The Civilized Explorer Burning Man Web site provides information for the
experienced participant on the niceties of PVC vs. ABS, for the first time
participant on what to take, and for the more mature participant who needs some
pointers on how to survive hundred degree days in style. We provide Tales from
Black Rock, some of which are obviously the product of drug- addled paranoid
fantasies and some of which are decidedly accurate recollections of all too
real events; we leave you to distinguish between the two. We also have a ton of
photographs of mind- blown people, incredible art, alternative transportation,
and just plain folks.
For those who don't know, Moop Zombies are the people who do the clean up after Burning Man (moop is Matter Out Of Place, i.e., trash). Here are a few photos showing the length to which BMOrg goes to ensure no moop is left behind. All props to the DPW!
Links to events and parties year 'round -- fund raisers, work parties, art, and more, these parties take place all over the world. Use the calendar to find parties and to list yours for others to find.
You'll get a wide angle view of the playa with the layout of Black Rock City dimly etched on the surface. Drag the slider all the way up to the plus sign, and you should be looking at the comm vans. Click on the picture, then use your cursor arrows to scroll straight up to center camp, or use your hand grabber to drag the photo around.
The Civilized Explorer report on BM'96 and how persons of a, er, uh, more
mature age can survive and thrive in a desert with sensory overload. One
of the people pictured is top- free; profanity.
Now that you have been to Burning Man, you know you need to do it better next year. Here are a few hints and resources for making your personal Burn better.
When you are trying to leave after the event, things can fall apart: your battery may be dead, the car just won't start, flat tires -- things like that. Here's how to get help.
This has become a serious problem as the quality of the art has improved and so has the cost of the art. Although some of the artists may plan on burning their art on the playa, many of the works are permanent and will be shared with others off the playa. Please, leave the art alone. Read the heart-breaking damage done to works of love.
If you are flying to Burning Man, this page lists liquid-free alternatives for hair, body, and tooth care. Some are alternative, eco-friendly cleansers, and some are dried cleansers to which you add water.
BMOrg's very helpful section on health and safety. It explains what to do if you get hurt or sick while at Burning Man and some of the limitations of the on-site medical facilities. In addition to health, the links include information on fuel storage, food permits, asthma, diabetes, and pregnancies on the playa, and much more. Scan the menu bar on the right for helpful, informative links.
This group gets nowhere near the credit and praise it deserves. The San Francisco
Chronicl has an article on the volunteers doing relief work in Peru. Each person in
the effort makes a valued contribution; be sure to read about Rich and Sam.
People in Mississippi were stunned to learn that Burners Without Borders would demolish their houses for free. The going rate to knock down a house was in the neighborhood of ten grand; Burners Without Borders did a million dollars worth of demolition for nothing, collected up all the debris, made art out of it, then burned it. Great article in the September 5, 2006, edition of the Reno Gazette- Journal about how hard it is for normal people to get a handle on currency- free Burning Man. Read the whole article - it's great all the way through.
Great story on the DPW volunteers and the incredibly great job they do. There's also a tribute to the people going to the Burn: After the event, the DPW scours the playa and gets only enough trash to fill six 55-gallon drums. Twenty or thirty thousand people for a week, and that's all the debris left behind.
This is a Reno business that rents and sells new and used bicycles for Burners. Send an email or call early to reserve a bike; used rentals are harder to come by as the Burn approaches. Their location is not downtown, so be sure to ask about how to get there.
Drop by this tribe.net site for resources not only for bicycling, but recycling, clothing, and great imagery -- everything Burning Man stands for. Ride your bike at Burning Man.
This is an excellent site to get a handle on what Burning Man is like -- video, still photos, reports, along with road conditions, weather, and news reports about the local love/hate relationship with a large scale event on Black Rock.
A handheld portapotty. The Web page says it is unisex and nonspill. Do not drop it in a portapotty after use! Take it home with your regular trash. (They also sell a 5.7mm pistol which shoots a round capable of penetrating body armor at extended distances with a lead-free projectile to eliminate environmental concerns. We still don't want those projectiles laying around on the playa, however.)
We don't need no stinking generators. The Alternative Energy Zone has been at Burning Man
for years -- solar and wind power. Very helpful information and resources for books, desert
camping, designs, and suppliers. Lots of first person experiences and photos to make it all
virtually real.
Okay, so you think you need a stinking generator. Brad Templeton's page tells how to set yourself up so you're not as obnoxious as you could be. Lots of information on LEDs, 12V fluorescent lighting, and other options to cut down on your need for recharging your batteries.
This is the Black Rock Ranger guide, and it may give a year which has
passed, but don't worry -- the tips are timeless. Print it out, read it, take
it with you, and read it again.
Items with an * are printable -- helpful addresses and telephone numbers
for stores, restaurants, and hotels in and near Reno. Please!
Check these places out before you go; if 40,000 other Burners hit town before you do, these stores may have been emptied out.
Information where to stock up on supplies before the Burn: clothes, groceries, ice, and more. In addition to listing stores by type, we list them by freeway exit and by casino.
If you are flying into Reno or otherwise getting there without all the
gear you need, Reno Rentals will help you locate what you need. Aerial lifts,
water tanks, generators, light towers, and more!
Our cleverly titled page lists a few service stations in Lovelock, Winnemucca, Truckee, and Carson City which (during 2005 at least) had weekend hours.
Tons of gear you will not find anywhere else; located in Reno. Three pages with lots of photos, so be sure to read them all. TCS has been renovated, so shopping is a lot easier in 2005.
Photos of the Reno Transfer Station, where you can dump your load into the primordial ooze of time and watch it bulldozed into the maw of eternity; information on the Lockwood Landfill -- not as exciting as the RTS. UPDATED for 2007 recycling program.
