I'm going.

you know that it's a rilly lame theme if Shady is questioning going with a ticket in hand.... :-)

theme aside, the one real reason that might grow legs for me is basura sagrada. shrine and tucker and the tribe are building the temple of recycled mojo ...
i may send something with one of yalls to go up in burning prayers with the temple. my grammy passed away recently and her memorial service is on september 5th in florida.

personally, this year i'd like to try my hand at not being homeless broke and sick in september. still haven't worked out how to do burning man without that tradeoff. i wouldn't withdraw any of my experiences from the burn or its aftermath, for always my personal surrender to potentially daunting circumstances has made way for astounding displays of grace from the universe, but ... my energies this year are going into more sustainable modes. . .

im not going for the first time in 4 years. too many temptaions, no job ect, ect, ect.

its going to be interesting to see the attendace this year, with the economy in its sad state.

Yes, but I am going to "Disorient" on the playa, chill with my tribe and flirt with neighboring camp friends and random strangers I meet along the way. Oh yeah, I also intend to gift y'all with lots of Gourmet Raw Organic Goodness, so if you are in the hoodi and want a super yummi treat, please do drop by, for Dr. Organazmo will be in session!

At this point, BM and the theme are merely incidentals. IMHO, after "The Green Man", BM has become a mass consumer event, a really cool one, with lots of big art and flames and kinky stuff to play with, especially when compared with your average concert or tail gate Labor Day Outing, but that's about all. It's become the New "Worlds Fair" with the main differences being it is every year as opposed to every 4, which is gratuitously wasteful, and it doesn't move around, which has it's strengths and it's liabilities.

I am of the opinion that it should shift to a once every 2 year schedule, which is something that certian BORG insiders are sympathetic with. Unfortunately it has become a BIG Business, generating something like 40% of the local economy for that part of Nevada in a 2 week peroid, so as much as the BLM and the local mukity mucks complain about us, I would say that there are way too many financial parasites latched on to the main event to see it scale back or go away and disperse into the regions, as Larry has envisioned, anytime soon. Unfortunately most humans are rather greedy, in case you didn't notice, which is the root of all stupidity, so it goes.

But hey, at least they provide a regularly scheduled dose of fabulous art, massive pryotechnical displays, relatively clean port-o-potties and an immensely huge carbon footprint, on an annual basis. Nice one! ;}

The one lingering hope is that individuals and camps self regulate and scale back their own operations in light of the economics and intelligent trends of the times, which appears to be happening this year. Bigger is not better, and in a small way, this is what Disorient is doing with DV8, and the "opt out" that many folks are choosing in 2008 is a good thing, as far as sustainability is concerned.

My feeling is that the playa can scale out to 50K and remain somewhat managable. When it goes over that, as evidenced in 2006 and 2007, it gets kind of gross. Mind you, I had a great time those years, but the amount of Moop generated was just insane, not to mention all of the gas and jet fuel burned so that we could have our week of "Never Never Land". Hoping 2008 scales way back from the numbers posted at the "Green" Man, which would be a nice shift in the right direction. We will see.

In the meantime, God Bless "Johnny on the Spot", or whomever is contracted to doo doo the dirty doodie deeds done dirt cheap! And Don't forget the DPW, if it wasn't for those folks cleaning up after us shitty slickers, this bizarre experiment in human weirdness would have been shut down long long ago!

DoodieSattvas of the whirrled UNITE!

~jj

I am SO VERY THERE!
I can't wait to walk that dust with a wrack of my people again.
CAN'T. FUGGN. WAIT!
Tiggs.. I for one, am EXTREMELY, full-blown proud of where you
are and where you've come from, to hear that you will be foregoing
the journey in favor of getting your shite straight, and KEEPING
your shite straight. BRAVO honey.. like, for real. sometimes it takes a lot
to NOT do the things you reeeeeaaally wanna do, in favor of walking the
talk we babble all the time. hard core props mama.

otherwise, shady, that's a reeeally interesting lookin article you got there
mista man.. gonna hafta check that out. for me, theme or no theme, divide
or no divide, the Burn straight up and down transformed my life. and I don't
know a soul who's gone that has come away totally unaffected. period.
whether people choose to go or not, it's one of those things that just knowing
it's out there, that it's going on, that there IS this thing called the Burning Man
that you CAN choose to not go to.. is fucking HUGE.
so for all of ya who won't be there, I hope you thoroughly enjoy however you spend
the time that you would have been out there, and
KNOW that this mufucka heah, is REPPING u HAAAARD.
BROOKLYN baby!
WHUT!
and for those of you who will be out there [ shady I'll fuckin shootcha myself
if you have a ticket and don't fuggn go.. with the exception of if you sell or gift
your ticket to some freek who reeally really wants to go.. then you're excused ]
I'll feel ya in tha desert.
WOO HOOOOOO!!!