Wandering through Time and Place

Category: Burning Man

• A Steampunk Horse and other Small Mutant Animals… 11 Years of Burning Man

  Posted at 5:00 am by Curt Mekemson

  Mar 12th

  

  As noted in my last post, I’ve been sorting through and categorizing my Burning Man photos from the 11 years I have attended the event: 2004-5-6-7-9-10-12-13-14-15 and 17. I’ve created 15 categories and will do posts on several of my favorites from each category over the next several weeks.

  In my last Burning Man post, I introduced some of the larger animal mutant vehicles that roam the Playa at Burning Man. Today is the turn of the smaller mutant animals, like the horse above. Check out the head and the expression in its face. If my innards looked like the horse’s, I’d be a little wild-eyed too. Usually if you see gears used like this, you can assume that you’ve entered the world of steampunk.

  

  There aren’t a lot of insects normally found on the floor of the Black Rock Desert. In addition to being hot and dry, there aren’t any plants. When Burning Man comes to town, so to speak, things change.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Burning Man has its share of fur bearing mammals that slip into the mutant vehicle category.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  NEXT POST: These mutant vehicles came out of the deep. There is something fishy about Burning man…

  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged Burning Man, humor, photography, Small mutant vehicles of Burning Man, steampunk at Burning Man, travel blog, writying

• Gargantuan Animal Mutants… 11 Years of Burning Man

  Posted at 12:45 pm by Curt Mekemson

  Mar 6th

  

  As noted in my last post, I’ve been sorting through and categorizing my Burning Man photos from the 11 years I have attended the event: 2004-5-6-7-9-10-12-13-14-15 and 17. I’ve created 15 categories and will do posts on several of my favorites from each category over the next several weeks.

  The bigger tribes (groups) at Burning Man often create large mutant vehicles to transport their members around. Many of these come in the form of large animals— like really big animals.

  

  

  And why worry about a sheep when there are rhinos and lions and hippos and angry unicorns about! Oh my! Following are my photos of the large mutant animals I have found wandering the Playa during the day and at night. Enjoy.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  NEXT POST: A PCT post if I have the time to put it together. A post on smaller animal mutant vehicles if not. It’s ready to go.

  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged 11 years of Burning Man mutant vehicles, Burning Man, Large animal mutant vehicles at Burning Man, Mutant vehicles of Burning, photography, travel blog

• Magnificent Mutant Dragons… 11 Years of Burning Man Art

  Posted at 2:59 pm by Curt Mekemson

  Mar 4th

  

  I’ve been sorting through and categorizing my Burning Man photos, all 11 years’ worth including 2004-5-6-7-9-10-12-13-14-15 and 17. As you might imagine, there are several thousand pictures. I’ve created 15 categories and will do posts on several of my favorites from each category over the next few weeks. My plan is to use Mondays and Wednesdays for my Burning Man posts and Fridays for my Pacific Crest Trail posts. Expect a few other subjects on Fridays as Peggy and I wander.

  I debated with myself over how to kick the series off. Frankly, starting anywhere works when focusing in on the creativity of this annual event in the remote Nevada desert. Art is everywhere. Appreciating and enjoying it is the primary reason I have returned to Black Rock City again and again. Of course, people go to the event for many other reasons as well, such as dancing and drinking to the rolling thunder of heavy metal into the wee hours of the morning. They also go to see and be seen, to dress up in elaborate costumes, to attend lectures, to escape from their everyday worlds, and to participate in and contribute to Burning Man’s unique culture. The latter is central to the event. I consider photographing the art and sharing it with you as part of my contribution.

  One of the most creative endeavors at Burning Man is the building of mutant vehicles, which is undertaken by both individuals and groups, or tribes as they are sometimes called out on the Playa. They are three ways to get around at Burning Man: to walk, to bike (which most do) or to travel in radically altered vehicles— i.e. mutants. Normal cars, vans, trucks, etc. must be parked. Mutant vehicles come in a variety of forms from bugs, to animals, to ships, to you name it. Today I am going to focus on dragons, most of whom breathe fire! Now, back to the green dragon featured at the top of the post.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  NEXT POST: From dragons to bugs, to cats, and hippos! More mutant vehicles.

