Jrs V09 I06

JRS VOLUME #9; ISSUE #06

JRSV9:#6:11.23.04

(We don’t want to send you unwanted email; unsubscribe info at the bottom}

It’s been quiet on the JRS front, no? One might take the radio silence here at JRS to mean there is not much to say about the Burning Man world right now, but nothing could be further from the truth. We’re glad to be back, but rest assured that we weren’t on a vacation ? among other things, we joined other members of the senior staff and extended staff for 6 days at an offsite work retreat, rehashing the year, sorting out issues, and gearing up our plans for our future. Each year this retreat is a new source of inspiration, and this year was no exception. Together we envisioned many philosophical and practical ways that we can continue to improve what we all do together in the coming year.

And that ?we? means you, too ? as you may remember, we’re seeking your input on how to reimagine our Town Meeting format from previous years. With only a sliver of our population actually able to participate in the Town Meetings (even when they?re webcasted) we?re hoping you have some good ideas on how we can all communicate effectively and share our ideas to build an ever-better Burning Man. Visit http://burningman.com/news/comm_feedback.html to read up on how you can contribute your ideas!

This week, we’ve also got a nice healthy Black Rock Arts Foundation update, complete with news about funded projects, info on the upcoming grant cycle, and more. (BRAF?s mission promotes interactive, civic-minded art beyond Black Rock City, so read below to find out the latest.) Also, there are more photo links to enjoy, an extension on the ?Beyond Black Rock? Thank You DVD offer from Gone Off Deep, additional info from previous JRS editions, ?lost and found? from Decompression, and the exciting announcement for New York Decompression, and one in London too! Much to be grateful for, so here’s your news.

{{One last quick note: if you sent any emails to us here at Burning Man last week, there?s a chance that our server problems ate it for breakfast. ePlaya experienced some outages, too. Our tech squad burned the midnight oil, and got everything back in order (thanks, guys!) but on behalf of anyone with a burningman.com email address, it might be a good idea for you to ping us if you?ve sent a message and not heard back. Thanks!}}

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====================TABLE OF CONTENTS=======================
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++BRC NEWS++
-LOST! (and helped) AT DECOMPRESSION
-BEYOND BLACK ROCK: EXTENDED SPECIAL ON DVD
-THE CRUCIBLE ? MEMBER REGISTRATION HAS BEGUN
-PHOTOS SHARED AND PHOTOS LONGED FOR?
-SHARIN? STORIES

++BRAF UPDATE AND INFO++
-Aeolian Ride, Intersection Project, Upcoming Grant Cycle, and more!

++PARTICIPATE!++
-CORRECTION TO ?BURNING STORIES IN THE ORAL TRADITION?

++EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS++
-NEW YORK, (yes) NEW YORK DECOMPRESSION!
-LONDON DECOMPRESSION, TOO!

++UNSUB INFO++

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===================BLACK ROCK CITY NEWS======================
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LOST! (and helped) AT DECOMPRESSION

Our Nurse writes: “For any of you folks who happened to be at Decompression, the 5th Annual Heat the Street F(a)ire, on Sunday, October 10th we are looking for a spiral notebook which seems to have gone missing. The notebook in question was at the Black Rock Arts Foundation table, has a blue cover, and graph paper inside. It was the notebook that people had been writing their names and contact information for the mailing list. If you have any information leading to the successful capture of said renegade notebook, please contact Ms. Jessica Bobier at jess(at)blackrockarts(dot)org. If you put your name in the book in order to be added to our mailing list, please fill out your name and contact information on the bottom half of this page: http://www.blackrockarts.org/join.html Thank you!”

AND? this participant sends a note of gratitude anonymously?

?I would like to thank a couple of burners that saved me at the SF Decompression 10/10/04.

Here’s the deal:

I had an ugly confrontation with the person I thought I was dating…turns out everyone but me knew we were “just friends”. Hmph! Indeed. Anyhoo, this left me all but stranded in the city around 12:30 a.m. I mean BART only runs so long. So I went to the main entrance to the event and one of the security guards got a volunteer (which I appreciate since I volunteered at Playa Info at this past year’s burn) to help me flag burners down who were leaving. I found a nice couple of people that were willing to take me to BART but ended up driving me all the way home since we all lived in Berkeley. Since I was in bad shape I can’t remember their names for the life of me. But I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart…thank goodness the community stepped up when others let me down.

I don’t really want to mention my name, etc. but from this description…I hope the people recognize themselves. Much obliged.

Smooches from East Bay!!?

