Category: Homo sapiens

Burning Man 2011 – Mutant Vehicle pro tips from a first-timer

Sadder. Wiser. Exhausted. Dazzled.

After building and piloting JANUS at Burning Man 2011 and living to tell the tale (Full build log here) I’ll go out on a limb to say this: Bringing a pre-approved mutant vehicle to the playa for the very first time in your life virtually guarantees that:

  • You will work your ass off
  • You will develop calluses, cuts, burns, bruises, muscle spasms and contusions in places you never thought possible
  • You will lose weight, grow muscle and pick up dangerous new skills (say, plunge-cutting plywood with a power saw just inches from your femoral artery)
  • You will empty your wallet far faster than you planned
  • You will – during that period – doubt:
    • your mechanical skills
    • the quality of your design
    • the solidity of your construction
    • your ability to finish in time for the Saturday burn, let alone in time to let you enjoy it at all during the week
    • your chances of escaping without a huge mechanical breakdown, catastrophic fire or horrible injury to your passengers, your crew or yourself
    • your ability to even get a grudging nod, much less a license from the mighty Department of Mutant Vehicles once you’re done
    • your sanity
  • You will show up on the playa having forgotten several critical tools, parts or methods for making it go
  • You will run out of screws, female plugs, butt splices or some other vital, impossible-to-find-on-the-playa supply
  • You will – after looking at other brilliant mutant vehicles around you – hate your design
  • You will vow never to let your hubris con you into such a foolish and exhausting enterprise again
  • You will finish hours – if not days – later than you had planned
  • You will make something bigger and more extraordinary in real life than you had even imagined during the design phase
  • You will be invited to bribe the DMV inspector – and out of desperation you will hope that your offer of a handmade gift-with-keychain-light is not too paltry when the signs say they clearly favor PBR
  • You will be told sniffily, “We’ll let you pass this year, but next year come back with more lights”
  • But you WILL get both your day and night licenses
  • You will remain completely sober (and swallow your tongue several times at the wheel) during the entire week, not because of the many repeated threats that law enforcement can bust you, confiscate your vehicle, kick you out of the event and send you to court in Reno. No, you’ll avoid any intoxicants – even a sip of beer – because at any second, without warning, deeply wasted Burners will lunge into your path, drive alongside you, climb onto your tailgate, bang on your vehicle, march around without lights directly in front of you, cause you to slam on your brakes and generally do everything suicidally possible within inches of your front bumper to ensure you have a heart attack or three
  • You will drive in tense, bitter silence for hours, hating shirt-cockers, sparkle ponies, propane flares, darkwads, moon boots, drum circles, techno, dubstep, neon, mutant vehicles and everything else Burning Man
  • You will vow never to do this again – and maybe skip Burning Man for the next nine years because it almost killed you
  • You will (however) slowly relax
  • You’ll smile – hey, I made it! People seem to be enjoying it! And – despite your charred, curmudgeonly attitude – you’ll start to really enjoy yourself too.
  • Burners will come up and interact with your vehicle – climbing happily aboard, playing your instruments, turning your little cranks, begging you to blast your flame effects (if you have ’em)
  • Kids will shout with joy on seeing you
  • Grownups will too – or at least they’ll say aloud “WTF is that???” and you won’t mind because at least you made ’em think
  • Other mutant vehicle pilots will honk (or blast) and wave, locking eyes with the look that says “I know what you went through – because I did, too.”
  • You will offer rides out to the majestic desolation of the unpopulated, art-free deep playa just because you can
  • You will climb onto your vehicle’s roof and enjoy the view, 20 feet off the ground – of your family and crew grooving on the waves of mutant vehicles, Burners, art and wildness surging around you at major burns (the scene at theTrojan Horse burn was particularly great)
  • You will happily give tours to total strangers, some of whom will thank you profusely and sincerely for showing them them things they never would have seen on foot or from the saddle of a bike
  • You will discover corners of Black Rock City you never knew existed
  • You will stand on your roof with family and friends on Burn night and howl with the glee of a 5-year-old and curse with the vigor of a drunken sailor as the Man goes up in a shower of fireworks, gouts of flame, and the boom of green-tinged propane bombs
  • You will spend 10 hours breaking down your mutation for transport (unless you were wise and rich enough to dedicate a non-transport vehicle to your project)
  • You will drive home wondering what the hell that was all about
  • You will immediately begin dreaming of your next design.

