Well, I get to go to my favorite city in the world, leaving tomorrow morning. What city is that, you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked . . .
Black Rock City, NV, USA. I've gotten mixed reports, but it's either the 5th or 7th largest city in Nevada. However, you won't find it on a map (unless you look for it at Google World). The amazing part is that it only exists for one week every year. It has its own zip code and post office, its own public works department, and all of the accompanying infrastructure. It's patrolled by law enforcement officers, federal wardens, and private security. Fire fighting agencies and emergency facilities and personnel are on-site and available to all citizens 24/7.
But there are a lot of things that it doesn't have, plus many things that you won't find in any other city in the world. There are no advertisements. There are no banks. There is a very noticeable lack of commercial and money-making ventures.
You can walk into a restaurant (although they're not on every corner) during their open hours, have a meal, and there's no tab, no tip. You can walk into incredible night clubs, some with live bands, many with djs, all with great sound systems, and there's no cover charge and no tipping the door man. You can go to the local coffee shop and order a cappuccino, or latte, or your favorite tea, all at no charge. There are even bars (quite a few of them, actually), again, without a charge, although they're subject to the same laws that every bar is, including the fact that you must be 21 to consume alcohol (and please bring your own cup).
You are free to dress (or not) any way you'd like. You must know, though, that regardless of how you're dressed, you ARE part of the show, and part of the radical experiment in self-expression, freedom, and co-reliance that is Burning Man.
If you ever get the chance to go, please remember that you are required to register your camera, and must have permission from people to take their picture. If your camera's not properly tagged, or you start filming indiscriminately, someone WILL say something. Further, you can't sell pictures, with the exception of a few official, pre-registered, professional photographers.
All that's expected of participants is respect of yourself and of others, respect of the environment, and peaceful co-existence. Participants must bring everything necessary for survival, although the city does provide bathroom facilities. If you don't bring it, or didn't bring enough, you become dependent upon the citizens around you, and vice versa. That in itself is a cool part of it as you meet your neighbors, who may have traveled there from any given place in the world.
And, when you leave, you are to LEAVE NO TRACE of your having been there. This community takes the "pack it in, pack it out" mantra that started with hikers and backcountry enthusiasts to a whole new level.
After hosting somewhere around 40,000 people in the middle of a desert that's devoid of vegetation, last year there was less than a 3ft by 3ft area covered by the collected detritus left behind, after the final raking and painstaking inch-by-inch inspection of the approximately 25 square mile area.
On top of all that, add some of the most incredible art installations you can imagine, and you have a recipe for an amazing few days. Music, dance, painting, sculpture, even massage, yoga, recreation, healing, and virtually every other art form you can imagine is represented.
I will be sharing something with the community, as every participant does in one way or another. For me, I get to share the gift of music with an as-yet-undetermined number of my fellow citizens, among other things. I get to play a set in Center Camp, the hub of the city, on Friday morning. I've produced a very limited edition EP that will be free to whoever is there that wants one, while supplies last. I will get to love my fellow citizens for a little while, and that love will be multiplied exponentially and returned to me a hundred fold.
The two days and nights I spend in the city will be all that I get to enjoy my hometown this year. Fortunately, those two days will get me through the rest of the year, and the love I receive there will sustain me for a year, plus I'll have enough love left over to pass on to the world around me.
There's a live video stream from the playa this year. Check it out at: http://www.ustream.tv/burningman Look for me, I'll be the guy with the big smile on his face.
Thanks for dropping by. I'll check in next week.
I'm going home.
Love,
Brother Dan
http://www.brotherdanpalmer.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment