“Yellow” bikes are considered stolen if they’ve been decorated.
The MOOP data is coming out. And it’s so far, not so good. MOOP was out of control this year. There are reports of piles of bikes being left at the portapotties. Approximately 10% of all the Yellow/Green bikes were painted or modified in some way by Burners wanting to claim them as their personal steed for the week, then dumping them somewhere when done. Another 12% were stolen outright. Painted/modified is the same as stolen, to the people actually providing the bikes. When nearly 1 in 4 of the FREE bikes get stolen, I think it’s fair to say that bike theft is a serious, out of control problem in Black Rock City.
So, it seems, is MOOP.
From burningman.com
This year, for the first time, we’re releasing the map of abandoned moop.
We’re not posting details of what was found in each spot. If you are a theme camp, your Placement representative may have more detailed information for you in a few months (when the entire Moop Map is finalized). Please be patient: these are simply the results of our very first sweep through the city, and we have much more work to do before we can pass detailed information along.
So what does each of the red X’s represent? It could be garbage bags. Could be a greywater jug, a couch, a tent or just the tent stakes. Or it could be something worse. The X’s don’t represent the size or impact of the abandoned moop—just its location.
Everyone’s favorite Sherpa Safari camp, Burning Man Project Director Jim Tananbaum’s Caravancicle, left lots of MOOP. The 120 guests who paid upwards of $13,000 to rely on someone else to leave no trace for them, were sadly let down. It seems it’s hard to hire good slaves help to stay longer in the desert to clean up after you – or find room in your trucks, containers, and private jets to remove the mess you made.
Caravancicle, The Lost Hotel
Between them and their neighbors Lost Hotel, who built both camps, they got 6 red X’s. This is just for abandonment – further MOOP scores will come. The preliminary indications, though, are not good. Once the trash is moved, we’ll see what damage has been done underneath.
However, they were far from the worst Plug-N-Play. One of the more low-rent Hotels did some serious damage, as well as sullying the good name of Gypsies.
Just how many of these “pay for someone else to pack up” camps are there? How many more do there have to be, before BMOrg says “you know what, it’s hard enough to survive in the desert, you’re all doing great at radical self reliance, we’ve found some rich Billionaire Burners to sponsor us having a daily trash pickup service”. I mean, this is not just an issue for the workload of the volunteers who have to pick this up. It’s environmental pollution, and potentially hazardous. What point are we trying to prove?
If there were a trash pickup, we could create a mountain at the end – and measure that. And then recycle/incinerate the fuck out of it. Let algae devour it. Radically innovate on what we can do with all the trash that a couple of weeks’ worth of Burning Man makes on the Playa, now that 70,000 people live in Black Rock City. Burning Man is about the size of the Mission and Marina neighborhoods of San Francisco, combined. Let’s face it, the event really is a city now, for longer than a week. It’s not just a long weekend, like when they began. It needs trash service.
We could use this Trash Mountain image to educate Burners to bring less packaging, and create less trash out there.
The Playa is precious. Right now, it only takes a few hundred idiots to destroy the environment for everybody – and display behavior that others will mimic and follow.
DPW reports that Gypsy Flower Power International were the worst MOOPers in history, leaving a mountain of trash 4 feet high:
This pile of trash, not all of it bagged, is at least four feet high.
Oil stain, dirty mattress, broken furniture and jugs of ???
This evap pond was apparently just a tarp with a berm around it, causing greywater to soak directly into the playa.
BMOrg described the carnage:
Campers at Gypsy Flower Power International (a theme camp at 4:20 & Haifa) seem to have found themselves in an extraordinarily moopy situation, when their planned infrastructure apparently failed. As a result, the camp abandoned a 4-foot-high “mountain” of trash; a broken shade structure; a rolled-up tent; a dirty mattress; burn barrels full of ash; lumber; big oil and greywater stains; jugs of mystery fluids; and an array of smaller items.
It may be the worst impact we’ve ever seen a camp leave on the playa.
We don’t know why or how this situation got so out of control. So, we’re asking: What happened? Why did Gypsy Flower Power abandon its moop on this scale?
They were lazy with the clean-up at 4:20? Hmmmm….
Burners weighed in on social media.
A spokesperson for Gypsy Flower Power, Dancing Beaver, apologized and fingered the culprit. Thankfully, the camp weren’t responsible for their MOOP. The fault lay somewhere between the guy who took their money, and a paid clean-up crew which turned out to be a mirage:
So I’m from the Gypsy Flower Power camp. 420 and H. Let me start by saying we are deeply sorry for the shortcomings of our camp this year. Please understand our camp was scammed by one leader that embezzled money and made empty promises, including a clean up crew. Please understand the rest of us are responsible loving human beings that have been victimized by this dude. We are forming a new camp and absolutely kicking this dude out of our camp. We love you all and we are so sorry for his actions. They do not represent our camp as a whole.
Moopsie Daisy, also known as “Journey”, blamed the whole caper on a Nutter named Moonshine:
Dear Resto Team and Burner community,
I camped with Gypsy Flower Power until I was kicked out of their camp, thankfully, on Thursday. The head of the camp, a man from Hawaii named Jonathan Nutter, who goes by the name Moon Shine, scammed everyone in the camp for tens of thousands of dollars. He did this by creating a FB page for the camp, and inviting over 250 people from around the world to pay aprox. $250 a pop (some paid less). Dues were to cover tents, bikes, food, water, showers, shade, a stage and bar, waste management, etc. This was primarily meant to meet the needs of international travelers who stepped off the plane in reno with only their luggage. The whole thing was a scam. Jonathan Nutter ripped off these people, as he provided none of the above. In fact, he never even showed up at the camp until Thursday. I was personally kicked out of the camp at this point, as I was the only person to publicly confront him on this issue. He ripped off the entire Nordic Regional crew, as well as everyone else. As a result, I was sheltering “homeless” people in my tent, and my bike got stolen in my own camp since people felt entitled to bikes which they paid for. i organized a recycling and composting system for the camp, using my own personal bins, since there were none for the camp. I also mooped the camp CONSTANTLY, to no avail, and when Moon Shine got in my face after finally showing up, his words to me were, “All you ever do is pick up trash because you are a fucking piece of trash. Get the fuck out or I’m kicking your ass and calling the Rangers.” Well, he did call the rangers, who escorted me out of the camp. But not before I filed a report of harassment and theft. DPW, please see the Ranger report log for more info. I also did one last Moop sweep before I left the camp on Thursday, in my attempt to leave as gracefully as possible.
Not only did Moon Shine get away with this, but he has done this at least three times before, including last year (2013).I know this from talking to people on the playa.
The story gets worse than that too, because he promised multiple people tickets which were to be held at will call, and had said people pay pal him the money. Only when they arrived from Europe, there were no tickets.
I am writing this from my phone and apologize for any errors in spelling and organization. I would like to write up a more formal report to document Moon Shine’ss behavior and get testimony from other witnessness and victims of abuse, in order to prevent such abuses from occurring in the future.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.
Sincerely,
Journey aka Moopsie Daisy.
https://www.facebook.com/jonnymoonshine12
M: If you or someone you know can testify and validate the claims of fraud by the organizer of Gypsy Flower Power International camp, definitely leave a comment at the link or message the author. If substantiated, he could be liable for wire fraud, mail fraud, and littering on federal land, and at the very least the word will get out about shading dealings with this camp.
D: The two mayors are claiming he said he said. One says the other stole the money and the other is saying the other stole the money. What a god damn cluster fuck
L: I was in this camp. We’ve reported Jonathan Nutter AKA Moon Shine to all the proper authorities. It was a serious negative side to my first burn but there was also a good amount of perseverance too. At the burn, love dominated. But after the burn the cuts still run deep and people are pointing fingers everywhere (specifically Moon Shine is trying to find any scapegoat possible).
I got scammed out of a whopping $25 (I’m not crying about it). But some of my campmates paid this dude for tents, bikes, sleeping gear, and an art car that never showed up. In an “expense report” to the FB group he even outlined how he used the money for his own hotel rooms and drugs. Needless to say I’m happy EVERYONE will know about this fraud. He can no longer buy a BM ticket in his name but that doesn’t stop someone else from giving him theirs. Harumph.
Please send your good thoughts to the gypsies if you care to. Gypsies got gypped in a big way and we’re still dealing with it. No excuse for MOOP left behind though so I am sorry that we let the BM community down. It was one of many principles violated during our experience.
F: I camped with them a couple years ago. Definitely a similar story… Moonshine invited everyone under the sun, had a lot of big ideas about art cars, suspension rigs, shade structures, etc., but didn’t organize or prepare for any of it, and still charged dues (not much, but some). Once everyone was actually there it was basically up to any veterans who had their shit together to try and pull things back in order, but you can only care so much about a random, rag tag group of people who clearly didn’t prepare or follow the burning man principles.
At burningman.com, there was also outrage:
G: I helped one of the Will-Call orphans (Jenny) get a message (Monday) to Moonshine, who did come up with at least two tickets. As of Tuesday, he was still AWOL from his own camp and scathingly denounced by numerous swindled members. He eventually showed up with a trailer full of “stuff”, but not what was contracted. Since he specifically targeted international Burners arriving by air and the Bus, he HAD TO have known there would be extra “stuff” to haul out. He apparently hadn’t the capacity or the will to do so. When I did meet Moonshine, he was friendly and mildly apologetic, but seemed to think the “stuff” he’d brought fulfilled his obligations. Federal law applies at BRC and it would appear he may be chargeable for wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy, witness retaliation, AND littering.
R: I visit the MOOP Masters this year on Wednesday and as I arrived I was met by a nice guy from Germany who was literally begging for rice. He said they were told there were meals, he hadn’t eaten for a day and asked, how can I find food. I was shocked. I told the nice chap that you can find food but you need to do you share. Find camps needing dishes washed, check out farmers market, go to volunteer sign up and find some work. I didn’t say The Playa Provides, I just said, there are ways to make things work, but you’ll need to use some common sense and get some help. But man, what a real downer. Most of these folks came with the best intentions and they were scammed by a con artist. Darn shame, these were good people who good literally robbed by a very bad situation.
