party” it was.

The musical surprise of the evening came from DJ J.C., who played a truly amazing, flawless set (two sets, actually) of straight-up techno into some pretty funky hard trance. I never got his full story, but there was something about him knowing folks involved with creating the series Lucy, Daughter of the Devil (which is produced in San Francisco), and the character of Jesus the DJ being based on him – not only did he have the Jesus look down, and those stand-out intitials, but he also did have some of the “greasy charisma” of that character. We hope to bring him to FSLD real soon.

The party was supposed to end at 2, but at 3AM we still had a moving dancefloor. Things finally shut down around 3.30 because we were all just too exhausted to keep going, but it was probably the best small party I’ve been to in ages. Keep your eyes peeled for more small Burning Man camp fundraisers, as they are certain to present pleasant surprises and re-awaken your empathy for San Francisco freak culture.

And So It Begins: Burning Man Tickets Go On Sale Today

If you didn't already know that Burning Man tickets went on sale today at 10AM PST via the Burning Man website, then I'm afraid you're probably already out of luck. Like many people across the nation I was anxiously hitting the reload button on my Web browser between 9:59 and 10:00 AM this morning, and when I finally saw the load progress bar hesitate I knew I was getting into the system, only to find that there were already 1083 people in front of me when it finally loaded. Then it was a matter of watching the 60 second countdown and the slow decrease of numbers until finally, at 10:44, it was down to three people in front of me. Finally I got in, paid $210 for two tickets, plus a $10.50 convenience fee, and another $12.50 for secure delivery (yes, tickets do get stolen in the mail), for a grand total of $442.50.

I wouldn't have been so anxious to get tickets when they first went on sale if I didn't know that, by tomorrow, all the "cheap" tickets will be gone. The thing about Burning Man tickets is, even if you're not completely sure that you'll be going eight months from now, you might as well buy them so you can get them for the cheapest possible price, and if you don't go, it's not like you'll have any difficulty selling them when the actual date rolls around. Thus, the mad, server-crashing frenzy that ensues the instant they go on sale.

So, will the boyfriend and I be going? The answer to that question depends somewhat on whether or not he can get time off from the porn studio sweatshop where he works. But, as we didn't get to go last year, I think we're pretty primed for going this year, and now that the tickets have gone on sale and Burning season has begun, it's hard to not get swept up in the excitement and anticipation. I guess soon it will be time to start thinking about gear, and, more importantly, outfits.

The Ethics of Destruction

Judging by comments I've started to receive from my post below, I've aligned myself with the "uncool kids" by thinking that there was something wrong with the actions of Paul Addis at Burning Man. I considered responding in depth in the comments, but given that today marks the anniversary of another event that provoked world discussion through the destruction of an iconic structure, it seems that this might be a great opportunity to discuss the ethics of destruction.

Let me state my position clearly: I think what Paul Addis did was wrong because it was an action filled with contempt for the work of others, that it was nihilist rather than artistic, and because it threatens the principle of mutual respect that makes radical community possible. This is completely separate from what I feel about Burning Man as an event (which I recognize has issues it must deal with), what I think of Larry Harvy or the Burning Man organization (with which I have had only slight interaction), or how I feel about "The Man" itself as one iconic structure among the many in the world.

Let's start by talking about The Man as an object. Though others obviously disagree, I see it as something that was created by a group of people, who invested their labor into it, and who had an intention for it. You may try to argue that it was a "craft" and not "art," and you may argue that, because it is serially reproduced year after year, it is also not art. This is all pure semantics, and has no bearing on the fact that people worked to create it, invested it with intention, and saw it, in some way, as a personal expression of what they were giving to the community. Those who created the man were acting as participants, which, supposedly, is what is most valued by all members of the Burning Man community.

This object, however, is also imbued with iconic meaning. For many, it is a negative icon, symbolizing everything that they think is wrong with Burning Man. For years people, mostly those who see themselves as part of the older, more authentic Burning Man experience, have talked about burning it early in a symbolic act of defiance. So after many years of talking about destroying this symbol, someone does it, and is instantly acclaimed "a hero" by people like Chicken John Rinaldi and others who consider themselves part of the original Burning Man experience.

