The Burning Man Spirit lives on both coasts! Several times a year a bunch of burning people gathered on Assateague Island for Beach Burns. So far we've had Beach Burns on:
Background art (c) 1999-2009 Richard F. Merrill II. All rights reserved.
Send me your links! I'd like to have pointers to others peoples memories of Assateague/PDF.
"Area 1" (not 51 ;-) turned out to be harder to find than expected. There were at least three 'areas' labeled "1". After asking a ranger I was directed to the right place. It looked like just another beach full of day tripping families, but then I saw the tiki's and an inflatable Godzilla, I had arrived.
It was great to finally put faces on the baltwash email addresses. We ended up with about 20 participants. Much fun was had with grilling (despite the constant wind), glow sticks and bonfire. We even had a 5' "man" in addition to two boxes of National Geographic 'logs' (sorry, no Wired's). I had my Virtual Beret on my head most of the evening.
Our "man" was looking and pointing west towards Gerlach. We lit him up with glow necklaces. Not as bright as neon, but adequate. When it came time to burn him, the wind kept knocking him over. We eventually guyed him down while Kathleen sprayed him with lighter fluid. He would burn and then get blown out! Finally we dropped him into the bonfire and he was done until fall.
And a final note of cosmic karma... The couple next to our site was breaking open glow sticks and doping up kites and string for a rather impressive show. It turns out the guy was thinking about going to Burning Man! And we were set up right next to them!
About 30 of us east
coast burning people
gathered
at the Assateague National Seashore in Maryland. My sister,
her
boxer
'Worf' (dogs are OK there, yay!) and her SO, Paul, showed up early with
three tents. She might make the big burn next year if
she can muster the time and energy (she's been a long time
volunteer
at the Philadelphia
Folk
Festival
which takes place in late August near Schwenksville, PA). We
had
expected maybe 15 more people and ended up with more food than we could
eat. There were kebabs, baked apples, cake, brownies and even
some
turkish coffee. I brought four types of marinated chicken and
a
chocolate
chip cookie cake. All this hauled down with grill, firewood
and
karaoke
in the now famous east coast "man" van.
Unlike the August 1st burn, we had practically the whole beach to ourselves. A ranger showed up early and mentioned that we should get a group permit next time, but he didn't press the matter. We sent him on his way with pretty smiles from Kathleen and Rachel and a nice piece of pound cake. Although we couldn't get a group camping spot, we did get several individual sites.
The Alien Karaoke from Nonsense Camp made a brief appearance due to the high humidity in stark contrast to the desert. Glenn and Ursula brought an anatomically 'correct' burning woman with square breasts. Her hair and face were liberally sprinkled with glow stick fluid. Before she was torched we put smoke bombs in her nipples. The effect was quite bizarre. Paul got it on video.
Some of us stayed out
on the beach 'til
sunrise
burning the big woodpile that several us us had contributed
to.
The
rest of us
drifted back to our tents and slept to the sounds of the wild
ponies
and screeching sica deer. The next morning we gathered at a
campsite
and cooked up a big breakfast including pancakes (with real maple
syrup),
egg sandwiches, bacon, Amy's veggie stir fry and mucho fruit.
Leaving the beach was almost as hard as leaving the desert, but we will be back...
About 30 east coast Burning People and guests gathered on the beach at Assateague Island National Seashore for our third Beach Burn. New York was represented and we even had two from Connecticut!
A six foot popsicle stick and scrap wood "Man" anchored the scene along with a hand dug fire pit (nobody had a shovel!) Non-burners gave him odd looks. Who are these people?! Later he was joined by Lizard's cardboard "Man". We surrounded the fire pit with an impromptu sand castle full of redoubts, turrets, a gated sally port and grass reed 'artillery'. The bonfire itself was topped off by a dried Christmas tree that went up real fast.
We feasted on grilled chicken, corn on the cob, shrimp and soy cakes. Honoria tossed a home made salad and cucumber medley (vegetarian dishes were well represented). Cookies, dark chocolate bars and hand made 'smores' made up dessert.
A distorted boom box blasted us with rave/dance/crazy mix music all night long. Glow ropes were handed out in the twilight. I scanned the beach and 'spun' the dancers with a pair of laser pointers, one red the other green. The rangers never even noticed any of our craziness.
