Burning Man 2007 Page 15
From crispyneurons
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[edit] Unifier Performance (continued)
The Unifier performance was fun and high-energy, but a bit too heavy-metal-drama for my taste. But I enjoyed it and loved watching Katya, Teresa and Pyro go nuts.
[edit] Exploring the Playa with Kimberly
Heather and I ran into Kimberly just before the performance. Super happy about that; it'd been such a long time. She and Heather really hit it off, talking so animately that I could barely break in. We decided to go exploring together after Unifier.
We really caught up, talking endlessly as we went deeper and deeper into the playa. It was a warm night, just as all the others were, and I needed no coat. We got way out to Pink Pussy, a dance lounge camp on the 10:00 side of town. We spent just a little while there and went down the pre-Esplanade arc into the city.
Our conversation was beautiful and amazing. I'm not going into it here, but the three of us had never connected like this before. Eventually we found ourselves out way, way far, out at the trash fence, sitting and talking intensely as dawn broke.
[edit] Saturday
Eventually we walked back to Center Camp to get coffee. I was really glad we'd deepened our friendship. The honesty and directness we built allowed us to communicate anything, good or bad. Morning took us back to RLD, to the Rez, and there we crashed.
Heather and I woke up a few hours later from the growing heat. We were both totally exhausted; Neither of us were in a good mood, and we had an argument.
I needed some space, so I took a walk. I wasn't getting what I needed in the RLD kitchen...people were drunk already (or still?). So I headed for Smokeblower's RV. Saw Kingsley there, Kimberly too. She was very warm and affectionate. We took a walk in the neighborhood and talked about last night.
It was good. I was in a better mood. I went back to the Treehouse and found Heather there. We mostly slept the rest of the day--it was really hot, and we wanted to be up all night. The Man burned (again) that night.
[edit] Burn Night
After dinner, we set out for the burning of the (new) Man with Carla, Nadia, her father Toby, Megan and Jefferson. I had put on my greatest costume, the Stag King--giant fur coat with painted designs, green man mask, a black staff and an antler crown highlighted in glowing green. Unfortunately, too dark for photos once I got it all on. We got out on the playa, some of us walking, some riding in Carla's bike-car.
Some of our friends were to perform in the San Diego Fire Conclave--part of the massive fire performance surrounding the Man--but there was no way to pick them out, we couldn't even see their faces.
The walk to the Man was not comfortable. The Stag King regalia was way too hot for the warm weather, and with the antlers and mask I could not look down, I could only see the tops of peoples' heads. The antler crown was so heavy that my lower back began to ache. Not good. As we stood waiting for the Man to burn, I gradually took it off with regret, piece by piece.
The Man's arms rose, and after a long wait, the burn began. It was not impressive to me, although there was an explosion after the fireworks that surprised us in a good way--something new. I led Heather, Nadia and Jefferson deep into the burner mosh pit that orbits the fire after the Man falls. It was new to Nadia and Jefferson. Quite an experience, especially the first time.
We reconnected with Carla, Megan and Toby with the bike-car. Off we went to the next event--the big one everyone was going to--the Mutaytor show followed by the burn of Crude Awakening.
To me, the Mutaytor show was ho-hum. The view was bad, the music was mediocre and too loud. Heather and I watched from the bike-car. One bright spot were the aerialist performances high off a crane above the stage.
[edit] Crude Awakening
The very best event of the night was now on: the fiery end of the art installation called Crude Awakening. A giant oil derrick made of wood, with steel human figures worshiping it. We were on the 12:00 side, and I stood next to Robot.
And it began. A slow, terrible wail filled the air--an air raid siren. It went on for minutes in the darkness. It was very eerie, creating a somber fear as if nuclear annihilation was imminent. A fire licked the base of the derrick. Then, a tremendous fireworks show, the likes of which I had never seen before, far beyond any Fourth of July show.
And then--suddenly--WHOOM!!! A flash, then a giant fireball rose! After the initial flash, a tremendous blast of heat, and then the fireball became a mushroom cloud towering over all. Robot and I backed away--no way to tell how big this thing was getting. I had a vision of the front row of burners melting away.
It was amazing--unbelievably fantastic. I had never witnessed such a tremendous fiery explosion, on playa or off. The crowd roared, and the derrick stood, blackened and entirely aflame. And soon it fell.
This was a masterpiece. The technical perfection of its execution was inspirational, the artistic expression superb. It blew away the burning of the Man.
I think this art may have been the most in keeping with this year's theme. the derrick was pure power, a projecting phallus of power to fear and worship. That makes the fireball a fiery super-orgasm, all consuming destruction, petit mort, leaving the derrick consumed, impotent, never to rise again. The siren is a warning of projected military power--both forming the basis of American military power and signaling the danger of continued American dependence on war-necessitating foreign oil--and a harbinger of the explosive end of dirty, polluting, petroleum-based economic, political, and military power. The terrible fossil fuel era coming to an explosive end. It suggests a violent end to a violent era. The massive fireworks display hearkens both to American patriotism and to its military power ("the rocket's red glare"). The implication: American power ends when the oil era ends, and it's damn well ending.
After this experience, which I will never forget, we returned to camp to regroup. We left camp, but it was all stop-and-go every 10 feet. This really took at least an hour and I was going nuts. Nadia had brought a bottle of liquor shaped like a fat Mexican lady. The liquor looked suspiciously like corn syrup to me, so I stayed away from it. To get things moving, and keep it that way, I suggested we hop on an art car.
I found the Nexxus-Mobile Refinery by a line of porta potties. Actually a cool art car--all metal pipes and complex infrastructure, tubes and railings filthy and gray. It had a bar and one pipe went vertical to form a stripper pole. Nice. I asked the driver, who was very far from being sober and alert, if the car was going anywhere ("yeah") and where ("around"). Sounded good to me; I wanted to explore. We got on, and I was last. I leaped on just as it took off.
At first it was kind of fun, but it got boring fast. I met God there, a unshaven porn director in rumpled clothes with a cowboy hat riding over his long hair. He was a friend to some of the Rez folks. For a deity, he wasn't very demanding... actually personable. He offered me a swig from his whiskey bottle. After a while the car stopped and we got of. Nadia complained that it left us just where we'd gotten on, but it didn't. Whatever.
We walked back to camp. Dawn was coming. We sat in the Treehouse and talked and ate snacks. Everyone looked pretty shot. Nadia tried to get everyone to look at the sunrise with her. Eventually I did take a look--and it was beautiful, actually. Sarah of Dawnship came over to visit with us too. Eventually, Heather and I crashed in the van.