Those who find this act praiseworthy seem to take the position that what Addis did was an act of radical self-expression, that the intent was to make a statement about art, about the corporate nature of Burning Man, about the loss of spontaneity at the event, etc. But all of this ignores the nature and intent of the act itself. I can do many things that are provocative and make a statement about something - I can blow up a building, paint swastikas on a church, or slash a painting in a gallery - but just because they provoke a discussion and make a statement doesn't make them ethical. The consideration of the ethical dimension of Addis' act is what has been completely left out of all these discussions, as though the intent justified the means.

It is obvious from Addis' various statements, most notably the one that appeared on Laughing Squid, that he holds all those who are not part of the original Burning Man experience in contempt, an attitude shared by many others. It is also obvious, from his action itself, that he holds the work invested in the object of The Man in contempt - it is something worthy only of being destroyed. Thus it seems to me that Addis acted out of a general contempt for the experience and work of others. In my view, this makes his action unethical.

But what about it as a prank, about it being in the spirit of the original Burning Man experience? For me, a prank is like what John Law did with The Man in 1997, the year of the Smiley Face. John Law also has taken a very critical stance toward Burning Man, and wanted to make a statement about it. His statement was to *create* something of his own that commented on Burning Man - in other words, he created art. And this is where Addis' act is completely different, in that it was only about destruction. Destruction isn't art, it's nihilism.

Finally, what did Addis' action accomplish? Judging from the commentary on this and other online forums, it has only caused even more polarization and factionalizing in the Burning Man community, a hardening of already opposing positions that will now be even more difficult to resolve; thus, instead of bringing about a synthesis, of provoking dialogue between these various factions, Addis has only succeeded in breaking apart the community even further.

When our community begins to hold someone like Paul Addis up as a "hero," I think we have truly lost our way, because it means that our heroes are nihilists who are incapable of creation, only destruction. Addis' action may be seen as an act of "radical self-expression," but it is self-expression that is completely devoid of any respect for the labor of others, their intents, and their expression. If that's our hero, then we are deep trouble, and I think that the values of our alternative community are no longer viable, because we have lost the main quality that makes community possible: mutual respect.

Last night the boyfriend pointed out to me how ironic it was that this is all taking place during the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, another moment in time when it seemed that the alterative community was poised to make real changes in the world. But that moment collapsed for many of the same reasons that the Burning Man community now seems to be collapsing, a victim of its own success, with in-fighting over issues of authenticity, how to manage a community that has grown well beyond its original members, how to keep its values alive when they are being disseminated on a massive scale. What has been most striking to me in all of this is how whether or not you agree with Addis' action seems to have become the mark of whether or not you are an authentic Burner, whether you are part of the despised establishment or can count yourself as a true participant, one of the heads. I think that what David Addis did was wrong because it was unethical, because it did not respect the labor and intent of others, and because it was based on a general contempt for all those not part of an in group; if that means I'm not an authentic Burner, I can live with that.

Hatin' the Hatin'

I dunno what it is about long weekends - drinking too much, eating too much, toking too much, or just the feeling that it's all too little, really, the taking of a short break out of the usual dull grind of default life - but somehow I usually wind up feeling a little tired and deflated after them. Today I came into work with really nothing to do (a situation that I actually dread), and so have wound up reading blogs and articles and other online ephemera related to last week's major events at Burning Man, and have come away feeling a bit worse for it all. The problem is that I've grown quite tired of the culture of hate that has come to surround that event, and which seems to have permeated so much of the conversation about anything that takes place in San Francisco.

The hate around Burning Man starts first with Mr. Paul Addis himself, whose statement is full of absolute contempt for all those "swine" he has come to see as spoiling his good time; then there is the commentary from "old guard" Burners such as Summer Burkes who whole-heartedly congratulate Addis on his move and join right in with their own contemptuous screeds. But then you spin it around, and you can find comment after comment on SFGate where all "burners" are hated upon just as hard as the in-crowd hates all the "ravers."