C: Hi, I was part of a group of about 30 virgins from London, we were all ripped off by this con artist, we payed him thousands and got nothing in return, luckily we had tickets, water and shelter unlike some of the other groups in the camp, upon realising that we had been duped we set our Rv’s up on the outskirts of the camp and had no further involvement. I speak for all of us when I say that we feel ashamed to be associated with this mess and that we all followed the principles and left no trace. There were alot unsurprisingly pissed off people in this camp and it’s unfortunate that they decided to protest in this fashion but in a way good that this scumbag has been brought to light, I just hope that he is banned from this event in future. It tarnished what was a memorable and beautiful experience for us
A: The truck, which was rented by a friend since moonshine didn’t show with our money, was supposed to carry all this moop.
Since the truck seems to have vanished …
This guy also took money from camp fees to pay his flight tickets, which is not acceptable.
I feel very sorry that all this happened.
Best quote from Moonshine “i left your early arrival pass under a rock near the gate”.
M: I was originally part of the camp, arriving late Tuesday night. The camp was in big disarray and items I had paid camp dues for to be there were not. A friend who was supposed to stay in the camp together with me had already decided to move elsewhere, I followed the next day. For the size of the camp, very little organization was there. I never got to meet the organizer, called Moon Shine (first name Johnny?), or the person I had sent my camp fees to (Tara Reynolds). I checked in one more day (Thursday), and a few things (but not all) that were supposed to be part of the camp had been built up or provided. All in all it was a camp with a large number of people, most of which seemed rather young and internationals, which would naturally not have the most resources, as they have to fly into the country. I highly recommend not letting the organizers of the camp step up in the future to have another camp.
MT: I’m not going to comment on the pile of trash left – pictures tell it all. However can add a bit to the history… 3 of us signed up to camp with Gypsy Flower Power, were supposed to get early passes to build – usual stuff, you know. Everything seemed to go pretty well in the beginning of summer. I camped with small & large camps before and once the number of signed up burners went over 200, the whole thing started to look a bit suspicious – I do have an idea of how much effort, time and $ it takes to run something of that scale. Together with promised bikes, tents, shades, water, food and you name it, the fishy smell was getting persistent… Long story short – for some unexplained reason MoonShine couldn’t email early passes, said he would give them out at his friends farm few miles out of Reno. That, of course, never happened – been there 3 times, he never showed up. Next thing he said he was going to leave them under some rock by BM entrance sign. By that time (Friday 22nd) none of ~30 pple waiting for him at the farm believed that crap. Quite a few folks haven’t had the tickets, counting on MoonShine to deliver them as promised. Relatively large number were virgins with pretty vague idea of what was awaiting them on the playa and how to get ready for it. By late Friday it was clear that the camp was a total no-go as projected and 3 of us ended up camping elsewhere. The whole thing turned out to be a total shame, since it pretty much ruined the first impression of BM for so many people who came from 13 or so countries. Quite a few of them are trying to get their $ back via PayPal – not sure it will work out though. As for MoonShine – this crook has to be banned forever – again, the procedure on that is still has to be figured out. And, of course, PnP camps should be avoided – those, who doubt it are welcome to sign up for the next MoonShine venture next year and trust him on every promise.
D got the scoop from the Mooping Moon Man of the moment:
Blame it on the French!
It wasn’t just the French, of course. It was the Gayte people who wouldn’t let them back in, and the mysterious “king” of the camp who was really the one who did all the bad things and stole all the money, and the guy who didn’t show up with the rental truck, and the Burners who left the MOOP and weren’t Self Reliant. In other words, anyone but Moonshine.
Was this a genuine case of mistaken identity, a heroic Burner unjustly getting the sole blame for the actions of many others? Or a hastily concocted excuse? You be the judge:
Moonshine seems to be taking his behavior lessons from BMOrg. He wants to follow up his Safari camping #fail and MOOP violations, with a good ‘ole law suit:
I will meet you in court Journey i have receipts and proof of all money spent and money donated to camp via pay pal lol your a liar just like how you told entire camp I made and printed out the 30 early arrival passes I had in my hand to hand out to people in Reno lol and how you said we weren’t a registered theme camp and our group page was fake and how you said I wasn’t at burning man lol what happened to those lies? Oh they all are documented truth on my part just like every lie you spew I will prove you’re lying. that’s why rangers kicked you out and got back all the peoples items you aquired somehow while snooping around ppls private areas at camp lol I was going to let this slandering all slide and your little camp mutiny go because I’m above petty ppl like you but now I will bring legal actions against you and the other guilty party. Lol 125 ppl paid 25-75 dollars in camp donations some paid 50 for us to get them a bike or tent and deliver it and we did that as in buying a bike for 25-50 bucks them letting them use on playa lol your so far off base and your lies created chaos and who knows how so many bikes got stolen on playa but instead if helping me organize you chose to gather ppl and try to form a mutiny and when you approached my wife at camp lol not knowing she’s my wife and my friends and spewed your venom they caught you lying and that’s when you were removed from camp. Your violent, unstable nature in this comment if yours shows your true colors good job… I may not be the best leader but I tried and did what I said id do and u really care and try to make a communal camp of participators and did nothing to harm anything
Oanamama gives us a report from inside the camp:
This was my first year at Burning Man, and let me just say that it was definitely an initiation for me. I was one of the campers with Gypsy Flower Power and a lot of us are really disappointed, embarrassed and angry at how things turned out. First off, I’m glad that even though I was a newbie, I came completely prepared and self-reliant. If I had to rely on any of those wobbly shade structures, dirty showers, and even filthier kitchen, I’d have been SOL for sure.
So, here’s the lowdown:
I joined the Gypsy camp in January because they seemed to be the most active on Facebook at the time. The camp looked really interesting: 11 countries, performances, a caterpillar-shaped mutant vehicle, partnerships with other camps (the highly organized Nordic Crew, for one). And TONS of people (which, I discovered later is a really BAD idea because I realized by week’s end that I hadn’t even MET most of my campmates. I basically hung around with the 20 of us that arrived first on the Playa for set-up). With a rumored count of 188 members, how does one even monitor who belongs in the camp in the first place? I’m sure there were many interlopers just taking up space and making a mess. But I must say, before I continue, that I met a lot of really great people and hope to reconnect next year under a different, and much more organized camp – the first priority being that we all KNOW each other.
OK, so here goes:
BEER CANS – I’m a tad OCD, so I constantly putz around picking up trash because I hate when things are out of place. But after 4-5 days of picking up other people’s empty beer cans, some of them half-full and HOT with cigarette butts inside of them, I felt like I was waging a losing battle. The fact that I dislike the smell of beer made this task even more challenging, and I really started to resent it – even though I’d still do an occasional sweep if things got too messy. I had found out later in the week at Center Camp that you could donate your camp’s beer cans at the recycling center. So I came back to Camp on the last day and started crushing cans to take them back to the recycling center. After about 70 cans, I just gave up, because so many of them were filled with cigarette butts and roaches.
TRASH – Some of the people at our camp were so strung out that all they did was lie around in the shade, smoke, toke, drink and eat – and leave their trash EVERYWHERE. People, there were TWO GIANT BURN BARRELS in the middle of the camp. You couldn’t walk 5 steps and throw your butts, cardboard and paper in there instead of on the FLOOR?
By week’s end, what was once organized trash in the kitchen that had been initially separated into cans, bottles and food became just big black bags of “whatever”. There were some people that took over this trash-separating task later on in the day, and I’m not sure how far they got. I’m sure they became overwhelmed like me with the beer can situation. And the smell? I gag just thinking about it now.
KITCHEN – Well, I was looking forward to having an occasional group dinner, but that never seemed to happen, at least to my knowledge. My gift for my campmates was offering massage (I did an average of 4 per day, at my choice). So whenever there was a big meal being cooked, I was unaware (and usually in session), and by the time I’d come up for air, there’d be nothing left for me. At first, this bothered me a little, but after a few days, I was GLAD I brought all of my own food, because the kitchen became unbearably filthy. Other people would cook, then leave dirty dishes in the sink, and worse – leave perishable food lying out in the sun for hours. Even a couple of people who volunteered to cook backed away towards the end of the week because they couldn’t deal with the unsanitary conditions.
GREY WATER – As far as I could see, there really wasn’t an evaporation pond – all we had were empty water containers that we dumped our gray water into. These were next to – of all things – the SHOWERS. I think in the picture, that tarp was from the bottom of the “showers”, actually. Those were kind of scary – I stuck to my baby wipes and did just fine until I got to Reno for a real shower.
LEADERSHIP – The visionary for our camp over-promised and under-delivered, leaving a lot of not-so-radically-self-reliant campers SOL. The 2nd-in-command was left to basically put out fires and handle crises, but only one man can do so much. A few stepped in to help, but really? The situation was just so HUGE that it was almost impossible to manage.
I’m keeping my new Burner friends, and we’re moving along to create a better situation next year. One where people have a certain level of maturity and personal responsibility, and take the 10 Principles seriously.
After this “Trial By Fire”, I’m certain next year will be easier! 30 people MAX.
Contre was first in, and one of the first out, catching Burner Express at noon Monday with the maximum allowed 2 trash bags:
the start of the camp was a mess. I came from reno with burner express bus on saturday with the “only” real early entry pass, but this was not from Moon shine. I don’t know where he used the about 40 early entry passes as the team who was waiting on a farm in reno with rv and cars did not get these. Therefore i was the first and only one on the camp with the exception of the nordic core team which are located closed in one corner. I was surprised that on this huge area.. really no one was preparing anything or was already there. The team from the farm came sunday afternoon. We tried to post in facebook that there will be no chance that the promised “hostel”, “food” and “water” is in the camp and that everyone should take care and responsible for themselves to have this available before entering BRC, thanks to BMIR, who allowed me using their internet connection.
I already expected that the exodus of the team will end up in a mess but i did have a bus ticket and a fix date on monday noon and packed my 2 burner express bus trash bags for my trash und left the playa with a really bad feeling that nothing will work.
Very sad to read this now but when i left there was about 100 people still there.
