B u r n l o g

UPDATE: Shoutfit WAS cut just right. Alas poor Shoutfit has died an ignoble and swift death. It suddenly stopped working in late 2007. Sorry, folks. No more fun to be had here… move along…

My favorite new social site is Shoutfit.

Think trends, friends, outfits, and closets of your own creations and those from others who are proud to show off their style. The trendsetters there are fun and stylish to the extreme. Plenty of Playa style cabaret, gothic, circus, apocalypse, vampire, aristocratic, wasteland, fruits chic by and for the folks who do and appreciate it!

One neat feature is the Collage element that allows you to take your photos of different clothing bits and pieces and arrange them on a white board. You can also show an outfit and then create squares over the bits and pieces to point out and explain to viewers what and where you got your stylish duds. Shoutfit is still in beta so will no doubt get better.

It’s irresistible to anyone on the Etsy DIY style wavelength. Lookit me in ma clothes!

This from Laughing Squid:

• Hear AND see why and how you should vote for Chicken John in the Video: Help Chicken John Run For Mayor of San Francisco
• VoteForChicken.com site to further illuminate San Franciscans on resusitating a “city of art and innovation” (not to mention the chance to drive a truck into that Embarcadero giant bow and arrow sculpture if he’s elected! YES!!)

Chicken John who would be mayor / Burning Man devotee says his platform is bed of pickup truck by Cecilia M. Vega, S.F. Chronicle Staff Writer.

If only… * sigh * … Go Chicken John!

His platform, he says, is the bed of his 1975 GMC pickup, which he converted to a zero-emissions vehicle that runs on coffee grounds and walnut shells. His party affiliation is simple: “I like to party. Party hardy.”

“The government should be like someone you want to invite to the party, not someone you would call to do your taxes,” he said last week during an interview about his candidacy. “The government body of San Francisco should be intoxicated every once in a while on a Friday afternoon, or have a piercing.”

Among his complaints: “Our city is being turned into a f — ing strip mall. It’s being turned into a suburb.”

The people who are running the city don’t have any new ideas, and they’re just boring, he said, adding that there’s not enough art and innovation in the political process, and too many creative minds are moving out.

Even if he doesn’t become mayor, there is one thing he still wants to do. “I want to drive my pickup truck into the bow and arrow even if I don’t have permission,” he said. “Where’s all the whimsy gone?”

Yet more from Laughing Squid today: “Topsy-Turvy Bus Tours US Questioning Budget Priorities”.

“The Topsy-Turvy Bus, lovingly known as Topsy, was designed to dramatically depict America’s upside down budget priorities.

Topsy is a brainchild of Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s and noted artist Stefan Sagmeister, and was constructed by artist-mechanic Tom Kennedy (of “Ripper the Shark” and “The Whale” Burning Man art car fame).”

Another important one from the Laughing Squid files: Tony “Coyote” Perez Fund.

“Coyote is the man responsible for building and tearing down Black Rock City at Burning Man and is also a talented musician.” He was severely and violently attacked on February 1st without provocation. He was not even robbed. He claims it was a gang of about 8 teenagers who seemed to want to inflict as much physical pain as possible before a car slowed down nearby and they ran away.

He is in recovery and may need surgery. Any help with funds is much appreciated. Or send your check to (made out to Tony Perez):

Coyote Fund c/o Will Roger
2112 West Street #3
Oakland, CA 94612

Last weekend, Sat. the 21st, October, Amy and I ran into a DPW member. We were partying Haaaaargh! as only a giant group of Pirate clad wino loonies can at Roshambo Winery in Healdsburg.

He was an interesting chap as most DPW folks tend to be. To wit:

• He just returned about 2 weeks ago! That would be around October 7th. In other words, they hung out to clean and eat crappy food (and hope no more bad water rears is runny head… see Marcy’s last Quickies item) for about a month and a half in the dusty sun of BRC! Hearty folk indeed.
• Also, he related an anecdote about finding tons of strange pills on the Playa. He said many avoided the mystery candy. He on the other hand was quick to volunteer when someone’s shout claimed another Playa pill. A lucky day might find a sweet ecstasy high. Sadly, one little blue goodie turned out to be Viagra and he spent four hours working with a head-strong hard-on! Ouch!

