Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Tickets are around $300. What would you really need to bring? The question is more, what should I prepare for? You are going to spend a week in the desert. Prepare to survive in that environment. It is 120 degrees during the day, it can be 40 at night. The sun is always shinning during the day, but sometimes it is clouded by the dust. The wind can kill a not-so-well-planned camp, and last year it rained, so bring EVERYTHING you will need to survive for that week. Food, water, and shelter and be ready to haul it all back out. If really interested, check out Eplaya(a board filled with plenty of good info, but with plenty of snark to filter through) and Burningman are good places to start. which should already be happening, if you plan on 2011: Rites of Passage.
Just found out my main bartender at work has been doin' BM fer years with his family. One year I would seriously love to do it. An ol' elementary school friend attended in '08 I believe. Just looks like a crazy time.
Very cool. Yeah Blackrock city looks like a trip along with all the crazy vehicles. I remember seeing something on TV about it and it amazes me after the whole thing is done, everything is removed and it looks like nothing happened there. Would love to go some time.
^^Pictures and video are a small window into what happens when our barriers are down and self-expression flows free, like the wind. Words can not describe it. At any moment, anything could come around the corner in BRC, anything, and one would not be surprised. If one day you decide to make the choice, to jump off the ledge, to take that plunge, you must go the whole week. Monday to Monday. If you are thinking about doing half a week, then do not come. Wait until you can spend 7 days there. Why? because it is encouraged that you participate in the experience. The freaks inside you, which we all have, are encouraged to express themselves. You become part of the community that is built for those 7 days. You become part of the experience. You help build that experience and build the city, you make that burn unique, different from all other burns. When you only go for 3 days, than you are gypping yourself, the community and your burn and people will let you know it. One day, hope to see you all there!
Post by Gypsy feats on Mar 26, 2011 14:53:53 GMT -5
But if a pilgrimage all the way to Nevada's Black Rock Desert isn't presently doable, remember there are a couple of great "regionals" here in the Southeast:
Alchemy--The Georgia Burn. Held near LaFayette, GA, Sept. 29>Oct. 2
Transformus--Held at Deerfields, near Asheville, NC, July 15>18
I am going to my first burning man style event in May! Close and cheap enough to get an idea if the big event is for me. After reading the website, I think this has the pontential to be better that my wakaroo adventure!
Can someone explain the appeal of Burning Man to me? It's basically a huge festival with no music, right? So you are paying x number of dollars to go wander around in the desert for a weekend and look at art while "radical self expression" (aka taking a sh*load of dr*gs without fear of repercussion) happens all around you. Am I missing anything?
Damn Juggs, you hit the head on the nail. It's quiet, people use their bodies to draw and make art in the sand, some smoking of narcotics, then we all jerk off and call it a day. That is about it.
Damn Juggs, you hit the head on the nail. It's quiet, people use their bodies to draw and make art in the sand, some smoking of narcotics, then we all jerk off and call it a day. That is about it.
Sarcasm noted. Though I advise you to go review your description from last year as this is what it sounds like you experienced (You just left out the juicy bits).
Honestly, sounds like a great excuse to release a bunch of greenhouse gas to arrive and stay a week in an area people have no business in, do a ton of drugs, use a bunch of plastic bags and water bottles, weave some sticks and scrap together into sculptures and then artificially release more greenhouse gas into the air. Sounds like any other festival, just without the music and more fire. Am I missing something?