I probably wouldn't be quite so down about all this hating if it wasn't for the fact that I'm one of those people getting hated on from every side; I'm one of those johnny-come-lately raver techno lovers who likes to dress up and make costumes that are the absolute antithesis of the "real" burners like Addis and Burke, as well as an employee of a technology company who makes okay money and is just a "weekend hippy" as characterized by other haters. I guess being gay should be enough to get me used to being hated by complete strangers for reasons having to do more with their own preconceptions than anything I've actually ever done, but somehow that hasn't inured me to the general wilting influence of being hated on.

I would like to think that all this hate seems so abundant just because I've encountered it on blogs, where hating is easy and an obvious way to get attention. Sometimes I think what blogs have really done, rather than opening up utopian dialogues, is to just let all that bile flow when it normally would have festered unnoticed. But so much of San Francisco culture, right now, seems to be about polarizing opinions and attitudes, where you're either in or out, you get it or you don't, you're one of them or one of us. And somehow, I always seem to be attracted to the wrong pole; it's not really much fun to see how many perjoratiave characterizations that have been throw around in the past few weeks could be applied to me. After all, I am one of those people with a technology industry job who looks forward to Burning Man and other events as opportunities to refresh my view of myself and the world, which makes me a yuppie weekend hippy who should just go back to making money for my corporate masters.

I think that all this polarizing hate is a symptom of what San Francisco is going through right now, as it transitions from having been a sleepy counter-cultural city to one of the four richest cities in America. Everybody is feeling pressure in the housing market, everyone is worried about their futures, everyone is worried about what the city is becoming; that Burning Man becomes a stand-in for the city of San Francisco as it undergoes its own growing pains should probably not come as any real surprise. Look at the invective being hurled by the old-skool Burners against what Burning Man has "become" and you can see the same worries about how San Francisco is being overtaken by monied classes and changed into something more corporate and less progressive than it used to be.

It's Tuesday afternoon after a long holiday, and I'm tired; tired of the polarization, tired of the hating, tired of feeling that the life I'm trying awfully hard to live in a way that brings me happiness and security is an ongoing object of derision by people who don't even know me. I hope that sometime soon all this hating might turn unfashionable, and that people will discover that they can use public forums as a means for interacting with others in civil ways that engender mutual respect; in the meanwhile, though, I'm afraid that the assholes will rule, because it seems so much easier to think that being an asshole is about being strong and honest and true, about living up to a macho ideal, than to see it for narcissistic sneer of contempt that it really is.

Burning Man Suicide Committed at Comfort and Joy

Last night at Trans Am I ran into a fellow Comfort and Joy campmate who told me he had been contacted by another campmate on the Playa who told him that the suicide at Burning Man had been committed at Comfort and Joy. This morning I got confirmation though the SFGate Burning Blog that this indeed was the case and that the suicide, who was not a member of C&J, had hung himself from a beam in the tent that housed a small public gym. According to our campmate on the playa, the suicide hung himself in the early morning, and people passing by had thought that it was a mannequin or dummy. According to the SFGate, people had been using the gym while the body hung there, also not realizing that it was real. Though many many wonder how you could have a dead body hanging above you and not realize that it was real, I can only say that, among the many surreal things you might expect to see at Burning Man, a suicide by hanging is not one of them, and I'm sure people were much more ready to believe that it was a fake rather than real.

PLEASE SEE THE UPDATE POST

Why, with the hundreds of camps and structures at Burning Man, did this had to happen in one belonging to Comfort and Joy? My first thought was that perhaps the vicitim was drawn there by the name itself, and that his choice of camps was intended as a statement. Once the victim is identified I hope that some of this will be figured out. Meanwhile, I can only wonder what my campmates are going through right now, and I hope that that they are finding ways to deal with this experience.

Thoughts on the Burning of the Man

Last night my friend Kitty and I had an interesting conversation about the premature burning of the Man - his first comment, via email, was "The Burner in me is pissed, but the asshole is laughing," a comment that really encapsulated the whole incident for me.

