Chaos, Covid, and Camp Leads

The subject of Covid always carries complicated feelings no matter who you engage with. However it affected each of us, it pervasively altered all of us, globally. We had to create different methods of life as we knew it for practically every aspect we navigated in our day to day. Ok, big whoop, so what? Well, I think this second episode highlighted another shift that occurred among us all – the eradication of common fucking sense.

Before we dive into the episode, I want to share that I worked for another giant company who was also heavily impacted by the pandemic, and how they handled things much differently than the BM Project. Both entities are incredibly lucrative and world-renowned, with similar beginnings of experimental and avant-garde concepts. I created a table to compare the two during their pandemic schedule as well as some other points that I found interesting – let’s call them Company A & Company B.

	Company A	Company B
Type of Event	Circus	Art & Music
Duration	2 hour shows, approx 10 times a week, 44 total running shows globally	1 week annually
Net Worth	~$2 Billion	~$15 Million
Years of Operation	42	40
Employees Pre-Covid	~5,000	~1,240 ~10,000 Volunteers
Employees Furloughed/ Positions Cut	~4,600	~200
Relief Funds	$20 Million: to staff both permanent, temporary, and independent contractors	$41 Million: philanthropic donations + PPP Loans to keep HQ operations running and Executive salaries paid
Revenue Loss During Shut Down	~$1 billion	~$45 Million
Cost of Tickets Pre & Post Covid	Pre ~$90 / Pst ~$145	Pre $425 / Pst $575
Fully Operational	2022	2022
CEO Current Salary	~$700,000	~$402,000

A couple of things to note: Burning Man did not have any financial relief or incentives for their staff, year round or seasonal, during the pandemic. The $39 million raised and received through donations, and the $2 million in PPP loans, went to “inescapable baseline operations.” This would include their several properties and infrastructure, HQ office leases and tech maintenance, executive and core staff compensation (the board), and to the BLM. Another thing to note: the creator and original owner of Company A often goes to Company B and had their own camp one year that I was much less than impressed with. I also heard they left a fuck ton of moop.

Welcome to the Shit Show

What I loved about it: The very first theme of Burning Man “The Inferno” in 1996. The live infomercial of Papa Satan promoting the soul credit card, HELCO, and the corporate sellout of Burning Man. Very camp, very kitschy, and quite ironic given how the Org is very near to the qualities that they once mocked. I LIVE for the weird shit and this was ultimate bizarre. Even though it was pure lawlessness, there was still a sense of intimacy and unity among the participants that I feel lacks in the grand scope of todays makeup. Even though this was the same year that became a shit show, with multiple people severely injured, the stunts having absolutely no safety measures in place, pandemonium was the dominant manifesto, and the beginning of the rift among the creators. However, I found it fascinating to see the catalyst of what snowballed into what we truly know today as Burning Man.

What I loved about it: Hearing a different perspective about Larry, a not so favorable one at that. Larry has become this sort of Godhead figure immortalized as the playa almighty, at least to a wide range of folks. There’s this idea that since BM is this life altering experience (though Crimson Rose once told me Burning Man doesn’t change lives, the people do), Larry is directly responsible for that; ergo he is infallible. I think we forget that he was still entirely human, filled with flaws, contradictions, and stinky poop, like all of us. Burning Man co-founder John Law talked openly about the complete insensitivity Larry displayed for Michael Fureys tragic death the night before the event. He stated that Larrys immediate concern was when his time of death happened, so he could tell media that it didn’t take place at the actual event. I would agree that this went against everything that the founding community and counterculture ethos stood for, just so that Larry could save face. Accountability in general seemed to have lacked throughout their entire business module, all for the sake of nonconformity, even through means of peril. For those that don’t know, there was a massive lawsuit between John, Larry, and Danger Ranger (Michael Mikel) in 2007 regarding the trademark and rightful ownership of BM and its image. That’s another search I suggest looking into, but I do think it serves an important purpose to include the contrary lens of Larrys personality and conduct.

What I hated about it: The catty coup meeting held at a private luxury beachfront estate in Malibu. Listen, I definitely have my own opinions about Marian as the CEO, some which I discussed in my previous blog. Strictly speaking as a former employee for her company, there’s plenty of things I believe should be improved on regarding working conditions and compensation for staff and volunteers. Even so, I have to agree with Zach Bell, one of the entrepreneurs interviewed, one of the very few who seemed to be defending Marian, when he stated that she never wanted this position in the first place and if you brought her a better candidate, she’d gladly accept it. Now, I’m not sure that’s completely accurate given how comfortable her lifestyle has become because of BM, but I do believe that she never expected things to unfold how they have. The sudden passing of Larry, then the immediate central ownership, now she’s directing this behemoth of a project that has every legal framework and statutory limit that a major theme park, music festival and summer camp have combined, (hyperbolic but you understand the point); as our beloved orgy dome would say, “that’s quite the load.” The main topic was how Marian was singlehandedly ruining Burning Man thus the ‘obvious’ need of new (wealthier and more entitled) leadership. As I understood it, this meeting was called as a response for her choice not to put on the event in 2021, when a majority of the world had to halt productions of events, including Company A, remember him? A multibillion dollar circus, one of the biggest and most successful live entertainment production companies in the world. I could honestly create an entire separate rant about this laughable, and clearly expensive, board meeting and the arrogant inputs of everyone, but I’ll just use this to pivot to my next point.

What I hated about it: Once again ladies and gents, Kimbal Musk. Pompous, ostentatious, egocentric, all the qualities of a great CEO for Burning Man amiright?! Who wouldn’t want someone who showboats about their gift to the playa being money? Lots and lots of money! Don’t forget, that not everyone can give the gift of wealth, we should be so thankful! I could go on, but truly I would rather sit through Gilbert Gottfried reading the New King James Bible than sit here and put anymore attention on this pretentious ass-plug.

I am enjoying this documentary more than I originally assumed I would. I think the filmmakers are doing a decent job at staying neutral to the narrative and allowing the viewers to interpret what’s being shown for themselves. I’m very curious how they plan on wrapping it all up in only four episodes, when they could easily do an entire full season, ten part series. Until the next one, thanks for reading my prattling.

HIGHLIGHT: The Renegade Burn and the fact that out of almost 20,000 participants nobody was injured or died. The possibility of having that large of a crowd and everyone behaving is probably next to hysterically nonexistent, and yet…

HIGHLIGHT: John Law zip-lining from the HELCO Tower after tossing explosives into the fire pit less than a foot away from his face, then smashing through another structure.

HIGHLIGHT: The virtual burning of the man, the virtual dance parties, the virtual hugs, and that one avatar that dropped his virtual phone on the virtual playa.

HIGHLIGHT: Lyna, at the Gerlach General Store, setting up 1,000 makeshift toilet buckets for people to buy who were attending the renegade burn. An actual angel.