^^You speak in a condescending tone towards Burning Man. Like it is harmful to the environment. So let me rebuttal. Burning Man is a lot more than that. Green house gases? There is a lot of fire at Burning Man. A lot of "green house gas" is released into the air, this is true. If a tanker truck was to wreck on the interstate, catch on fire and burn up. You would have more release of green house gases from that than Burning Man. Plastic bottles and plastic bags? I think you mean Bonnaroo when you speak like that. Have you ever seen the What Stage field after a show? That shit does not fly in Black Rock City. There are no trash cans at Burning Man. You pack it in, you pack it out. A great effort goes into returning the land to "No trace let behind" event. People spends weeks post festival cleaning and charting the playa. A MOOP(Matter Out Of Place) map is made where trash was left and not left. You leave enough garbage and you will not be invited back. Stay a week in an area people have no business in? Not sure what is meant by that? No business, as law does not allow? Or no business as it is far away from where other human stay. Besides inside a volcano I believe I have the right or business to go any where in this world. What business do you have to be on a farm in Tennessee? "weave some sticks and scrap together into sculptures", you obvious underestimate the power of man kind. Art is at the center of Burning Man. And expression of that is what drives burning man. Let me put it this way. At most music festivals, somebody pays musicians a lot of money to perform, they then sell rights for Vendors to come and sell what they want at the price they want. They then sell tickets to you and I. The organizers are the ones who set up the show for you. We show up, we have to do nothing and we are entertained. We are sheep when it comes to our entertainment. Our experience depends on how well the organizer were able to limit "conflicts". and a lot of people like it this way. Now Burning Man, The ORG distributes money collect towards different parts of the festival. some money goes to rent the land. Some might go to local officials? (There are more cops at Burning Man, than any other music festival I have ever seen. I am getting off topic, but a lot of officers volunteer to to work at Burning Man, not so they can get the "bust", but because it is fun and a freak show. The was the response I got from more than one officer I talked to.) Grants are given out to some of the art projects. There is a staff who cleans up the Playa post burn and lay the foundation for roads and such. Some money goes towards port-a-potties. No money goes towards corporate America. There is no "Ford fiesta Stage" of "Garnier Fructis" saloon in Black Rock City. They only thing for sale at Burning Man is ice and coffee. Everything else is a "gift" from the one who provided it. There is more music at Burning Man than at Roo. It's just not experience the same way as at Roo. Basenectar has done a light night set every year I have been to Burning Man. He is not paid to go there, he goes because it Burning Man. There is music around, but it is not advertised and sold the way it is at Roo. At Burning Man you are encouraged, more than that, you are expected to participate. you become part of the experience. A community is built in these 7 days, which happens to be the third largest city in Nevada during that week. We make Burning Man. We build that experience. It is different form other music festivals, in that, instead of MTV and who ever sponsor that festival, instead of them telling us how the festival will go, we the participates, decided how the experience will happen
So yes, you and Juggs are both "missing something", like ITM said it"You are missing everything!"
Post by arlenefavreau1 on Mar 28, 2011 8:59:35 GMT -5
You know what I love about enviromentalists they still dont wipe them selve with that plastic bag they still buy bottled water when going on l;ong journeys and still take photos when they get there.
Post by NothingButFlowers on Mar 28, 2011 9:22:21 GMT -5
Well, I can certainly see the appeal in Burning Man. A week of vacation from rules and conformity. There's something to be said for that. For me, I don't think I'd be willing to put up with the survival conditions to experience the upside, but I see that it's there.
Nevertheless, I think you are romanticizing a little bit. First, I don't think the greenhouse gases was a reference so much to fire burned at Burning Man but to the ridiculous amounts of greenhouse gases released from people driving to and from the festival, many from all the way across the country, many in RVs and other large vehicles.
And even if you are expected to pick up and take your trash with you when you go, that doesn't mean that the plastic bags and bottles aren't being used. It just means people are taking them home and throwing them away, rather than throwing them away onsite. I mean, it's a week in the desert. The Burning Man website recommends that you bring 1.5 gallons of water per day per person. I can't help but believe that people bring plastic water bottles. Lots of them.
As for the money not going to corporate America, that's cool and all. I personally am a little bit anti-Bonnaroo-being-sponsored-by-Garnier-Fructis myself. (I understand that there have to be sponsors, I just wish they were more related to music.) But the thing is, even with Bonnaroo having to make some probably rather outlandish payments for certain performers, tickets to Roo right now are $70 cheaper than Burning Man tickets. I get that, performers or not, it takes money to put an event like this on, but I don't know, $320 seems like a lot to let me go set up my campsite in the desert, bring all my own food and drinks, and camp for a week. And while there's more to it than that, that's essentially what you are paying for.
And incidentally, it's not exactly difficult to become the third biggest city in Reno. We only have two real cities. Everywhere else in this god-forsaken state is just podunk towns and desert. You get an Amway convention together, and you're in the running for third largest city in Nevada.
Well, I can certainly see the appeal in Burning Man. A week of vacation from rules and conformity. There's something to be said for that. For me, I don't think I'd be willing to put up with the survival conditions to experience the upside, but I see that it's there.
A week vacation from rules and conformity, I call it freedom. Free to be who, what ever your heart desires. No judge from your boss or the cashier at the store. For many, that freedom is priceless, even if it is only for 7 days and cost $320. I understand the survival conditions, but I think we all need to be tested once in a while.
Nevertheless, I think you are romanticizing a little bit. First, I don't think the greenhouse gases was a reference so much to fire burned at Burning Man but to the ridiculous amounts of greenhouse gases released from people driving to and from the festival, many from all the way across the country, many in RVs and other large vehicles.