  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged 11 years of Burning Man mutant vehicles, Burning Man mutant vehicle dragons, Burning Man Mutant Vehicles, photography, travel blog, writing

• The Beautiful Temples of Black Rock City… A Burning Man Experience

  Posted at 5:00 am by Curt Mekemson

  Nov 16th

  

  This is the Temple of Promise from Burning Man 2015, a simple and beautiful structure designed to capture the early morning sun.

   

  This is the second in my series of introducing new followers to the type of posts they can expect to find on my blog. Since I’ve been going to Burning Man since 2004, there are numerous posts on the annual event that takes place annually in the Nevada desert. Over the years, my primary focus has been on the art, but I touch on all aspects of the event. Here, I take a look at the beautiful temples that are built each year and then burned at the end of the event. If you would like to see more of my posts on this unique extravaganza, go to mu Burning Man category on the right, click on it, and scroll down. Enjoy!

  Census figures from Burning Man show that 71% of the participants claim to have no formal religious affiliation. Given this, it might seem strange that a temple is one of the major structures built in Black Rock City each year. But there is another factor at work here; over 50% of Burners claim that they are spiritual. While they may not adhere to any particular religious doctrine, they believe that they are part of a whole that is beyond any individual’s existence. Or, at least, that’s how I interpret being spiritual. It’s how I feel.

  Whatever Burners believe, there is no doubt that visiting the temple can be a spiritual experience. In addition to being a place of beauty, as I hope the photos in this post show, the Temple is a place where 10,000’s of messages are left honoring loved ones who have passed on, asking forgiveness and expressing thanks. At the end of the week, the Temple is burned and the messages drift off into the air or, the Heavens if you prefer, giving a sense of peace to those who have left them.

  

  Part of a larger structure, this temple was built in 2007 and was known as the Temple of Forgiveness.

  

  This was the 2008 Temple. (Photo by Ken Lake.)

  

  The curving wood on top of the Fire of Fires Temple reflected flames shooting into the sky. Note the intricate detail on the side panels.

  

  A close up.

  

  The Fire of Fires Temple at night. (Photo by Don Green.)

  

  The Temple of Flux represented the constant change we experience in life. It can be seen as waves or as sand dunes. This photo was taken from the Man. The Center Camp Cafe, the Man, and the Temple are always in a direct line. The buildings on the other side represented a city.

  

  Tom likes to get up early in the morning for his photography. He captured this photo of the Temple of Juno at sunrise. (Photo by Tom Lovering.)

  

  Here’s another. (Photo by Tom Lovering.)

  

  A later photo by me showing detail of the Temple of Juno.

  

  The Temple of Whollyness resembled a Pyramid.

  

  This large stone structure was inside the Temple of Whollyness.

  

  The Temple of Grace was built for the 2014 Burning Man.

  

  I liked this shot I caught of its spire under butter milk skies.

  

  The Temple of Grace at night. (Photo by Don Green.)

  

  Another photo of the Temple of Promise. I had taken Tom’s advice and rolled out early to capture these photos.

  

  As the sun came up, Burners grabbed each other’s hands and formed a large circle around the Temple. The act was totally spontaneous.

  

  A black and white I created.

  

  Inside the Temple.

  

  As I mentioned, thousands of messages are placed on the walls. By Saturday, there is little room to write on left within reach.

  

  I found this message left behind honoring Uno Hogan quite touching. I think you will as well. It is quite typical of messages found in the temple.

  

  And this message humorous but sincerely meant!

  

  The Temples are always burned on Sunday night, the last night at Burning Man, in a solemn and moving ceremony with the thousands of messages sent skyward. This is the Temple of Juno.

  A note on the photographers: All photos that I include in the Burning Man blogs are taken by Peggy, me, or members of the Horse Bone Tribe— all close friends who have traveled and adventured with us down through the years.

  NEXT BLOGS:

  Monday: Back to Bandon on the coast of Oregon.

  Wednesday: I begin my story of how Bone was found.

  Friday: I continue my exploration of the unique and beautiful structures at Burning Man.

