B u r n l o g

Poor banana got peeled by the fuzz! Photo from Sumerset.

Flip Your Lid! 2008 - April 17

Dust off your chapeau and embellish your noggin with your fanciest headwear for BRAF’s annual hat-tipping, head-turning, hair-raising affair. Once again we’ll be convening at supperclub san francisco, 657 Harrison Street.

Join us in tipping our hats as we proudly honor:

• * Mike Farrah, Director of Mayor Newsom’s Office of Community Services
• * REBAR, 2007 BRAF grant recipients and creators of (PARK)ing Day

Our last three events have SOLD OUT, so please get your tickets today!

Cranium
Hosted cocktail reception and VIP auction preview/mixer, featuring ample passed hors d’oeuvres, spectacular performances and a special gift.
6:30pm-2am $250.00

Noggin
Ample passed hors d’oeuvres and spectacular entertainment.
7:30pm-2am $125.00

Noodle
Join us for the after-party. Just $10 with adorned head!
After-party tickets available at the door.
11pm-2am $20.00

More info at Black Rock Arts Foundation

March 8, 2008 - 8PM-4AM - 21+ w/ID

At: The Whisper Ultra Lounge
535 Florida St., between 18th St. and Mariposa St. SF
View map

$15 Playa finery; $25 Street clothes

Happy Hour Drink Specials from 8p-10p with early bird treats!
Food service available Whisper’s Back Room Bistro!

More info at Burning Man Special Events.

The Seattle Times reports that Mike Ross, the artist who brought “Big Rig Jig” to the Playa in 2007, won a grant from the Sound Transit organization to build a large sculpture in a new light rail station:

“Big Rig Jig” artist lands Sound Transit gig

Apparently, the art administrator from Sound Transit had seen the work on the Playa and Mike was chosen out of 120 fellow artists.

UPDATE — June 12, 2008

There is apparently much controversy to be had over Mike Ross’ upcoming jet plane sculpture in Seattle. Even the comments for this post below were briefly populated by a somewhat irate gentleman. Today, a news story just arrived concerning a recent press statement by Ross — again — concerning his neutral intentions on the project.

Artist again defends proposed sculpture
Many think work is inappropriate in a time of war

What a drag as this will no doubt mean the city of Seattle will eventually balk at the notion that some people might have their delicate feathers ruffled. I say delicate because, like the commenter mentioned previously, the worst is assumed loudest and first.

Of course a sculpture of jet planes as reassembled must represent the obvious and morbid image of a deadly crash. From commenter: “Perhaps we should hope Ross’s[sic] plans don’t include a few broken and bleeding bodies for authenticity.”

Yet, Ross keeps explaining how the vision is playful and reflective of natural elegance and peace, using the soft image of a “heron taking flight” as inspiration. Oddly, I doubt many, except for a few long-haired and ignored peaceniks, would raise a stink if the city wanted decommission a tank in a public space as a blatant symbol of war and support thereof. Showing the actual object of war, as a symbol of war, in all its deadly might and aggression, would be normal and therefore acceptable. “Support the Troops!” through blind support of war.

In contrast, re-envisioning a symbol of war, such as a jet fighter, as an object of grace, beauty, and peace is decried as a callous act of disrespect to the whole world. Good lord, what priorities we have as a nation! We’re so absorbed in an age-old culture of violence and hatred to forward our good ol’ American values, that our standards are just plain twisted.

There’s no doubt in my mind we need a sculpture like Ross’ to help us break out of our deadly slumbers and reassemble the landscape of our inner and outer lives.

Check the Sonoma ArtCast Tribe or Flickr for all the dirt on Northbay burners in the wild. The gallery show was an amazing success and full of all that rich dusty goodness the Playa is known for.

‘Torch with a Twist’ pays tribute to vaudeville

Detroit, 43, quickly assembled performers she knew from Detroit’s Theatre Bizarre performance space and the Burning Man arts festival in Nevada. Though many performers were part of the local leather and fetish party scene, their goal for this show was to create something less risqué and more innocent.