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BEYOND BLACK ROCK: EXTENDED SPECIAL ON DVD

Gone Off Deep sends word that they are extending their special offer on the ?Thank You? special edition DVD of ?Beyond Black Rock? … Burners can get this awesome DVD for only 10 bucks for another 2 weeks or while supplies last. In addition, Purple Productions has matched this offer for their fantastic 2002 film, ?Dust Devils?. Both of these DVD’s can be bought directly from http://www.beyondblackrock.com.

Purple Productions and Gone Off Deep are extending this offer in celebration of their upcoming Purple/G.O.D. Co-production, currently entitled ?The Temple Builder?, a piece documenting all 5 years of David Best’s amazing Temple projects.

(?nother ed. note: Paypal outages last month caused quite a few of you difficulty during your ordering process. Please give ?er a try again ? all seems to be well on that front.)

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THE CRUCIBLE ? MEMBER REGISTRATION HAS BEGUN

Member Registration has begun for winter 2005!

To view and register for classes go to our website: www.thecrucible.org or call 510 444 0919

Open Registration for winter begins November 29th!

Call or visit our website today.

Open Letter to The Crucible Community:

As most of you know, over the last few weeks our regular mailing list (news@thecrucible) has been attacked by a virus that cloaks itself as being from us, The Crucible, and attaches a “zip” file to the email containing a virus. PLEASE DO NOT OPEN ANY THIS FILE OR ANY ATTACHMENTS. We never send attachments to our email list. Please delete the email immediately if you receive one with an attachment.

We sincerely apologize and are trying to fix the problem with the greatest speed. We have shut down this list and will, for the time being, be using a bulk email service to deliver our important messages to you. We have recently launched our Online Registration service on our main website, The Crucible, and will be able to send our updates through this secure server starting in 2005.

We never share your information with anyone — for details, please view our privacy policy.

Thank you so much to so many of our Crucible members for your emails, phone calls and advice. We have responded to some of you individually, but we want to assure everyone that we are aware of this problem and trying very hard to fix it and to never repeat it.

Thanks again and take care,
The Crucible

The Crucible
1260 7th Street
Oakland, CA 94607
v: 510 444 0919
f: 510 444 0918
http://www.thecrucible.org

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PHOTOS SHARED AND PHOTOS LONGED FOR?

More Photos from 2004

http://www.armory.com/~images/?s=bm2004 (John)

Lenny Jones sends this link, with photos by himself and Claudia Rose:
http://lennyjones.net/bmlink.html

Grant sends you: http://www.mckenzieink.ca/burningman2004/index.htm

IF YOU LIKE PHOTOS?here?s a thread on the ePlaya where others are posting their links! http://eplaya.burningman.com/viewtopic.php?t=6397

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PHOTOS SOUGHT:

Diorama Photos desired!
I created the art for one of the Dioramas in the base of the Man’s base this year. Called ‘Black Hole’ it showed the sun being pulled into a blackhole. (see: http://wizzard.com/bm2004/diorama.html) I failed to shoot even a single photo of it in place (!) and would appreciate any photos/video YOU may have captured of the diorama or the activities that went on inside it. Please send them to me at wizzard(at)wizzard(dot)com, and if you also send me permission to display them online. I’ll add your name and photo to the page listed above.

AND:

Russ writes: ?Hi, can you help me find a link to an aerial photo of an angel face which i was part of on the playa this year?….I have tried to find something, but without any luck….thanks for your assistance!? Find him at RssGmbl(at)aol(dot)com .

?

AND?.:

Last time, we posted a search from Bubbleboy for UFO photos in the last JRS?but the contact info was not included. Oops. Here?s the followup post:

?You guys rock! Thanks for posting my call for help. However, there was no email address included, here it is:

Contact EMAIL: meierfabian(at)hotmail(dot)com (Do not send photos here!)
PHOTOS EMAIL: fabian(at)streamingmedialand(dot)com
project page: http://streamingmedialand.com/ufo ?

In case you forgot the project we?re talking about? ?The UFO was an inflatable tent where you could go inside and chill. It was located out in the playa, between the end of the city on 3 o clock and Jadu Beta – the huge pile of bubbles. It was the thingy that would glow in the night in changing colors.?

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SHARIN? STORIES is something we like?

