Posted on 08/28/2007 9:19:31 PM PDT by WackySam
SAN FRANCISCO - Burning Man became Burnt Man four days early on Tuesday, and a San Francisco performance artist was arrested on suspicion of igniting the signature figure of the counterculture festival in the remote Nevada desert.
The early morning fire scorched about 85 percent of the structure, Burning Man spokeswoman Andie Grace said. Event engineers decided it would be best to dismantle it and rebuild a less elaborate version, accomplishing in two days what normally takes weeks so the figure would be finished in time for Saturday night's scheduled burning, she said.
The approximately 40-foot-tall wood and neon structure was supposed to go up in flames in the ceremonial climax of the weeklong annual event. Burning Man, an art, music and performance festival that draws thousands of people, began in San Francisco in 1986 and moved to Nevada's Black Rock Desert in 1990.
Many festival-goers who were awake watching Tuesday's lunar eclipse said they saw a man deliberately ignite the figure at about 3 a.m., Grace said.
"It was in plain sight of many people," she said. "Everyone is looking at it this morning, this big black figure in the sky and that wasn't supposed to burn, saying, 'Now what do we do?'"
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Exactly.
Sounds like a case of premature conflagration.
Several years ago, my wife, her mother and I were coming home from a wedding in Hawthorne and we just happened to be passing through the rez at Wadsworth the day after burning man ended. It was quite a sight--an endless line of dusty cars caravaning down the Pyramid Highway, and the reservation police busily frisking hippies and pulling contraband out of their freak-mobiles and placing it on the hoods and roofs. It looked like a used car lot from hell there in Wadsworth with a lot of unhappy hippies facing the dismal reality of spending a few nights in the county pokey. It was one of those times I really wished I had a camera.
How ironic. In a place that embraces illegal and immoral behavior the only thing that gets you arrested is lighting the man too early.
“I swear some of the biggest conformists are anarchist and ‘non conformists’. Confront them about it with facts and examples and they become livid. My guess is most of these folks don’t really understand what chaos and anarchy even mean.”
You are absolutely, completely, 100% accurate in your assessment.
I attended a Burning Man Festival in the late 1990’s, and I’ve got to tell you the overall attitude bordered on the tyrannical. The majority of those attending seemed to believe that if you weren’t one of “them,” you weren’t an “individualist.” The irony was completely lost on most of them
Gotta admit, though, saw some interesting pieces of art.
A clear cut case of Premature Immolation...
Space heaters.
I shoulda known there was another dirty mind out there.
I have never been to this event, but known many who have and the attendees are uniformly disciplined and well-behaved (by "community" standards).
The one consistent thing is that hundreds of thousand leave the huge site cleaner than they found it every time. That is part of the culture.
This neurotic nut (all attendees must have a little need for the psychological wrench) is simply hoping for his 15 minutes of fame and attention he will never otherwise get.
You can be absolutely certain that he will never ever be allowed to attend.
These people take their festival very seriously.
LOL...I first observed this phenomena in college about 20 years ago. When a large group of people place great importance on "being different," and all set out to be different in the same way, they become, in fact, the conformists. I was always a punk music fan, but never indulged in the mohawk haircut, the leather jacket with safety pins, etc., and carefully differentiated between the feeling and the fashion. In an odd way, I have to salute this arsonist/anarchist for at least remaining true to the counterculture spirit the others at the festival say they espouse.
For a good look at the insanity of anarchy, read G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who was Thursday.
Yes, I think it's tattooed. That might be what was referred to as "the deeper meaning of nonconformity." Heavy, man...
I don’t keep up with it, but I’ve probably seen maybe half of them. Funny stuff.
The guy that owns that domain lives around here somewhere, or did. My son saw an older woman with a Homestar Runner key chain, and asked her about it. “Oh, it’s something my son does. Here, would you like the keychain?” He thanked her, and uses it.
Was Trogdor the Burninator with him?
Burninating the countryside, burninating the peasants, burninating all the people in their thatched roof COTTAGEESSSSSSS . . . .
I'm quite sure the concept of irony is lacking with these nut jobs. I received an invitation to attend this year but I would rather face a dental drill without Novocaine.
“I’m quite sure the concept of irony is lacking with these nut jobs. I received an invitation to attend this year but I would rather face a dental drill without Novocaine.”
Burning Man isn’t for everyone, that’s for damned sure - and I won’t be going back. However, it’s one of those things where, with reservations, I’d suggest to most inquisitive minded people to at least go once just to experience it. It is a spectacle and worth a few laughs.
Sort of like New Orleans (Love the French Quarter!).
Premature incineration?
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