David Hoffman’s architecture for JANUS is based on my design and his experience as a Hollywood scenic designer. I originally planned to monkey together some kind of framework from metal tubing – I had a couple of old Ikea deck-rocking-chair frames out of swoopy-looking 5/8-inch steel and had planned to (somehow) hang them from tubing …
We’re going to Burning Man. Again!
Now all we have to do is finish building Janus, the Celestial Player Piano around XyloVan in time! Here’s what XyloVan looked like on the playa last year. And here’s the official Department of Mutant Vehicles acceptance letter, which just came in last night: DMV Registration Acceptance Letter 2011 PRINT AND BRING THIS LETTER WITH …
Roughing out the framework – the right way
We roughed out the major framing today that will turn XyloVan into JANUS, the Celestial Player Piano. My excellent son, Biomass worked tirelessly with me all day, regaling me with jokes and generally kicking ass on every little task. Here, he’s disassembling the 1×6 framework that Alan and Dave roughed out yesterday, to make way …
Building JANUS – roughing out the frame
We started today with the framing for what will eventually look something like this. Dave and Alan generously toiled in the sun with me at Big Art Labs, and we began roughing out the side rails that will be bolted to the roof rack. David Hoffman’s design called for 2x4s, but after finding the 8-footers …
JANUS frame design – Building an art car around an art car
The Department of Mutant Vehicles is very particular about this: In order to receive a new mutant vehicle permit (of which only a limited few hundred will be issued to 50, 000+ Burners), your vehicle must no longer resemble a street vehicle in any way. We toyed with a bunch of designs before settling on …
The freshing of the mallets
Making mallets is very slow work. (Video) First, we buy 50 (fifty) 30-mm bouncyballs … Then we drill 11/64-inch holes in them … And stick them onto 16-inch-long rods of 3/8-inch (and 1/4-inch) fiberglass, procured from a Max-Gain Systems, a very friendly radio-antenna-supply house in Georgia (thanks, Google) … After dipping (about which, more below) …
XyloVan to undergo full mutation
(UPDATED) Yep. Last year’s DMV rejection was a reality check for us. The Department of Mutant Vehicles is serious. So we’re getting serious. The XyloVan crew are working to return to the playa this year with a fully-mutated version of the vehicle that will let us bring the instruments and noise around to everyone – …
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: …
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 …
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 ChowdownSaturday, 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 …
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 …
XyloVan at BarCamp
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
L.A. Decompression 2010 – photos around XyloVan
If we’d stopped to take more photos, we wouldn’t have had near as enjoyable a time chatting with everyone. If you spot yourself, drop a line in the comments and say hey!
Sweet Decom
You all are really the most superb humans. Thank you for today. Er, yesterday. More and better pictures and video tomorrow night, er, tonight. No, wait a minute …
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 …
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 …
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 …