We have seen that a lot of virgin burners just pit there moop and trash sacks in the kitchen area and leaving playa, expecting that others will take care on their shit. Clearly i guess these virgin burners might know that this is not okay but i guess they were angry about “no shade, water, food, bicycle” that they decided to act like this i would assume. For sure the last one left the area is now blamed but it is not this small team who might have gone with a much more worse feeling as this was just the end of a long journey that starts with scamming of several hundred people, no responsibility at all and i guess moon left also playa on sunday or monday. Moon and Tara (his paypal account managerin) are the source and “yes” the people in the camp failed to organize this themselfes. I personally have seen this as a social experiment but it is sad to see that it fails in such a way.
Moonshine’s defense to all this? Since he wasn’t running a plug-n-play, his guests should have been more Radically Self Reliant.
the truth will come out in the court of law and the guilty parties will pay for slandering and bullying me and the theft of camp property unless it’s returned. I did nothing wrong accept trust a cpl ppl and try to run a communal camp accepting donations for only 25-75 bucks for fuel, firewood, etcetc and loaning bikes to ppl for 50 bucks. some ppl paid zero money as they brought supplies instead of donating cash. Most ppl had a great time others chose to believe lies that I wasn’t even a burner and didn’t go to bman then when I showed up the lies of me going to Mexico with tens of thousands of dollars didn’t make sense lol. so then they said i had no ea passes and when I presented them she said I made them and printed them out lol. then another guy said I sold ea passes lol all lies to sabotage a camp, pull a mutiny to have power of being the leader and I suppose try to convince my friends to join them in a new camp next year. Now after wanting the leader title they blame the moop on me too lol. I have proof and receipts and those who know the real story and witnessed rangers escorting one of the guilty ppl from camp all believe me and my lawyer is laughing at them. What’s sad and disappointing is we had a great camp and a lot of us spent alot of time, hard work and money and a cpl bad apples created chaos but truth always prevails
about an hour ago · Edited · Like
Moon Shine: Pending legal actions against those ppl I remained silent and have yet to reveal screen shots, receipts and delivery verification proof of all items I bought with camp donations
about an hour ago · Like
Moon Shine: I bought 2 tickets from a guy in camp who resold them to the ppl spreading the lies. I have pay pal receipt proof and his texts…. He also gifted me a ticket and sold it also I have proof. I had no ticket so I couldn’t arrive until wed night after finding and buying a ticket
about an hour ago · Edited · Like
Moon Shine: How the hell could 25-75 bucks be enough money to pay for someone’s food, water and shelter lol I told all bring own food and water and said we cook food daily when and if we want too but do not rely on us. All this stuff is in posts from months ago on our group page. I bought 2 enclosed canopies via amazon and they were delivered to my so called friends house along with countless other shade materials and supplies and I was told they didn’t arrive . Those canopies were for shelter for 20 or more ppl . So when those were stolen I went and bought tents for the people who were to sleep in the canopies and those tents went unused. I made 3 trips to Reno and back trying to replenish stolen supplies and spent way over any amount of camp donations. I am a victim and some of the people are victims and now some want me to give them donations back and that’s what I was doing until all this….. Now I’m seeking legal actions
about an hour ago · Like
Moon Shine: How can one person be to blame for that pile of moop? What part of radical self reliance and inclusion does not bringing own food, water and shelter play? Yes I offered to bring tents for about 10 ppl and I did. We had a 30ft Uhaul truck to use for shelter after the 10×30 enclosed canopies disappeared but my so called friend chose to sleep in it as his own tent and tell people that I didn’t provide them shelter and to go get fucked. Why didn’t these ppl get to sleep in in the Uhaul on mattresses ? Where’s the 2 canopies? Those are the real questions to be answered! Also myself and friends cooked all kinds of food and shared drinks etcetc
about an hour ago · Like
Moon Shine: The 30 French ppl all pissed off left 100 bags of garbage and junk and a note saying they did it and I guess surrounding ppl piled on top of it after we left with one load of garbage bags. I paid some people to haul bags out others volunteered and I was told the Uhaul was taking the rest out
about an hour ago · Like
30 French people now? He found another 10 from somewhere to blame. “I was told” is always a great excuse at Burning Man.
Oh dear. It sounds like yet another story of a plug-n-play gone wrong. Radical self reliance being confused with Radical Someone Else Reliance. I wonder how many of the 188-250 campers from all around the world were Virgins.
With all the commercialization going on there everywhere these days, more things like this are probably going to happen in the future. For every Burner who reads this story and thinks “tsk tsk, MOOP”, there’s some scam artist looking at the goldmine of money making opportunities presented by the city: from promotional videos to ticket scalping to bike theft to selling fake timeshares to prototyping new technologies. If you don’t mind working for a living, there’s honest money on offer for a hard day’s work as a Sherpa or a Mistress of Merriment.
BMOrg have never told us that everyone at Burning Man is good. Their first ever theme was Good vs Evil. Their second theme was Helco, about an Evil Corporation. Evil is there, you better believe it. And so are scam artists, and petty criminals.
How can a place that bans commerce and consumerism, have a Department of Consumer Affairs?
Burner: “I got ripped off in a transaction!”
BMOrg: “But that’s impossible, there are no transactions allowed here!”
And who gets to clean it up? DPW volunteers, that’s who.
[Update 9/20/14 11:22am]
D has updated us with some more investigative reporting, with the man himself Moonshine the MOOPer:
While someone does have to take responsibility for the camp leaving a 4-foot high garabage dump behind them, it seems like 250 people could’ve done a better job with taking their trash with them. It also seems like someone out of such a large camp could’ve bit the bullet and rented a fucking truck to get the mess out of there.
The timing of this story is certainly convenient for BMOrg. A camp has been singled out as an example of the worst of the worst of MOOPers. This is unprecedented. The “Abandonment” map has been released before the MOOP map. This is also unprecedented. A Burning Man Director’s camp, Caravncicle/Lost Oasis, has been quite controversial over the last couple of weeks. They scored 6 red X’s for the city block they had dedicated to them. Perhaps BMOrg hope that diverting the attention onto Gypsy Flower Power, a camp with a “perfect scape goat”, will take some of the Burner community’s attention away from the Commodification happening at the very core of their event.
One thing I know for sure – Caravancicle and Gypsy Flower Power, were far from the first, or only plug-n-play camps that treated the Playa like crap, and the Tin Principles like loose definitions full of loopholes. This is going on everywhere now, and affects more than just a few hundred people, as some snarky commenters have suggested. Banning AirBnB from Burning Man, ironically or otherwise, would be a good step that BMOrg could take. They would acknowledge that this is truly a problem they desire to solve, and not a new opportunity they desire to commercially exploit. Somehow, I don’t imagine that is going to happen any time soon, since 2 of Burning Man’s directors are really working for AirBnB.
[Update 9/20/14 1:26pm] A comment from Facebook, from Burner Pasha:
I would just like to express some thoughts regarding the MOOP left behind by Gypsy Flower Power and the conversations that followed.
Just in general – The mutant vehicles, the art, the music, the workshops, the temple, the man, the burns are all amazing visual, emotional and spiritual stimuli. But at the core of it all, what makes Burning Man function as its own society with its own culture and customs, are the 10 principles. Without those principles and our unwavering commitment to upholding them, Black Rock City is simply an empty desert. It’s not easy. We are all conditioned to live a certain way, follow certain rules, value certain ideals for decades.. and then we come to this crazy place where our way of life is completely turned upside down and everything we were raised to believe and do is challenged. We are challenged at our core. All in our own unique ways.
To camp Gypsy Flower Power – I love you. I truly hope that every single one of you was able to move past the unfortunate scamming incident and have a life-changing experience on the playa. However, there is no excuse for what your camp was responsible for. What you were responsible for. I really hope that you take that to heart and make an effort to be more aware of the consequences that all your actions (or inactions) have on others in life, on the playa and in the default. Whether you were the one that used and left the dirty mattress behind or spilled oil and threw your garbage bag on top of the growing pile or if you simply stood by and watched or decided to ignore the issue since day one. Nobody from your camp stepped up and took charge of the mess. Nobody cared enough or was brave enough to make a commitment to arguably one of the most important principles. Please take this experience and work twice as hard at your next camp to make sure this doesn’t happen again on your watch. And I promise to do the same. We can all learn from this.
To Moonshine – I hope you find peace in your life.
To the ones that will troll this post – I love you too. Keep up the good work
It’s unfortunate to think that this physical manifestation of a broken principle can possibly be a litmus test for the state of the other 9. I hope we can all work together and keep the ethos of Burning Man alive and strong for years to come. Moar hugs!
[Update 9/20/14 2:25pm]
Some more of Moonshine’s own words:
This Moonshine (Mookshine) is at it again this year. From the ‘Burning Man Virgins & Veterans-No Snark/Trolling & No Ticket Sales/Begging’ Facebook group: pinned post: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1173209246053005/permalink/9171246726249177
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I was contacted by Moonshine last January out of the blue with a request that I join his camp. I had never met him and was unsure how/why he selected me for this invite. Since my previous camp was taking a year off I told him I would consider it and joined the Facebook groups/events for GFP (of which he created like 8 of them or so). Over the next few months I read his posts about all the things he was gonna do with the camp and it sounded cool.
I held back fully committing to camp with GFP because I was keeping my options open and waiting to see where friends would camp. By July I committed to camp with a different camp because I was a fan of the group behind the camp and had many people I have camped with previously in the camp. I still stayed on the GFP groups just because I like to be connected to other camps that I might potentially visit or go help out at. I talked with Moonshine several times via Facebook and there were a few red flags that popped up towards the time things really started getting “organized” for the camp.
First and foremost was Moonshine’s inability to write coherently. It may be elitist of me to judge someone based on their ability to compose a sentence but it bothered me that someone who wanted to organize a seemingly large scale camp with many moving parts who wrote like a barely literate tween.
The next red flag was when he started asking for contributions for the camp via the use of greendot moneypacks. For those who do not know what those are, they are basically scratch off cards that you add money to and give the scratch off number to the recipient and they collect the money. It is a popular method for scam artists and seems to have pinnacled western union as the scam medium of choice because it leaves absolutely no recourse for the buyer of the card if the recipient doesn’t provide whatever goods or service you are purchasing.