I had brought along a pile of papers from my high school days to feed into the fire including results from the Kuder Interest Test, the Ohio Interest Survey, my PSAT/SAT scores, a draft essay about some piece of literature that I remember hating and finally, a TRS-80 service contract.
Around midnight we torched the duo of effigies. Lizard's cardboard construct burst into flames and scattered glowing debris down the beach. I danced the 'popsicle stick' man right into the fire, but he melted more than burned (I had built him with a glue gun :-Z)
There were several other groups on the beach, but we outlasted them all. The only lights to be seen beside us and the stars were a distant Ocean City Maryland and lightning from an approaching thunderstorm. The ramparts around the fire were torn down to allow the rising tide douse the flames. We finally left the beach around 2 AM. Climbing into our tents, we got a drenching around 3 AM from the now arrived storm.
We parted ways with anticipation of the next Beach Burn and the desert Burn yet to come.
The first of over a dozen "Popsicle Stick Men" to be made for our Beach Burns.
A crowd of veterans and newcomers from NY, Philly, Balt, DC and Richmond gathered for an strange evening of dancing, feasting and general craziness. Some like me got caught in traffic (over an hour through Dover!) and others got lost, but eventually made it to the beach. We even had a pair of women from Sweden who may head out to the desert this year.
Again we over did it on the food. Kathleen, can you say mega-chicken? Unlike October of last year, we had a dearth of desserts, hmmmm..... We'll remedy that in October. A box steamer was placed on one of the cooking fires for a tasty treat of both store bought and fresh from the bay clams. By 11 PM we were the only ones on the beach. Cosmo arrived with a CD player to plug into the Alien Karaoke and we cranked several CDs of ethno-worldbeat, techno and trance. Red and green lasers traced through the dancers feet. The Karaoke had been enhanced with purple neon lights and pulsating red neon arrows. Burnables included Dave Dudich's "Burning Ultraman" as well as a huge box of kindling. The legendary Assateague mosquitos were out in force this time. Pass the bug juice! An odd experimental 'blast furnace' was tried with cardboard baffles. We'll have to fine tune it for October's Burn.
The "Man" required a tripod to support and position him above the fire. I think he was our heaviest yet. After much wrestling we got him to hang from the tripod with aircraft cabling. The box of kindling went onto the fire first, followed by the "Man". The high winds whipped the kindling alight and soon the man himself was afire. Dave had packed his arms with road flares, making his combustion exceptionally bright. Led by the Swedish connection, many of the burners lost their clothes and made a dash for the cold ocean. Back and forth they went, cold water to hot fire! Even after the Man collapsed into the embers, more flares deep within his 'hip' continued to light off. Some lay naked next to the fire for a while longer. We didn't leave the beach until well past 2 AM.
Next morning I gave my new grill top waffle iron a whirl. It worked well enough to warrant taking it out to the desert. Bacon, watermelon, nectarines and fresh brewed coffee with hazelnut creamer rounded out the meal. A small can of sand was procured for ritual purposes on September 4th. We got several new recruits for the big camp and left the island in eager anticipation of the Big Burn in the desert!
With a crowd of around 60 burners from NY, Philly, Balt, DC and Richmond, this was our best attended event yet! Kathleen & I had adjacent group camp sites for 50 folks with the Boy Scouts on either side. Interesting mix, eh? Boy Scouts meet Burning Man?! The camp areas were partly flooded and the dunes rearranged courtesy of Dennis and Floyd, but true to desert survivors we adapted.
We had four grills, some stoves and even a smoker going. The menu included lot's of chicken, hot dogs in bbq sauce, homemade green and pasta salads, plus two cakes for the three birthdays being celebrated (Kathleen, Leah and Maurizio). We feasted while Dave U & I cranked some trance, techno and worldbeat mixes through a car battery powered concoction I brought along. Later someone tried Jiffy-Pop over the coals, but it caught fire repeatedly. In frustration they tossed the whole thing into the fire. Kernels spilled out and popped all over the fire pit.
Eric G's telescope provided views of the moon, Jupiter and four moons as well as Saturn complete with rings. A can of playa dust was consecrated to the fire and the Atlantic Ocean. A rumor was settled, playa dust does not fizz in salt water. Several Boy Scouts snuck out of their camp and started to hang out with us. We sent them on their way being as we had alcohol (several bottles of wine and champagne were passed). Later some quite inebriated fishermen wandered in, confused by all the light from lasers, glow ropes and EL wire.