LAist: Soulicious Presents Heart Burn

Have you ever wondered about Burning Man? Curious to see if you’d fit in, without actually having to drive all the way to the playa? Or perhaps you just want something new and different in the LA scene. Soulicious presents a night flaming with the joy of thumping beats, scintillating playa performances, brilliant creations of art, and dazzling donations up for silent auction. Love will be in the air, on the dance floor, and in the hearts of all so come join us for a fundraiser that is certain to raise your blood pleasure!

Wear RED to help keep the place RED HOT!

Naughty, deep, elicit and dirty beats all night long by:

-ISAIAH MARTIN (Ultra-Fi / Thump Radio)
-LEE MAYJAHS? (Philadelphia Experiment / Playloop Records)
-JUSTIN PAUL (Philadelphia Experiment / Playloop Records)
-DAVE HUGHES (Philadelphia Experiment / Playloop Records)
-MR. CAPARRO (Funky in the Middle / LA)
-RAFAEL DE LA CRUZ (Crossanova / International DJ Extraordinaire)
-BLAKE LABOUNTY (Wet Grooves / Ultra Music Festivals)
-WISEACRE (Funky in the Middle / LA)

Live painting by Carlos Vera
Performance by Dr. Doug and Jade (FireGroove)
Astra and Kitty from Cirque Berzerk
Body Painting by Kenny Harris
Photobooth by Ryan Jesena
Matchalicious – Auctioning off Soulicious’ most eligible singles.
……..and MUCH MORE!

Saturday Feb. 23 – 9:30pm – 4:30am

LOCATION: 1221 S Hope St., Los Angeles, 90015.

Full cash drink/snack bar. This is a RED party so come in your sexiest red playa gear.

Buy presale and receive 2 drink tickets! Click or copy paste the link below to buy presale. Be sure to print and bring your receipt to get your drink tickets!

I will be there taking the sexiest and most illicit portraits of you and your guest, so come by and say hello to me at the Photobooth.

12,000-lb. Giant Mechanical Spider Is A Tad Intimidating

The machine is powered by a 454 cubic inch chevy V-8 married to a modified TH400 trans coupled to two klune extreme under drive planetary gear boxes, uses a rockwell 2 1/2 ton military axle to supply power to the leg crank shafts, The final drive ratio is 125:1. The legs are supported on a 4 link system and uses 56 pivot points and 114 bearings.

Yikes!

Check out the photos at Sonoma ArtCast Tribe or Flickr for a slew of shots from inside the SRJC Doyle Library gallery.

The show is called “Bringing Back the Fire: Art and Community at Burning Man and Beyond”.
More info is found at their site: www.srjcburningmanshow.blogspot.com

For all of the info including dates and times, see the previous post…

Apparently, Philip Rosedale, the creator of virtual community “Second Life”, was influenced by an epiphany he had while at Burning Man. It’s a unique vision coupled with a now functioning “virtual” community realization. Some of the art and costumed avatars are so Playa first life! Snip:

One thing that struck me was a long passage of Au’s about how much Rosedale’s 1999 visit to Burning Man, the annual countercultural arts festival held in the Nevada desert, influenced his view of what the virtual environment he was building should be.

“‘So you’d lay on the pillows,’ Rosedale recounts, eyes twinkling at the memory,” Au writes, “‘and you’d feel like an exotic Asian king, and you’re looking out on the parched (desert); the line of sun starts at the edge of the rugs, and you see that hot desert, and you imagine you’re Kublai Khan on a bender…They were just structures of the mind…It reinforced that idea that what we believe in or what we make of things is all that is real. It was unreal because everything was clearly made of found materials and was transitory. But it was real, because when you were there, it was real to you…It had this mystical quality that demolished the barriers between people.’”

Rosedale’s epiphany? There was a magic going on out there in the desert–a way that people dealt with each other and laid down their disbelief–with which he wanted to imbue his virtual world.

Read more: Book review: ‘The making of Second Life’ by Daniel Terdiman at CNet.

See the previous “Burning Life” post for more about virtual regional burns.