   

  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged Black Rock City, Burning Man, photography, the temples of Burning Man, travel blog

• The MAN Burns… Burning Man 2017: Part 15

  Posted at 5:00 am by Curt Mekemson

  Oct 21st

   

  

  70,000 people encircle the Man on burn night. Mutant vehicles can be seen lighting up the sky in the distance.

   

  Call it a huge party, if you want. Or a solemn ceremony. It’s a bit of both— the one event at Burning Man that almost everyone attends. People begin wandering out to the Man early on Saturday evening while the best seats on the Playa are still available. These are prime, sit in the dirt seats, where you get to watch the whole show up close and personal, where you can feel the heat. Burners travel by foot, bike and mutant vehicles. They arrive as individuals and in large groups, often walking behind a leader who holds up a long, lit wand that everyone can see. A circle has been laid out around the Man to establish the boundary of how close people can sit. Only Black Rock Rangers, performers, firemen, and the specialists that oversee the burn are allowed inside. A sizable promenade lies just outside the seating zone. Beyond that, mutant vehicles rule, hundreds of them ranging in size from huge to small and ringing the man. Thousands of bikes are parked farther out. It’s important to remember where— and easy to forget.

  The burn is carefully orchestrated with BMORG more or less doing the same things in the same order every year. It starts with an official parade out from Center Camp carrying the fire that will be used to light the Man. The fire has been burning all week in front of the Center Camp Café, lit by an Earth Mother (or is that earthy) who utilizes the sun and a mirror. There is always a band with the parade, people on stilts, and a cart that carries the fire. Next fire dancers perform within the circle, hundreds of them twirling and dancing in a dozen different ways. There were even fire-breathers this year, spitting out flame and then taking another gulp of fuel. Finally, it’s time for the Man to raise his arms and signal the beginning of the burn. Fireworks cascade down and then shoot out in all directions, working inward until the Man is bathed in flame. After that, Burners watch and wait until the Man and the structure that holds him fall into the fire. A moment of silence, followed by a huge roar greets the fall. Then it is back to Black Rock City to party the night away, or join the long line of Burners heading home, often taking 4-6 hours to make it the five miles to the road.

  I parked my bike at the Center Camp Café this year and walked out to the Man, following the Dixie Land band, stilt walkers and fire cart. Monitors made sure I kept my distance. I arrived well before the fire dancers started, so I strolled the promenade, walking in a full circle around the Man, and taking photos. Noise ruled. Dozens of mutant vehicles blasted music and fire into the night. Hundreds, if not thousands of people danced. Others scrambled for seats or simply walked the circle like me, checking out the elaborate costumes that Burners wore and the brightly lit mutant vehicles. I stopped to watch people dance and moved a bit myself, before moving on. A young man hit on me, emphasizing how he liked the company of older men. I made a not so graceful exit. By the time I had completed my walk, the fire dancers were strutting their stuff. It was too late to sit, but I found a good location to stand and watch the show. The dancers finished, the fireworks filled the night sky, and the fired burned. I left before the last of the structure came tumbling down.

  

  People on stilts are part of the parade that takes the fire out to the Man. It’s a long walk.

  

  The fire to light the Man is carried in a cart. The Man looks on from inside the Temple of the Golden Spike.

  

  I was too far out to get a good shot of the fire dancers, but there were hundreds of them performing all around the circle.

  

  When the Man raises his arms, the fireworks display starts with a bang. Here they were shooting out from the golden spike.

  

  Even the Man gets into the act, shooting out flames.

  

  Soon, fireworks fill the sky.

  

  

  

  A large boom created this effect.

  

  Before long, everything is engulfed in flame.

  

  And then, only the structure remained with a vacant space where the Man once stood. It was time for me to leave.

  I was back at camp being fed a feast by my new friends from Nevada City when someone came by and told us that a man had jumped into the fire, eluding officials who had tried to stop him. He died the next day at the UC Med Center in Sacramento. It saddened me; for the person, of course, but also for the people who had tried so hard to stop him, for his friends and family, for the thousands who were still at the burn, and for the event itself. I was ever so thankful I had left early.

