randnorm repeating tuesday event in black rock city 2006
Playa Plinko
Tuesday – Saturday
Everybody loves Plinko! Come oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon down and test your luck with Zvo’s Amazing Plinko Board available for your playing pleasure 24hours a day. Modeled after the beloved gameshow original, you can win fabulous prizes. As good old Bob Barker says, Don’t forget to spay and neuter your pets! Hosted by: Black Rock City Zu @ Chance and 3:30
randnorm one time tuesday event in black rock city 2006
Tu-Tu Tuesday
Citizens of Black Rock City are urged to celebrate the community (drink!) by showing solidarity through the donning of a tutu. Hosted by: BURNcast and The Black Rock City Community Collective @ Timbuk-tutu
photo by melissa farlow and appeared on the cover of national geographic, august 2001
randnorm mind grenade
the playa removes all barriers to self expression. all the voices in your own head and that come from outside of you that make you dwell in doubt and shame and judgement, those things are gone...and when you take those things away it is amazing what is possible. it is amazing who we are when we can look at ourselves clearly. you've got a city full of people that aren't saying "oh, you shouldn't have worn that" or "isn't he too old to be doing that?" but instead are saying "yeah! good for you! sing it louder! scream it! dance harder! express it with more feeling!" when you've got those voices lifting you up, its amazing how high you can reach. - reverend halcyon
randnorm pikcha
photo of cirque du soleil show mystère in zink mag
randnorm video
europe - the final countdown
normdate 29.8.6
i woke up this morning to the final countdown by europe being blasted at high volume by the steamer camp. the steamers are also from calgary and were camped right across the street from us. its been years since i even heard this song, and i couldn't believe that it was being played so fukking loud at an ungodly time in the morning. they didn't just play it once, they played it three times in a row! what the fuck?
awake, i got out of my tent and grabbed myself a cold beer. waking up to a cold lager. its good to be on the playa. it felt good to welcome the desert sun.
i set up a table and the coleman stove and began preparing our first playa breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns. life is just better with bacon, and its delicious aroma is a perfect way to greet the morning.
after a great meal, and a few beers, we began the daunting task of building our camp. it actually didn't take us that long to put up our large chill tent and the tarps to protect us from the harsh conditions of the playa. daemon suggested that people take their shoes off inside the large carpeted chill tent area we had just erected, because he didn't want it to get get dusty. hahahahahah! by the end of this week, everything we own, everything we brought, and our souls will be covered in playa dust...there is no escape ;)
photo by anthony peterson
beside our camp, the mad hatters society were building the tower for the church of respect.
after our camp was set up, we joined the mad hatters society for the premiere voyage of purgatory through the playa.
the canadian mad hatters responsible for creating purgatory...kippler, kane, jaycloud.
the maiden voyage of purgatory in calgary
kane at the wheel of purgatory on reveal night in calgary, august 19
kane standing on the purgatory hood, black rock city 2006
czech out the adventure of building purgatory here.
we set off on the playa, an art car called purgatory full of canadians baking in the desert sun. everywhere we looked, there was creativity assualting our senses in every way possible, and ways we didn't think were possible.
theme camps
art cars
random art
playa bikes
and open bars
the first bar we stopped at was the black hole
the black hole is famous for their signature drink: whiskey and red wine. it was actually quite tasty.
canucks in the black hole of black rock city
the next purgatory stop was to visit another crew of canucks on the playa, the cosmic elves. most of the cosmic elves hail from the beautiful province of british columbia, including my friends flora and rob from the majik kutenai town of nelson. our encounter with the elves was brief as purgatory continued its journey across the playa.
random boat cruising the seas of lake lahontan
the beauty about art cars is that they are there for everyone to enjoy. just run up to an art car and get on it...and we picked up many stray burners on purgatory.
the tarp attached to purgatory that was providing our shade couldn't withstand the intense winds of the playa, and kept of coming loose. we ended up removing our only shade from the blistering desert sun, and holy shit was it hot. thank god for the random playa goddess who ran up to the side of purgatory with a box full of freezies! random gifting. gawd i love the playa.
i can't remember all the bars we stopped at, probably because of all the boozeahol we were drinking in the hot desert sun. the never ending bowl we smoked and the massive bag of magic mushrooms being passed around might have also been a contributing factor to the blurriness of my day on purgatory.
random teeter totter
daemon pwn3d by the teeter totter
smile for the camera
the fern oasis...facutly of emergency room nurses *lol*
at some point in the journey, we finally arrived at the best kept secret on the playa...the deep end. imagine ibiza, spain, but on the playa. this is hands down the best day time party on the playa, which is great cause it doesn't open at night. 12hours of the best bumpin house music, the best drinks, and the sexxiest people starts at 10am.
photo by cameragirl
czech out an awesome ipix 360 view of the deep here
more wikkid 3d ipix images from the burn here
i spent so much time at the deep end last burn, for the same reasons i would end up spending most of my daze there this burn...the deep end is the place to be.
hearing the armand van helden remix of professional widow by tori amos played at the deep end in the bright burning sun of the black rock desert *sigh* it was pure playa perfektion.
as much as i wanted to stay and party at the deep end, purgatory was on the move.
unfortunately, mike wasn't feelin so good and needed to find some shade. the relentless heat of the sun, the non stop flow of alcohol, the never ending bowl of herb that was passed around, and the massive bag of magical goodies took its toll on him. come to think of it, i'm surprised no one else puked.
poor mike. he ended up walking back to our camp after worshipping the porcelain god. wait a second, there is no porcelain god to worship on the playa. maybe he found some shade and hurled on the playa. what happened to him i don't really know...i was stuck in purgatory.
