Results tagged “burningman”

Gone are the days of the technology and currency-free oasis of drugs, dust and art both whimsical and questionable.

The Guardian's Drug Issue is out, and it's laced (that's editor Steven T. Jones' word, not ours) with "good shit" ranging from a piece about women's meth use on the rise in SF; a roundup of trippy literature; the requisite piece about marijuana decriminalization; a meditation on the evolution of nightlife drugging by Marke B; and a handy guide to hallucinogen use at Burning Man--especially handy for those, like us, who weren't previously familiar with the terms "candy-flipping" (using LSD and ecstasy together) or "hippie-flipping" (shrooms and ecstasy).

              

Oh man, not some hippie Burning Man-ish art thing," you whine? Yes, another hippie Burning Man-ish art thing! Why? Because: fire. And lots of it. See, this weekend the annual Fire Arts Festival immolated on Saturday at the Crucible, gloriously. The annual festival "celebrates creativity through fire and light with a spectacular open-air exhibition of interactive fire art, performance and the largest collection of outdoor fire sculpture on the West Coast."

Local bicycle dancer and Burning Man veteran Hollis Hawthorne fell off a motorcycle while traveling in India. She hit her head and went into a coma.

More coverage:
* Hollis' friends' blog = http://friendsofhollis.blogspot.com/
* Hollis' family's blog = http://helpholligethome.blogspot.com/
* Chicken John has her story covered over at Laughing Squid.

Hollis needed to get home to the Bay Area to get specific medical treatment at the Stanford Medical Center. The price tag for the med-evac flight was about $150,000. That's where you come in -- with a karaoke mic!

What with all of the not taking synthetic drugs we've been doing as of late, we completely forgot that Labor Day Weekend is almost upon us. Yay! And with that comes that annual gathering of types out in the desert called Burning Man. You know, that place where people find themselves and/or commit suicide?

You'd think that Rob Anderson would be all for Burning Man, as its demographic most certainly overlaps with his despised "bike people" (like burnphile Steve Jones) getting them out of the City, and leaving him blissfully empty bike lanes into which he can weave with gleeful abandon. And yet, he describes this Sierra Club article on the desert fest as "The Sierra Club questions Burning Man" and pulls a single, damning quote from the article by Matthew Taylor "a Peace and Conflict Studies major at the University of California at Berkeley and the coeditor of PeacePower magazine." Funny, when we read that description of the author, we were actually surprised that the piece was as balanced as it was -- seriously, PeacePower magazine? If that's not a profile for a Burning Man bike person, we don't know what is. Sorry, Rob, if you're going to mis-characterize an article, better not link to it. (Tavy)

Mentally-estranged dreamboat Paul Addis -- you know, the guy who performed last year's premature ignition at Burning Man and most recently tried to burn down Courteney Cox-Arquette and David Arquette's chapel of love? -- pleaded guilty to (presumably) arson, winning himself a cool 12-48 month in federal prison. According to Curbed (via Twitter):

Until they open up a Four Seasons on the Playa, or move the journey to Yerba Buena Park, we won't be going anytime soon. But for those of you rapscallions who are? More power to you. And if you haven't purchased your tickets yet, do it now.

It's that time of the year for all the big papers to weigh in on their choice for President and yesterday, the Chron weighed in and announced that they are going to support the guy who gives pretty, pretty speeches. You know, the Muslim dude who doesn't pledge allegiance to the flag, and just might be on the downlow: Barry Hussein Obama. And, yes, we know most of that stuff comes for a vicious, nasty email smear that's been going around and isn't in any way true, but come on, you gotta let us have some fun.

Because they are. "$210 and $225 tickets are sold out," we're told. But with the income you're pulling in from that tech job, you should be able to afford the pricer admission fee, right? Right. Go here to buy yourselves some dusty bliss.

Last night a little before midnight, Paul David Addis was arrested outside of Grace Cathedral, suspected of trying to burn down the historic church down. It seems that his neighbor called the police last night after overhearing him say something to the effect of "the cathedral wasn’t going to be there anymore." Yikes.

We welcomed the return of DocFest, your local indie documentary festival, last night with . It wasn’t clear we were actually going to make it in to the theater until about two minutes before it began. There was a long line for the film, which was showing in the Little Roxie, where seats are at a premium. We were pretty psyched to score our folding chair, one of the final two seats in the sold-out theater.

It looks like Black Rock City visitors now have an actual tragedy on their hands. One for them to eventually personalize, of course. Today, sadly, someone hanged himself to death at Burning Man. His dangling body -- which was viewable to partygoers for about two hours inside of a two-story tent, according the Justin Berton -- went unnoticed by many. Passersby and friends, it seems, thought the dead body was an artistic statement of...