Doug Sr. writes: ?I’m a gramps with a new grandson which my daughter-in-law kept at home for the 2004 burn…..soooo…..my son and his wife said come on pop….go to Burning Man. Well, much to my wife’s chagrin (I have some health concerns) I went and had one of the most fantastic, life changing, open minded, rewarding experiences in my 66 years. We were part, and will continue to part, of the AEZ (ed note: that?s Alternative Energy Zone – http://www.ae-zone.org/) with the camp called “The Doug Out”, Doug Sr. & Jr. I met the most wonderful folks from Seattle, Hawaii, Reno, South Africa, Dallas, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, etc., etc. that shared, laughed, got drunk, partied, etc., etc. My son & I got to help, just a little, build the temple which was so rewarding….we met artists and shared their stories of dedication in creating their art pieces

I’m working on the getting naked, costume wearing, creating art parts of the Burning Man experience and that is something for an old fart like me.

Thank you all for your efforts & dedication year after year in creating this awesome experience.

Respectfully,

Doug, Sr.?

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BRAF UPDATE AND NEWS:

++An Unanticipated Intersection++
Tim Brown, creator of The Intersection Project, and Freddy Hahne, Director, Black Rock Arts Foundation Board of Directors.
http://www.intersectionproject.org

?The Playa rose out of a magnificent Nevada horizon unveiling our home for the next week at the Mind Shaft Society Field Laboratory. We had been placed at Center Camp next to the Black Rock Arts Foundation from which I recently had accepted an invitation to join the board. My first board duty was that I volunteered to keep an eye on the Black Rock Arts Foundation exhibit. The eyeful I was about to receive turned into a serendipity since the Mind Shaft Society is a collaboration of purported anthropologists, archaeologists, astronomers and alchemists.

As the citizens of Black Rock arrived and the City evolved, couches and rugs arrived at the shade structure housing the Foundation’s exhibit. Tim Brown, from Salt Lake City, was one of the intriguing citizens who appeared dumping a pile of technical debris smack dab onto the middle of one of the huge couches, along with a large cabinet television. Making art on the Playa is challenging, and making art out of a twisted strand of wire resembling spaghetti requires genius, which Tim Brown appeared to possess. He not only rose to the call providing an interactive art project for the Black Rock Arts Foundation, he created an interactive video installation using WiFi that shot over the roofs of Black Rock City out into a dome on the Playa hundreds of yards away reciprocating the effort. This is no small task in perfect conditions. He calls it The Intersection Project:

?At Burning Man we created two small living rooms, each centered around a television. The living room at the BRAF camp in center camp was 70?s style, with a large console TV, roller skate decorations and an art deco lamp. The other room, just off the Esplanade was futuristic, a geodesic dome with every object painted silver. The rooms were connected via a wireless video-feed from a small camera on the televisions in each of the rooms. When people sat on the couch in each room, rather than seeing artificially produced lives on their televisions, they saw just another living room with other regular people. A primary goal of the project was to get people to think about how social interaction is so often mediated through our television and the physical design of our spaces. We also wanted to give people the experience of interacting and participating in a situation in which they are normally passive.

The primary objective of the Intersection Project is to provide the tools for the installation of low-cost, dedicated video display walls in public areas and schools around the globe. Intersection installations will provide windows into other cultures, allowing individuals and communities to communicate on a direct, unmediated basis with one another.??

++Aeolian Ride Show Up and Blow Up ? Worldwide++
http://www.aeolian-ride.info (Check out the photos!)

On Saturday, October 9th 2004 Black Rock Arts Grantee Jessica Findley?s AEOLIAN RIDE rolled through San Francisco. Originated in New York City, and slotted for Capetown, South Africa on November 20, 2004. The Aeolian Ride is comprised of 50 riders in rip stop nylon suits, which inflate to silly ethereal shapes — bunnie, drop and bubble, with wind generated by the rider.

We kicked off the ride at the newly renovated Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Here participants rolled up, signed their waivers, and got suited up. Honestly the expression on peoples faces as they ran or rode with the suits for the first time was priceless. Childlike smiles were smearing themselves all across the sun soaked green grass as folks put out their arms for a test flight and sprinted from one flowerbed to the next.

The ride streamed through the park, made its way gracefully through the panhandle and then grouped up into a sort of post-modern peleton before wending its way through the city. Fueled by a Critical Mass-like vitality riders took on hills and traffic with gusto and determination, while confused on-lookers chanted a soon predictable chorus:

?What are you?? ?We?re ART!?
?Who are you?? ?We?re NOTHING!?
?What are you doing?? ?We?re fertilizing the City with Love!?

