Sweating the details – and XyloVan’s cruise schedule – for TTITD 2018
Preparing for Burning Man – the Thing in the Desert – consumes you. You sacrifice all your time to it, and much of your sanity. I’ve been too busy to even blog about this year’s preparations, which have included a slew of new instruments and a complete teardown/rebuild of the Arduino-controlled canopy-light system. As I’m probably overfond of saying, a mutant vehicle is a hole in the playa into which one pours money, blood and tears.
But it’s still a mutant vehicle. And I’ve got a schedule to keep.
So here, this’ll catch you up:
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- I’ve been BUSY.
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- I cut two new tank drums, to be mounted to the left side the van, fore and aft of the 2.5 octave keyboard.
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- New eyebolts in strut ends from which to hang the chandeliers. Also, set up the speakers for easy slip-on-and pin-it mount/dismount.
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- 5 coats of clearcoat enamel and later a bungee wrap for the new tank drums.
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- Checked all the chandeliers and rewired some of the non-working ones.
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- Drilled and dipped in liquid vinyl a couple-dozen new mallets and sticks.
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- An experiment with a helium tank.
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- Took time out to enjoy the L.A. River.
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- Got smashed into by an inattentive driver, who stove in the iron framework of our tailgate – a critical piece of equipment for letting people mount to the roof deck during the burn.
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- Unbolted the damaged tailgate frame from the underside of the van.
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- Cobbled together the Helium Bongoes
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- Took a trip to Alaska. ALASKA.
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- Alaska is ravishing.
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- Returned home to find the maximally awesome Matt Rogers had repaired the tailgate frame by cutting off the crushed third, and re-welding it from scratch (and the materials I picked up at IMS)
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- Bolted that mofo back onto the underside of the van. BUT GOOD.
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- Replaced and painted the plywood decking
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- Masked it off
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- Peel off the masking ,and voila – an exceptionally noticeable tailgate so that people can mount the ladder safely – and so inattentive drivers will be less likely to smash into it again/
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- Oh, and tonight, thanks to the unstoppable Shea Sullivan, who brought our Arduino lighting system back online. MUCH GRATITUDE AND RESPECT, SIR. And I finished mounting the upper deck cage and hippie-proofing it with pool noodles and safety signs.
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- I might not be blogging again till after the Burn. Should be a doozy (see schedule below) Thanks for following!
Flag me down if you see me and I’ll give you a ride if there’s room!
If I’m not cruising the playa, abandoning XyloVan briefly to volunteer on GATE, enjoying the insanely inventive events at home at OKNOTOK at 3:00/A, I’ll be doing one of these things.
- Tuesday 8/28
- Thursday
- 12 noon: BAIT route from 3:00/L to the Temple and back
- 2:30 pm: XyloVan Robøtik Perkussion Jam Cruise departs from OKNOTOK (3:00/A)
- 3 pm: BAIT route from 3:00/L to the Temple and back
- 10 pm: XyloVan plays the Sonic Runway in deep playa – Come bang on the van with us and make the Sonic Runway go wild!