When i asked why he doesn’t just accept paypal like most camps do, he was evasive as to his reasons for not wanting to use it. Another red flag since paypal has recourse if the goods/services are not provided/rendered. Another red flag was the services he was claiming the camp would provide, things which changed constantly. He talked of a hostel where there would be a large shade structure with cots for people who wanted to pay 25$ could sleep. This seemed odd because why would anyone just want a cot to sleep in? No place to store your gear, no privacy, and no protection from the elements? That’s fucking stupid. And the dues were a base of 75$ and piecemeal additions depending on what you wanted provided (bike, tent, cot, etc), as well as a list of supplies you need to bring to contribute to the camp, which seemed excessively complicated.
Yet another red flag was his constant tally of those who have paid for what that he would post in the group. I saw his accounting for over 100 people’s worth of payments, many of them paying hundreds of dollars. This just seemed off because you’re talking about getting supplies for a 100 people but no real discussion of logistics for how that would happen.
Final red flag was when he asked me, a person he has never met in real life, to bring “party favors” to pay for my camp dues. This, in addition to his open discussion of all the drugs that was going to be at the camp on the Facebook group, was what made me laugh and disregard the camp as an option. On top of the scammy vibe, who wants to stay at a camp that is totally lacking in comprehension on the need for discretion in matters such as that? Might as well paint a big red arrow in front of the camp saying “DRUGS ARE HERE!” to make LEO’s jobs easier.
I never ended up making it over to 4:20 and H to see the camp so I was unaware of the clusterfuck that befell the camp. However I did read some of the flame war that started on the Facebook group when I was eating at the commissary and had access to wifi on Tuesday during the event. I also met some women from Australia on the Megabus from Reno to San Francisco who had camped there and heard the horror stories. I ended up leaving all the groups on Facebook so I never really followed anything beyond that but this looks like it ended up as a ridiculous farce and should serve as a warning to anyone who would rely on someone else to provide all the things they need for the burn.
Thanks ND. That green dot thing just takes the cake, amazed people fell for it.
10% of the Yellow Bikes may have been taken because word on the Playa was to take as many bikes home as you could if possible, Yellow Bikes included. They may be discontinuing the program.
I personally think they should discontinue Yellow Bikes. Too many abuses like people hiding them. They start service as cheap cruisers unfit for the job and deteriorate rapidly under the near constant off-road use. There is no accountability when one falls apart and injures someone which happened to a camp mate. It nearly ended her burn and kept her in camp most of the week recovering. Yellow Bikes teaches “just grab a bike” which can’t be helping the theft problem. People need to bring or rent a bike and take it off Playa after the week. End Yellow Bikes.
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Anyone here get ripped off by Jonathan Nutter aka Moon Shine and Tara Reynolds camp Gypsy Flower Power? Do you need any evidence in dealing with paypal, or preferably your credit card company? If so, here’s an amusing image that juxtaposes their promises on the right with moon shine’s excuses on the left. In those excuses, he explains that he spent the camp money on his own ticket, airfare, rental, and drugs.
http://tinypic.com/r/zj8p4n/8
that’s funny. “$500 on weed and shrooms and my friend jenny”, that’s a new one…Jenny Craig?
Yay a new suite of insults, descriptors and in jokes:
Woah – don’t Johnny Moon Shine It!
How moopy?
It was seriously Gypsy Flower Power GFP moopy
Good thing too Krug was so 2012
lol
Urban elite that can’t figure out the logistics of providing the transportation to get their shit out of the desert. What a shock. If there are ten Priuses stuffed full of camping provisions and party supplies, it’s probably going to take a big old V8 full size truck to haul out the trash.
You can reduce the amount of trash you produce DRASTICALLY by eliminating excess packaging when you’re packing. I don’t know how people produce that much trash. Especially when Recycle Camp will take all your dang cans.
Good ol’ Johnny Moonshine! I ran a registered theme camp, Great Balls of Fire, for five years on the playa, and in 2012 I suddenly found myself with 11 extra tickets that were sitting on my credit card (loooong story involving our fire conclave team, Playa del Fuego, that didn’t get accepted to perform for the first time in at least 8 years).
When I advertised the tickets (at face value, of course) Johnny contacted me saying he needed several for camp members. This was August 10th and I was sweating bullets to get them sold (STEP had just closed and then BMOrg released an extra 1000 tickets, IIRC). Johnny requested three, we had a long string of FB communications including shipping quotes, PayPal requirements to satisfy sellers protection, etc. and he told me he would be buying them. Five days later (10 days before BM started) he was still stringing me along with promises, and then he simply stopped replying to my messages.
(Luckily, after selling several at- and a couple tickets below face value, a week before BM a local burner angel swooped in, bought my remaining four tickets and donated them to a Nevada arts charity for a tax break she desperately needed.)
One of the tickets I had (not of the three Johnny promised to buy) I sold to Vince (3rd commenter). After BM he related to me what a mess up Johnny’s camp was, that promises weren’t kept, infrastructure that campers had paid for never materialized and so forth.
The next year on the DC Burners FB page, I saw Johnny posting messages to join his camp, Gypsy Flower Power. Because I love my peeps, I posted warnings about alleged false promises and to proceed with caution. I visited the Gypsy Flower Power FB page and noticed that several photos of supposed “past camps” were complete misrepresentations of what could be found at GFP, including one photo of Alex Gray’s camp, photos of other camp’s schwag (clearly not GFP because of identifiable logos), etc. When I called him out on it, he gave implausible responses, trying to cover his obvious gaffes.
I found out about this article from one of the former DC regional contacts, who remembered my posts on DC Burners.
http://www.gofundme.com/igm38
for $100 you get a creepy massage.
Tragedy of the commons. Oh, and the drama level rises in direct proportion to the population. Easiest way to do a camp: Everyone is responsible for their own experience. Maybe a common shower and gray water disposal (disposal which is provided as a service, for a fee, by the company that services the pots) and maybe some shade and beyond that everyone is responsible for their own shit.
Simple statistics says that as the population rises, the chances of seeing more people like this at the event rises.
I’d bet money that Moon Shine sold the Gypsy Flower Power EA passes to folks who wanted to come early to party or skip the line. lol
“It was the Gayte people who wouldn’t let them back in”—from the article/blog above….Um…I call Bullshit x 10. The event was over Tuesday, not Thursday, so if Moonshine/leadership hadn’t taken care of moop prior to then, let alone know the guidelines/rules including the dates of the actual event, then fuck off. Don’t blame the Org, Gayte, he said/she said, international newbees, etc…own up to the fact this was a colossal fuck up for all involved.
Sidenote: In our camp of 13, we had 10 newbees, 4 of whom were from Italy: Hands UP for the win! All ten newbees were well versed with the 1st timer’s guide, LNT & the 10 principles. We all de-mooped like crazy, well beyond our tiny camp’s boundaries, and still ended up with an X thanks to someone dumping crap in our zone (near portos). Thanks asshole.
As a European Virgin burner I read all your posts with great interest. I was with a large camp of whom many were virgins. Many were not at all ready for the Playa. I personally have been studying BM for about 10 years trying to get ready to get to the Playa. I found myself doing a lot of work looking after and cleaning up after the virgins on my camp. I hope about 50% of them never come back. The other 50% seem to mostly get the picture by the end. In spite of this I was on the Playa til Wednesday, raking our pitch for moop. I had the best week of my life and wasn’t going to let a bunch of people not ready for the Playa deny me a favourable result on the moop map. I think that there needs to be some kind of exam everyone needs to pass before being eligible to buy a ticket. This would typically take 20 hours of study for a virgin but be easy for a veteran. Upon arrival at the gate everyone should be quizzed about the 10 principles and taken aside for extra tuition if they fail.
Our camp Swing City has been around for a few years now thinking that if we don’t rabidly patrol the moop, we won’t be asked back, which is what we’d expect. How is it that people get away with this stuff year after year and still be invited back? If there isn’t any penalty for moop and fraud, why should people bother?
I would love to see the ‘plug and play’ label used with some more nuance – the Gypsy camp members were not guys who spent 20k to be flown in and given VIP treatment – they paid a hundred fifty bucks to club together so someone else could pick up their food and water for them. It is a huge pain coming from overseas – you can’t store stuff up in your garage all year, then chuck it in your car and drive up. You basically fill two suitcases with costumes and then you buy all your food and water when you land. Sorting things out as a group, so 80 people don’t have to make 80 separate individual 3-hour trips to Wal-mart, does not mark these guys as nonparticipating bros in my eyes. I had space in my vehicle this year so my campmates asked me to pick up some water for them – does that violate the sacred principles?
I had a friend in Gypsy, a first-timer from Sweden who had signed on with it along with a few people who were active in the Nordic Regional. He was devastated by this, for his first two days had no shade, food, water, bike – even though he thought he had prepared for all of this. He and the other Nordics had a really depressed day when they realized they had been scammed. But people who met them Thursday or Saturday would never have known anything was wrong – they all embraced the experience that was in front of them, and got what they could from it. The Moop is terrible, but you know what, it has brought this Johnny Moonshine / Gypsy camp story to light and hopefully nothing on this scale will ever happen again out there.
so you think there is a financial threshhold on Radical Self Reliance? How much per head is the threshhold?
I feel it’s important to get this information out and have dialogue. I also feel that people get the burn they get: that’s your gift; it is what it is, now what. And I think that anyone who though $75 would cover expenses wasn’t thinking too hard about the preparations and plans.
My camp is a PnP camp of sorts and we often have 50% virgins and 50% international participants. We’re also utterly clear about what their camp contribution ($400/pp) covers and what it doesn’t – http://morecarrot2012.wordpress.com/what-the-camp-brings/ We also articulate and share a guide to budgeting, vis-a-vis what the camp does and doesn’t provide – http://morecarrot2012.wordpress.com/camp-contributions/
Sad and pathetic but given the amount of MOOP this year I am not surprised. The porta-potties I visited were full of trash and more bikes than I cared to count were left on the playa.
Some camps however should be commended for their work. I was at 3:30 and E and walked by the Lost Penguin as they were packing up. They were raking the entire camp and picking up every bit of MOOP so big kudos to them for not leaving a trace and for having an awesome camp.