++Black Rock Arts: In the Know++
http://www.blackrockarts.org

If you are one of those folks who wants to be in the know when it comes to the Black Rock Arts Foundation, please sign up for our electronically generated e-mail announce list. Learn more about what we fund, what is going on around town, and projects down the road. Be a Black Rocker! http://www.blackrockarts.org/mailing_list.html

++Upcoming Grant Cycle++

The next Black Rock Arts Foundation Grant Cycle is all set to open on February 14th 2005. We have posted the application on our website as a list of questions and instructions (in case you are curious). The site will go live on February 14th when we will begin accepting on-line applications until the window closes on March 31st 2005.

++Wanted: Designer/Information Architect and/or Webmaster++

The Black Rock Arts Foundation is looking for a volunteer Designer/Information Architect.

We are also looking for a volunteer Webmaster to help us with site maintenance ? these two positions are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

In either case, the majority of the work would be done remotely, however, it is important to us to have someone who is available to come (physically, tangibly, and face to face) into the Black Rock Arts office as needed. Rumor has it there is a 2003 Original David Best Print in the waiting in the wings.

If you or someone you know would be interested in this project please contact: jess(at)blackrockarts(dot)org or hale(at)blackrockarts(dot)org. Thanks!

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BURNING STORIES IN THE ORAL TRADITION

A correction, again: the email contact for this particular search wasn?t included last time you heard from us. Thus and such, read it again:

?I work backstage for a public radio show, West Coast Live (out of San Francisco) and I am planning on pitching to This American Life audio interviews with Burners on their unique playa experiences/art/community/relationships/etc. Please e-mail me back at Joe(at)bayhunt(dot)org .?

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==================EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS=====================
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Yes, you’ll find this and more at our yearround calendar:
http://www.burningman.com/calendar/yearround/month.php

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NEW YORK, (yes) NEW YORK DECOMPRESSION!

The NYC Burning Man Community invites you to the NYC Decompression 2004
ASTRAL SLIDE – THE DESCENT FROM THE VAULT OF HEAVEN.

WHEN: December 5th 2 PM – 5 AM
WHERE: Spirit New York – 530 West 27th St., NY, NY 10011.
AGES: 2:00PM-8:00 PM – all ages, 8:00 PM – 5:00 AM – 18 and older
TICKETS: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/697
– $10 first 700 tickets
– $20 remaining advance sale tickets
– $30 tickets at the door
– One ticket equals in and out access all day and night
INFO: http://www.nydecom.org/
Dress: playa attire

Experience the radical self-expression of Burning Man’s art, music, and community as New York City and regional artists Decompress, celebrating our return from the desert with a 15-hour art event.

In the daytime, dance to live music and DJs, attend free healing arts workshops, yoga, and pilates classes, and view the art from the Burning Man community and beyond, installed throughout Spirit’s three floors. All ages are welcome, with a special room for children’s activities.

At night, hear live and electronic music in three sound spaces, and see performances including burlesque, hooping and fire spinning. Wander through art installations and video projections, watch the unique fashion of the Burning Man community take to the runway, and participate in activities hosted by Burning Man theme camps. Drink specials served all night (until 4:00 AM).

100% of the net profits from the Astral Slide NYC Decompression 2004 event are being administrated the regional contacts as art grants to artists in NYC three months after completing the Dec. 5th event.

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LONDON DECOMPRESSION, TOO!

The UK Chapter, or at least the SW of England is having a decompression party on the 11th December 2004. After a 2 year wait we have got it together and found a fantastic venue in North East London, close to a tube station.

The plans so far include DJ’s, Films, Hot Tubs, Chillout Room, Massage Room, Minuscule of Atonement, Performance Art, Playa Art, Live Bands,, Food, Drink, Costume Exchange, Photo Studio.

We badly need volunteers for a lot of roles and people with energy and enthusiasm to it all together.

To purchase tickets go to http://www.euroburners.org/decompression/. To volunteer to help contact Bob uk(at)burningman(dot)com

It is going to be a blast.

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{Soundtrack to the JRS: Hank Snow, ?Orange Blossom Special?; Mountain Goats, ?Jenny?; Lemon Jelly, ?Nice Weather for Ducks?.}

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==================ADMIN: ON AND OFF THE JRS====================
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Email the JRS or questions(at)burningman(dot)com any time with your questions or comments. To submit to the newsletter, mail a concise paragraph to jackrabbitspeaks(at)burningman(dot)com by 2 PM PST on Tuesdays. (We don’t post all requests, however.)

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If you are trying to unsub and it doesn’t work, please send us an email and give us as much information as possible. Are you sending from a different address?

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Andie Grace, Actiongrl
Office of the Jack Rabbit
http://www.burningman.com