Yum! Did you smell something nasty in downtown SF yesterday? Some people described it like raw sewage, and others like rotting meat. Turns out it was from the sewage holding system, which was ripening in the sun faster than it was getting flushed into the system.

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. We should totally put needle disposal boxes in Golden Gate Park. Also, C.W. Nevius says that Newsom called him and yelled at him for 45 minutes after he wrote his first article on the issue. We'd put that call on mute. Gentrification is destroying Polk Street. City contractors still use sweatshop labor. Annalee Newitz has mice. Sonic Reducer's still at the Guardian. Cover article: Local bands to watch. You've got your whisky swillers, your barefoot folksters, your hip-hoppers, and some fey whimsy. And read Marke B's column and show him not everyone's away for Burning Man!

Some very sad news.

During last night's total lunar eclipse in Black Rock City, Nevada, someone set the Burning Man figure ablaze prematurely. Chortle.

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to.

While Hannah Watson's found tent camping to be just fine at Burning Man over the past several years, this year she had a vision -- an art instillation of her own that would "not only be beautiful but provide (her) with comfort and a home while out the desert." She found an old Oregon transit bus for sale on craigslist and, since last April, has spent every weekend getting the old girl ready to fly to Burning Man. We got to check out the bus this past weekend.

-- Large Lake Tahoe fire under control. [Oakland Tribune, via AP]

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take her medicine and offered their own suggestions to how the city should capitalize on the local music scene. And everyone thinks that a suggested tax on bottled water is a great idea.

-- Fil Lorenz & the Collective West Jazz Orchestra: Check out this choice 12-piece jazz band tonight at 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. at Jazz at Pearl's, 256 Columbus; $10-$15.

Last night's innovative Chicken John/Josh Wolf Mayoral debate brought in "a dozen or so citizens," artists, and political fetishists. Even though it was on a Sunday night, anyone who cares about politics, SF, and progressiveness shouldn't have missed it.

We arrived at 9 p.m., parked at the West Oakland BART station and walked the block or so to the Fire Arts Festival. A gathering of local neighbors stood just outside the fence, watching. Giant hand-wrought metal sculptures — spiders, dragons, machines from the future/past — viewable from that distance, and from the BART trains passing by above, thumped and shook and spewed balls of fire high into the air.

--Apple iPhone madness begins! That's a picture of the line in SF yesterday night by photo genius Steve Rhodes, who reported around 60 people in line by midnight. We're hoping to have more pictures of the madness starting at 6 p.m. today by tomorrow! [Steve's Flickr picture; Justin.tv video footage; Gizmodo; the Chron; the Merc News; the Trib; CBS 5.]

Last week's winner, as picked by SFist Sarah -- the Bay Guardian! Steven T. Jones takes over the opening editorial from Tim Redmond this week. It does not mention Burning Man! Recalls go too far. Club 6 -- still open. Why can't the Chron make money? Now serving at Cafe Gratitude: "I Am....Sued." San Francisco water may be causing rashes. Thank goodness Ed Jew doesn't have to worry about that! (okay, to be fair, we're sending the water all over the area so it might be in the Burlingame system too). Cover: Marke B's Club Guide, a glossy insert. Cute picture of bears! (picture not online.) Goth band comes to town. K Records founder Calvin Johnson has a retro haircut. And Frameline! Oh yeah -- and vote for us for best blog in the Best Of!

Ever misplaced a grocery or to-do list? Your lost note could appear in Lost and Found in the Mission, a play based on true stories salvaged from scraps of papers found around the Mission District. The production, by Boathouse & Co., includes songs, dancing, beat-boxing and mass hallucinations. Tickets are available on a sliding scale ($15-$25), here, show starts at 8pm. Mama Calizo's Voice Factory in the Jon Sims Center for Performing Arts, 1519 Mission St.,SF.

guys is pretty funny. Is payola coming back for web radio? And no more crack rap, please. Also, a birthday party for John Adams, and Savage Love forgot about adoption.

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Gosh, the Chron seems awfully enthralled with that Zodiac movie, doesn't it? Also, more on the Leno/Migden throwdown, quoting Paul Hogarth from Beyond Chron (who now supports Leno). Cover article: An awesome piece about mentally ill dogs. Who knew bordie collies got OCD? Meredith goes to the Presidio Social Club; SFist Ced gruffly concedes maybe she's been doing a good job lately. Let's Get Killed laments the new boring indie rock. Speaking of rock, why's the Clipse so into cocaine? And another independent magazine (Arthur, an indie rock anarchist publication) bites the dust.