I do not see a huge difference in the amount of green house gases released from vehicles traveling to Burning Man as compared to a festival in Tennessee or Texas. We all still have to get there. We all do not live on the festival grounds. Better to stick with the burning and fire that happens on the playa, if you are going to pull the green house gas card.
And even if you are expected to pick up and take your trash with you when you go, that doesn't mean that the plastic bags and bottles aren't being used. It just means people are taking them home and throwing them away, rather than throwing them away onsite. I mean, it's a week in the desert. The Burning Man website recommends that you bring 1.5 gallons of water per day per person. I can't help but believe that people bring plastic water bottles. Lots of them.
Again, no more plastic being used at Burning Man than any other festival. I take that back. Most burners pack their supplies in totes. It protects from the dust and is easier to move one box, rather than multiple small pouches, even if they have handles. Plastic bags are not used to carry things to the Playa. As for water. Yes, some of the new burners will buy multiple individual bottles of water. Theme camps provide water via a large mobile water container. Most people bring 5 gallon refillable water jugs. Some freeze liter and gallon jugs. Everyone has a camel back. Again, I see no large difference than Burning Man of any other large festival.
As for the money not going to corporate America, that's cool and all. I personally am a little bit anti-Bonnaroo-being-sponsored-by-Garnier-Fructis myself. (I understand that there have to be sponsors, I just wish they were more related to music.) But the thing is, even with Bonnaroo having to make some probably rather outlandish payments for certain performers, tickets to Roo right now are $70 cheaper than Burning Man tickets. I get that, performers or not, it takes money to put an event like this on, but I don't know, $320 seems like a lot to let me go set up my campsite in the desert, bring all my own food and drinks, and camp for a week. And while there's more to it than that, that's essentially what you are paying for.
True Bonnaroo, will give you some performance that are absolutely amazing, Flaming Lips last year, which is why I go. Burning Man is different in the way of community. $320 does seem like a lot, just to have the privilege to camp in the desert for a week, and you have to bring your own shelter, and food and water. That is some marketing genius. So what does $320 buy one at burning man? Clean port-a-potties for one. Believe it or not the port-a-potties are 100 time cleaner than at Bonnaroo. So I will start will that. It buys one of the greatest 4th-July-type-firework experiences on Saturday when the man burns. It buys you public transportation. Art cars(only approved vehicles are allowed to drive, you can only use your car to arrive and leave) are everywhere and when one passes your way you are allowed to hop on. Many camps set up bars. That means, if you have a cup, (to limit waste bars do not hand out cups, bring your own, how many plastic beer cups are used at Bonnaroo and other music festivals?), that means if you have a cup, you get a drink. Many camps gift out food. That means at midnight, Poutine will be served somewhere, location determined after the gates open or stop by the dinner for a grilled cheese, or hit up Stag camp on Tuesday and Thursday for 'Eat my Taco' ('09) vegan taco were served and 'Cut the Cheese' ('10) when grilled cheesees were cut by an 11' guillotine before being served to the public and you got to push the button to, "cut the cheese!" My point is, camps and people set up these places and their gift is feeding the public drink and food. I know this is an unusual concept. Trust me, my first year, I kept wanting to tip the bartenders, then it hit me. The next year, I tipped them with a handle bottle of Jim Beam.
And incidentally, it's not exactly difficult to become the third biggest city in Reno. We only have two real cities. Everywhere else in this god-forsaken state is just podunk towns and desert. You get an Amway convention together, and you're in the running for third largest city in Nevada.
LOL. true. maybe 3rd largest city is not a good selling point. Not that I am trying so sell Burning Man, quite the opposite. You have to want it to go. It has to find you. I am here to answer questions about Burning Man, but I am not saying that it is the greatest thing ever and if you have not gone, than you are a nobody. I hope that is not what is being read. I love Burning Man and what it stands for, but it is not for everybody. A matter of fact I will say "Burning Man sucks do not do!"
So, you live in Nevada and you have never been to Burning Man?
Sounds like we are in agreement then: Burning man is just like any other festival, just longer. Conformity is part of community. Hopefully you'll eventually see how Burning Man is just another way you conform into a community. After all, a weeks worth of drukqs, "free" food, nudity and art sounds like a hippy's eden. I assure you, you are no more your self at Burning Man, nor are you accomplishing anything that you could not do any other day of the year.
Post by Gypsy feats on Mar 28, 2011 18:18:48 GMT -5
Burning Man, like any other expressive and festive (and maybe excessive) gathering of humanity, can be an amalgam of both jewels and warts. However, for me, jewels always outshine warts!