  I stayed through Sunday, attended the Temple burn, and was up by 3:30 on Monday morning making my way over the dusty, bumpy road out of Burning Man. It only took an hour. Another year was behind me. The sun lit the horizon over the desert as I drove the 60 miles between Gerlach and Interstate 80. Its beauty reminded me of how precious life is— and how privileged we are to be here and enjoy it.

  

  NEXT POST: In search of fall colors, I head to New England but find them at home. After that: A Halloween Extravaganza!

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  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged Black Rock City 2017, Burn night at Burning Man 2017, Burning Man 2017, photography, travel blog, writing

• The MAN… Burning Man 2017: Part 14

  Posted at 3:06 pm by Curt Mekemson

  Oct 19th

  

  The Man, as far as I know, has always stood on his own at Burning Man. This year he was located in a structure called the Temple of the Golden Spike.

   

  I’ve never seen the Man enclosed in a building before. This year was a first; it changed his look. The reason made sense. The theme was Radical Ritual and one of Burning Man’s longest rituals has been to choose the Man’s location first each year and then build everything else on the Playa and in Black Rock City around him. The organization starts with pounding a ‘golden spike’ into the ground where the Man will be located, thus the name of the structure: the Temple of the Golden Spike.  It came with a long golden spike on top. I found the setting rather attractive.

  I stopped by to pay my respects to the Man several times this year: in the evening, the morning, the day, and the night. And, of course, I was there on Saturday evening, the night the Man traditionally burns in a ceremony that serves as a climax for the week-long festival. I’ll divide this post into two parts. The first will feature the Man during the week; the second, which I will put up on Saturday, will focus on burn night.

  

  I made my first trip out to the Man when I arrived on Wednesday evening. The sun had just set. The tower on top represents the ‘golden spike’ that Burning Man pounds into the ground to serve as the central point from which Black Rock City is planned each year.

  

  Here, the Man peers out from the second story of the structure.

  

  Burners could either enter the building on the ground floor and look up at the man…

  

  Seen here at night…

  

  Or admire him from the second floor, which also provided views of the Playa, Black Rock City and the desert.

  

  Another shot of the Man from outside the Temple. He’s come a long way from when he was first burned in San Francisco on Baker Beach in 1986.

  

  Gongs inside the temple provided a meditative sound.

  

  Visiting hours are closed as of Saturday when crews load the Man and structure up with fireworks in preparation for the Saturday night burn.

   

  NEXT POST: The Man burns.

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  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged Black Rock City 2017, Burning Man 2017, photography, The Man at Burning Man 2017, travel blog, writing

• The Trees of Black Rock City… Burning Man 2017: Part 12

  Posted at 9:03 am by Curt Mekemson

  Oct 14th

  

  The Tree of Ténéré with its 15,000 leaves lit up at night by LED lights that changed color.

   

  It seems strange to talk about the trees in the Black Rock Desert. The Playa stretches out to the distant mountains, flat and featureless, immense in its nothingness. But this year’s theme, Radical Ritual, encouraged a number of artists to imagine trees in the desert. And they imagined some very interesting ones. They ranged from Methuselah, a 4,848-year old Bristle Cone Pine that lives in the White Mountains of California, 325 miles south of Black Rock City, to the Tree of Ténéré, a solitary acacia that was once described as the most isolated tree on earth and lived some 7000 miles from Burning Man in the vast Sahara Desert of northern Niger.

  

  Looking out from Burning Man across the treeless Black Rock Desert playa.

  

  This close up of Ténéré provides a view that shows some of the 175,000 LED lights that decorated the tree. Artists and technologists from around the world were invited to help develop the software that controlled the lighting and provided ever-changing light shows. The tree was also designed for climbing, capable of accommodating up to 60 climbers at one time.

  

  The Tree of Ténéré on the Playa provided shade from the burning sun for Burners in much the same way its namesake did in the Sahara Desert for Tuareg wanderers where the tree stood for decades by itself in hundreds of square miles.