FWIW- I stumbled across another first hand account of A burners encounter with the MMC. I am not sure about posting rules and what not, so if this is not allowed, or this is the wrong place for it, feel free to delete/move it. This was just something interesting I found out there on “deep internet playa”.
The comments are interesting too.
K Street Black Rock: Burning Man’s Billionaires Row
August 29, 2014, 5:05 PM PDT
“There was a certain point last night — when a six-foot-tall private-party planner in a bustier and feather headdress was clenching my shoulder and threatening me — that I wondered why I ever even wanted to follow along on a tour of the fancy camps of Burning Man.” …..
…..
……….
…..”One of the turnkey residents, red-haired and slightly overweight, came out in a white shirt and cargo shorts. The party planner quickly ran back inside, brought him a red-silk Chinese robe, and helped him put it on. He thought someone’s headlamp was a camera, and started to scream at them. The event planner saw me taking notes and a picture of the scene, and came at me. “I don’t like you,” she said loudly, grabbing my shoulder. Someone next to me told her that she didn’t need to be a bitch. The man in the silk robe started jumping up and down, ready to throw a punch.”
“And then, because no one really wanted a fight and the whole scene was ridiculous, it calmed. The Googler hopped on his bike and sped off. The dentist shook his head and adjusted his EL-wire. And I went off with a friend to a fire-dancing camp run by some Santa Cruz Burners””……
http://recode.net/2014/08/29/k-street-black-rock-burning-mans-billionaires-row/
My only reaction to this is “wow”
Shock shock! People that were there to make money (sherpas) left a mess for the masses to clean up. Who would of thought such a thing could/ would happen.
What am I missing? Doesn’t Caravancicle have the same number of red Xs as the Gypsy Flower Power camp? Why aren’t they calling them out on the blog too? Why aren’t they publicly shaming all of the moop offenders ?
who is the “they” you are speaking of? If you are talking about this blog, you haven’t read past this single post.
The “they” I was talking about is definitely the official blog http://blog.burningman.com/2014/09/environment/moop-map-2014-roadside-poop-hexamoop/ which (unless I am missing it) is not saying anything about Caravancicle’s mess, which seems to be just another example of the BMOrg’s cronyism.
There were 3 Mega-Moops. Caravancicle, Gypsy Flower Power, and an un-named camp at 3:45. We don’t know the nature of what the X’s are for…yet. No-one who is up there now, long after the event has closed, is taking photos of Caravancicle’s MOOP and sending them to us. If anyone has any, please do…
It might take one of those kick starter things to raise the kind of money required to outbid what they are probably paying to NOT let anyone take pictures of that MMC (Messedup Millionaire Camp) 😉
It’s up to all of us who “get it/live it” to educate newbies/burgins/virgins. Camp leaders are especially responsible for this education and sadly the leaders of Gypsy Flower Power, The Lost Hotel and Caravancicle failed badly at this (extra fail points for the BMorg-led safari camps). Still, BORING as it may seem, why not put the 10 Principles up on Burmashave placards inside all the shade line mazes leading into and on big billboards inside the Arctica ice domes with emphasis on Leave No Trace? How about DJs taking a socially responsible second to use those huge sound systems to remind people it’s no joke to leave no trace, stop pissing on the playa and using the portapotties as trashcans?
What does BMOrg make, 26 Million dollars or more off of this and they can’t PAY people to clean it up?
Yup. Exactly. “Oh it’s because we made up this thing called Radical Self Reliance, it means we don’t have to”
A board member asked Larry how much they will haul in this year by having the lowest labor costs of any event ever held and he replied>>>> http://i.imgur.com/OwotPhd.jpg
No… you have to clean your own mess up. … geez, you should have listened better to your Mommy.
Disorient camp lead here. I just wanted to stick up for Root Society a bit since they were our neighbors. They’re always on point with setup and strike and I suspect their red X’s were dumps by others on the way out – they were out early and I do remember their area looking spotless. The larger camps seem to consistently be targets for others to dump things they don’t want to take out with them (I think people figure “hey, they’re big, they won’t notice” – we notice); it’s a problem every year and not new this year. The only reason Disorient doesn’t end up with X’s too is because we’re usually striking until Thursday and we end up with a chance to pick up the random things that get dropped (a few years ago somebody surprise “gifted” us an upright piano, that was one of my “favorites”). So do bear in mind that not all of these X’s directly reflect on the camp they are in.
Also, I think it’s important to not place blame entirely on virgins. They don’t know. Sure you’ll have some lost causes but for the most part it is our responsibility to set a good example and instill good values in new participants – many who are willing to learn. We tend to have 40-60% virgins in our camp every year and I like to think we do a good job. Every long-time burner who says “screw this” is a teacher abandoning their students. Make a difference!
The final thing I want to say is, the Iverson Ranch is a great place to donate bikes. They take as many bikes as they can every year and that’s how they keep their membership dues low – they provide a great service to the community (dozens of the legendary art cars we know and love are stored there, among other things).
One more thing I want to add: I tell this to our campers every year and it’s the most common gotcha for new burners especially: Everybody says “take out what you bring in”. This is easy to say “sure” to, but really think about this as you are preparing. Look at everything you are bringing in, both personally and as a camp, and just close your eyes and take a moment to imagine the entire life-cycle of that object through the burn. Imagine how every single part of it will ultimately leave the playa. If you find yourself getting stuck, this is a good hint to either not bring that, or come up with a plan. This goes from little things (bottle of beer -> bottle cap + glass bottle -> ?) to biological things (drink water -> pee -> ?) to bigger things (your friend buys you a bike and gives it to you on playa -> you use it all week -> ?) to full on infrastructure (3 separate vehicles pick up last minute construction materials on way in -> build -> ?). Plan ahead!
The X’s on this map are for “abandonment” – it could be vehicles, rental equipment, or shipping containers that had still not been collected when the map was prepared. It’s not quite the same as the traditional MOOP Map Red/Yellow/Green scoring, which will be coming out over the next week
I got carried away with the “little things” part of the example.
Jason Cipriani and Laura are amazing camp leads, and we AS A CAMP try to do the things ourselves, take care of our shit, and be good Burners. The piano (which I believe was a prank by one neighboring camp last year on PlayaSkool (who were, probably not coincidentally, missing an upright piano, and were basically a failed camp, by their own accounts–but not deserving of that–though it was sort of humorous–save for the MOOP of it (just because you’re a cooler camp of live music and hate your neighbors PlayaSkool, and relocate their piano just outside of Dis0rient as revenge/prank, doesn’t absolve you of the responsibility to TAKE BACK THAT PIANO–you pranked it, you “own” it)… All that said, a) Moonshine, if the allegations are true, should be investigated and perhaps charged, or he will likely scam again and perversely incentivize other would-be scammers; b) Gypsy won’t distract from Caravancicle, which was a shit-show of epic proportions, way beyond MOOP and Abandoned Red Xs, and until Caravancicle and its leader JT, now a Board Member are heard from, that Camp’s faults and failures are all Burners’ business and a disgrace, and c) the one thing that sticks with me and in my craw is HOW MANY CAMPS ARE THERE LIKE THIS? Then, another question, how many non-camp attendees (I won’t say Participants, I think that word is now problematic in light of how things are going down) are Spectators, MOOPERS, Non-Participants, Fucktard guilty bystanders, neither contributing positively nor taking care of their shit and thus “contributing” negatively? That’s the story. If you come, and you don’t provide and give, gift and contribute, create art, then completely remove it, so that it Leaves No Trace (which isn’t just the Burning Man First Principle, period, but is the Federal BLM’s principle (whence it was borrowed)–in other words, we get to use Federal Land on the condition that it is leave not trace–BMP now is the guarantor of that, but clearly, by the reports above and to come, they are no longer up to the task.They can say: Bad Burners, non-radical self-reliance (or lack of self-reliance). But to the extent BMP has certain levers whereby they can exert some modicum of control over who comes, what equipment they can bring, and where they are placed (and whether they can close their gates)–BMP HAS TO STEP UP and address with these issues. There is limited spaced, so in more than one way, EVERY BURNER COUNTS. The Unicorns ARE OUT OF THE BARN. Some new solutions (like trash removal) are one thing–SILENCE on how and what Caravancicle is, when the head dude just joined your Board, seems to me at this point the source of the outrage itself…?
Thanks Bacchus. Great comment.
They’re not getting that piano back, by the way. We may have taken out some disengage rage (disenRAAAGE!) on it with a sledge hammer in 2012. … Yes, we did it on a tarp.
Just FYI, the PlayaSkool piano was a grand piano, not an upright, and they DID get their piano back. And BTW while it was liberated it was a beautiful art piece, and beautiful music was played upon it by passersby one and all. People loved that piano. The people who pranked it de-mooped it several times a day, watched over it like they owned it, and most definately did not dump it at Disorient.
Ha, you know, I think we’re talking about different pianos. This one was most certainly an upright, and I personally took it out to Reno and pitched it in the transfer station after it was stored for a couple of years.
(I.e. it seems the piano I was speaking of wasn’t PlayaSkool’s. It was dumped on us along with a couple of couches one year.)
Hi everyone.
I am part of the 15 French who were at the Gyspy Camp. First my apologies for this moop, this is awful.
When I see MoonShine saying we left bags, be sure he’s not telling the truth. We left on sunday around midnight with all our trash bags and more as we had the second uHaul truck of the camp. We were prepared, had food, water…
We needed a camp because it was complicated for us to set up shades and kitchen and the Gypsy campers seemed to be good people. Before the BM, MoonShine told us he had bikes and that he can help for the sleeping part. As we are travelling from very far, we accepted and paid him for this like other people. You know what happened.
Thanksfully, many people manages to build a kitchen, a shower, a tipi… I thank them for that <3
I agree with Oanamama and Journey in their testimonials.
The event, despite its pretentious and lofty claims, each year more closely mirrors the dominant society (‘outside reality?’) where it’s dog eat dog and everybody out for themselves. Expect it to get worse with each succeeding event. There will be more assholes with a sense of entitlement and a larger police contingent. For the most part the people that cared and made the event what it used to be have grown disillusioned and no longer attend. It’s a party for the shallow these days.;
I would hope the borg would be ashamed but my guess is they’re too busy counting their lucre and pompously and idiotically thinking themselves visionaries.