as our art car of good and evil, heaven and hell, cruised along the playa at 5mph, we passed the pink camp of the good reverend halcyon pink. i've been following halcyon's life for the past three years on his site, cocky bastard. i've also followed his love life and subsequent breakup with his partner tassy on their site pinkgasm. halcyon is a radiant pink warrior of love who has influenced me in so many ways.
self love is important. if you don't love yourself how can you love someone else? learning to love yourself increases your capacity to love others. of course then you run the risk of being called a cocky bastard. - halcyon
halcyon and i have been interacting on the pinkgasm forum for almost a year. though we had made no plans to meet each other on the playa, it was awesome that the concentrated randnormness of the playa brought us together to share a hug.
every tuesday, halcyon and his granpa caleb broadcast live on hug nation for a worldwide virtual hug. i'd rather hug you than hurt you. every tuesday at 1pm pst (4pm est), hug yourself, hug someone else.
it was an honour to finally meet you halcyon. love and blessings to you.
unfortunately, purgatory wasn't waitin around for my ass to socialize with halcyon. a quick jog was all it took to catch up to an art car moving at a time limit of 5mph.
our next stop was a breathtaking art installation on the promenade in the middle of the playa. the flaming lotus girls of san francisco erected a massive metal scultpture they called the serpent mother.
Serpent Mother is a giant skeletal serpent sculpture that rises up and spirals down around her egg creating a transformative interactive environment. This installation enables participants to use the primal elements of fire, air, heat, light and motion as a way to transform their fears into hope, to actively unfold creation.
photo by steven fritz
Serpent Mother is constructed from steel, stainless steel, copper, light and fire. The installation spans an area measuring 65’ x 50’. The serpent has a total body length of 168’. She arches up to 20’ and spirals down around her 10’ egg. This installation creates an intimate, warm and engaging gathering space for participants.
photo by steven fritz
as beautifully majestic as the serpent mother was bathing in the fire of the nevada sun, it is in the darkness of night that she truly comes to life...but it would be a few more hours before we would marvel at her burning beauty.
a photograph our purgatory krew was taken at the foot of the serpent mother by the pinhole camera camp.
we arrived back at our camp around dinner time after an intense day of debauchery in the scorching desert sun. touring around on an art car is definitely the most efficient way to travel across the playa. you meet the most random people who simply join your caravan of costumed revellers, including a beautiful soul named ronnie from missouri.
ron and i were given the task of purchasing ice at antarctica. located in the wheel of fortune around center camp, antarctica and the cafe at center camp are the only two places on the playa where cash is accepted as a form of commerce. antarctica sells bags of ice and donates all profits to the nearby town of gerlach.
before hitting up antarctica, ronnie and i made a stop at the d.o.t.a. (the brc department of tethered aviation) at 7:15 and the esplanade. my good friend olivia, a flight attendant from new jersey, was camping with them, or so i thought. when i arrived and asked for her, i found out that her ride had to cancel on her because of a family crisis, and olivia wasn't going to make it to the burn. this made me very sad. so i left a note for her at d.o.t.a. just in case she majikally arrived later that week, and ronnie and i rode off to antarctica.
center camp cafe - photo by scott london
antarctica was also very close to the playa info camp and messageboard. i registered myself on one of the computers there so that my toronto burner krew would be able to search for me and find out where i'm camped. finding someone in a city of 40,000 people can get pretty difficult, especially when you are constantly assaulted by coolest distractions in the universe!
above photos by scott london...perhaps the best photos of the burn i have ever seen!
with a wack of ice, ronnie and i rode back to our camp where a delicious steak dinner was being prepared by our homebody chef, mikasons.
as night fell, the energy of the playa began explode with lights, music, and radical creativity. our first destination was the deathguild thunderdome.
photo by DECLAN MCCULLAGH
straight out of mad max beyond thunderdome, the deathguild recreates the madness ad energy of thunderdome right on the playa. two men enter, one man leave!.
dude, its sheer madness hanging off a dome structure watching people battle it out beneath you.
more insane pix of the deathguild thunderdome here
yes, anyone can battle it out in thunderdome. all you hav to do is sign up and wait your turn. as you guessed it, there was a pretty long list of names on that list.
after watching more than a few battles in thunderdome, we jumped on our bikes and continued our journey across the fire and neon lit landscape of the playa at night.
photo by scott london
we arrived at the serpent mother, burning in all her pyrotechnic glory.
photo by scott london
watch the pyro genius of the serpent mother
as our journey across the playa continued, we stopped to dance to some bangin' hip hop beats pumpin from the back of a large train called the bi-polar express. fukkin genius!
the opulent temple was where we ended spending most of our time. it is what the house of lotus was to us last year...the place to dance to proper beatz at night!
as per the norm on the playa, its very easy to lose your krew. too many ridiculous distractions everywhere you look. i lost kale and daezed at the opulent temple, so i decided to head across to the other side of the playa and explore. every time i turned my head, there was something incredible and mind blowing demanding my attention.
the big round cubatron by mark lotter demands your attention. it can be seen from far away, and it calls you to it. it is one of the most incredible pieces of 3d art i have ever seen. it moves. it glows. it inspires. 18,000 lights programmed to move your soul can do that to ya.
stimulation beyond anything you could possibly imagine.
i ended up dancing at the flower of life stage near 9:00 and the esplanade. an entire day of alcohol and anything else that made its way into my body, combined with the heat, can really take its toll on you. too tired to even ride back across the playa to our camp, i decided to take a rest at the flail zone of d.o.t.a. its a covered chill space looking out over the playa promenade. olivia and i spent lots of time there last year. it is a comfy and relaxed haven to sit and watch the universe go by. it was there that my insane tuesday on the playa came to a restful end.
~*...normaste...*~
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