Our "Men" were present in their full glory. Dave U brought a 6 foot wooden beauty that SucroseD draped a length of EL wire over for effect. Cyberspelunker had a cardboard skeleton with a "No Spectators" sign hung on it. Lastly, Kevin set up his 18 foot "Turning Man". This thing was amazing! Built tripod fashion for stability, he featured a mesh and tissue paper head, three arms tipped with road flares, a frame packed with Duraflame logs and a rotating waist joint. A small motor kept him in motion.
Breakfast was another feast of fruit galore, waffles, four Dunkin Donuts coffee 'boxes', muffins, croissants and cereal. Many photos from the Desert Burn were shared. Before packing up and parting a group hug ensued.
Winter is on it's way
and who knows what we'll
cook up for a snowy gathering.. Stay tuned!
May 11-13, 2000, Our first Y2K Burn!
Our sixth Assateague Beach Burn. Over 70 burning folks from Texas, California, Ohio, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, DC, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were present. The Temple of Atonement was represented by Mistress Eva and her crew. Friday night we had three group camp sites and Saturday we had all five, we owned the island!
The food was too much to keep track of with over a dozen grills and camp stoves going for two days straight. Marinated chicken, cajun fish, steaks, huge salads, kabobs and even a whole roast were consumed. Moose from Ohio celebrated a birthday, too.
Several people were decorated desert fashion. Sam's colorful get up, Rev. Terry's EL wire suit and Keith's yin-yang face added much atmosphere to the Burn. Art works included Kevin's reprise to last fall's "man", only this time he had flame jets on each arm! I added five popsicle stick men (one for each camp site) and decked out one with EL wire. A "geoball" appeared on the beach and at night Dave U's balloon armada was used to hoist blinking LED toys and glow sticks aloft. Kites were all over our camp site.
The irreverent ones among us played with a Furby, subjecting it to Kibological wisdom, conspiracy-speak and an alien oracle toy. The poor bastard was blue screened by Ginger, flown in a kite, set atop a boombox, was forced to dance and was ultimately sacrificed to the fire gods.
Fire spinners were out in force: Tara, Rosie, Dave U and others twirled, spun and generally amazed us all. Lizard did a fire walk in the pit in his full firefighters suit.
Taco Boy was cited for public nudity and our rumor mill quickly turned this into a full arrest and "federal agents among us!", black helicopters, etc.
Despite the cold water Leslie and the "Japanese connection" braved it for a while Saturday afternoon. The water-land temperature created a micro climate bordered precisely by the crest of the dune. On the beach side it was a good twenty degrees cooler and breezy. When I came over the dune, the wind dropped and it got quite warm. Eric reported being totally relaxed, introduced the camp to the Fluxx card game and brought Knarph along with a wild idea on playa transportation (stay tuned!) We made giant bubbles with a 5 gallon bucket of soapy water. We even found some new recruits including one woman with a friend visiting from Bolivia. Some of the "Campfire Project" girls came by including DPD's future soul mate. She described all her pyro adventures as her friends checked out our "man" in odd wonderment. Maybe after she turns 18, she'll show up in the desert.
Saturday night saw our
vibe in full
bloom.
The mini rave was fired up, Kevin's "man" was lit up and 30 or so more
people arrived. Mother nature, taking a lesson from the
playa,
gave
us a brilliant lightning display. A strong wind struck the
beach
as we scrambled to unplug all the electronics and then rush back to
secure
the camp grounds.
As soon as it had started, the
storm subsided
and we were back on the beach in force. The music started
again
and
Lynn helped me sacrifice four of the popsicle stick men that had been
blown
over. Into the fire!
Alicia danced the night away, at first with a clear sequined dress that I beamed lasers on for a dazzling effect and later by the fire she entranced all of us. When the man was burned it took the efforts of several road flares, Gavin's fire breathing and DPD's alcohol loaded super soaker to ignite him. Once he caught, wow! The wind made him into a standing blast furnace! The "effects cigar" that DPD had placed in his head shot off sparks, bottle rockets and jets of colored flames before the final collapse. Tara led a "group moon" of his smoldering coals and we sang (or tried to sing) Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire".
Early Sunday morning a pod of porpoises passed by, probably wondering what those crazy primates had been up to. I did up a batch of waffles while others chowed down on bagels. Although this was a two night event, it seemed like it still wasn't long enough! We'll need the week long Big Playa fix more than ever!