Here’s the full build log for the JANUS portion of XyloVan:

Below are photos of some other mutant vehicles (including the gobsmacking El Pulpo Mecanico, which hands-down WON Burning Man this year). I also posted photos of some of JANUS’ passengers, including the wonderful residents of Kidsville – and random bits of art.

Fifteen years and eight burns after I first tried to explain it, Burning Man still leaves me beggared for words. But building JANUS made me appreciate the worth of keeping my wrenches arrayed by size, making sure I had enough wire, and being deeply grateful for all the good friends who helped make this vehicle happen:

My long-suffering wife Kristina, David (the architect) and Marcelle, who generously donated heavy labor and painted the Janus medallions for front and back, Dave LaF, Alan and John for initial construction logistics; Marcus and Larry for on-playa muscle when I was about to lose it; Mac, Tina, Bernie and everyone at Big Art Labs for tools, welding, moral support and good cheer, and my right-hand kids, Cooper(Biomass) and Miranda (Hitgirl) for showing they know the value of hard work – thanks to all of you for supporting this whacked-out dream.

Burning Man 2011 – Panoramarama


The vast expanse of the plana lends itself to cinematic views. You find yourself wandering around the desert like David Lean, previsualizing shots for “Lawrence of Arabia.”

I used to hand-stitch photos together in Photoshop from whatever digital snapshot camera I was using, which was horribly time-consuming. This year, I discovered the iPhone app 360 Panorama – which lets you basically scan an entire 360-degree panorama within about a minute (or 90 seconds at night) and then automatically stitches the images together and uploads them. The results can be kind of kludgy at times – edges don’t mesh well if you spin imperfectly, or if your iPhone vignettes photos at night.

But I like the immersive feel you get when viewing them on the Web – or on your iOS device – it’s like a window into another world. Click the thumbnails here, then click-drag the images on Occipital’s site. (*hit the back button to return here)



360 Panorama: Self-portrait inside JANUS – Waiting for the Department of Mutant Vehicles to inspect and clear us for nighttime driving.


360 Panorama: JANUS and other vehicles in line in the DMV inspection lanes.


A quiet evening in Center Camp



360 Panorama: JANUS and other mutant vehicles at the Temple of Transition.


Another view of JANUS at the temple with the excellent submarine vehicle (at left)


360 Panorama: The Temple of Transition



360 Panorama: The Kidsville tour circles up between JANUS and the Temple.


360 Panorama: A romantic afternoon


360 Panorama: The Circle of Regional Effigies – wooden structures and sculptures built and then burned at once by 23 regional Burning Man communities from around the world. Our own Los Angeles was represented by SCARAB, a food truck that served snow cones and chips to burners before being burned on Thursday night.


360 Panorama: Before any major burn, mutant vehicles gather on the playa like fishing boats circling a fruitful patch of ocean. Here, JANUS and the submarine join others ringing the site of the Trojan Horse burn.


Thronged by burners and mutant vehicles, the Trojan Horse – all 5,600 pounds of it – goes up in flames.



360 Panorama – a sunny afternoon in Center Camp



360 Panorama – The Man, about to burn.


360 Panorama – the Man burns


360 Panorama – Tearing down JANUS and striking camp – a day-long affair. The work was long and hard (we went from about 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.) but the weather was gentle, and the dust not too bad.