This reminds me of someone else’s definition:
“The community experience so fondly trumpeted as the living skin of the Burning Man is pocked, scarred, and so lacerated that it is no longer the durable integument needed to sustain the Burning Man’s viscera. Last year’s community was such a stark and realistic representation of modern civilization that it reminded me of my own downtown Oakland.”
This was written in 2009 or earlier, I believe.
it reminds me more of Daytona Beach or Cancun on Spring Break, than Downtown Oakland. I like this quote, who wrote it?
Wow – it’s actually from 1997!
http://archive.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1997/07/5124
la plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Hello to all, my name is Rue. I was the third in charge of the camp in question… Moonshine was the creator and engineer, Tara collected money and did most of the online communicating and organizing. My job was to collect items and build them. Moon shine sent me a grand total of $2500 to set up the entire camp! To purchase the bicycles that where already paid for cost $2440… I begged moonshine for more camp money to no avail… He did not show up wed before the burn like arranged, instead he ate some mushrooms and got lost in the bay area for 3 days! When he did arive at my ranch, he had nothing promised and no money to make it rite… He then told me there were 2 DJ’s from so cal coming up and he had taken there $. His suggestion to me was to drive out to will call pik up there tickets and sell them on CL to make up cash!!! I was unbelievably angry and outraged at the entire situation, but on top of it he had the audacity to suggest steeling more to make up for what he had already stolen! We asked him to leave the ranch. He paid for everything under the sun, except what was promised, with camp money! Then admitted it to me and asked for forgiveness… That happened! I stole nothing! Ask anyone of the 23 people that stayed at my ranch for up to 5 days before and 7days after the burn! Oh, and the shade he bought… Was nothing! The polls where 1 inch diameter with plastic joints and knuckles… Would have lasted 30 seconds in the wind. The camp generators were not stolen! I still have them since moon stole everything else I made sure the camp for to keep the things they paid for! Moon shine is clearly displaying all his blame because he is scared of the truth, witch unfortunately for all of us gipsys is, he is a their, and he did nothing to organize and make our camp! All of you met me and all of you saw what I had to deal with! I didn’t pay my mortgage in order to make camp happen! I have been personaly wronged over $4000 of money that I took out of my own cheking and savings. But I don’t want it bak, I got it bak in meeting all of my amazing campmates! I have made life long friends out of this tragedy and it was worth every penny!
as for the garbage!
moon shine pesonaly told me on Sunday, that he was goin to pack up as much gear as he could, drive to Reno and unload. He would then return with his moving van and take out all the trash. The large fuck you pile of garbage was started by some disgruntled campers over justifiable reasons. But, that is no excuse for leaving a mess like that on the playa! There is no excuse for that kind of disgrace to our home. When moonshine told everyone there was trash service and that he had a loop team all lined up, I guess we should have known better than to trust a man who’s already lied to us about so many things! I was the last one at camp, along with jenny ho and MaryAnn, we honestly thought that even with all that has been done, he had to come bak for the trash! We realy felt that he wouldn’t leave that there for someone else! I guess we were wrong. To the dpw, and who ever had to clean up after our mess, I say thank you! In the most meaning of the word, I am sorry!
>>instead he ate some mushrooms and got lost in the bay area for 3 days!
I’m warming towards Moonshine now. It started with that quote from Journey by Moonshine, “All you ever do is pick up trash because you are a fucking piece of trash. Get the fuck out!” … Anyone who has ever had a moopnazi in their camp can kinda identify here. They are annoying and self-righteous as fuck, but you can’t accuse them of anything because they know if you did it would seem to everyone like you’re overreacting – “Gee, I’m just trying to keep the playa clean, unlike you.” … So they do this all week, like holding a plate under your cigarette to catch the ash, or sitting in the middle of camp with tweezers picking up microscopic pieces of whatever – until you eventually blow and then everyone looks at you like the badguy.
Something like this may be the untold story here. Every camp has a scapegoat, and once the scapegoat is known to everyone, the shit gets piled on and on and on until they blow, and then everyone bonds over all the gossip. “He said what?!” “He did what?!”
Yeah, why can’t they just let you moop and crap up the playa in peace…… What?
BTW, Moonshine had this Journey kicked out of camp one daya after arriving on playa. What does that tell you.
Are you fucking kidding me?!?!?! Our camp’s moopnazi is held in high regard, cleaning up after fuckers like yourself. And the only trash the comes from this story is that asshat Moonshine. If anyone believes the spin he is trying to create, then i got a bridge to sell. If you think a ‘leader’ of a theme camp can roll into the burn on wednesday after gates open, then don’t even take one step into my camp….
This sounds just like Basshenge. Same scam as results. Many empty promises and lotsa cash in Chris and Vanessa’s pockets. They still owe money to half of their vendors. Campers had to put money together to get the generator fuel. And people who were promised tickets had to buy delivery passes ($850) a piece and were obviously never refunded.
2014 – Year of the Clusterfuck
For the record Chris, Venessa, and Basshenge didn’t pocket any money. we actually put in our own money close to 25k. Yes we have some bills to pay because budget came up short but we are not pocketing any money. We stayed after till wednesday morning to clean up our place. we got left with 12 yards of trash and packed it all out. we have learned a lot on this round is what ill say. FUCK PLUG AND PLAY. DO YOUR OWN BURN.
Indeed!! Unplug and play should be the new motto. Last year I left the playa with more than I came with still can’t figure out how we got it all into the car and this year was a close second. I guess that it the downside of being the last to leave…
Last year was “year of the shitstorm” (hence United’s new payment policies) so I guess “year of the clusterfuck” works this year. Is it a new name every year or does it cycle like the zodiac?
At This Rate, Next Year will be The Year Of No Return (they’re dangerously close to the point thereof, and until we hear from the BMP, seemingly missing the point). I want BMP to save our event, I love these people, but the Leave No Trace meets Radical Self Reliance means These Are Not OUR Problems here at BMP, but back on us Burners (especially all those virgins and naive, scammed folk–or even veteran, not-so-naive-but-still got taken-for-a-royal-ride), without a coming clean and a radical rethinking of what needs to be done better…
You know, I said this in 2013 and was criticized for it but I saw and knew of people (burners) that couldn’t get tickets because so many more Europeans and non Americans were buying them up faster than Americans could. So veteran burners didn’t have a chance, what I called “People (Americans) that should be here.” What I learned in 2014: it’s not (wasn’t) Europeans but people that aren’t burners at all buying up all the tickets before the true burners could. What I saw this year in 2014 was far more MOOP, too much traffic (esp. parked bikes) for Emergency Responders and over capacitated portas. Here’s the MOOP report proving part of my case.
So boo hoo, I know. I’m a big jerk for complaining but I love Burning Man and everything it stands for. It doesn’t need to (and definitely won’t) get much bigger than 70K population because what I experienced, I’m sure the BLM, et. al. experienced. We need to protect what we have because it’s very unique. Check out festivals in Europe and events like Coachella, who are not bound by the same governmental restrictions we have, their post events resemble hurricane disaster areas with trash strewn everywhere. “The problem is ANYONE (Burgins or vets alike) who doesn’t prep, doesn’t respect the playa or the Ten Principles, and/or doesn’t take responsibility for themselves.” ~ White Whale (in a previous comment). Maybe it’s time to give BRC Rangers the authority to eject a participant for MOOPing or holding a plug and play camp. This year, a famous rapper was caught urinating on the Playa and when confronted, his non-burner attitude and body guard could’ve been dealt with more effectively; he needed to be dealt with more effectively. I personally picked up MOOP from people in front of me, discarding trash openly. Perhaps these people could be ejected on the authority of the DPW, Rangers or ESD?
My experience, on shift I dealt with a participant with a fire hazard (Chinese candle, ESD recorded case), my DPW brother told me “he didn’t have the time.” And I know my DPW brothers and sisters work harder than any other volunteer on the Playa! Eventually, we’re gonna run out of volunteers (DPW or otherwise) picking up this stuff and making the Playa right for all of us the next year.
So, I hope I cleared up my 2013 confused notion of “Too many ‘Europeans and non Americans’ being the problem and not enough American burners that should be here.” It’s not that at all, it’s not enough “real” burners getting tickets and too many non burners (American and non American) coming to just party and not reading up and believing in what’s on the BM website…(and I know people are going to hate me for this but) I did, however, meet more people with “accents” come up to my ESD fire apparatus and ask me to “radio for a replacement bus” (or give them a ride) because their bus was involved in a collision or otherwise disabled and their camp was too far. To which I usually responded to the self entitled, “Oh yes, of course. I’ll get right on it!” /rant
I love all my fellow burners and hope to meet you some day, on the Playa of course!
Vince
aka: HouseSpinner
2006, 2013 (with ESD), 2014 (with ESD), planning on 2015 (maybe ESD but definitely volunteering somewhere!)
Those other festivals like Coachella and T in the Park (Scotland, 70k attendees) do not have a leave no trace policy for the attendees, but they do have professionals to manage the cleanup, and no trace is left in the end. The difference is that with Burning Man, DPW volunteers think they are making some kind of heroic effort cleaning things up, when in reality they are simply being exploited for their free labor. DPW struts around the BRC all week actually believing they are so-rad and better than the citizens, when in reality they are dupes who can’t negotiate reasonable pay and benefits because there are people tripping over themselves to line up behind them to take their so-called jobs if they make any demands on the Org. They have no leverage, and that’s by design.
The idea that anyone would give DPW the authority to toss out a citizen is ridiculous, especially considering how these motivated slackers are already prone to power-tripping, and that there is no criminal records background checks – leading to assaults and theft and the report this year that a DPW worker pulled a knife on a woman during the parade and demanded she hand over her free-bike because it was decorated.
Coachella and the like don’t have these problems because they are professionally run organizations and pay people for their work. There’s no DPW running around T in the Park pushing attendees around and stealing their stuff saying ‘We built this city!’, and then expecting a pat on the back for doing their jobs by cleaning up after the event is over. That is because they are paid in accordance to their effort.
great response, well said.
You should take a look at what they’re doing at Boom festival if you want to see what a real community looks like, which has a true emphasis on protecting the environment.
