Tag Archives: Death

Aug 27 2024

From The Playa To The Sea

The gates of Black Rock City have opened, and BMOrg are still selling tickets on their web site. You can choose to buy a $575 $653 one or a $1500 $1696 one, whichever takes your fancy.

Catch the live video stream here and the BMIR radio stream here.

Burning Man has already been marred by its first death for this year, a 39-year old woman named Kendra Fraser who was found unresponsive – police are investigating. Let’s hope this one is the last. There was a time when deaths at Burning Man were unusual enough that we could write posts recalling them all, such as 2013’s 9 Ways to Die at Burning Man. In 2018 Salon pointed out that “Black Rock City’s staff are 13 times more likely to kill themselves in the off-season than veterans returning from active combat duty.”

Is there any other festival in the United States were people die every year and it’s allowed to keep going?

Are these all accidents, or is there some element of occult sacrifice going on?

In our last post Burning Man and the Gaza War we showed statements from the official Burning Man web site that politics definitely belong on the Playa.

Well, it seems that SOME politics are allowed. Woke politics.

This is the Sigil of Moloch coat of arms of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Although Reuters acknowledges use of the symbol by Ukraine’s Nazis Far Right Nationalists, they claim that’s OK because the symbol is ancient.

Perhaps predictably, the ADL claims any connection between Ukraine and Khazaria is an Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory. They are probably referring to this Veterans Today article which has 100 million+ views: The Hidden History of the Incredibly Evil Khazarian Mafia. In 2014 The Times of Israel claimed Jews Are In Fact Khazars, then just days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine they updated this 8 year old story in their archives to clarify it was just some Purim humor. #YMMV. Some claim even Purim humor itself originated in Ukraine. You can read about The Khazar Origin of Ancient Kiev on JSTOR. The Khazarian use of the symbol is in the Wikipedia page for the Ukrainian Coat of Arms. The mass religious conversion even gets a mention in Encylcopedia Britannica.

What’s the problem? It’s Radical Self Expression! If people want to make giant statues of Moloch Sigils on the Playa, more power to them! After all, the Temple theme for 2024 is Togetherness: “In this time of global challenge and conflict, we are invited to find strength in unity, and to be seen, loved, and inspired” [Source: Burning Man web site]

This argument would carry more weight if giant statues of Jesus or Trump were also welcomed. We point to the recent case of the 14-ft Watermelon as evidence that this Tin Principle should be renamed Radical Woke Expression. Say anything you want, provided it is politically correct and aligned to the Progressive narratives that dominate the San Francisco Bay Area.

[Source: LA Times]

The piece was removed after an online petition gathered nearly 2000 signatures.

“Burning Man should not be allowing an installation of a watermelon representing political statements against another group,” one person wrote…“This is just crazy that this art was approved after what’s going on in the world after Oct. 7, it needs to be removed ASAP,” another wrote. [Source: LA Times]

Thanks to the work of Elaine Velie at Hyperallergic, a screenshot of the original listing in the 2024 Art Installations was found at the Wayback Machine.

Here’s the official statement from the Org:

Burning Man Project has removed a listing for a 2024 Black Rock City art piece from burningman.org. The listing was made using an anonymous Burner Profile – this violates the terms of our art placement submission process. Additionally, the listing’s content contained language understood by some to be hate speech.

We do not tolerate the use of violent, hateful, or incendiary language on our platforms.

It is customary for the Burning Man website to feature previews of art which Burning Man Project funds – this is called Honoraria art – as well as art that is self-funded and has applied for placement in Black Rock City. The listing was not an Honoraria art project and did not receive funding from Burning Man Project. We have a curation process for placement of all art which is functionally for operational purposes to ensure that height, fire safety, and location-related variables are applied.

Art is a very important form of self-expression, and Black Rock City is a very important venue for self-expression. We do not curate self-expression.

Should the artists want to contact the organization and appeal this decision, they can reach out to the art department using the normal means. Based on the circumstances around the way the listing was submitted, we believe that this is likely not an actual art piece coming to Black Rock City, but that the listing was instead intended to stir an emotional response within the Burning Man community.