  

  Methuselah of Biblical fame, was said to have lived to the ripe old age of 969, passing away just a few weeks before the Great Flood that his grandson built the Ark for. Reputedly, the oldest man ever, he was a mere youngster in comparison to Methuselah the Bristle Cone Pine, which, up until recently, was considered the oldest tree in existence. (A 5,000 year old Bristle Cone Pine has been found.)

  

  A different view rendered in black and white. The twisted metal of the tree reflects the twisted wood of the actual tree. Peggy and I have visited Methuselah in its natural setting in the White Mountains and wandered among the ancient trees in a radical ritual of our own.

  Sysimetsä was a poignant reminder of the forest fires that have been plaguing the West for the past several years. Put together by artists from Lake County in Northern California, it was a memorial to a fire that had destroyed their county and the Raven’s Landing Art Space in 2015. As I walked through the display at Burning Man, fires were threatening my home in Southern Oregon. As I write today, the terrible conflagration that has destroyed so much of California’s beautiful wine country and taken numerous lives, still rages.

  

  Trees left naked by the Lake County fire were brought to Burning Man to create this sculpture. Ravens, representing the Raven’s Landing Art Space that was burned down by the fire, roost in the trees.

  

  A close-up.

  

  Rendered in black and white by me, I wanted to capture the bleakness of areas that have been burned.

  

  The center piece of the Sysimetsä sculpture represented a different message, life rising out of the flames and the ashes, being regenerated by both nature and humans.

  Malcolm Tibbett’s’, Wood Carver’s Dream, reminded me of the beauty of wood. This gracefully curving art piece is made up of wood from a number of different tree species reflecting their different colors, textures and grains. As Tibbetts notes on his Web site, “Segmented woodturning is an art form with few limitations. By combining components, I can create just about any shape or size and by arranging different wood species, I can create just about any type of surface design. There are few art forms with this much freedom.”

  

  Tibbetts’ creation seen from a distance. Wind is whipping up a dust storm on the Playa, reminding me that it is time to head back to camp.

  

  A closer look.

  Machina Naturale by Dave Boyer from Reno, Nevada brings us forward in time to a kinetic wind sculpture that resembles a tree and captures the wind, mimicking, or bringing together our natural and mechanical worlds.

  

  Machina Naturale with its tree-like look and kinetic wind sculpture.

  

  Looking up.

  It isn’t hard for me to imagine trees as being sacred, to understand how they have been involved in humankind’s rituals down through the ages. The heat from their fires provided warmth, a means of cooking, and a way to keep wild animals at bay on dark nights for ancient peoples. Spreading limbs and leaves provided shelter from rain, snow and hail— and the wood itself was used for making shelters. Many trees provided food necessary for survival. And finally, there is the awe that the size and beauty of trees can bring.

  

  How could one not feel awe when confronted by giant redwoods in their cathedral-like setting. This beauty is a couple of hours away from our home.

  

  Peggy stands next to one of the giants.

  

  Closer to home, we found our own sacred cove of virgin timber while out backpacking this summer, about eight miles from where we live.

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  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged Black Rock City 2017, Brittle Cone Pine Methuselah at Burning Man 2017, Burning Man 2017, Machina Naturale at Burning Man 2017, photography, Sysimetsä at Burning Man 2017, the art of Burning Man 2017, travel blog, Tree of Ténéré, Wood Carver’s Dream at Burning Man 2017, writing

• The Sacred Temple of Black Rock City… Burning Man 2017: Part 11

  Posted at 9:58 am by Curt Mekemson

  Oct 10th

  

  The 2017 Temple at Burning Man with its Black Rock Desert playa and mountain setting.

   

  Peggy and I watched with dismay as several of the stately Ponderosa Pine trees on our property in Southern Oregon teetered on the edge of death, victims of pine beetles and the drought brought on by global warming. It is a story told over and over in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and Nevada where the US Forest Service reports that over a hundred million trees have suffered a similar fate.

  This year’s Temple at Burning Man was a reflection on the devastation caused by global warming. The Temple was made from trees that had died. The write up on the Burning Man site described the structure of the temple:

  Interlocking timber pieces in formation become a Temple that is both cloud and spire; inverted pyramidal columns suggest the negative-space of a forest canopy, simultaneously supporting a vast pagoda-like ‘cloud’ framework which in turn supports a central spire. In this way disorder gives way to harmony, and a group of dying trees is re-ordered into a cathedral of timbers stretching toward the sky.