Everyone is responsible for there own moop, even if you pay someone for supplys, don’t expect them to take care of your cigarette ashes. This virgin where clueless, the German guy that was hungry? Self reliance is one of principles. I wouldn’t put my life for a week on the hands of a stranger. I don’t know this guy, but I think that the whole camp is responsible for the moop disaster, people love to blame other people for their own mistakes.
Here’s a nice pic from the air: http://postimg.org/image/cjz02xoxd/
thanks, I’ve added that to the story.
Yeah. Cluster fuck of EPIC proportions.
Moonshine pulled similar nonsense and delusional behavior on me and the Temple build crew at the Mystic Island Festival on Maui this past January… what a shame to read all this and see the negative experiences and impact on our beloved Playa and event. This man needs a real and serious intervention and mental help.
I have no respect or sympathy for anyone who heads out on the playa without bringing everything they need to survive for a week and be prepared to take everything out with them when they leave.
I have less than no respect or sympathy for anyone who “hears” that “BM is so awesome, we have to go this year!!” but does not care enough to do any further research about what is expected from them. They just look for someone pay money to who will “take care of everything”. That is against the very concept of what BM is all about, and anyone who is involved (in it in anyway, paying or being paid) should be banned from the playa for at 3 years.
I wonder who flies in from overseas expecting someone else to take care of everything at BM, when a simple glance at the rules clearly states that is not how BM works?
Who would want to organize this type of con on BM virgins? Who is the antiBurner who wants to collect money from clueless virgins who want it all done for them? Why would any Burner do that? Why would they want to be a baby sitter and provider to clueless virgins?
And then (when of course it is all a con) these “fly ins” complain that they are victims and want sympathy? BM is not Disneyland or all inclusive Sandals club in Jamaica…. OR IS IT??!!! IS THIS WHAT THE BMORG WANTS!!!?? IS THIS THE NEW BM MODEL? If so then rewrite the10 principles and cut the BS.
The BMOrg is clearly the root of the this whole problem.
The BMOrg are the ones who happily allowed the plug and play concept to flourish. The BMOrg are the ones who should answer to everyone including over-apologizing to The DPW Playa Restoration crew who volunteer to clean up this mess on the playa.
Of course there are scumbags waiting to scam virgins who want to fly in and expect plug in BM and expect it to play when the situation for a scam is fertile because the BMOrg allowed this to happen.
I find it hard to read these stories how when it all fell apart that these people were out on the playa begging for rice, begging for food, begging for water because they were scammed. It goes against everything BM is supposed to be.
The BMOrg needs to read, reread and relearn their own 10 principles and they need to start enforcing those 10 principles top to bottom. No more favoritism and letting things slide for their friends or people with money. The BMOrg needs to get back to the basics, or is it all too late for that?
I agree.
And this is exactly the legacy of the pnp camps the bmorg is fostering. This is what happens when you foster a culture of bought experiences. Now that Playa resto of having to take the brunt, maybe workers inside the org will start to stand up and demand accountability from burning man itself. This its bullshit irresponsibility but It is born of the new paradigm that the org is supporting.
Perfectly and succinctly said,
I rambled on a bit too much, but I agree with you 100%.
this is what happens when you try to commodify a culture, package it up for re-sale, and market it through mass media – all the while, pretending that you’re all about the opposite of that.
I believe it IS possible to commercialize a volunteer arts-based culture without commodifying it; however, BMOrg have not yet developed that technology in their 30 years of social engineering R & D. Through Silicon Valley’s eyes they’re old, they’re stale, they’re not very profitable, and they can’t scale.
I don’t think they deserve the right to corrupt and destroy the precious culture that all of us have made. Look at their contributions to it: Helco and Evil Corporations.
Actually, this is what happens when one of the biggest sources of burner opinions has a “complaint department” section full of pasted text messages and one-sided, nonconstructive rants singling out people and groups that the articles’ author has no real affiliation with. Even though the issues are real, articles like this only foster resentment, which inevitably leads to lack of community, accountability, and responsibility. The “commodification” (or whatever the complaint du jour is) is only a symptom of the resulting fundamentally disconnected and irresponsible culture. Far more people bandwagon on complaints than on Burning Man itself, and if anything is being packaged for mass consumption, it’s articles in the style of this one. Don’t complain about consumption but hide your own contributions to that behind rants that attract easy likes for your blog. I’d rather be at a festival full of bad dub step and PnP camps than a festival full of people who write articles like this.
If there is another side to the story, we welcome whoever has it to come and share it. As always.
If people “easily like” my opinion, why shouldn’t I share it? Don’t you think there is perhaps something to it, given that so many like it? And can’t you see that there is a real effort being made here to present other opinions and stories than my own?
As should be obvious, there are some who don’t agree with me, like yourself. Should I therefore be silenced, to suit your tastes, and the objectives of BMOrg? Do you really think that would save Burning Man from commodification?
You are ignoring the significance of social dynamics, and you are underestimating your own influence as a burners.me author. If people easily like your opinion, why shouldn’t you share it? Ok. If people are happy to consume the commoditized schlock that you are complaining about, why shouldn’t it be produced? Do you see the similarities here? We create our culture. Emulation, group-forming, and bandwagoning are a part of human nature, and I believe that those with influence have a responsibility to guide those they lead in the right direction. You are acting as a complaint monger here, and the word “monger” exists because the effects are a real and significant aspect of our behavior.
You say there is a real effort to present other opinions, and yes I see that. But that effort was not made in the writing of the article. That effort was made in a “shoot first, ask questions later” style, and then you say “but at least we are asking questions” in an attempt to make the shooting not look so bad. In addition to that, let’s be real here – you put a pretty rough spin on this article. Think about the real lasting effects of articles like this though. Next year, few will remember the people singled out here, but anybody reading this, especially new burners, media, and those who were on the verge of making a difference but were tipped to the complaint-only side of the fence by this, will remember that this type of singling out and one-sided blame is an OK and desirable part of our culture. This will be remembered because YOU, PERSONALLY have an influence as a blog author here. You are one of a minority that set the stage for future years. Use your power to improve, not to encourage knee-jerk crap like this.
There is *always* another side to the story, and as a community member and author on an influential blog it *is* your responsibility to find out that side *first*. Look at the original article on blog.burningman.com, do you see what they did right? They asked an honest question: “What happened?” There is a HUGE difference between “X was found at GFP. What happened?” and “GFP left a mess because they suck and this festival is going downhill.” At the end of the day we’ve gained nothing from your article except a greater sense that constant finger-pointing is acceptable and popular.
Burners.me authors, in general, consistently fail to see that difference, and consistently fail to realize their negative contribution to the things that they complain about. You seem happy to complain about “commodification” and mass consumption without realizing that one of the most widely consumed products around is your constant negativity – everybody will find a way to rant and throw reason and constructiveness to the wind if there’s an easy outlet that makes them feel justified. This article, for examples, ends with resentment and bandwagoning at best, and neither of these encourage community, responsibility, and accountability. Then you complain about the lack thereof.
You shouldn’t be silenced at all, because the issues are real and the opinions are important. Nobody should be “silenced”. But you *should* reflect on your responsibility and impact on our community, and you *should* try to lead by example. Not to suit my personal tastes, or the goals of BMorg (and going back to what you said, if those goals are consumed, are they really bad? Yes, I think; just as your complaint mongering here is bad) – but TO SUIT YOUR OWN TASTES. Articles like this are one of the worst and most damaging things that have happened to burner culture of the past few years, and it is the effects of this type of complaining that form the fundamental basis for the very things you are complaining about. As the t-shirt says, “lead, follow, or get out of the way”.
I guess some people have a very small-minded view of leadership. I don’t believe that progress happens from the “everything is just peachy” worldview. It breeds corruption and hypocrisy. The decisions BMOrg made to “fully transition to a non-profit” were made before I even started writing this blog. Some of the truth is starting to come out now.
I’m not sure who you think the injured party is in this “one-sided” article. If Moonshine/Gypsy camp, I think I have presented their side as much as I’ve been able. It’s the guy’s own words, FFS.
Also I would like to note that Burners.Me did not originate the complaint at the heart of this article. Rather, that came from burningman.com, who chose to single out this camp in a way that has never been done before, on their much higher-trafficked web site. They wrote a complaining article, which we commented on. Or are you saying that complaining is OK, when BMOrg does it, but not when Burners do it, if it’s critical of BMOrg?
I am not preaching an “everything is peachy worldview”, and I believe you are attempting to cherry pick and twist what I say into that because it is easy to argue against. Again, it is important, I think, to realize the power that you have, to appreciate how people respond to it, and to use it responsibly. Do not gloss over this.
As for the origin of the complaint, I addressed that directly. I responded, I hope, to each of your points. It is not fair of you to preach the importance of opinions while at the same time clearly fail to take the time to fully read and consider the opinions you are responding to; while also criticizing the encouragement of hypocrisy in the same breath.
Other than that I have nothing new to add to / repeat from my previous post. Personally, I do have faith that outside readers will see this exchange and make their own judgments.
you make a lot of disparaging claims, but fail to provide any concrete evidence of your accusations. You say that I do not consider the opinions of others: I point to 2.5 years of this blog, 1231 posts and about 11,000 comments, as evidence against your claim. Plus Facebook. I stand by my words, research, and actions. If the judgers want to come to my blog so they can read it and judge me, let them. I don’t stop them, in fact they’re welcome to criticize me here too – just like you are.
If Burners.Me had any power in this community, then we could stop the commodification and mainstreaming of Burner culture that is being done in the Nevada desert. Yet it still continues, despite us trying to show people the truth behind the corporate spin.
In the last year, we have reduced the number of articles in our “complaints department” category from 1 in 10, to 1 in 12. That means our complaint ratio is 8.7%, our articles are 91.3% positive or neutral. Still not enough for some, who only ever want to hear good things being said about Burning Man. Sorry, you’re at the wrong part of the Internet for that. You can find Fairyland at blog.burningman.com and facebook.com/burningman , enjoy.
You seem to have a fundamental belief that complaining must be wholly negative. I believe this is one of the root causes of the problems I perceive with your article. I disagree with this, acknowledge that you may have that belief, and on that we will just have to disagree since I doubt either of us will change our opinions on that.
so wait, now you DO like our complaining? It’s hard to keep up.
