Sunday, September 26, 2010

BM Tuesday August 31, 2010

Tuesday was a great, clear, coolish day to ride out and view art on the playa. We started out together, but my bike broke-a loose bolt, and Boyo took it back to camp for tools to fix it.  I continued on his bike which is light and different; it seemed easier to ride through the playa snakes.  The condition of the playa is the third phenomenon to address.  Depending upon the weather over the past year since the last burn and the weather in the last few weeks (which included snow this past Saturday), the playa is either easy to ride on with a light, easy crust or difficult with deep, drifting areas of sand that can stop even the hardiest of mountain bike tires.  This year seemed relatively easy compared to some years, although there were some sandy areas to watch out for and dodge or find the shortest distance through.

Most art I saw was rather uninteresting, uninspired.  Then I saw the woman, the giant dancing woman.   She was, by far, the best piece I saw. The artist had left her grounded foot uncovered, and you could see how the internal structure had been built.

The second best was a movie theatre way out near the Perimeter Fence.  It wasn't finished yet, but it looked like an old building with Coca Cola painted on the side wall over painted bricks. There was an art deco decoration in front with two movie posters...Metropolis and The Last Picture Show.  The entrance was covered with plywood.  A separate ticket booth wasn't completed either, but you could tell both buildings had great potential.

Soon after, amazingly enough, I ran into Boyo. He told me he had talked to an artist who has come every year for 12 years with a project.  His commentary seemed rather negative: 20,000 early entry passes had been given out this year (no wonder the city seemed half full when we arrived); he had only a short time to set up his art; and funded projects have to be done on Sunday or before Monday's opening (a plus in my book).

We went back to AEZ to do more nude drawing hoping it would not be all males today, and it was, but the guys running the activity gave us all very cool pins for our hats of a nude woman with the man in the background.  One guy said some female models would be there on Wednesday.

It was substantially warmer today.  On the way back in to our camp, Boyo picked up some scrap plywood to attempt a generator noise blocker, just in case.  Good thing.  The generator was going great guns.  He went over to talk to the owner again, but this time he was met by two women of the group.  One of the problems was that they thought you had to run the generator to have heat at night.  The generator was turned off immediately.  They advised him that if he wanted anything done, always talk to the women.

We got to sit out and watch the crowd go by.  I put out my tennis balls (my gift); old ones with a small knife slice in them to allow it to be fitted onto a kickstand to hold the bike up easily in the sand.  I gave away several to grateful bike riders.  Burning Man is a gifting society.  You don't gift to expect something in return. You gift because you want to give, to share, to express friendship, to commiserate, to participate, to be a fellow human being, to show joy....  And that gift isn't always tangible.  It could be a hug, a smile, a pair of spare goggles to someone during a dust storm,  a chance encounter that leads you on to imagine, to create, to inspire.  Larry Harvey, a founder of Burning Man, really started something big.

It was still cool out tonight.  I got cold, my feet got sore, and I was behind in my journaling, so I only made it out to catch the last of Dr. Megavolt's performance.  He controls huge bursts of electricity wearing only a shiny silver suit with simple head gear.

4 comments:

  1. The AEZ nude drawing event reminds me of one nude bicycle ride I was talked into participating in. I will always be grateful for you staying close by my side Becky after Jim abandoned me to the whims and desires of the "other" cyclists. I can imagine him trying to set me up for this nude drawing event. Whew!

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  2. The models did not usually draw, too. Only one woman did that the last day we drew.

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  3. You inspired me to add to this post.

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  4. And you inspire me a lot, if you haven't noticed.

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