Booger, Sandra, AJ, Glenn & Ursula, Polaroid, Kathy, Maurizio and others, we missed ya! Stay tuned for the August 4-5 Burn!
Another link for the May 2000 burn: http://www.funkup.com/beachburn/beachburn.html
I arrived around 4:30 expecting to find others wandering around looking for me and the camp site, but I was alone. Around sundown the Burners began to arrive. We cooked up a bunch of chicken (Assateague tradition), steaks and other things. The next group spot over happened to be a bunch of Boy Scouts set up in a neat organized camp featuring a Navy Seals flag. We in contrast scattered tents all over and flew a flags with the UN logo, an "XXX" (?) and a Jolly Roger. They responded with the Stars & Stripes, we responded in kind with a Chinese national flag. Their bus was right next to Terry's "Black Rock Express" bus, quite a contrast! On the beach Terry went in sans trunks in daylight! A unicyclist juggled throwing knives in the parking lot and an anatomically correct hermaphroditic mermaid was "serviced" by several of the women on the beach (don't ask :-) Keith brought his light sabers again. He and DPD held an Aikido class on the beach with about a dozen in attendance.
We communally painted Alicia's body for daytime and later she adorned herself with fluorescent paint for Magorn's pocket UV lamp. Fire spinners were out in force as in the spring (Dave U we missed you!) Some folks were jumping rope with EL wire by the waves. Ginger's jail card and a bull's head were cast into the fire. I had an interesting discussion of relativity, math and metaphysics with Leslie. Cory just looked at us funny :-)
The burning of the Man went too fast! No sooner had I soaked him in lamp oil and lit him, when someone spat a blast of Bacardi 151 onto his frame (and into my eye!) In an instant he was in the fire and no more.
The overall groove of the whole weekend was one of the best we've had with perfect weather, almost no mosquitos and a full moon on Friday night. J&R, K&J, G&U, Chas/Ed(?), Dori, Maurizio, etc. the spring Burn is only seven months away! And stay tuned for a possible Winter Burn...
Other links: Ranger Vees
This is the Burn that marked our last time on Assateague as an organized event. With over 150 in attendance, the Park Service "yellow flagged" us, stating that next time we needed a "special use" permit, an insurance bond and overtime charges for extra rangers. Time to find us a new location!
As usual we had lots of food, too much to recount, but I managed the usual marinated chicken and fresh flounder for dinner, french toast and waffles for breakfast. Duke had a hefty amount of bratwurst for dinner on Saturday. Lynn made another batch of home baked breads. Yelena filled in ID's shoes and brewed some turkish coffee, yummm!
Saturday afternoon featured Keith's Aikido session and the infamous "pick up line" contest (conducted in the arms of Cthulu). The crowd really piled in as the greeters and PDF rangers worked hard to direct folks to the various camp areas.
We had planned on DJ Monke spinning, but Torch Job played live as well. Monke had an interesting mix including some "oldie" ambient, breaks, rock samples and even some dark garage. TJ's set reminded me somewhat of The Scabs and their axeman was dressed in some kind of blue devilbunny outfit. Sadly we had to cut off the music at 10 PM.
The engineers on the beach did an outstanding job building a seawall to keep the high tide away from the bonfire and they succeeded! Fred provided a 20 foot "Leaning Man". He was too flimsy to hold up against the strong breezes. I provided five 6 foot popsicle stick "men" and lit them with UV lamps and EL wire. All the statues were set off with white gas and lamp oil. A goth girl with flaming fingers helped out, too. Somebody tossed in a quantity of magicians powder that sparkled with a brilliant flame. We had more fire spinners than I could keep track of, it's become a tradition amongst our community. Ginger's big tent was the chill out zone for the night with a deep space music mix.
Thanks to Leah, Honoria & Lynn for the hugz, BobbyG (and the other Snowflake Belt folks), the North Carolina & Atlanta crews for making the long journey. Maybe some East Coast Refugees can reciprocate in for the Winter Solstice or Pyropolis Burns? Thanks to the cleanliness effort, too. We did our best ever at leaving no trace! Thanks to Mike for helping me set up the "men" and Rachel for getting them ready to burn (and general karma, too!) Saw Glenn, Ursula & Kathleen C for the first time in a few years, hope to see you in the desert!