Speaking to my personal beliefs, no, you’re wrong, I do not believe that complaining must be wholly negative. Quite the opposite. I feel that criticism can be constructive. There is a saying I learned in America, “a squeaky wheel gets a greasing”. Perhaps I have misunderstood the meaning of this saying.
I definitely have not been “wholly negative” at any time on this blog, as I think the 91.7% ratio of positive posts to 8.3% critical attests. Some people are hyper-sensitive to the slightest form of criticism; others are personally vindictive online trolls. You’ll find neither of those thought patterns coming from Burners.Me. In the comments against us, sure, plenty.
You say you don’t construe complaining / criticism as wholly negative, yet twice now you’ve straight out divided articles into three mutually exclusive categories: Positive, Neutral, Complaint / Critical.
I believe complaints are important, but poorly expressed in articles like this.
This article doesn’t effectively delve into any real problems. It focuses on the single low-hanging fruit that the original article offers (GFP), ignores everything else, and is entirely a rant about a specific nobody who allegedly ran a camp in a really crappy way. If you want to make a difference, make a difference. Go a little deeper. Put some board members on the spot. Be a proper journalist, don’t just hound one nearly-arbitrary, forgettable guy and post his text messages. This article does no justice to the problems that you clearly see (based on hints from your comments and your other articles), it just contributes to random finger-pointing becoming a BM social norm. That is my problem with it.
Jason, all due respect goes to Disorient, in that you guys do a fabulous job every year and, as someone who has cammped in close proximity to you for years, I know of which I speak. This blog, however, is the only one which is courageous enough to report on, and examine, the shortcomings of TTITD.
As a long time volunteer, I used to get staff passes each year, in other words, I got a free ticket as a reward for working on some very difficult and important issues on th playa. However, 2 years ago I dared to speak out in a plublic forum on what I thought were hypocrasies. I was approched by a BMorg rep who told me that as a art of the org I was not allowed to speak negatively about the Org. Even though my posts contained the disclaimer “this is my perosnal opinion” I was warned that my opinions could be construed as Burning Man official speak, since everyone knew I was a part of the org. What did I do? I gave up my golden ticket and stepped away from my role in order to maintain my freedom of speech. BMorg does not allow dissent, not while yo are on “the payroll” or getting gifted things like tickets, which allows you to come to BRC and work your ass off all week. Like I said before, I was happy to do it. But this whoel PnP issue is blowing right up against what I used to work for, which was an organization that, even if slow to deal with reality, was really trying to live by it’s prescribed principles. Something has happened since then. Yes, things always change, but this is a case of being morphed into something now unecogmizable. Yes you can come to Burning Man and have your mind blown and your life changed. Just don’t look to hard behind the curtain.
It’s a mass mind-blowing machine. Thanks Rocketgirl for your support and your thoughtful comments.
Constant negativity isn’t courageous. There are better ways to report these same types of things, without “hiding” anything. Other than that, well said!
There *is* actually a sort of cliche disclaimer I want to add here. Disorient leadership consists of many people, with many different opinions. As a “camp lead” (one of two) I am more of a coordinator. Also, for what it’s worth, while I have been in this position for two years now (a record, I guess), our lead positions generally rotate yearly. My views here are personal, and I suspect (even hope) that there are other leaders in Disorient who would disagree with my comments here, even strongly. There is no need to qualify with, e.g., “with all due respect to Disorient” – in fact I welcome *disrespect* in a way, it’s usually based on something real 🙂 . These are my opinions – and while they do influence Disorient to an extent – in that they affect how I do my part – they are likely not the opinions of our group as a whole.
I think this whole thing is sad. My first year was in 2004, and everything was different then. Not only was the event something the size of a large rave, but the feeling was different too. The people there had space in between each other, and it felt much more like a desert dotted with art. Back then you KNEW that the event could only provide you with bare minimals, so you relied on yourself more. I personally believe that if there wasn’t people making a buck on the whole thing somewhere the whole thing would have stayed small, and better off. The whole thing is turning into a commercial Christmas where the Santa is the BMOrg handing out tickets to who they believe have been naughty or nice.
Exactly…Once the “pay to play” camps become a regular thing (more regular than they are now), we will finally see the death of BM (not that it hasnt “died” already)…
Either limit these camps or hold them to higher standards…MOOP is pollution and if you are going to pollute this beautiful desert, stay home.
I’ve been hearing about how BM is dying ever since my days in San Francisco in the late 90’s. BM has changed, it does every year…and it’s like the way it is because it’s like this now. Just a little wisdom from an art car artist that helped me along the way.
BMan is not dead, but the ideals on which it pretends to loft are dying. Yes, everything changes, and that is OK. It’s changing into a music festival. Fine. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with hypocrasy, and if BMan would drop the pretense of the 10 Principles, there would be no complaint. Some folks dont care about the hypocrasy: I happen to be a person who does.
Our camp (New York Dangerous) had 64 people, 42 of whom were virgins, and we killed it on playa this year. Burgins aren’t the problem. The problem is ANYONE (Burgins or vets alike) who doesn’t prep, doesn’t respect the playa or the Ten Principles, and/or doesn’t take responsibility for themselves. This camp sounds like a clusterfuck from day one, and while I don’t know who’s to blame here, I’m SO incredibly thankful I wasn’t part of it.
I am in total agreement with you White Whale. That said, I too have an axe to grind with the PnP camps. The participants by and large don’t get it and in my opinion- cater largely to a crowd of people that are showing up on the Playa to continue their rock star party from Coachella or wherever else they consume and trash all for the entitlements of self-entitlement. While at the Burn this year I too was seeing all sorts of things I’ve not before- I missed out the year before for a much needed break- but there were some really palpable variances. I’d never seen people throwing trash in the porta potties before- bottles and so on- also pee jugs just sitting there waiting for someone else to empty them? Who does that? I had a few things stolen this year and our art installation had our safety lights ripped off-most of the art installations had something ripped off – it’s like a new trend- the cool kids from consume and trash venues are stealing shit to pimp up their camps from the look of it- They don’t even make a point of hiding it.
People aren’t as “there” as I remember from previous years- actually saw people biking around chatting on their iphones. Also couldn’t access certain PnP art cars without a special pass.
Lastly FLIES- Having been intimately involved in an initiative to end river blindness in East African countries for many years I can guarantee you that the official meme is incorrect on where the flies are coming from. The idea is that they are hitching and are simply not going to go away. The truth is- they are breeding on the Playa.
Everytime takes a dump or pees somewhere on the playa they are creating nutrients and/or hatching grounds for countless flies. Something tells me a growing number of people may be digging holes and burying personal refuse treasures out there as well.There are simply too many flies all so suddenly. A wet year is a big factor but humans are breeding these flies on the playa. This is a disease vector waiting to happen.
MOOP- I’ve never seen anything like it at the Burn as in 2014.
Ok – enough bitching. I have a solution.
There is currently at entrance an initiation rite whereby virgins are ushered forth.
They’re basically given a huge shove onto the Playa- -go do whatever the fuck you want to do-.
What would be equally helpful is yet another required stop- though not every vehicle would be obliged to- and YES it would contribute to that unfortunate traffic congestion- it’s legitimate given the trashing we are all contributing to the Playa to experience our annual gratification fix. The second gate forces initiates to answer questions barked at them like at bootcamp. Quiz them on the Holy 10. Everyone needs to comprehend that it’s up to each and every one of us to not be a contaminant. A lot of kids don’t get it and neither are their parents. I get the feeling that PnP camps need to do more and have a greater appreciation for their contribution positive and negative to the Playa and to our dynamic community.
It didn’t feel quite right this year- something was off and as I explored the different streets I did experience all those familiar burners- but now most certainly the earners are large and in charge of their own microcosmic cool spaces- just like the default world- and I have to bag on the millennial generation for just a moment.
It’s difficult to resist living in a world totally focused on the ME with every ap and cyber sippy cup encouraging- enabling you to exclude anything and everyone that works against your ME time. We all get that. But ME only matters on the Playa in the embodiment of self-reliance, self-responsibility and self-sacrifice- give of yourself if only to give thanks to the physical space that anointed you with the greatest experience of your life.
@Kermit Blackwood, flies? I could tell when the event was ready to wrap, the bugs would find us. The first few days, no bugs, it would take them a week or so to find us, by then we would be ready to pack up and leave.
b!
a proud friend of smiley
What do they expect when 40% of the population were “Virgins” Next time leave your cigarettes at home too or learn how to put them in a tin or bag or box but NOT on the playa!!!!
I did see some smoker virgins with tin boxes so they’re not all MOOPing.
You can’t blame the virgins; they don’t know. It’s our responsibility to bring good values to new participants – you have to blame the teachers, not the students.
So, then, who is the teacher responsible when thta person is a member of the board of the event, and leads by funding and creating an exclusive camp, packaging and selling the experience for profit, treating workers like slaves AND leaving 12 piles of trash behind? This rot goes right to the core, and I cannot imagine that Marion, et al did not know of the plans for the Commodification Camps.
So, when the very worst offenders are members of the board of direcotrs of an event… who is to blame?
Except, this article isn’t actually exposing any of that. Core problems aren’t the focus of this article. The focus of this article is a forgettable guy named Moonshine and a single (almost arbitrary, the author only focused on it because burningman.com focused on it, and didn’t make any kind of “courageous” attempt to investigate anything but the single easy low-hanging fruit) one of many messy areas on that map.
As for who is responsible: We still are. It is members of our community who buy that package. We keep treating other people who come and do these things as this outside force that we have no influence on whatsoever, and forgetting that we’re all part of the same event here. When the tone of articles like this one is just finger pointing, they lose the influence that they could have by becoming construed as “just more whining”.
What you are saying is obviously really valid, important, and spot on, but this article barely touches on any of that. This isn’t some kind of courageous expose about internal corruption. It’s just a rant about one camp and the nobody that ran it poorly.
So Jason, if I may ask, do you think that all things Burning Man and BMORG are just fine? Everything peachy? Is the event evolving in the proper direction in your view?
I get that burnersxxx gets under your skin.
No, I do not. Check out the other, longer comment discussion here, there is more detail there.