  

  The forest holding up a canopy of clouds and the spire

  

  Another perspective.

  

  Looking up at the Temple’s central spire.

  The Temple is not a religious edifice, like a church,  but it is a spiritual refuge. Burners come to mourn those who have passed on and seek peace. Thousands of messages are left for loved ones. I always make a point of working my way through the temple while enjoying the sense of peace, reading the messages, and quietly supporting those who mourn.

  

  Burners gather for a period of quiet meditation.

  

  Thousands of messages are left for loved ones. The majority of these messages are written but photos and items of importance to those who have died are often included.

  

  I would have liked to have known the story behind this cello, angel, mermaid.

  

  More generic messages are included as well.

  

  People also leave messages for their four legged friends that have died. The memorials almost always include photos and often include favorite toys, like a well-loved tennis ball. I am always moved by these memorials but I was particularly touched by the written memorial to Kozmo this year, as I am sure you will be.

  

  Meet Kozmo and then read his story below.

  

  

  Rama and his well-loved tennis ball.

  

  Toe-Licker. I can almost feel that raspy tongue.

  

  And how can you not love this decorated cat. I remember putting reindeer antlers on our cat at Christmas and receiving a similar look of, “Really, do we have to do this?”

  The Temple is always burned on Sunday in a solemn ritual that sends the messages skyward and provides an element of peace for those left behind. For once, the always boisterous, always noisy Burning Man is silent. The music has stopped, the dancing has stopped, the drinking has stopped; there is only silence and respect broken occasionally by the sound of someone crying or calling out the name of a loved one who has passed on.

  

  

  

  

  I always feel like the sparks represent messages sent on their way.

   

  NEXT POST: More sculptures from Burning Man 2017 with a special focus on trees in honor of the world’s remaining forests.

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  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged Black Rock City 2017, Burning Man 2017, photography, The 2017 Temple at Burning Man, travel blog, writing

• The Radical Ritual Theme… Burning Man 2017: Part 10

  Posted at 2:39 pm by Curt Mekemson

  Oct 7th

  

  The 2017 Burning Man Theme of Radical Ritual led to some interesting art including this fellow. If you are wondering what it is, so was I. I decided it was an anteater with a cowbell. Minus the cowbell, I was reminded of the small stick figures found in the cave on the Little Colorado River where the Hopi Indians entered this world according to their mythology.

   

  Each year, Larry Harvey, the founder of Burning Man, determines what the theme for the annual event will be. While it isn’t required, artists are then encouraged to reflect the theme in their work. Most major tribes and many of the smaller ones as well, also emphasize the theme in the design and decoration of their camps. Themes from past years have ranged from the environment, to evolution, to rites of passage. This year’s art theme was Radical Ritual. I pulled the following out of Burning Man’s description:

  Beyond the dogmas, creeds, and metaphysical ideas of religion, there is immediate experience. It is from this primal world that living faith arises. In 2017, we will invite participants to create interactive rites, ritual processions, elaborate images, shrines, icons, temples, and visions. Our theme will occupy the ambiguous ground that lies between reverence and ridicule, faith and belief, the absurd and the stunningly sublime.

  Sacred things appear to come from some profoundly other place that is beyond the bounds of space and time. It is as if a window is thrown open on another world that is more real than real. This absolute uniqueness of all sacred things releases powerful emotions: joy, awe, wonder, dread, and, in its most transcendent form, pure exaltation. The sacred speaks to us of vastness and of union with a power larger than our conscious selves. The sacred gives us access, it is felt, to greater being.

  I always look forward to seeing how artists interpret the theme. For example, the Big Rig Jig, which I have included in several posts, was featured as part of Burning Man’s 2007 environmental theme, The Green Man.

  

  Art projects are encouraged to reflect the year’s theme. These oil tankers welded together reflected environmental concern about our dependence on oil.