So this looks like our curtain call for Assateague :-( Now the adventure veers in a whole new direction that will take us who knows where, but we will always end up back home in Black Rock City.
Other Links:
Like the Big Burn did on Baker Beach, we outgrew our Assateague Island womb and gave birth to something new! A great deal of planning went into this event, our first on private land, the first where we sold tickets and bought insurance. The Assateague Rangers and Greeters returned to make the Burn happen smoothly and we also had a hard working DPW to set up and knock down. People came from as far away as Boston, Texas, Wisconsin and even Seattle! Over 230 folks converged on the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club for a weekend in new burning territory.
As usual we had an incredible variety of food. Our taste buds were challenged and intrigued by unusual offerings of durian(?), the fruit that "tastes like heaven, but smells like hell"! Buddy's abundance of wild mushrooms were enough for two evenings and even a breakfast omelet. I made the mistake of bringing only one pound of Philadelphia scrapple for breakfast. I had expected everyone to gross out on it, but it was snapped up right out of the pan, no leftovers! A 2.6 pound salmon fillet disappeared almost as quickly.
Camp Videogasm was represented by Ed & Carl (all the way from Detroit!) & myself. Both Ed and Dale had projectors for the stage. We showed the ever popular and outrageous "Ogenki Clinic" as well as videos of Fred Merrill's art, Fred's own slide show and all sorts of computer graphics. Monk e, Dale, Dr. Scientist and others spun with the video effects until dawn.
We had a generous complement of art, activities and performance. Fred brought a collection of his unique wood scrap concoctions and set them up next to Dustin's "Burning Mouse Trap", a Rube Goldbergian contraption designed to slingshot flaming Barbie dolls. Several artists from NY built a smaller version of the BRC mausoleum, the Temple of Tears. It was plastered with newspaper clippings from the 9/11 events. Greg's Tiki Lounge was a hit, well stocked with drink. The Labia Lounge, courtesy of Alicia and Dee, provided a space for exploration of womanhood in a private, female only atmosphere. The main bonfire was a tower like stack of wood topped by a symbolic Assateague pony. The fire spinners twirled colorful practice poi by day and were out in force by night. Lynn's "Human Carcass Wash" was a hit for fans of a good sponge and spray bottle bath. The NJ bus was decked out in trinkets and lighting effects. Out front by the greeters station Jamie's art car was drawn on by many Burners. Our VVMC hosts and their neighbors stood in curious wonderment at all of out art and antics.
Burn time found us all gathered around the bonfire stack which had been soaked in kerosene. A road flare staff ignited the whole thing as a whole crew of fire spinners lit up the crowd. Tribal drums beat as the flames rose up the pyre. Soon everyone began circling the conflagration much like we do in the desert. After the thing burned down a bit, Dustin set off his wild contraption with the fire progressing throughout the structure before several Barbies were launched. Later the mausoleum was ceremoniously burned with a dedication from one of the VVMC members.
Almost as soon as we had arrived, we had to part. We've started something new here, a whole new adventure! Can't wait for spring!
Other links: Rob Carlson
This event marked major growth not only in numbers, but in the quantity and scope of our art and performance. 382 people attended. The stage was almost constantly in action and we split the DJ's into their own dome for round the clock spinning. Several camps put up large scale installations and we had some great burnable as well as non-burnable art.
Highlites included Andy Coleman's bus and the "New Day's Eve" celebrations at midnight, a giant slip 'n slide and the mud wrestling contest (led by "Satan" and his Hellz Bellz chearleaders). Dustin brought a whole campful of toys and fired glowstick/Barbie bombs with a home made howitzer. A twisted puppet show spoofed Tony Danza. We played with a "rhino volleyball" by day and giant neon tinker toys at night. One of the portajohns looped a rant about advertising.
As usual we feasted. Pancakes dueled with french toast. Wild mushrooms, bbq hot dogs and 4 pounds of scrapple were gobbled. My grill worked overtime with marinated chicken, salmon, corn and steaks.
The Great Quentini gave an inspired performance Friday night with a weight loss machine, percussion, chainsaw and other props. He then tried to find some direction to his relationship with Barbie, but the doll simply wouldn't take him seriously :-) Later Dustin gave us his own take on "Barbie" with a small cannon designed to use her as ammunition!