In thinking about this and dicussing it, there are a lot of issues that need to be sorted out - the individual actions of Paul Addis, the "comment" he made about Burning Man, the attitude of the former in-crowd (as exemplified by Addis' letter to the SFWeekly in 2002, the general moanings of the Piss Clear crowd, and many of the comments on SFGate about the story), and the general rise of Burning Man from a freakfest in the desert to what has now become an institution backed by a non-profit. My own take on all of this is that a) Addis is an asshole playing through on his Hunter S. Thompson fantasies b) his action nonetheless was insightful, provocative, and an accomplished bit of performance art c) the old-skool crowd will hold him up as a hero even though his actions will not, in any way, substantially change the things that they like to gripe about d) Burning Man has not, as so many would like to believe, "jumped the shark," but it is is facing some very serious questions about how it will configure itself going into the future. Let's break these down a bit, shall we?

A) Paul Addis is an asshole playing through on his Hunter S. Thompson fantasies
Everything Paul Addis has put into the public sphere - his 2002 letter to the SFWeekly editor, his account of messing with the cops and emerging triumphant in the SoMa literary review, his one-man show about Hunter S. Thompson, his statement on the Laughing Squid blog - lead one to the conclusion that he is simply another would-be macho stud in possession of an outsize ego that leads him to believe that he's the righteous one and all the rest of us are dunderheads. I'm sure he's the sort who would read Nietzsche and think that he's an ubermensch. That would probably be tolerable, if it wasn't for the fact that he basically destroyed something that had been created by other people, and for which they had other intentions. It might be perceived as an radcial act of self-expression, in, say, the manner or the Dadists or anarchists, but, in fact, many of those people were, at the personal level, assholes as well. Let's put this in the perspective of anarchism, however, since that's what so many people associate with Burning Man. Even in that perspective, he's an asshole. In The Temporary Autonomous Zone by Hakim Bey, the touchstone work for events like Burning Man, Bey draws an analogy for the TAZ with a dinner party, an analogy set up by another anarchist writer. The idea is that you create a space for people to come and interact in whatever way they choose, but a certain degree of mutual respect governs the proceedings. Now imagine that someone came to your dinner party and broke all the plates as "an act of radical self-expression." Maybe it would be a statement, but he would still be an asshole.

B) Despite being an asshole, Addis pulled off a provocative piece of performance art
Addis has single-handedly gotten everyone, here, there, and everywhere, to talk about the meaning of his action. That's the point of performance art, and in this respect, Addis has pulled off something significant. However, it was only through the destruction of something held dear to many other people that he accomplished this. I'm reminded of Stockhausen's comments on the destruction of the WTC: it was Satan's greatest work (I'm paraphrasing). Blow something up and people will talk about it; that doesn't mean it's a laudable, or ethical, undertaking.

C)All the old-skool people will hold him up as a hero, but it won't make any real difference
As I said originally, you can burn the man but you can't burn Burning Man. For years now the "original" people have been bitching and complaining about how Burning Man is now corporate, has all these rules, is filled with "outsiders," blah blah blah, and everybody points to 1997, the year of the smiley face, as the watershed year. Well, you know, you can't keep it all closed system forever, people, and when you tap into the the unconscious of the American people and provide them with a place to live out their fantasies once a year, they're going to come in droves. And when somebody dies at your event (as has happened on at least three occasions I know of), you realize that you need to protect yourself from getting the pants sued off you; hence, you form a Limited Liability Corporation. As an LLC it's also a lot easier to deal with government entities, like the BLM, with whom Burning Man is in a constant struggle for control. As for the rules, there are ten of them, and I don't see anything in here that prevents anybody from expressing themselves in whatever way they want, save for no guns, no driving, and no dogs. All the rest of it amounts to "don't be stupid and don't fuck things up." All the old-skoolers lament that they can't shoot guns, blow things up, or drive fast across the playa anymore; in short, they can't act like macho assholes anymore. Somehow I don't feel much sympathy for that position. What is perhaps most galling, however, is that what this all boils down to is the loss of insider, special club status for these people - they had somethign exclusive, and now they don't have it anymore. Yeah, there are a fair number of yahoos who show up every year, and I don't like them either, but there are also lots of people who work all year to come out there and do something special, and to reduce them all to "weekend hippies" is just bullshit. In many ways, the event is really a catalyst that brings people together for those other 51 weeks of the year - my own camp starts working in January, and it's that experience of working togther, and creating something out there on the playa, that is the essence of Burning Man for me. You can burn the man early, but that won't take away the experience that I, and so many others, have had.