360 Panorama – Exodus. Tens of thousands of vehicles stream towards the exit – basically eight lanes of cars, driving through the dust and the night towards a pinch-point one lane wide that lets them out onto the main road back through Gerlach. Timed right, you can be on the road in 20 minutes. Timed wrong – when most people are leaving – it can stretch to 3 or 4 hours. We stopped in Center Camp to get drinks right after the Temple Burn on Sunday night this year, and so escaped to the road in about 2 hours.

Back at the Egyptian – movie, art, glitz and Burning Man newbie orientation

We returned to the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood for a screening of the new cut of “Journey to the Flames, ” a travelogue/chronicle of one camp’s 11-year citizenship in Black Rock City.

As usual, XyloVan attracted some wonderful music: Here’s a member of the Dirty Beetles art car crew just pouring himself into Keyboard 1:

Here’s a more experimental/contemplative approach …

And here’s how fabulous some of you all looked before, during and after the newbie orientation and playa fashion show. See you in BRC in a couple months!

L.A. Food Truck Chowdown


We spent the day Saturday at the L.A. Food Truck Chowdown with 50 of L.A.’s best food trucks, there live bands and hungry people who streamed past us all day long. Gorgeous weather. Enough said.

Kids banged on it:

This guy mapped out the “black” and “white” keys …

A father-and-daughter duet …

A steel-drum/percussion approach – once he got the extra sticks out of the way …

… and amazingly, nobody got barbecue sauce on it – or banh mi, or cheese balls or gumbo or marinara or sushi or cheeseburgers or cupcakes or maple bacon ice cream, or boba …

Xylovan’s 2011 summer tour schedule

We’re starting to feel like a band here. We have gigs comin’ out our ears.

L.A. Food Truck Chowdown
Saturday, patient June 11: (late morning to 7 p.m.)
If you’re hungry and/or bored this Saturday, come down to the Los Angeles Food Truck Chowdown. XyloVan will be there along with a ton of art cars, vintage vehicles, artists, live bands, craft vendors, a video-game truck and oh, about 50 of L.A.’s best food trucks. Nice way to spend an afternoon.

Everything happens at the Cornfields (I’ll never get used to calling it the Los Angeles State Historical Park) near Chinatown. Ticket proceeds ($10) benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Film: “Journey to the Flames and Burning Man Newbie Orientation
Sunday, June 12, 2p.m.-10p.m.:
XyloVan will be joining veteran Burners all afternoon in the magnificent courtyard of the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood to welcome a screening of the latest in the L.A. League of Arts Burning Man Film Series.

“Journey to the Flames” is a 10-year documentary about a group of friends gearing up, traveling to and plunging themselves into Burning Man. (Here are a few film clips.)

Burning Man founder Larry Harvey and longtime communications director Maid Marian Goodell will be on hand with filmmakers Doug Jacobson and Steve Binder for some post-movie Q&A.

The screening starts at 7:30, but people can wander through the courtyard all afternoon and evening to check out XyloVan and other slices of interactive Burning Man culture.

Burning Man newbies are most welcome to come and learn from other Burners (including us) all about playa life – including Where to Get Materials, How to Survive, Why We Do It, What Are the Secrets, and Isn’t It Really Just a Bunch of Stinkin’ Naked Hippie Drug Cases Making a Mess in the Worst Desert in North America. (No, it’s patently not!) C’mon down.

And then, of course, XyloVan will be traveling to …

Burning Man
Aug. 29-Sept. 5.

About which, more later.

School outing

We introduced the van to my 11-year-old son’s classmates and their families last weekend at a huge campout/gathering/party at El Capitan Resort up in Goleta.

Kids make the best xylophonists. They have sharp enough chops to make interesting sounds, even if it’s playing “Chopsticks” together, and what they lack in precision they make up for in boundless enthusiasm: “Omigodthisistheawesomestthingever! Youmadethis? Omigodthisissofreakin’cool!!!”

Love it.