In my case it’s much about spending time and connecting with kindred spirits--those who might be considered outside the mainstream of the dominant culture (or homogenous masses)--and in a place where participation, self-expression, self-reliance, and inclusion are the norm.
I’ve linked an interesting article about the neotribal festival community that might explain a bit the fascination and special place in the heart that some of us hold for an event such as Burning Man. It’s a bit lengthy and not specifically about Burning Man, but I hope it will at least shed some light on the ethos of these type festivals:
Sounds like we are in agreement then: Burning man is just like any other festival, just longer.
No we not in agreement. Burning Man is not just like any other festival. You are comparing festival on how much gas we use to get there, or how much plastic waste is produced from people there. I could repeat myself and explain how Burning Man use less plastic but I am not.
Conformity is part of community. Hopefully you'll eventually see how Burning Man is just another way you conform into a community.
what does this have to do with anything? Or you saying because at Burning Man you conform to make a community and at other music festivals you conform to the schedule set by the promoter, so at both we are conforming, so they are the same? Burning Man, like all other festivals, is an outlet for us to get our freak on, for us to be who ever we want to be. No, we all can not be that person in out every day lives, some of us still have to go to those monthly neighborhood board meetings, PTA meeting, some of us still have jobs and lives in the default world. Festivals allow us to step away form that, a way to peak behind the door. In that aspect, the freedom to step away from our every day mundane lives, yes Burning Man and other music festival are the same. The way they achieve that oasis is different.
After all, a weeks worth of drukqs, "free" food, nudity and art sounds like a hippy's eden.
a weekend of NO NO WORD!!! food, nudity, art, music, sounds like a hippy's eden.
I assure you, you are no more your self at Burning Man, nor are you accomplishing anything that you could not do any other day of the year.
you need to know that you do not know me and you do not know who I am, so you can not assure me anything and you should not act like you can. I am confused by your obsession to make Burning Man to be like all other festival? I have been to both and they are different. Pulling the green card and conformity analogy are weak. Glad Burning Man is not for you.
Even though you say my arguments are weak you seem to agree with every single one besides the one about your self and then magically claim Burning Man is fundamentally different.
I have no control over your perception of yourself and your every day independence. If you think Burning Man such a romantic place then so be it, but it sure doesn't sound like any more of a place to find enlightenment which is what it is often promoted as. This would make it just another art festival.
Also, FYI art encompasses music brah. I also don't understand the promoter thing. Burning man has a promoter. You pay the LLC. It makes a profit, which it invests (sketchily I might add). Just because it shamelessly promotes the historically irrational idea of decommodification of a community doesn't mean it is any less reliant on commodification than any other festival. Further, the same activities that would get you kicked out or detained at Bonnaroo or most any similar private event would get you kicked out/detained from Burning Man.
P.S. I laughed at default world. It reminded me of video games with the presumption that you can just switch out of a default control scheme. The world is the world, whether its at Burning Man, Midtown or some Tibetan monastery. Buddhism 101 right there for you.
Last Edit: Mar 29, 2011 16:39:58 GMT -5 by csbk - Back to Top
Even though you say my arguments are weak you seem to agree with every single one besides the one about your self and then magically claim Burning Man is fundamentally different.
I have no control over your perception of yourself and your every day independence. If you think Burning Man such a romantic place then so be it, but it sure doesn't sound like any more of a place to find enlightenment which is what it is often promoted as. This would make it just another art festival.
Also, FYI art encompasses music brah. I also don't understand the promoter thing. Burning man has a promoter. You pay the LLC. It makes a profit, which it invests (sketchily I might add). Just because it shamelessly promotes the historically irrational idea of decommodification of a community doesn't mean it is any less reliant on commodification than any other festival. Further, the same activities that would get you kicked out or detained at Bonnaroo or most any similar private event would get you kicked out/detained from Burning Man.
P.S. I laughed at default world. It reminded me of video games with the presumption that you can just switch out of a default control scheme. The world is the world, whether its at Burning Man, Midtown or some Tibetan monastery. Buddhism 101 right there for you.
Thank you for blessing me on Budda 101. I needed that. Seeing how you are all festival knowing. I see you have been to all festivals and me who has only been to a few has a skewed perception about things. You think you are right, I do not. You have your opinion about things and I have mine. I am not going to change your mind, nor do I want to. We can agree to disagree. Burning man is run by the ORG and the books are open for all to see. We know Harry, "the promoter", gets a paycheck. We know this because the open books tells us so. Yes, you can get arrested for the same things at BM than you can at home or any other festival. The thing I do not understand is, I have not promoted Burning Man. I have not claimed it to be this all amazing place. If you read my post I even say the opposite. "Burning Man sucks, do not go!" I started this thread for people to ask questions, for people who might be interested in Burning Man, not for some punk to tell me how they think a festival, they have never been to(maybe you have been, but from what I am reading you have not, which is a good thing, you would not make it), is the same as all other festival, because we all use green house gases, we all use plastic, we all want to get "enlightened". You being so adamant to be right and prove me wrong reminds me of my Ex, who are you?