Bless the insane DPW, for we would have no Burning Man without them.

Snapshots of memorable bits and odd ends overheard at the Burn (more to come by Kava Island folks… hopefully :-):

• Marcy
• greeting our neighbors as they play horseshoes and drink pbr in the heat of the day…. every day.
• practicing my samba on sunday afternoon before the gates open. i see someone pull up a chair in the next camp and hang out to watch. whatever, thats what the dancing is kinda there for! it turns out its dino from the perimeter/ dpw camp guys next to us. as they were all setting up he tells his friends, ‘hey! look at that! there she goes again! thats like carnival or something!’ his rough tough friends tell him, ‘no man, thats carnaval’
• waking up at dawn to find cliff and amy have arrived
• amy waking me up at dawn to show me howard and julian have arrived
• lee’s killer margheritas
• while working at the cafe a dust storm kicks up and my hat flies away. i chase after it at top speed. i finally get my hat, turn around and promptly get sprayed (camera in hand) by the water truck. i’ve never sworn so much in my life.
• NOT getting the dpw plague
• Stache
• Loving my Baby Seal Mates as we ROKT the Playa and Kava Island! Special shout to the Otter-ettes for turning that sleepy mid Friday Center Café into a whooping dance hall (well, sort of :-)!
• Joey watches happily as the three Otter-ettes (Jan, Stacie, and David) begin practicing their new routines for the Otter Dance. Joey eventually gets dragged in, protesting about poor dance skills, only to school pretty much everyone with his power moves! Awesome gyration Joey!
• Lounging deeply one evening in the large tent and pillows “Hopium Den” at the camp of Souliscious (near the Ashram Galactica), we were approached by a bright fellow in a three piece suit of large pink daisies densely arrayed on a sky blue background, his head capped with a rotund hot pink fur hat. El Fudo, in a fit of rolling laughter, immediately bestows from his pocket a “Third Place” ribbon. Our pink floral friend seemed slightly miffed and wondered aloud while holding the award, “What does it do?” …As we laugh some more.
• Riding back from the spikey bamboo ball as a windblown hat passes me on the ground and then a plastic cup as I finally turn back to see a giant dust storm bearing down like a grainy tidal wave. I’m without a dust mask as the full white-out swallows me on the Playa. I sit down with my bike next to a tall Playa lamp post in effort to increase chances of being seen by an errant art car. I wait it out not knowing that less than 30 feet away is a small pyramid of cover where I could have hung out with other trapped folks.

1. The first night, howling at the setting sun.
2. The tiny symphony created by our bikes’ dingy bells and honker horns as we tried to keep together riding on the dark playa at night.
3. Heard while in the portapotties “Oh no! Lollipop down!”
4. Man with Megaphone at 7am Wednesday morning “Open up your damn bars or I’ll come into your tents!”
5. The cruel joke of someone singing Guns and Roses karaoke at full volume, not realizing the music was not also being amplified.
6. The silence at the Temple Burn.
7. The beautiful girl singing trance in the Skinny Kitty Teahouse at 4 in the morning.
8. Drunk guy on Pirate Ship Cruise in reaction to Baby Seal Club’s music “Whooohooo!!!”
9. Hearing large groups of people cheering in the distance and knowing something exciting was happening out there.
10. The complete cacophany as you stood on the Esplanade – torchy sounds of giant art pieces belching flames, carnival-esque mix of various electronic music DJ’s competing, people yelling.
11. Free Peoples at the Easel Park brunch.
12. Fudo & Mahnkae waking me up at 2 in the morning Monday night shouting outside the van “Choklit! Where are you?”