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Commodifying Decommodification
A guest post from our reader Pantsless Santa. It’s an eye-opener! The desire of these people to laugh at the very principles they created, and told us we had to live by, seems to know no bounds. image:...
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2013 Charity Results Released
Last weekend, Burning Man Arts – the new organization that is a merger between two of the non-profits in BMOrg’s empire, Black Rock Arts Foundation and the Burning Man Project – threw its Eighth...
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Boycott Commodification – or Just Give Us Your Money [Update]
Thanks to our eagle-eyed readers who spotted this post at The Burning Blog Voices of Burning Man. It seems they posted it, and as soon as there was a critical comment, yanked it again. Not before one...
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BMOrg Hath Spoken
image: Roadside Pictures/Flickr (Creative Commons) Finally, more than a quarter of a year after the last week-long Burning Man event ended, BMOrg has given some official answers to the many concerns...
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What’s In A Name?
Burning Man. What is it? A rave in the desert? An arts festival? A Temporary Autonomous Zone? An experiment in new ways of living together as a community, relying on each other to survive, without the...
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JT Finally Speaks
Caravancicle and the Lost Hotel It only took 3 1/2 months – and, quite probably, me spending an hour yesterday talking to a reporter from Bloomberg Business Week, then passing his details on to...
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Bloomberg On SherpaGate and Burners.Me [Update]
The sorry saga of the Sherpa and the Popsicle Camp has made it to Wall Street. Bloomberg BusinessWeek has published a lengthy article on the whole affair, titled Occupy Burning Man: Class Warfare...
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“Emotional Rollercoaster from Hell”
BMOrg’s latest post on ticketing does nothing to quell doubts about the motivations behind Ticket Hell. Taking us on an emotional roller coaster from hell, and generating and focusing a massive amount...
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Burning Man Hacked!
image from WIRED The news of hackers exploiting a “back door” in BMOrg’s new ticketing system broke last week on Reddit. We covered it last Wednesday in Ticket Hell. Now, the story has been picked up...
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Lie, Cheat, and Steal Your Way To Burning Man
Image: Simon Davison/Flickr (Creative Commons) “Usually people are hacking to steal things…these people were hacking just to get a chance to spend $400 to get a ticket” 89.3 KPCC radio did an interview...
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New Plug-n-Plays Coming Up With Their Own Principles
Soho Gardens is the latest ultra-luxe glamping experience at Burning Man. It is very much following the lead of previous sherpa-laden hotel experiences at Burning Man that have been highly promoted to...
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BLM to Review Chocotacos, if BM Lifts Their Safety Game [Updates]
Yesterday Burning Man bigwigs and BLM bigwigs got together to discuss Chocotacogate. According to the information leaked (by BMOrg?) to Jenny Kane at the RGJ: the BLM wanted $1 million+ in extra...
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Easy Way To Get Tickets
Panicking because you missed out on STEP and OMG? Keen to go and check out the debut of the new, ultra-loud Dance Music Zone? Looking to hear the crackling of the flames at the Man base without pesky...
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Vegas Halloween Parade Cancelled by Burning Man Attache
For the last 5 years, tens of thousands of residents of Las Vegas have enjoyed the annual Halloween Parade. This has featured Burner art cars like Dancetronauts Strip Ship, and has been linked to a...
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Easter Bunny Brings Plenty More Tickets [Update]
Bunny Slippers, anyone? Thanks to Anonymous Burner for this tip-off. Tickets and Vehicle Passes are still for sale. Just go to your Burner Profile. Anonymous Burner questions how would we know if only...
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Sheriff Takes Family on Raven Trip to Burning Man
Who said Burning Man is not a rave? The Sheriff of Washoe County took his wife and kid on a joyride official police business trip to Burning Man in the company chopper. The name of the military grade,...
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2016 The Scandals: Further Details
We have a number of updates on this year’s scandals. The biggest one appears to be the Hooligan Attacks on White Ocean during the White Party. This has been picked up by all the usual EDM rags like...