d) Burning Man now faces some tough questions about its future
I think that this may be the event that serves as the break between the BM of the past and the BM of the future. You could already see that in the attempt to bring a socially active focus to the event this year. This seems like the last attempt on the part of the old-skool to make a statement about what they feel BM has become, and after this I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the guns, tits, and bombs crowd defect in a mass way - after all, now that one of their own has been busted and charged with felony arson, that would have to be seen as the biggest sell-out of all. It's a philosophic conundrum, and the BM organization doesn't have an easy way out; I'm pretty sure they don't really have a say in whether or not Addis is charged and tried, but they will be seen as violating their own tenet of radical self-expression when he is prosecuted. On the other hand, if Addis isn't prosecuted, they run the risk of opening the box for a beast they already barely have under control. I dunno what the solution is; it's going to require taking a very nuanced position, but I don't think the Hunter S. Thompson afficianados are really about nuance.

Meanwhile, check out the comments over at Laughing Squid.

Arson of The Man at Burning Man!

Holy shit, this is pretty messed up - according to newsblog on CNET.com, the Man at Burning Man was set on fire on Monday night by some "unauthorized" personnel. While the fire was put out, the Man was "irretrievably" burned.

This is pretty whack - while there have been grumblings for years that the Man should be burned on Wednesday, as a way aof discouraging all the "lookie lous" who show up for the weekend hoe-down, and I've even read vague threats of carrying through with this in that perpetual moan rag, Piss Clear, this is the first time someone has actually ever carried through with it.

Of course, the Board members and those involved with the man's construction seem pretty pissed. Here's a quote from the article:

. . . Crimson Rose, one of the six people on the Burning Man board that runs the event and the person in charge of the Man, said, on Com [the communications network used as part of the Black Rock infrastructure], "I want that asshole arrested....And I want the first shot."

I guess all the "old timer" resentment, coupled with the ongoing battle over the meaning of Burning Man (anarchist hoo-ha in the desert, or organized gathering of a tribal community), finally came to a head in all of this. I'm sure there will be significant repercussions, stay tuned and I'll post further developments as they come across the wire.

UPDATE 1: From Burners using Twitter at Burning Man:

ronjon:now reports it was electrical issue when they turned the Man off to watch the eclipse.

UPDATE 2: Photos and report on Laughing Squid.com
Conflicting information here, with reports of it being an electrical fire, and also that one person has been arrested and someone was seen at the leg of the man with a propane torch.

UPDATE 3: According to the San Francisco Chronicle it was officialy arson, with someone named Paul Addis being held and charged. Will he be deemed a hero or pariah? This should be real interesting to watch develop.

A little Google and we discover this 2002 Letter to the SFWeekly from one Paul David Addis, who apparently has quite a bone to pick with Burning Man. Here's an interesting quote:

Then there's Burning Man's control over both its participants and the expression they're allowed to realize. One by one the rules have risen since 1997, and not just to protect the participants from themselves. Those rules and judgments, such as what art is permitted in BRC and radical free expression's outer limits, are determined in line with what will make the most money for BM and generate the fewest potential controversies in the media. As such, Burning Man's overall relevance is kept safely within the realm of harmless diversion, quietly under the feet of the same elements that tame all other aspects of society.

Well, I guess we can count Mr. Addis as part of the "old-school" crowd. I hope Adrian and the rest of them over at Piss Clear are happy now, they certainly got what they wanted.

Ah, I love Google - here's a story written by Mr. Addis, published in the SoMa Literary Review, about fucking with cops. Hmmmmmm. Like most anti-authority stories it's mostly an ego trip exercise about how he gets power over The Man. I can hardly wait for the statements to the press. In his bio he describes himself as a "writer, poet, and performer," so I can fathom some guesses about what they will be like.

