Burning Man seemed interesting in concept - but the more I looked around the website, the more rules and regulations I saw and the lamer it sounded. It strikes me as one of those things where it used to be really cool, but it stopped being so a few years ago. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but at $300 a ticket, I'll never find out one way or the other.

/cheap bastard

I saw a documentary on it and it came across as a bunch of utopians pretending they are in utopia for a week while tolerating every type of nut because your are not allowed disgression. But hey! There are boobies!

Ya UnmovedMover - that's kinda why I stopped going, the place is just too much on the radar, the police even censored an art project the last year I was there, that kinda did it for me, I haven't been back. I think If you had never been back in the good ole' days you would have lots of fun, but to people who went many years ago it would just be sad to see the degradation of the freedom expected out there, hell, when I first went the Disgruntaled Postal Workers were still carrying thier guns around.

Sarcasticstoner,

It's a tough call. On one hand I think Burning Man would do a lot of people a lot of good to see. But on the other... I rather convince some of the weenies here to come cuz I don't think they'd bring anything beyond lousy attitudes, and retarded behaviour. Tough call really.

Unmovedmover,

Burning Man does have more rules then it did a few years ago, but it's still a pretty free place compared with the rest of the US.

No you are not allowed to just fire your gun off anymore cuz there are too many people around.

No you aren't allowed to shoot off fireworks in the camp,cuz everything is made of nylon.

No you are not allowed to drive your car around anymore cuz too many people have died this way. You can drive your radically altered vehicle around though, so this is not great loss.

That's pretty much it. I don't think these rules are too crazy. Beyond this... pretty much anything goes.

Hahaahaha, hey Ishkur, ever heard the term 'trustifarian'? Many of those dirty little hippies have more money than you will probabaly ever see at one time.

MonK3y,

I've been going since '98, and I think it keeps getting better. You really should consider going again.

As for the censorship issue. The art was in violation of state and federal laws. All the cops asked was for the artist to move it inside of their compound and they complied. This sucks, but Burning Man isn't above the law. Also, there is still some pretty crazy art around. Only one dude got pissy about it, and there is a funny story about him here:

http://www.blue-period.com/pissclear/Articles/2002/coverstory_Jiffy%20Lube_1.h tml

Drugs. Boobies.

But the pretentious crap that passes for "art" out there... ugh.

30,000 filthy hippies in the Nevada desert in August...

There is not enough patchouli oil in the world to mask that stench.

Russ,

You ever been?

Like I said, it's the price that gets me down...you're trying to show how cool it can all be, and here there's a goddam 300 price tag...on COOLNESS?

Two words for Burning Man Organizers: Grant. Writing.

Get NEA grants...SOMETHING...make it FREE...or at least, more accessible to the people you're trying to attract!

Then you'd have a celebration...I say again it sounds like McDi$neyland...

Whidbey,

First of all, you can get tickets for as low as $145 USD. I personally paided $225 USD, which at the time worked out to close to $350. One word "ouch".

If people aren't interested in investing the cash into this experience, that's their business. Burning Man is expensive to put on. As for thinking there should be grants... from where? GWB? Yeah... those guys love stuff like this. And really... why should Born Again Christians pay for something they believe to be evil. If people want to go... they should pay for it themselves.

If you care to see how they spend the money... check this out:

http://afterburn.burningman.com/financial_chart.html

BM has gotten very trendy. Maybe it was extremely cool in its earliest years. But you should see how empty the hipster places in Sacramento are during BM. So I guess I look forward to BM season.

Oh yeah, one of my dearest friends was drugged (her drink was spiked) and violently raped there a few years ago, and the rapist is still free and will probably be there this year. So one day I may actually go there, but it will be for a very specific mission.

$300 a ticket? Sounds like another suburban hippie wanna-be fest. Is it sponsored by Coors?

Dire,

Never heard about it, but I'm sure there are creeps present - remember... it is a city of close to 30,000 people, so there are bound to be monsters about - just like anywhere. Very sorry to hear about your friend.

Fut the Whuck? (NSFW)

I do not get it.

AESC,

It's not sponsored by anyone. That is exactly why those who attend bare the full cost of the event. Go here and learn:

http://afterburn.burningman.com/financial_chart.html

The Burning Man that can be named is not the real Burning Man.

I won't go to burning man cause I have met too many burners who think the concept is boobies and drugs only...

silly monkeys.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

sugarlarry,

you are.

These kids today with their sex and drugs and rock and roll!!

In *my* day we had wine, women and song.


/(muttering) The Kaiser will get my string!

Come on, somebody has to have some sort of explaination for what the heck is going on in those pics....please?

tre-bumpn

It's basically performance art I think - only looked for a sec cuz i'm at work. It's okay to go "oh... weird" and then move on.

i want to go and light the man early.

...and oh yeah, hippies stink.

frankenbeans,

not those of us who bathe

skinink & madgonad:
You're hilarious! I laughed my a$$ off!