  As I read this year’s description, I was amused by the sentence: “Our theme will occupy the ambiguous ground that lies between reverence and ridicule, faith and belief, the absurd and the stunningly sublime.” That, I thought, provides a heck of a lot of latitude. And I was right. I’ve already provided an example of art that bordered on the sublime this year: The Flower Tower. But where does a giant toilet fit in?

  

  The Flower Tower was reaching for the sublime at Burning Man this year..

  

  While this five-foot tall toilet was approaching the absurd.

  The artists named their large toilet Morning Ritual and declared it was “a dedication to the most unsung hero in our homes.” Okay, I decided, it doesn’t get much more absurd than this. The artists pointed out, however, that the toilet is often used as a place of refuge. Think of the parent wanting to escape from rambunctious kids for a few moments, or a date wanting a break from a boring partner. Or how about when the toilet becomes an absolute necessity, like when you are suffering from a severe case of Montezuma’s Revenge. Is there anything more important in your life at that particular moment than finding or hanging out with a privy? I am pretty sure that Burners who have overindulged— like drank all night— regard the long lines of port-a-potties found throughout Black Rock City in a similar vein.

  

  Porta potties lined up in Black Rock City.

  Martin Luther, the fellow who created the Protestant Reformation, took the analogy a step further. He considered the toilet an important ally in his fight against the devil. He’d sit on the pot, let go, and declare, “Take that Satan.” He was also reputed to use pamphlets that were written in opposition to his campaign as toilet paper.

  For whatever the reason, Harvey and Company decided that the toilet deserved a special place among the shrines that were surrounding the Man. Here are some of the other shrines I found placed around the Man and throughout the Playa.

  

  I found this Shrine of La Santisima Muerte rather interesting. La Santisima is not a saint according to the Catholic Church, but she is gaining in popularity among the poor of Mexico and Latin America because she rejects no one who comes to her— including drug dealers. The horse like creature on the right represents one of the six aspects Quetzalcoatl.

  

  A closer look…

  

  And a close up. Today Latin America, tomorrow the world?

  

  This two-tailed water nymph with Burning Man hair nestles in giant hands as part of the Aquarian Shrine to water by artist Jade Fusco from Austin, Texas,

  

  Artists Andrew Sczesnak and Chris Swimmer from Berkeley claimed that their Shrine of Dough was dedicated to the world’s dependence on bread, but all I could think of was Ghost Busters.

  

  And if you have a doughboy, you might as well have a Golden Rabbit. Makes sense doesn’t it? My grandsons, however, said it looks like a dead bunny.

  

  The Gilded Brine Shrimp swims around on the Playa when it is covered with water so it is appropriate that it had its own shrine. Vaughn Perkins of Elk Creek, California created this art piece with its large egg.

  

  A larger sculpture also featured the shrimp of the Playa. Thousands of these little fellows would have been swimming around a couple of months earlier when BMORG was still worrying about whether the Playa was going to dry up in time for Burning Man.

  

  Naturally, a shaman would be included when thinking of radical rituals.

  

  The Utah Builders’ Community out of Salt Lake City, Utah built this rather simple but elegant structure and called it The Temple of Awareness. The 13-sided structure was 35 feet in diameter and 35 feet tall. It was one of several structures at Burning Man that was designed to be burned.

  

  I was there, along with 20,000 or so other Burners, when the Temple started to Burn.

  

  Soon, flames were licking away at the top…

  

  And a few minutes later, it was almost over, which is an appropriate place to end today’s post.

   

  NEXT BLOG: Since we have been focusing on ritual and shrines, I will feature this year’s Burning Man Temple.

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  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged Black Rock City 2017, Burning Man 2017, Burning Man art 2017, photography, Radical Ritual Theme at Burning Man 2017, travel blog, writing

• Phoenicopterus Rex and Several Other Fun but Weird Sculptures… Burning Man 2017: Part 9

  Posted at 5:29 pm by Curt Mekemson

  Oct 2nd

  

  Burning Man does whimsical well, as illustrated by this giant flamingo with its large purple boa.

