You might get into this odd little article in SF Weekly on Burning Man and its rather intolerant approach to photojournalism. They're soft on the inside, but prickly on the outside.
Each year, applications from companies seeking to use Burning Man in advertisements for everything from whiskey to clothing are turned down. This year, former Love and Rockets frontman Daniel Ash was refused permission to film a music video at Burning Man.
The festival's lawsuit against Voyeur Video and its pornographic Burning Man tapes is -- in part -- an attempt to police the unauthorized use of its event to sell a product. Because some Burning Man participants enjoy going nude at the event, and Burning Man organizers feel some responsibility to protect them from exploitation, the lawsuit also involves arguments about the right to privacy.
Geoffrey Berkin, the lawyer for James O'Brien and Voyeur Video, rejects the notion that Burning Man can guarantee privacy at an event that more than 20,000 people attend, many of them taking photos or making videotapes for personal use. Nor is his client bound by the fine print on the back of a ticket, asserts Berkin.
I wonder if that might make a Switchboard topic....
Anyway, I heard from some friends who were there this year (Hey Tricks, it was Sweet Dick and Cookie Bastard.) Apparently the weather was great - only one white-out, and no major heat - and they made sure I made the scene. They printed out a life-sized version of this picture of me from a previous Burning Man, holding my forehead and looking sick and miserable, and taped it up to to the back of the port-o-lets under a thought balloon saying, "I am so tired of Burning Man!"
Apparently, people were stopping and taking pictures of themselves next to the picture. And I was burned on Sunday.
So there's something.
They also put up the Coozeum. A museum of coozes, the little thermos things you put on beer cans to keep 'em cool. Big hit. |
Of course!!!