Save the money and go to Thomas Point Beach's invisible Bluegrass Festival this weekend.

Surreal on a budget.

They've got several hundred to thousands of people camping out to attend the best band-free bluegrass fest in the country. How many bands scheduled to perform? Zero. Yet hundreds of Bluegrass wacko's will be playing round the clock.

Want open stage? Have at it. Ain't nobody using it.

Want to drink unknown beverages out of mason jars? This is the place.

Want to see the mouth you were on Saturday night sing gospel Sunday morn?

A sanctuary for vintage hippies, hopeless deadheads, Nostalgia victims, Grandma and grandpa, truck drivers, tater farmers, and folks from New Brunswick!

BYOB (Bring your own banjo)

See ya there Friday at 4:20 by "THE Clock"

I think there needs to be an East Coast version. I want to Burn, but I'm artistically bankrupt, unable to get boobies, and couldn't handle the Nevada heat anyway.

"Suddenly, this fellow to my left whom I hadn't seen began playing the most beautiful song on a set of bagpipes, and it was just him and me and the sunrise and the silhouette of the Temple of Joy off in the distance. It was such an elegiac, perfect moment -- but I can't describe why."

You can't describe why because you were stoned, asshat. It is just boobies and drugs, period. And that's perfectly ok too, just don't get all pretentious and act like it's some kind of spiritual thing. Filling out insurance papers seems like a spiritual thing too if you are naked and high while doing it.

Damn hippies.

I like hippies. And rednecks.

BlueGargoyle

You're a farking retard.

"I won't go to burning man cause I have met too many burners who think the concept is boobies and drugs only..."

Same thing with Rainbow gatherings, Aias. But some of us know better. :)

Sugarlarry, I have to agree in part with Whidbey. It's as if the BM staff haven't a clue!
Each year they want to spend more than the previous so they raise the ticket cost and expect no one to question it.

For the others:
Yes, you can buy tickets on the cheap early in the year (if you've got a few hundred $$ burning a hole in your pocket after the holidays)
Yes, you can have a great time
Yes, you may encounter a few hippies
Yes, you can see boobs
Yes, you will also see weiners too!
But,
No, its not cheap enough for many of the artists that want to go that can contribute
No, its not really Disneyland
No, you won't be mugged by a cracked-out freak just looking for bus fare to the next Rainbow Gathering
No, not all boobs are worth looking at (imagine what you'll look like at 70 years of age)
No, I'm not the one with the pierced weiner!

Hi. I don't believe anyone can have a spiritual experience. I think that it's all due to physical effects, and that this invalidates its importance and any meaning it might have. If someone claims to have a spiritual experience, I will mock them.

Spiritual experiences are for schmucks.

Burning Man is good for boobies. That's it.

As long as there's, you know, sex and drugs, I can do without the rock and roll.

Hi mom. I'm at Burning Man and my penis is painted green!

whatever. The people who've been and think it's all about drugs and boobies probably missed the point. And whoever found the point probably missed it as well...

It's called experiencing the perfect moment. I suppose drugs and burning statues can help you find a perfect moment, and $300 will make you search really hard for a perfect moment, but...

I just had a perfect moment for almost nothing on the wrong side of Navy Pier in Chicago with a couple of bad beers and a good book and some great music on the walkman.

Some people have to go to Thailand, some of us can find the perfect moment in our backyards.

A celebration of Middle-Class Mediocrity

did any of you know that Burning Man has a little brother? it is the OM Festival and it's held every year in northern Ontario.

i was there this year, and it was pretty cool. for someone who is neither 1. raver nor 2. hippie, i still had a pretty great time. and i don't even love electronic music!

the best thing was just the sense of community. it was a three day block party where everyone just adores you due to the copious amounts of e and other drugs raging through their system.

mr_name: The extensive cleanup is so the feds don't shut Burning Man down. Any environmental damage and it's toast. You want to party in a pristine desert, you pay the cleanup fee.

Hey, I know Dmitri Tinohovich! Mebbe I could get an inside line on the pyro...

Some people sneak in. I want burning man without the drugs, boobs, and weeners. Just the art and music.

Poop-n-Slop

You're a farking retard.

Zing! Great Comeback. Write it yourself?

Jerri Manthey from survivor is usually at burning man. And man is she ever HOT.........

I did Burning Man a few years ago. Spent money I didn't really have getting out there from New York. Playa dust ends up in the darnedest of places. But it was worth it.

There are smaller regional events here and there. I keep meaning to check one of these out, but having sold my soul to the corporate world, I rarely get time off.

Shouldn't there be a burning woman too?

it sounds interesting. How bad does it smell? How hot is it?

oh, and the canadian version, OM, only costs about $90- canadian! that's like $4 for the rest of you. i got to go for free because i did a workshop on student organizing, AND they gave me a $50 honourarium! there are often big perks to volunteering or helping out beforehand.