Thanks to everyone who played – I hope we’ll see you all again before too long.

More photos after the jump … More

XyloVan at BarCamp

(image courtesy of Jory Felice)
I had the supreme privilege of taking XyloVan to BarCampLA 8, an ad-hoc un-conference that I like to think of as an intellectual mosh pit, where tech, art, community and strategy thrash and get sweaty.

I set up in the upper lot, and told the stories of how I built it (one of these days I have to arrange all the posts on this blog into a single stack of step-by-step links), and gave helpful instruction on how to not get killed at Burning Man.

Many thanks to everyone who listened kindly and played energetically. You’re an inspiring community of fertile minds.

Can’t wait for the next BarCamp.


More pictures here, courtesy of Jane Lee:

XyloVan goes to Hollywood

That was great – a little microburn without all the driving, heat and dust.

XyloVan trekked a massive 4.3 miles last night to the Egyptian Theater to help kick off the L.A. League of Arts Burning Man Film Series. We utterly devoured the fascinating first film in the series – Dust and Illusions.

Check it out wherever you can – it traces the community’s 30-year-deep roots from a coagulation of like-spirited artists up through its raucous early years, the watershed ’96 burn that spurred creation of Black Rock City and its rich, monstrous growth up to last year’s 51,454-strong burn. If the nostalgia and inspiration don’t grab you, the politics will – so many strong minds struggling to define the undefinable.

We had a blast setting up in the courtyard – many thanks to Beth and Athena for graciously making space for XyloVan, and to Dore and Cristina for sharing Calliope the Wonder Wagon and their judicious barge-guiding skills with us. Thanks to them, maneuvering XyloVan in and out of the 7-foot-wide alley through the courtyard was a joy rather than the nerve-shredding crunchfest it could have been.

Thanks, also, to the Krishnas for the wonderful food, spiritual generosity and musical interaction.

And thanks especially to all of you – happy burners, playful Angelenos and all the had-to-be-coaxed-but-wound-up-enjoying-it souls who made lovely music into the night.

Tons of photos after the jump – if you spot yourself there, drop a line in the comments and leave your name and link!
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Bang on the van today!

Egyptian_Theatre_Hollywood_7.jpgLast night was the Burnal Equinox – the precise halfway point between Burning Man festivals – it’s sort of the formal kickoff season for preparations for the 2011 burn.

On the off chance you don’t already know about it, Sunday’s festival kicks off a
film series in at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood with a little BM culture
bath.

There’ll be a few theme camps and art cars in the courtyard all afternoon
(including XyloVan) – a lovely half-way-there dose of
playa.

At 7:30, there’s a showing of Dust and Illusions – 30 Years of History of Burning Man followed by
Q&A with the filmmakers and another hour or two of courtyard frolic.

DEETS after the jump.

See you there! More

Walkin’ with buddies

XyloVan doesn’t usually do requests – we like to show up where we think people will have fun with us. But Jim Hodgson, a Burner alum, asked us to park at the Down Syndrome of L.A. Buddy Walk last weekend, and it turned out to be a nice experience. We gave a lot of kids smiles – probably the polar/thematic/social/atmospheric opposite of the playa. Here are a few snaps:

Xylovan at L.A. Burning Man Decompression Arts Festival

We’ll be there – come by and say hi (hi!), bang on the van, rock out.

You and yours (alllll ages) deserve a tasty slab of dust-free Burning Man culture – Decom runs all day today, noon to midnight.

And a huuuge amount of art, music, playa couture, activities for all ages … It’s a very good thing.

We’re in a pretty noisy neighborhood – should be an interesting sound-mixing challenge. Nice neighbors, though.

Right about here.

Packing up – and heading home

Sunday started out nicely enough – then quickly deteriorated to a headlong death march as the wind picked up over 25 mph and brought half the playa with it in dust-cloud form.

Biomass was a tremendous help playing roof-monkey – we pulled in all the rigging and began loading up the bikes and lashing them down.

