Organizizer speaks

tribe needs our help

Organizizer — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 01:42:11 GMT

I've used a lot of network sites and tribe's system is the best. -and its membership the most intelligent and progressive. from Pi's blog: "The word in some of the admin tribes is that Tribe.net is in serious financial peril. Peril that may make this site go away. Most of us belong to MySpace and/or Bebo and/or Facebook, yet we return to Tribe because it is what serves us best. There are even rumors that Tribe is down to less than five employees. Given the above, would you be willing to pay a $5/mo subscription fee to tribe as a Premium Member? Premium Members might receive benefits such as ad-free usage, more customizable skins, or other such bells and whistles. Please, if you support tribe and are willing to pay HALF THE COST OF A MOVIE TICKET for one month of Premium Usage, respond to this blog post. Repost this in YOUR BLOG. Collect the yays and nays and forward them to Pi. After ten days I will summarize the results and forward them to the Admins." Pis blog at: http://people.tribe.net/pi/blog/79914cf1-b949-4a36-a964-73d97c94b047#comments FUNDRAISER I think tribe still hasn't fully recovered from the Great CEO/censorship/UI Disaster, and a new marketing/dev push would re-start momentum. Because tribe has been helpful and responsive to the community, I'd be willing to donate to support it. I'm collecting performers, artists and the like who'd be willing to donate services or wares or space to a tribe fundraiser. Please post below and/or msg me your e-addy and/or ph# if you are one such. triple points if you have a venue/space or know someone who does..

Burning Man's turn on the spit at the Onion

Organizizer — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:25:10 GMT

“Conceptual Terrorists Encase Sears Tower In Jell-O”, the top headline of the Oct 18 Onion, is a clear reference to the Early Burn and to the near-hysterical response it has received in some quarters, and also to “poetic terrorism” - a phrase coined in the same famous essay that gave us the “Temporary Autonomous Zone”, which inspired pioneer culture-jammers the Cacophony Society’s Trips to the Zone - of which Zone Trip #4 has also become known as Burning Man. If this wasn’t enough, it was followed up by "it Only Tuesday" (Tuesday was when the Early burn happened) and ' '95-'96 Prayers Finally Answered' (do I need to explain the significance of these years in BM history?) The remaining article on the front page, "First Orgy After Brian's Death Very Solemn", was an obvious reference to the other big news story from Burning Man '07. Thats four out of four front page articles aimed at Burning Man. The cover story also reads like a BM/CS trivia crossword: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/conceptual_terrorists_encase_sears how many references can you spot?

