mahna mahna .net

Welcome to Black Rock City, 2006. Some enterprising artist set up a few of these signs around town, to help orient the newbies. This one educates us on the nature of Desert Freaks; another I saw explained the nature of port-o-johns.

Well here’s a Desert Freak now! Hi, my name is Matthew, and I’ll be your guide today.

My home in Black Rock City this year.

Another view of my camp in Black Rock City. Burner Buddies Jeff and Shayleen are camped right next door in the white structure.

If you’re a fan of the 60s-era British miniseries “The Prisoner,” you’ll grok what Village Camp was all about. I liked their signs. Good idea: Let’s take a walk on the playa.

Here we are at Center Camp. These figures (there’s a third one, to the right, down on his knees; you can just barely see him) are kindred to others who showed up last year.

This “pool table” was meant for walking around on. The balls are actually painted bowling balls. The game looks like fun to me, but I never saw it if actually worked well in practice.

This is a yurt that I snapped a pic of because a colleague of mine knows the guy who put it up. Nice job.

People were climbing around on this box all week. The structure was initially white, but graffiti was strongly encouraged, and the citizens of Black Rock City were only too happy to oblige.

Another large, uh, thing that people were climbing around on.

The “Neverwas Haul” was one of the most amazing mutant vehicles out there this year.

I liked this mutant vehicle a lot, though if that’s the Capitol building they’re trying to portray, they basically only got the dome right.

Black Rock City can feel a lot like Tatooine — and that’s before the sand crawler shows up.

Watch out for Jawas!

This installation was a memorial for the soldiers who have died in George Bush’s foolish war in Iraq. Pairs of boots (one for each of the fallen) lined up in parallel columns lead you to a book showing headshots of the dead. Meanwhile, one of the posts plays recordings of Bush at his fear-mongering worst.

The war memorial from another angle. In the background is Uchronia, also known as the “Belgian Waffle.” More on that structure shortly.

“Get Stoned With Jesus.” Well, why not?

Uchronia was the largest structure on the playa this year, and may very well be one of the largest (if not THE largest) pieces of art ever to appear out there. SFGate has a nice two minute slideshow/video about the piece.

Somehow the word got around that Uchronia’s creators were Belgian, and that was it — the structure became known as the “Belgian Waffle.”

Plenty of room to walk around inside the Belgian Waffle. Amazing dance parties took place here at night.

Burners taking time out in the shade of Uchronia.

Graffiti at the Man.

Now we’re over at the Man, whom I failed to get a decent daytime shot of. But I did snap this graffiti…

And now we’re over at the Temple of Hope, which I also neglected to get a decent daytime shot of. I was too entranced (as always) by the messages people leave at this, the somber, emotional heart of Black Rock City.

At the Temple of Hope, Black Rock City, 2006.

At the Temple of Hope, Black Rock City, 2006.

At the Temple of Hope, Black Rock City, 2006.

Enough day shots! Black Rock City is best experienced at night. We’ve got our nighttime duds on, so let’s see … is the bike ready to go?

Yes, my bike is ready to go. Okay, let’s go.

This is not a neighbor riding by, but rather a neon sculpture I found at Entheon Village, a camp devoted to psychedelia and similar concerns. (The orange arc is ten feet further back and part of something larger and unrelated.) I feel certain the piece commemorates the famous bicycle ride that Albert Hoffman took as he experienced history’s first acid trip on April 19, 1943.

The Serpent Mother was an extraordinary pyrotechnic piece that I got few good pictures of, so you might not get the whole idea…

The Serpent Mother’s head. She moves and belches fire and is a general hoot.

The Serpent Mother was large enough to coil around a hundred people or so.

Flames leaping from the vetebrae of the Serpent Mother.

The Serpent Mother, Black Rock City, 2006.

On Thursday night, the Serpent Mother was the scene of a spectacular fireworks show, just beginning in this shot.

This beautiful homage to one of my heroes, John Lennon, stood on the Esplanade and attracted the odd sentimentalist. Late in the week, my friend Jeff discovered the piece had been marred by anti-hippie graffiti and witnessed the artist hard at work removing the defacement.

Pyros abound at night on the playa.

Okay, this dude goes by the name Megavolt, and he is CRAZY. He stands atop this van, wearing a wire mesh suit. Then he charges up those two huge Tesla coils, and the lightning show starts…

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

Megavolt is an enormous crowd pleaser, naturally.

Megavolt is one of those playa attractions that make me think, “This is fantastic, but it could go so horribly wrong…”

Megavolt has hops.

Thanks, Megavolt. Play safe till next year, huh?

Apologies for all the dust on the lens. This mutant vehicle had an egregiously loud steam whistle. Wholly appropriate!

Another shot of the playa-train.

This was my favorite art piece out there this year, and it’s going to take several shots to give you the idea… (Top-right: fireworks, unrelated.)

This thing was called the Cubetron or something silly like that. (It’s not a cube at all!) I called it the “Tree of Light.” There’s a tree branch in the center, which all those light-strands radiate outward from…

…and the colors are constantly changing according to pre-programmed patterns.

I should have shot a quick movie so you could get a sense of how the lights were moving. Suffice it to say, they were overwhelmingly beautiful. Even to the sober. (So I was told.)

Pretty colors.

Here, the orange light is moving around through the piece, like a sweeping second hand or something, only much faster. Should I just stop trying to explain?

I’ll stop trying to explain.

The Tree of Light (a.k.a. the Cubetron), Black Rock City, 2006.

Hey, it’s the Man! He needs to Burn, doesn’t he?

When it’s Burn time, the Man’s arms go up…

…and the firedancers arrive to celebrate the impending Burn.

Firedancers, Black Rock City, 2006.

Firedancers are great. And apparently they all feel that it’s really not enough to just mess around with fire. They’ve always gotta add stilts and unicycles and such to the mix. I’m not opposed.

Bare ta-tas: Another nice addition to the firedancing repertoire.

Kaboom! The Burn begins. And now, many pictures of a Burning Man…

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, September 2, 2006.

The night after the Man burns, we burn the Temple. My shots of the Temple burn this year are crap, because I misplaced my good camera a few hours before as I packed up my car. So the Sunday night shots are all done with a device simply not up to the task.

The Burning of the Temple, Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

The Burning of the Temple, Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Jeff and Shayleen look on in silence as the Temple burns. (Much love, you two.)

We had a special THIRD BURN this year when Uchronia went up in smoke. I figure I’ll never seen flames this large again unless I someday see a building or a forest on fire. (Hmm. There’s also always the possibility of bigger structures burning in Black Rock City…)

Uchronia burns. Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Uchronia burns. Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Uchronia burns. Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Uchronia burns. Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Uchronia burns. Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Uchronia burns. Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Uchronia burns. Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Uchronia burns. Black Rock City, September 3, 2006.

Twelve hours later, and I’m back in the default world. I share a garage with my upstairs neighbor, who is also a Burner. It seems that a freak hole in the space time continuum opened up and deposited a small piece of Black Rock City in our garage. Nice! The smell of playa dust shall keep us primed for next year. Will you be joining us?