Hitgirl – not yet possessed of a proper playa work ethic at age 9, despite this being her fourth burn – supplied attitude and hijinks. Not much help to the rest of us.


Before too long we had the carport stripped to a skeleton, then broken down to bones and skin and packed away for travel.

What I didn’t take pictures of was the rest of the evening. We had planned to head out to the temple burn, but the dust was pretty much unrelenting, the crew was contrary, pissy and cold, and in the end we just hunkered in center camp, sharing a cooler-emptying smorgasbord with a family of Boston-to-CarsonCity transplants (and 17-time burners) and a fellow in a thoroughly gorgeous jester’s outfit who spoke in a twee fancy voice and devoured all our pickles.

Perfect end to an epic burn.

Exodus was 2 hours, and we were back in L.A. by mid-day Monday, the maiden voyage a ripping success.

Except for having murdered Hitgirl’s bike on Tuesday with the van. Fail.

Post-burn chilldown

Here are a few clips from XyloVan’s final hours on the playa – from just before the burn on Saturday night to just afterwards – and then a bit from Sunday morning before we began packing in earnest.

Seeing all these people play again while I was editing the clips (and I mean play, as curious, rhythmic humans, not as professional musicians) – was deeply satisfying.

I’m in the first clip – and really very joyful, despite the glum exterior. Building this vehicle, bringing it out and igniting people’s passions with it has been simultaneously deeply fulfilling and raw, bareknuckled fun.

The second-to-last clip is one of my favorites, a view of the van from inside our camp, where you can hear – but not see – the people playing Keyboards 2 and 3 on the other side of the vehicle, as it glitters in the dark.

XyloVan on Burn night – a blessing of flame and ashes, or What’s It All For?

At some point we all seek meaning in our lives.

Some dive into religion headfirst, damning all who fail to follow them and shaming the very values they claim to hold dear. Others plunge themselves into work, drugs, sex, gaming – or even a quiet spirituality that has little to do with god or gods.

But the more we learn, the more obvious it becomes that our time here is limited, so we all run around willy-nilly trying to either ignore death or plug into what we perceive to be immortality.

I guess I’m somewhere between those two camps. Raised Catholic, I walked away from the Church at 20 when I learned how deeply soaked in blood, money, power and misogyny the institution itself really is. I try to keep what really matters from that dogma close – love, respect, charity, empathy – and I do believe the communal energy that humans share is something approaching divine.

But mostly, I think we’re just plain lucky to be alive on this pinprick of light somewhere in the belly of a small galaxy in a massive universe – and we’d better spend our time making the most of it for ourselves and those around us before the light goes out.

That’s why I built this thing – and it has paid me back a hundredfold.

Burning Man – the raw creativity, the debauchery, the noise, the ritual of torching the man on Saturday night – is not a religion. It’s a relentless, if Brigadoon-brief dedication to life and to art and to each other.

If that’s not a crystalline kernel of meaning, a reason for living that’s worth throwing hundreds of hours of your life and thousands of dollars of your hard-earned money at, worth slicing your fingers open, filling your nose with aluminum dust, depriving yourself of sleep, worth stomping through hellacious dust storms and standing close enough to the fire to hurt, well then I’ve probably missed the Entire Point. Let me know what that is, soon as you can figure it out.

Meantime, I always liked Bill Hicks‘ little riff about the purpose of educating each other – “so that we can all learn, evolve and get the fuck off this planet.”

And with that thought close to mind, here are the videos of the Burn. Enjoy:

Repair time in Kidsville

Quick – run out and publish this bumper sticker: “AN ART CAR IS A HOLE IN THE DESERT INTO WHICH YOU POUR MONEY”

I moved the van into Kidsville Thursday morning to repair a melted circuit. A staple had cut through a lead, shorting out the entire port strobe circuit – and basically melting the wires together. Check it out …
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