The Civilized Explorer Travel Information Page on Nevada, and particularly
the Reno/Tahoe/Sparks area, with links the airport, restaurants, and places to
stay.
BURNcast has .m4a recordings by Burners about the Burn and other Burners. The files include not only sound, but links and images. BURNcast is up to about 4 dozen interviews (as of June 2007), and they are as varied as we Burners are.
Interview with BLM's Black Rock Desert National Recreation Area states that other groups are now held to a higher standard because the people of the DPW "do a phenomenal job of leaving no trace."
1999 saw a confluence of influence at Burning Man. Forbes ran an article on
the event and published its Big Issue IV, getting it all wrong. Muhammed
Ali got it right, though.
Yeah, right. One quote from the article: "Do not touch Mr. Harvey, do not
speak to Mr. Harvey, do not look at Mr. Harvey," a gunman shouted through a
megaphone. "Move along." A very good article on the trials and tribulations
of growth. Recommended.
The Bureau of Land Management has a Web site about Burning Man. Lots of
great photos, but it looks like there's a UFO in every one. Does anybody else
see this?
All Things Considered does Burning Man -- and gets it right. This is a
RealAudio report, about 8 minutes long, containing a brief interview with Larry
Harvey. Summary: Burning Man is about art, creativity, and freedom from
commercialism.
At last! An article that seriously covers the art at Burning Man. An
excellent article on the really hard work required to do art on the playa.
Highly Recommended.
First person stories on how to be an obnoxious jerk, how to alienate naked
women, how to fit in, and how to be a real human being while carrying a video
recorder.
How not to be a Yahoo at Burning Man. The articles are generally right on target when they nail the knuckleheads who are at the Burn to get, uh, well, you know. Explicit language, explicit illustrations, explicit directions on safe sex, manners among the naked, and radical self- expression.
The ultimate drug- addled tale of adventure in Nevada by Hunter S. Thompson, the ultimate gonzo journalist. If only he had covered BM. (John Waters, where are you?)
A set of photos of a Stromberg starplate building using tarp and aluminet. Ryan says he can put it up by himself with only a ladder and that the shelter fits in a car (6-foot trusses, though).
Bob Stahl's page has a serious discussion of structure security on
the playa. Tons of links to excellent resources. Be sure to follow the "here,
here, and here" links in his "Desert Storms" paragraph. Oh, and look at the
rest of his site, too. Recommended.
(A division of Odin, by the way.) This site features heavy duty tarps for
heavy duty commercial applications (clean rooms, trailer covers for debris,
landfill covers). Choose opaque for your shade roof and "shade" for your side
walls to let the wind through but block some sun.
Canopy sets, including cover, frame, and fittings. Prices are reasonable, but consider assembling your own frame from a local source to save heavy shipping costs. Tarps are sold per carton only; a dozen 10 x 10 foot tarps cost US$132 per carton, plus shipping. A dozen people splitting the costs get a tarp each for under $12 plus a twelfth of the shipping. One 10 x 10 foot canopy with frame costs US$120, with a shipping weight of 75 pounds.
NOTE: Some of the photos show people in various stages of dress and in costumes which some may find provocative -- that's what Burning Man is all about.
Special Event Station N7B was in operation during the event. If you think you have operated under adverse conditions, try an outdoor shack at Burning Man.
For some reason we got an autographed photo of George and Laura. So what did we do with it? Are we Burners? YES! See it go up in flames. Four clips from Burning Man, including Burning W! The password is bmVideo -- copy and paste, please. Also a dust storm, the temple, and the Man.
Fourteen photos of some of our friends and acquaintances at this year's event. We missed many of the people we wanted to photograph, and one roll of film came back completely blank. (The 14 photos are spread over two pages of thumbnails.)
Views of the playa, the Man, and a couple of dust storms. Eighteen items for your viewing pleasure, including the pyro crew loading the Man for the Burn.
Sister Dana was unfortunately unable to attend BM this year, so we gave her
a virtual tour. Shows naked people; some poses and costumes are, uh, well, er
-- Hey! It's Burning Man.
Although we thought the porta-pottie situation was better than last year,
some people in the lines complained. Some creative people had, uh, solutions.
Two pages of the art at Burning Man that blew us away. The public art was
the best we have seen at Burning Man, and there was much more of it this year.
People have learned how to use the playa as space for their works.
What would Burning Man be without naked folks and the people who photograph
them. Some in sheer clothes, some topless, some full frontal nudity. She
wore a lovely and talented foil g-string and bra as she set fire to the shroom.
All 83 photos of Burning Man have been consolidated at this link. There is full frontal nudity, so the gallery is password protected. The password is burningMan
The following links are intentionally dead.
The People of Burning Man 1997
A dozen photographs of some of the people we found interesting.
More People of Burning Man
More than a dozen more photos of some of the people at Burning Man. These
photos are segregated because there is some nudity.
The Art of Burning Man 1997
We have defined art rather broadly and included transportation, banners,
marionettes, and more. Living itself rises to art at Burning Man.
Many of the people who attended BM'96 were nice folks without tattoos or
outrageous costumes, and we did not want to leave them out. Other nice
folks are also pictured in other pages.
Photographs from the burning of the actual Man. (NOTE: All burn photos from 1996 through 2001 have been collected on smugmug to save space.)
This is not the official Burning Man site. That Web site
is located at
The Burning Man Project.
Please drop by The Civilized Explorer Home Page
for world- wide travel information and a visit to the French West Indies,
including Naturist Beaches of the French West Indies.
For those who find that this Web site is unacceptable, please choose to exit to
a safer, non- graphic travel site in
The Civilized Explorer's other pages.