We're all a mess of paradoxes. Believing in things we know can't be true. We walk around carrying feelings too complicated and contradictory to express. But when it all becomes too big, and words aren't enough to help get it all out, there's always music.
Post by fearthestupid on Mar 30, 2011 17:12:24 GMT -5
scrog i am with you...the difference is in how YOU feel when YOU are there. Without sharing both the experience and the perspective, nobody can say what enlightens you, nor should they. Csbk feels a particular way about BM, but despite his Buddhist teachings he is not enlightened enough not to put his perspective on your experience. Btw, Burning Man is right before my birthday every year, hmmm...
Buddhism is about destroying egotistical perception to realize and then transcend the holistic nature of the universe not supplanting another's view. But I'm not going to teach you a religion, its quite clear most people would rather live with their presumptions about the religion and karma. The touchstone of this argument is that Burning Man promotes no less of an egotistical experience than any other festival and is not the transcendant place people imply (Scrog included). I've made my point, you've agreed in large part. I will close by stating my fascination with the concept that an individual who has "made it" at Burning Man still claims to be incapable of being the same individual outside of the atmosphere itself - as if the material benefits or detriments of Burning Man are required to access more of his "self." If such is the case then I recommend something much more personally intimate and testing. Perhaps one of the Triple Crown trails or El Camino de Santiago depending on your perspective? Of course you should do each relatively druqk free. On the other hand, if you are looking for a week long, relatively untesting art festival in the desert then by all means go to Burning Man.
P.S. your intentions have always belied your words, Scrog. You would be apt not to presume the stupidity of others.
Post by fearthestupid on Mar 31, 2011 12:51:49 GMT -5
there are many who are extremely intelligent, yet still unwise. Part of wisdom is experience. Any situation outside your normal routine has the potential to leave a new and permanent understanding about one or more facets of life. Does it always happen? Of course not. Can it happen in more common places like a traffic jam or your break room at work? Sure. You bring your transcendence with you. But it is fine to seek it in a place that tests you. Whether through sharing difficult conditions in a hostile environment or simply swaying in the field out of your gourd in front of what stage. enlightenment comes in small bites not a whole meal at once.
The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size. Oliver Wendell Holmes
P.S. your intentions have always belied your words, Scrog. You would be apt not to presume the stupidity of others.
I hope you are not questioning my intentions or my word? My intentions to enlighten people about an amazing experience, at the same time saying the experience sucks, "do not go" is contradicting and is meant for people like you. I do want people, the right people, to experience this egotistical experience. By the way Brah, everything we do in life, we do to please ourselves, every experience is egotistical. I go to burning man because I like it. I go to Bonnaroo, because I like it. If I was going to temple, I would be going because I felt it was the right thing too do and that makes me feel good. I do it for me. I go to these events because, I am capable of going. It is not the positives and negatives of Burning Man that define who I can be. Burning Man does not allow me that. It is the default world that restricts me and that is something I must deal with. I am capable of anything at anytime. I chose, for the sake of harmony, to be who I am here in Florida and to be who I chose to be in the desert or on the Farm. It is my fault that I allow this world to restrict my expressions. That is something I have to deal with, not you! Enough with that, this conversation is going no where good. I am feeling you attack my character, you are putting words in my mouth, and you are speaking about something you have never experienced, yet you want to tell me how my experience here is the same as my experience there. Each one puts me on the defensive and that goes no where good. Thanks Juggs, but no thanks.
P.S. your intentions have always belied your words, Scrog. You would be apt not to presume the stupidity of others.
\My intentions to enlighten people about an amazing experience, at the same time saying the experience sucks, "do not go" is contradicting and is meant for people like you.
I do want people, the right people, to experience this egotistical experience.
everything we do in life, we do to please ourselves, every experience is egotistical.
I do it for me. I go to these events because, I am capable of going.
It is the default world that restricts me and that is something I must deal with. I am capable of anything at anytime. I chose, for the sake of harmony, to be who I am here in Florida and to be who I chose to be in the desert or on the Farm.
TYFT. And that's why Burning Man has been defunct for years. (Yahoo)
;D