Sunday afternoon was a waterful time with the 100' slip 'n slide followed by Lynn's "Carcass Wash" and the DPW vs. Stage mud wrestling. Eventually 'Satan' the ringleader was dunked in the mud, too. The chearleaders turned their pom poms into flails.
Burn night was marked by two pyres, one for Candle Camp's frame with Fred's art fastened to it and the main bonfire with it's own pyrotechnics. Camp Videogasm showed a whole set of shorts and then turned the projector onto the treeline with psychedelic graphics.
All in all we created a whole new buzz for Playa del Fuego, primed ourselves for the desert Burn, and anxiously await the Fall PDF!
This Burn was a weather challenge for all as the rain and mud tried our desert souls, but we managed in typical burning fashion. Shelters abounded as well as enhanced theme camps. The DJ dome reappeared and provided not only dancing, but nightime entertainment of the burning variety as well. New Day's Eve returned as well as 215 Camp. Piles of pancakes, waffles, french toast were consumed for breakfast along with four pounds of scrapple (love it or hate it!) Salmon, kebabs and chicken galore were on the dinner menu. Jerry treated us to three big apple pies (courtesy of Linvilla Orchards) for dessert. Next time we'll have to do the ice cream, too!
Several art objects were consigned to the flames including an 8 foot traditional dayglo man, an amazing dowelrod 'ball' and a trio of dragons courtesy of Fred Merrill (the ticket art guy). Films, shorts and slides kept people amused when the rain got to intense. I guess the state of mind of the audience figures in what folks find funny. People were laughing not only at the outrageous cartoons, but the Thunderbirds DVD's as well, go figure :-) The Alien Karaoke reappeared after a long absence from PDF and much fun was had with it's odd assortment of samples. The Iron Chef contest returned with several folks working hard over a whole row of camp stoves. The stomp rocket amused many a passerby and included a "Delta Rocket Special" that landed in the chefs area!
The fashion show was the most extensive yet. Emcee Steve kept things going smoothly as a wild assortment of dress and undress were paraded to the audiences delight. PDF needs to be better represented in the desert fashion show next summer.
Burn night was magical with our most extensive fire stack ever. The Burning Pony atop the pyre was loaded with pyrotechnics to delight the crowd. Fred's trio of dragons were tipped into the flames later. Sunday night we burned the remaining artwork including the "geoball" and the "dayglo man".
And so we hunker down for the long winter with thoughts of the NY Decom and the spring event in mind.
This PDF will long be remembered! Mother Nature challenged us as much as any Desert Burn ever has! The rain and mud made for an interesting weekend. Rubber boots were our fashion statement and there was hardly a vehicle that did not get stuck at one point or another. At the same time the folks who endured the extreme environment were the true hard core of our community. We created a whole new vibe unlike any previous PDF. While were were wet, shivering and dirty we were also more creative, open and hard working than ever. At the same time the mud situation and a wonderful reading by JJ brought us closer to our hosts.
DPW did an outstanding job with an impromptu bridge and other measures to get vehicles in and out. Many of us participated by pulling, pushing and carefully driving dozens of stuck cars, trucks and even buses out of the muck.
The weather didn't stop us from setting up the DJ "Happy Dome", having an Iron Chef competition, cooking up over 30lbs of pancakes or running the lap dance auction, showing videos or conducting a healing ceremony. The pavilion ended up being our "center camp" in many ways.
Art and theme camps were as abundant as ever. Primal Fred, 215, New Day's Eve and the Psychedelic Shamans all managed impressive setups each one coping with the mud as best they could. Neal led a weekend long drum circle who kept up the groove for the rain refugees in the pavilion. Fred build a bizarre "art cart" as well as a twenty foot dragon. I contributed a white pyramid for the community to draw and paint on. I was amazed at the talent of the doodlers and painters when it was complete. Kate built us an impressive 3D pony to top off the fire stack. A "Burning Bride" was torched on Saturday as part of a healing ritual for one Burner, too. A strange puppet show was also part of Saturday's entertainment as different competing groups improvised skits with all sorts of interesting puppets.
The drenching rain didn't stop the fire stack from burning either. Thanks to a good design and plenty of road flares it ignited right away. Kate's pony was packed with an array of sparklers, pinwheels and other effects. Later Fred's art cart and dragon were tossed in along with my pyramid.
After this PDF we should be able to deal with anything thrown at us. We're brimming with ideas on how to make any future "Mud Burn" even better. See you in the desert!