It just gets better - he also co-produced a one-man play entitled Gonzo: Brutal Chrysalis about Hunter S. Thompson this past Spring. Check it out, the photo credits are for Scott Beale of Laughing Squid, showing just how incestuous all this really is.

And now, the perp photo. Self-satisfied looking prick, isn't he? I guess the rule about not having firearms was finally just too much for him and impinged too much on his radical self-expression. Based on this photo I'm pretty sure he portrayed Hunter S. Thompson in the one-man play he produced. Maybe the acid just really kicked in and he decided he WAS Hunter S. Thompson:




Here's my final take, kids (well, not completely final, but my last word for this post):

You Can Burn the Man, But You Can't Burn Burning Man!

Perhaps we owe Paul "I REALLY wish I was Hunter S. Thompson" Addis a thanks for demonstrating this to us. Great job, Paul!

Upcoming Event: Afterglow Fundraiser for Comfort and Joy, Saturday June 23 (Pink Saturday)

Okay, I'll 'fess up that Comfort and Joy is my Burning Man camp (even though I'm not going this year), and myself (DJ Pup), Kitty (Neco D), and The Boyfriend (Lord Kook) are spinning the hooj choons for this party. So if you want to finally see the faces that go with the names, have a lot of fun dancing to synthpop, electrohouse, and minimal techno, catch some crazy drag antics, and maybe (maybe) get a little frisky, then by all means, come check it out:


More info on Comfort and Joy

UPDATE: We are thrilled, thrilled to announce the addition of the Honey Sound System (DJ Pee Play, Kenvulsion, and associates) to the DJ line-up. The boys will be coming on at 4AM for a tag-team chill match that will take us through to the rising sun of Pride Sunday. Wheeeeeee!

Upcoming Event: Opulent Temple Fundraiser at the Porn Palace, April 21

Oh, this looks like a winner, kids: Opulent Temple, one of the major Burning Man dance camps, is having their fundraiser at the Porn Palace on Jessie Street this Saturday. If I wasn't already booked in for other obligations I'd be totally down with this. Lots of breaks, trance, hardcore, house, and generally crazy dance music in a swell location.

Here's the line-up and details:

Carbon Community (Sober Music / Bless, Dallas TX)
Dutch (Thump / Opulent Temple)
Ethan Miller (Friends n' Family)
Aaron Jae (Evil Breaks / Space Cowboys)
Dirtyhertz (M Theory / Looq)
Evinrude (Space Cowboys)
Nathan Vain (Opulent Temple)
Cosmic Selector (Opulent Temple / Tech Support)
Sentient (Opulent Temple / Vaporvent Records)
Jason Knight (djjasonknight.com)
Jive (Fix)
Dex Stakker (Opulent Temple)
Billy Seal (Opulent Temple)

At the Porn Palace: 415 Jessie St. @ 6th. (across from Mezzanine)
10pm-5am

Please come in your sexy playa best.

Only $10-$15 sliding donation if you're looking playalicious,
$15-$20 sliding donation in street clothes

Burning Man Project: Steam Punk Treehouse

Just when I'm starting to feel oh-so-very over Burning Man I stumble upon this link to the Steam Punk Treehouse project for this year's "green" event. I just hope a) I can find it when I'm there, and b) I can find it before the hordes of yabbos arrive on Thursday.

Upcoming: Deep End Benefit at the End-Up 3/31

This Saturday, March 31st, the End Up will host a fundraiser for The Deep End dance camp at Burning Man. The best place to dance, roll, and get a sunburn on the playa:

Deep End Fundraiser at the End-Up

The Start of the Burning Season

Daylight Savings Time begins early this year, and, for me, so does the Burning seasion, with my Burning Man camp having had our first major planning meeting last night. We're still two months away from the How Weird Street Faire, the event that kicks everything off , but already the fundraisers are happening. This is it, kids, that time of year when San Francisco finally comes out of hibernation, you begin to feel a sense of anticipation in the air, and all the dealers start to stock up for their annual Burning Man Blowout Sale. So, if you hear of any good fundraisers, let me know, okay?