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Burning Man Tries to Cope with Cash [festival rakes in $10M]
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/19/07 | Justin Berton

Posted on 08/19/2007 6:54:27 PM PDT by TFFKAMM

Inside the Alamo Square apartment of Larry Harvey, the co-founder and impresario of Burning Man, there is a wooden statuette of Ganesh, the Hindu deity known for his patronage of arts and science.

The expensive artifact was part of a splurge Harvey allowed himself three years ago, when he finally was able to redecorate his rental apartment and turn it from the paper-infested swamp he'd lived in for the past 22 years to the elegant bachelor pad it is today, adorned with Far Eastern decor and inhabited by a man who, by his own definition, has done well for himself.

Harvey, 59, politely declined to share how much he paid for the item. "If I tell you," Harvey said, "they'll think me rich."

Appearing rich has become a problem for Harvey and his 21-year-old counterculture arts festival. This Labor Day weekend, Burning Man is expected to generate $10 million in revenue from 45,000 ticket-buying customers, each of whom will pay $195 to $280 for entrance to a patch of Nevada desert called Black Rock City. And Harvey's ex-partner is suing him for either a cut of the festival's worth or an agreement to turn over the Burning Man trademark "to the public domain." In art circles and around the blogosphere, Burners are asking: Is this famously anti-monetary event getting ruined by too much cash?

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; US: California; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: art; burningman; california; larryharvey; nevada
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The comments to this piece are hilarious -- the elitism, snobbishness, intolerance, paranoia and victim-/loser-mentality of the Bay Area Hipoisie is on full display here.
1 posted on 08/19/2007 6:54:29 PM PDT by TFFKAMM
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To: TFFKAMM

Don’t let money burn a hole in your pocket.


2 posted on 08/19/2007 6:55:29 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agammemnon dead.)
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To: TFFKAMM
You can always tell an idiot hippie because they embrace the nonsense from the East.
3 posted on 08/19/2007 6:57:29 PM PDT by Jaysun (It's outlandishly inappropriate to suggest that I'm wrong.)
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To: TFFKAMM
a wooden statuette of Ganesh, the Hindu deity

AKA Bubba Ganesh

4 posted on 08/19/2007 7:00:54 PM PDT by joshhiggins (O you who believe! do not take the MUSLIMS for friends)
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To: Jaysun
I wouldn't call all Eastern teachings nonsense. But I agree with your general point -- most of these people just gravitate to exotic spirituality because they're still mad at Mommy and Daddy for dragging them to Church every Sunday, or because they think it'll help them get laid. Very few understand how horrified most orthodox Hindus or Buddhists would be at something like Burning Man, and how it's much closer to Classical Dionysian revelry, pre-European Pagan ritual, or even Medieval festival-time than to anything "Eastern."
5 posted on 08/19/2007 7:04:06 PM PDT by TFFKAMM
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To: TFFKAMM

pre-European = pre-Christian European. PIMF!


6 posted on 08/19/2007 7:05:01 PM PDT by TFFKAMM
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To: TFFKAMM

Right, I agree with you as to why they do it. But I maintain that all Eastern teachings are in fact nonsense.


7 posted on 08/19/2007 7:08:32 PM PDT by Jaysun (It's outlandishly inappropriate to suggest that I'm wrong.)
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To: TFFKAMM

A question for Mr. Harvey:

Think of those people who are now critizing your profits. Would they have helped you out if you had taken another loss? of course not. Therefore, don’t listen to them, and spend your hard-earned money as you please. You created something people wanted and paid an honest dollar for. our system rewards people like you. Enjoy!


8 posted on 08/19/2007 7:09:18 PM PDT by Our man in washington
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To: ClearCase_guy
Don’t let money burn a hole in your pocket.

I'd bet a healthy chunk of this change will, at the end of the day, jangle in the pocket of some Mexican drug lord.

9 posted on 08/19/2007 7:11:15 PM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
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To: Jaysun

You’re being far too specific. All spiritual movements and religions are bunk: east, west, north, and south.


10 posted on 08/19/2007 7:17:49 PM PDT by Sols
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To: Sols

1, 2, 3...


11 posted on 08/19/2007 7:20:17 PM PDT by toddlintown (Six bullets and Lennon goes down. Yet not one hit Yoko. Discuss.)
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To: TFFKAMM

why is mr counter culter charging 200 bucks a head for burning man?


12 posted on 08/19/2007 7:20:49 PM PDT by Malsua
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To: Sols

Spoken like a true Marxist... Opiate of the masses and all that.


13 posted on 08/19/2007 7:29:08 PM PDT by Triggerhippie (Always use a silencer in a crowd. Loud noises offend people.)
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To: Triggerhippie

I don’t know what not buying into stories about mystical elephant gods and and mystical crucifixion cults has to do with communism. And neither do you.


14 posted on 08/19/2007 7:37:12 PM PDT by Sols
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To: Sols

Opiate of the masses and all that.


15 posted on 08/19/2007 7:38:13 PM PDT by Triggerhippie (Always use a silencer in a crowd. Loud noises offend people.)
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To: Sols

Opiate of the masses and all that.


16 posted on 08/19/2007 7:38:19 PM PDT by Triggerhippie (Always use a silencer in a crowd. Loud noises offend people.)
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To: Triggerhippie

Oh I see. You don’t have a point. Great work, bravo.


17 posted on 08/19/2007 7:41:00 PM PDT by Sols
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To: Sols

You don’t believe any of it. Great. Goody for you. You win.


18 posted on 08/19/2007 7:42:00 PM PDT by Triggerhippie (Always use a silencer in a crowd. Loud noises offend people.)
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How much pollution did this festival generate?


19 posted on 08/19/2007 7:45:37 PM PDT by CounterCounterCulture (Duncan Hunter for President)
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To: Sols
All religions have some nuggets of truth in them.

Except, of course, atheism.

It is the only religion that is self-contradictory.

20 posted on 08/19/2007 7:50:47 PM PDT by Tribune7 (Michael Moore bought Haliburton)
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