   

  Surrounded by a white picket fence and standing on fake grass, the 40-foot-tall Phoenicopterus Rex brought to Burning Man by Josh Zubcoff from San Francisco could be seen from almost anywhere on the Playa. Phoenicopterus, BTW, is the scientific name for flamingo, and in this case, a heck of a big bird. Peggy and I have met many of its smaller cousins in the South, both the beautiful wild kind you find standing around on one leg in swamps, and the more domesticated plastic kind you find adorning patches of grass on many a home. Our daughter, Natasha, loved these birds and decorated her room with them briefly as a teenager. I don’t remember whether that was before or after her Goth stage when she painted her walls black. I gave the room wide berth then, realizing that I might be painted as well.

  

  A pair of the real birds in Florida.

  

  Part of the popularity of theses amazing birds is their ability to perform contortionists acts. Number 48 was a master. How’s that for taking a nap?

  

  A pair of small plastic flamingos came by to visit Phoenicopterus Rex, who was back-lit by the sun but still very pink. I thought the top hats were a nice addition.

  

  Phoenicopterus Rex lit up at night.

  The Flamingo was just one of several appropriately weird sculptures with a sense of humor found at Burning Man in 2017. I’ve included several for your entertainment, today.

  

  It seems appropriate that we should go from a giant flamingo to a tiny dinosaur. This not too scary Tyrannosaurus Rex, was part of the Free Range Animal Automata Menagerie created by Edward Crell from Sonoma, California.

  

  The menagerie also included a blue hippo, which reminded me of a mailbox…

  

  And a cat that was busy fishing. The automata part in the menagerie’s title came from the fact that each of the sculptures had a rope attached that you could pull to make the animals do things. In this case, kitty’s paw went down to catch the fish.

  

  Here’s a fish that kitty best leave alone. Sharks are bad enough when they are calm. This guy was keyed up.

  

  Wes Waltenspeil of Reno, Nevada created the shark. Here’s a close up of its eye.

  

  You might wonder why this colorful pyramid created by Dicapria ( a one-name person) out of Long Beach California made my list of weird art…

  

  It was certainly colorful…

  

  But take a closer look. The 12-foot tall pyramid was made up of a hundred thousand Gummy Bears. I might say ‘chew on that thought’ except the Gummy Bears were made out of acrylic and metal.

  

  In returning to the Big Bird theme, this 150 foot wide 45 foot tall giant crane named Coco was built by the Crimson Collective out of Los Angeles and done in origami style. In addition to its visual impact, it provided welcome shade on the Playa.

  

  I’d call this fellow Pegasus except for its fairy-wand, unicorn-type horn. It was an impressive beast. I don’t know who the artist is.

  

  Here’s the Pegasus Unicorn at night. Check out the totally out of control curly-haired tail.

  

  ‘It’s a chicken and egg situation’ according to Andrea Greenlees of Surbiton, UK, who created this sculpture. I’m not sure it answered the age old question of which came first. Burners were invited to climb up the ladder and enter the old girl through her tail-end and frolic among the eggs, however. Maybe the experience provided them with inspiration to answer the question.

  

  It wouldn’t be Burning Man without a few aliens wandering around, even blow-up aliens.

  

  The back of the alien at night.

  

  And finally, proof positive of the dead aliens that were found after the UFO crash in Roswell! It’s likely that this fellow was on loan from Area 51.

   

  NEXT BLOG: I intend to look at some of the art pieces that were built with the 2017 theme, Radical Ritual, in mind. Peggy and I are traveling again, this time to Connecticut to visit with our son and his family, however, so blog work will depend on available time.

  Posted in Burning Man, On the Road US | Tagged Burning Man, Burning Man 2017, Burning Man art 2017, photography, travel blog, writing

• Bush Devil Ate Sam

  

  The Bush Devil Ate Sam is an important record and a serious story, yet told easily, and with delightful humor. This is one of the most satisfying books I have ever read, because it entertained me thoroughly AND made me feel better informed. —Hilary Custance Green: British Author... Click on the image to learn more about my book, the Bush Devil Ate Sam, and find out where it can be ordered.

• Special Thanks to Word Press for featuring my blog and to my readers and followers. You are all appreciated.

  
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