Mother Nature gives us a break! We had a gorgeous weekend for the "slack" Burn as the more mellow fall PDF event is now being referred to. There was no shortage of burnable art with no fewer than three horses including Dan's bamboo pony, Kate's fire stack pony and even a hand carved rocking horse. Fred contributed a bizarre art car sculpture (which the vets decided to keep as a gift). I built a six armed "Aztec Man" on top of a big base that Fred helped me with the weekend before. Our hosts added an interesting item to the event atmosphere in the form of a vintage Bell UH-1 "Huey" medivac helicopter, too. One camp brought a full blown trebuchet for launching water balloons at unsuspecting spectators.
Ed made the journey all the way from Detroit with a substantial portion of Camp Videogasm. Several folks expressed their appreciation at having our usual mix of visual insanity on two screens well into the morning hours. "Satan" we missed you (we don't need no steenking lighting rods!).
Numerous grills and stoves kept folks well fed all weekend long. Buddy K and I upped the ante with five pounds of scrapple as well as a bag of mushrooms, fresh boiled peanuts and a big chunk of slab bacon. There was also a whole pork butt cooked at one of the theme camps.
The stage featured a variety of DJ's including Dustin and Leah who spun for the slip 'n slide. Torch job lit up the show (literally!) and Sunday evening was a free form noise jam by Giant Robot Solutions and others.
Throughout the weekend Dustin's super vintage game console was a big hit at the pavilion. This thing contained over 3500 classic video games going back into the early 1970's. I got to play Targ, Wizard of Wor and Moon Cresta for the first time in 20 years, oh the memories :-)
Other links: Cynthia Jones Rob Carlson
After the prior
Memorial Day washout WE DESERVED THIS WEEKEND! Sun and warmth
were our reward for enduring the VVMC's version of "Lake
Cosmo"
on the last Memorial Day Burn. For the first time we sold out the
event. This is
another indicator of just how much we've grown and a portend of bigger
events in the future.
As usual we had more than enough food to satisfy just about any culinary desire. Of particular note were BuddyK's home made root beer and his mushroom/pasta medley (that Dave Flute was finally able to get a plate of :-) Someone (Rebecca? Leah?) gifted me a pair of small chocolate cakes on Saturday and then Soyboy unpacked not one, but two absolutely wonderful chocolate cakes of his own. They were purely vegan, yet better than most professional bakery cakes. This isn't just my opinion (I had five pieces!), after an hour both cakes were gobbled up.
Teri's two
daughters got in on some art action. I drew flowers on
them. They were so thrilled with
the results that they dragged their mother over for a flower of her
own. Newcomer Dana got a flower on her navel as
well. Whole
bodies were the "brush" for a large freezer paper canvas (see photo) as
well. Ilya took us to a new level of art with the
"De-enlightenment" metal and wood sculpture which was torched on
Saturday night along with my mini-tower. Many smaller art
stands
added to the theme camps that had filled almost the whole area next to
the corn field. Veteran camps returned (Happy Dome, 215,
Videogasm, FuBar, etc.) and were complemented by new camps.
Some
prankster even equipped one of the porta-johns with a whole Star Trek
sound effects library!
Burn night was
extra special this time due to Booger's contribution of a desert worthy
flame thrower and my first time at being a fire safety. The
propane charged
contraption was passed from several folks and finally to Kate who as
winner of
Miss PDF got to light the stack. For the first time I got to
see
many of the dancers perform up close and it was amazing. Fire
can
be
truly
sensual. Fred
contributed yet another uber-burnable art object. This time
it
was some kind of large pyramid/cage for various creatures and smaller
art objects. This was hefted onto the smoldering coals of the
De-Enlightenment Project.
As we grow,
Playa del Fuego is becoming less of a de/re-compression and more of an
event in it's own right. We await our future with fire in our
eyes!
Other links:
Webmaster:Andy
Wing
[NEXT]
[SKIP]
[RANDOM]
[LIST]
JOIN
the Ring!
All
graphics, images and content of this website, unless otherwise
noted, are property of the Playa del Fuego community or the
artists who created them. You may not copy or reproduce the content of
this website without permission from the individual artist.
Copyright Playa del Fuego, Inc 2002-2009
Background
graphic copyright Richard F. Merrill II, 2009
  PLAYA DUST WEB RING prev | next | random | list join the ring |