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“The Org Shows Its True Colors Once Again”: Staff Ticket Scandal
A post from Cranky_Monkey at Reddit: The Org shows its true colors once again. Fucking greed. Pure, unadulterated greed. The Org has once again oversold the event, after coming within 60 attendees of...
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Weaponized Principles
A superlative guest post from Terbo Ted, the first DJ at Burning Man and therefore one of its Unofficial Founders. Weaponized Principles Larry Harvey and I were onstage together in 2000 as part of a...
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Protesting the Protestors [Update]
Over at burningman.com, Caveat Magister’s attempts to laugh off the Burner community’s Commodification Camp concerns – Why Am I Making Fun of Burners and 12 Shocking Revelations About Ultra-Rich Plug...
View ArticleNaked Capitalism Bursts the Bubble
A great story from Naked Capitalism by Lambert Strether: Has the Burning Man Bubble Burst? It’s worth reading in its entirety, they’ve broken down the Tin Principles. Even if you don’t agree with their...
View ArticleDiplo and Skrillex Booed Off the Decks at Robot Heart [Updates]
Jack U got jacked. It seems the Burner ear is slightly more discerning than “Turn down for what” PulseRadio breaks it down: ...One [story] that has just come our way involves Seth Troxler, Skrillex and...
View ArticlePopulation Control Through Sleight Of Hand
Sleight of hand is another term for magic. It is also sometimes used in relation to the world of accounting. Just like you can play tricks with your hands, people can also play tricks with words and...
View ArticleDouchebag Burner Advocates Class War [Update]
The people next to you have an RV. Does that make it OK to steal their shit? Obviously not, unless you’re an asshole. Which David Kiss clearly is. Not only to commit the acts he describes below, but...
View ArticlePlug-n-Play Goes All the Way…to the Top of the Pyramid [Update]
“self reliance is the greatest art” – my teabag message as I’m finishing off this post. Earlier this year, Burning Man CEO and Founder Marian Goodell gave a talk at TEDx Tokyo, while social alchemist...
View Article(Kiss) (ASS) It’s A Big Farce
It occurred to me that this sign-stealing incident, publicized by its author on various Burning Man facebook groups, happened after BMOrg announced before the Burn that because sign theft was so...
View ArticleA Sherpa’s Tale
This story posted on Facebook is from a Burner who worked as a Sherpa this year at a multi-million dollar camp. We will keep the Burner’s identity anonymous unless they request otherwise. It is a...
View ArticleTrash the ‘Stache
Lyft just got in trouble with Burning Man. It seems that one of their quirky community of drivers (I’m more of an Uber guy myself) put their trademark pink moustache on a Mutant Vehicle. Burning Man...
View ArticleCommodification Camps and the Tin Principles
Nomad Traveler really nailed it with this well-thought out comment about how the Commodification Camps are basically the complete opposite of everything Burners stand for. Note that he’s dropped the...
View ArticleSelling Out Part II: Who Could It Be Now?
[Selling Out – Part I – Wrapping the Gifting] There is no direct evidence that Burning Man has been sold, or is planned to be sold. Just a mounting pile of circumstantial evidence, and the crumbling...
View ArticleBurning Man Director Flaunts Flouting of Safety Rules
In theory, we live in a democratic society, based on a system of justice. There are rules, and if you break them you can be punished. If enough people don’t like the rules – or the rulers – they can …...
View ArticleBURNILEAKS: Bullying the Burners [Updates]
The post-Burning Man headaches for BMOrg continue to mount. If you believe in karma or physics, then you understand that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you threaten legal...
View ArticleCritical Third
There’s not much more I need to say to introduce this story, it kind of speaks for itself. “Is she crazy? According to Tridevil, “I am crazy. But the crazy people don’t know they’re crazy, so...
View ArticleExploring the Other: 2014 Edition
Burning Man requires its Regional Events to have transparent financials, donate to their charities, and obtain a license to use their trademarks. For themselves, the requirements are not so strict....
