B u r n l o g

I was thinking about the recent court proceedings between early BM founder John Law and the Burning Man organization. He said something interesting when he wondered whether BM was a movement for everyone to take and use in an open community or more of a business to control and exploit.

This seems a relevant subject to ponder as Burning Man has grown (groan?) beyond a tiny group of outsiders with a small effigy of a man for burning to over 40,000 attendees and a true “city” to erect and manage. What does BM do for us intellectually, spiritually, and bodily in today’s culture? Where will it take us into the future? Inquiring burners want to know!

Of course, many veterans would emphatically NOT want to explore the issue. I respect that part of BM is to avoid such lofty musings as it undermines the radical and creative freewheeling the festival is supposed to be about. To those folks, philosophizing on BM as a movement is a telling symptom of how big and overwrought the Burn has become. I hope to maintain the irrelevant style and scowl on any “isms” toward BM while still poking about at its greater meaning for us too.

I plan on exploring the web a bit to find the sagely words of others on the subject. Our good pal Lance is currently working on a large and interesting piece. Stay tuned for more on Burning Man as a movement for our time and culture…

As always, wise comments and contributions are welcomed.

I’ve been ripping from Laughing Squid a lot lately concerning BM, yet there’s so much burning goodness there!

In light of the recent court proceedings, the folks at Laughing Squid combed their archives for musings of old. Check it:

Bad Day At Black Rock Cacophony Society Zone Trip #4

Read more about the first 10 years (’86-’96) at the Burning Man Web site.

An article from the S.F. Bay Guardian summarizes on the controversy around John Law’s lawsuit: Burning Brand (Emphasis added by me).

Law hasn’t wanted anything to do with Burning Man since he left the event in 1996 — until last week, when he filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court seeking money for his share of the Burning Man brand.

Even more troubling to Harvey and a corporation that has aggressively protected the event from commercial exploitation, Law wants to move the trademarks into the public domain…

Some support Law and the declaration on his blog that “Burning Man belongs to everyone,” hoping to break the tight control that Harvey and Black Rock City LLC have exerted over their event and its icons, images, and various trademarks.

“If it’s a real fucking movement, they can give up control of the name,” Law told the Guardian in the first interview he has given about Burning Man in years. “If it’s going to be a movement, great. Or if it’s going to be a business, then it can be a business. But I own a part of that.”

Yet those who control the business, as well as many attendees who support it, fear what will happen if anyone can use the Burning Man name. They envision MTV coverage, a burner clothing line from the Gap, Girls Gone Wild at Burning Man, billboards with Hummers driving past the Man, and other co-optations by corporations looking for a little countercultural cachet.

Newsweek also covered the issue.

The following is a copy of a news release at BurningMan.com:

On January 9, 2007, LaughingSquid.com announced that John Law, one of the original three co-founders of Burning Man, has filed suit against his former partners Larry Harvey and Michael Michael over the ownership of the Burning Man name, image, and likeness.

Maid Marian responds:

On behalf of the volunteers, staff, and board of Black Rock City, I wanted to comment on the lawsuit filed by John Law regarding the Burning Man name, image, and likeness.

First, about this suit. The issue is a legal disagreement between people who’ve known each other a long time, and it will get resolved.

Secondly, about the event. We’ve gotten questions from a number of participants asking “Is this the end of the event?” The answer is “No”. We are moving full steam ahead for Burning Man 2007, and we will be back in the Black Rock Desert this August — count on it.

Finally, about the idea raised in the lawsuit of putting the Burning Man name and image in the public domain. While the concept is interesting, the reality is that we’ve been fighting attempts by corporations to exploit the Burning Man name almost since the first day we set foot on the playa. Making Burning Man freely available to individuals who would only use it to make money would go against everything all of us have worked for over the years. We will not let that happen.

We’ve created a desert oasis free of corporate sponsorship and marketing, a place where interactions aren’t intermediated by commerce. More than that, we’ve created a global community of people who share values of radical self-reliance, self expression, and civic responsibility. Burning Man is more than a place or an event, it is an idea. That idea is worth protecting, preserving and defending, and that’s what we’ll continue to do while we work out this disagreement.

Thank you for your understanding, and we look forward to seeing you at the 2007 event.

-Marian Goodell
Director of Communications
Black Rock City, LLC