Brief History of Black Rock City w/links

Organizizer — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 06:52:13 GMT

Larry Harvey and Jerry James threw an annual beach party, starting in 1986, one of many such parties on Baker Beach at that time. This bonfire, with wood assembled in the shape of an effigy by Jerry, gradually became known as the Burning Man party. In 1990, Kevin Evans and John Law planned Cacophony Zone trip #4 to Black Rock, a Temporary Autonomous Zone w/dadaist temporary sculpture and randomness, all to be burnt. A radical social experiment. When Larry and Jerry got kicked off Baker Beach by cops & fire dept, Kevin & John invited them to bring the Man out to their Zone trip. Another Cacophanist, Michael Mikel (Danger Ranger), saw that bringing all these people to Black Rock would be facilitated by some camp-counsellor-types to make sure nobody wandered off and died in the desert, and called them the Black Rock Rangers. Thus Black Rock City was born, organized by John and Michael, based on Kevin's idea, with Larry and Jerry's symbol. They called it the Burning Man Festival and/or Black Rock City, and it doubled in size each year for about 7 years, expanding by word of mouth (no advertising or online ticket sales) with no fundamental changes in rules or culture. As it grew, Jerry and Kevin stopped going. A partnership was created between Larry, Michael, and John to own the name, later replaced by an LLC owned by the same three. In 1997, the final schism came after participant deaths, much publicity, and the BLM refusing a permit. John withdrew, becoming a silent partner while Larry, with girlfriend Marian Goodell and with Michael's acquiescence, created the BMorg, a corporation with permits and contracts, a board of directors, full time employees, departments, PR people (who largely left Law, Evans and Cacophony out of the official history), and ever tighter rules and scheduling. Connections between art and money became major focii. Bmorg began funding art projects that conform to its themes, and in order to present BM art outside BRC it created the Black Rock Arts Foundation, which has been cited as delivering 27 cents per donated dollar to artists. After a rebuffed attempt to democratize Bmorg’s art funding process, several Cacophanists formed an alternate art funding structure called Borg 2, termed a "mild revolt" in the press and lasting one season. 2007 is another watershed year. For the first time, BMorg licenced companies to show (eco-friendly) products in an expo under the Man. Simultaneously, Larry Harvey tried to gain sole control of the name, the three owners all sued each other over it. John Law’s response to the other two suits was to sue to put the name and symbol into the public domain. Kevin Evans and Jerry James have both weighed in supporting John Law, as have many Cacophonists and early Burning Man volunteers. In response to these events and to the mainstreaming of its rules and culture, the Man - now a corporate symbol as well as a cultural icon- was burned ahead of schedule by another Cacophonist, who BMorg had arrested and charged with arson, a felony carrying jail time. Links: BMorg's oficial history page - the origin of the symbol that became known as Burning Man. http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/1986_1996/firstyears.html Cacophony Zone Trip #4 – the origin of the culture and art that became known as Burning Man. http://laughingsquid.com/tag/cacophony-society/ BRC conceptual origin story - Kevin Evans http://laughingsquid.com/its-so-empty-its-full/ BRC photos - first five years - Kevin Evans http://www.flickr.com/photos/lardnanny/sets/72157601350799404/ Smiley man - dawn of counter-culture-jamming at Burning Man http://laughingsquid.com/the-neon-smiley-face-at-burning-man-1996/ Burning Man partners all suing each other (yelp thread) http://www.yelp.com/topic/hyaLHkpePIaVum3vKhfGGg Burning Man Founders Mired in Dispute (article) Co-Founder of Radical Self-Expression Festival Burning Man Sues to Put Name in Public Domain http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/wireStory?id=2786125 Is Burning Man a Brand or a Movement? Time to decide, kiddies. “Bringing the dealings of all parties involved, their intentions, motives and history into the light can only be good for the people who enjoy the event.” http://johnlawspeaks.wordpress.com/ comments about the Premature Ignition on LaughingSquid http://laughingsquid.com/burning-man-set-on-fire-early-arson-is-to-blame/

Why I support Paul Addis

Organizizer — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 05:37:55 GMT

When I declare my support for Addis, this doesn’t make me a "follower". It means I understand the history of Black Rock City, and therefore I understand what he did and why. When I declare my support for Addis, its not because I think he has no faults, its because I think he has a valid point. When I declare my support for Addis, I declare my support not for randomly or hatefully destroying other people's art, but for poetically appropriate good-humored pranks aimed with care at a symbol of corporate excess. When I declare my support for Addis, its not because I believe everybody should try to burn the man whenever they want, its because i believe all BRC citizens should have a voice in these and other BRC decisions - not just "The Decider" in his company town, as it is now and has been for too long. When I declare my support for Addis, its not because I think there should be no compensation for any damage, its because I think the BMorg has massively overreacted and is now hypocritically taking advantage of laws not designed for the Burning Man environment, in order to pursue vendetta. When I declare my support for Addis, I do not negate the well-meaning contributions of other good people, I simply advocate that Addis’ well-meaning and thoughtful contribution be acknowledged as well. He loves BRC at least as much as you do, and he –along with many others- is fighting to save its soul. When I declare my support for Addis, I declare my support not for putting lives in danger with thoughtless destruction but for risking one’s own safety while taking care not to unduly risk others (that is, not to risk others beyond those risks inherent to their chosen environment). When I declare my support for Addis, I declare my support for free speech in all venues related to Burning Man, and my opposition to censorship, heavy-handedness and 'controlling the spin' as has been BMorg's corporate practice for many years. When I declare my support for Addis, I acknowledge that BRC under BMorg’s control has forgotten its roots and is loosing touch with its founding principles, depriving the new friends of an essential part of the Burning Man experience and also of the knowledge of what they missed – even as the ticket price has been jacked up tenfold. The new kids are being cheated and I support finding creative ways of rectifying the injustice. When I declare my support for Addis, I declare my support not necessarily for Addis himself to occupy the currently-non-democratic semi-mythical post of Mayor of BRC, rather i declare my support for an open, democratic process of governance of Black Rock City (if there must be governance, which there currently is) - and, wherever possible, for BRC to take steps to reclaim its birthright of non-governance. When I declare my support for Addis, it is an acknowledgement that his was not an isolated act of some thoughtless, clueless mean-spirited drunk, but is part of a watershed moment, a time of long-overdue examination, contemplation and action in terms of Black Rock City's history and future. (originally posted in http://tribes.tribe.net/pauladdisformayor)