View ArticleSafari Camps Play Burner Bingo
Just when you think the stories about Commodification Camp Caravancicle couldn’t get any worse, we get this leak from the Facebook group Sherpa Liberation Front. It seems $13,000 can buy you a room in...
View ArticleEmbattled Burners Ask Community for Support
[Update 10/1/14]: please help with the modest amount they are raising to mount a defense. Napalm Dragon, who is being sued by BMOrg who never registered their trademark in Canada, has asked for help on...
View ArticleHelp Canada
BurnBC, the non-profit collective of (some) Canadian Burners who is being sued by BMOrg for $40,000 for daring to have a legally registered trademark in their own country that they’ve been using for 20...
View ArticleSouth Bhak – Burning Man and South Park S18 Connection *Again*
Bhak Jolilcouer may have a point. He saw a lot of parallels between last week’s South Park Season 18 premiere, Go Fund Yourself, and his situation with a trademark that was in the public domain in...
View ArticleSocial Alchemist Seeks Sherpa for Startup Shenanigans
This year, just before Burning Man, the New York Times published an expose on rich people trying to one-up each other at Burning Man with luxury camps and paid employees. They featured an interview...
View ArticleBurning Man Introduces Censorship [Updates]
Did you know Burning Man has implemented a censorship policy? Me neither…until I fell victim to it this weekend. Does BMOrg really want to get feedback from the community, and listen to our concerns?...
View ArticleBurning Man’s Gift Economy and its Effect on Mainstream Society [Update]
Festpop has an article by Karli Jaenike about how Burning Man is changing the world. I’m re-blogging it here so we can then discuss it. Emphasis ours. re-blogged from FestPop It’s no secret that most...
View ArticleBackstage Flare-Up at SF Decom [Update]
Fire dancers are not all warm and fuzzy. It sounds like some shit went down backstage at last weekend’s officially sanctioned Decompression party in San Francisco – an assault, or nearly one. The Black...
View ArticleTurkey Answers, But Silence On Commodification Scalper Tickets [Poll Added]
BMOrg have published a blog post “How Turnkey Camps Get Placed”. They persist with trying to re-frame the issue with semantics – we prefer Commodification Camps to this Turkey camps idea that BMOrg are...
View ArticleBMOrg Continues to Cover for Commodification Camps
Will Chase has added to the chorus of Commodification Camp justifications we’ve been hearing from BMOrg, with a post saying “what’s all the fuss about? Nothing to see here, move along”: Virgins and...
View ArticleBMOrg Speaks to Address Community Concerns
Will Chase, BMOrg’s Minister of Propaganda, has made a statement in response to the community’s concerns about Commodification Camps. He wants us to know that he’s listening. And he told his bosses the...
View ArticleBURNILEAKS: How Commodification Camps Got Tickets [Update]
Thanks a million to Anonymous Burner for sharing this timely evidence. BMOrg doesn’t want to explain how Commodification Camps got so many tickets to an event that was sold out in February, so it’s...
View ArticleSeth Troxler Speaks Out On Robot Heart Incident
Seth Troxler is about to tour Australia, and he’s given an interview to Henry Johnstone at Pulse Radio. When asked about the infamous Robot Heart incident, he pulls no punches: HJ: The magic of the...
View ArticleArt Versus Money
At the end of last month, BMOrg breathlessly announced all kinds of exciting news. They said: (shhhh, just between you and us …) we’re working on a really really BIG project that will serve to tell the...
View ArticleBMOrg’s Next Response [Updates]
They’re listening. They’ve been listening for months. Their response? Continuing to send their volunteers out online to cop the heat from the Burner community. Now it’s the turn of Caveat Magister....
View ArticleDJ Ass Stunt Goes Viral
Australian DJ Flume, whose real name is Harley Edward Streten, is a platinum selling and Grammy Award-winning artist. He took his name from a Bon Iver song. He has remixed songs from Lorde, Arcade...
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