We apologize for publishing something that should not have made it onto our website.

Burning Man culture is at its best when we build bridges across differences to make a better world. We are committed to this work.

Is a giant watermelon really more politically offensive than a shade structure under which people were murdered? This piece doesn’t seem like it would need round the clock security from Guardians working in 6 hour shifts.

Political statements for me, but not for thee…

[Source: Avi Katz, Jerusalem Post, via Tony Greenstein]

Oct 7 2019

Burning Man Worker Death. Rest in Peace Lonnie Richey

A guest post from A Balanced Perspective.

Image: Washoe County Sheriff’s office, via Facebook

In a most sad manner, Lonnie Richey died in the traffic accident near to Gerlach that halted Burning Man traffic for six hours. His two teen age children are heart broken over the death of their father. He was returning from his twelve hour, overnight, double shift opening the Burning Man event.

In addition to the arrests, there were two Burning Man–related deaths. The first occurred on Sunday, August 25. Lonnie Richey, a 61-year-old Nevada man, was killed in a fatal car crash on County Road 34, which is a narrow, two-lane, stretch of highway that leads to the event site. Richey, Salon has learned, was working as a flagger for traffic control for the event, contracted through a sub-agency. The Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office told KTVN that fatigue appeared to be a factor in his death.

Empathy is a very important human emotion. Empathy is not within the Ten Principles of Burning Man, but empathy is necessary for community to exist. In the place of memorializing the life of Lonnie Harris, whom died in due of assisting Burners traveling to the burn, the BMOrg has been silent in regards to his death, and their rubbish social media crew is halting any discussions upon this matter. My belief is the BMOrg instructed workers, and volunteers, to not discuss his death, desiring to prevent Burners, and his family, from learning what occurred in regards of his death.

The BMOrg website states of the ghost of Larry Harvey continues as Philosophic Director. As is most apparent in regards of their actions upon the death of Lonnie Richey, they are following Larry’s philosophic direction, of in 1996, when Michael Fury was near to decapitated in a motorcycle crash on the playa, Larry was most concerned with, and yelling, numerous times, that his death did not occur at Burning Man. My belief is empathy is most important, empathy is necessary for community to exist.

This behaviour, by the BMOrg, towards Burning Man workers, and volunteers, is not new. In Salon, Exclusive: Burning Man, a utopia for guests, can be a hell for many workers, Black Rock Ranger Kelli Hoversten bravely describes her experience with the BMOrg, after she was blinded by a laser at the Man burn within 2014. Might the BMOrg be repeating their behaviour in regards to the death of Lonnie Richey?

From Salon,

Nevada state law also requires that when an injured worker receives workers’ compensation, he or she cannot sue the employer. Hoversten connected with an executive claims consultant, as directed by Burning Man, who told her to file her claim in Missouri because that is was her permanent residence, advice she now says was legally incorrect. She says she was never told that there was a 90-day filing period in Nevada. By the time she figured that out, it was too late to file a claim. “If I would have filed in Nevada, my case would have been much stronger,” she said. “When Burning Man [tells] you that they are helping you with workers’ comp, they are not.”

Six months after the accident, Hoversten’s medical bills were piling up. In March 2015, one of her friends set up a GoFundMe to try to help her cope with the cost. At that point, Burning Man management finally took notice and offered her a $10,000 anonymous donation, attached to a nondisclosure agreement. A standard life insurance policy will generally pay $250,000 to someone who is rendered legally blind in both eyes on the job. Hoversten had two weeks to accept the offer, which she says turned into two weeks of harassment by an employee in the human resources department. She did not accept the offer.

My belief is the Burner community, artists, volunteers, and the Burning Man event, are awesome. I am in agreement with the statements, within the article, of,

“I still believe in the [Burning Man] community and the service of the volunteers as a community,” she said, adding that there is a disconnect between upper management and those who run the festival — a gulf that appears to be widening and might hurt the festival in the long run. “If they don’t start caring about their volunteers and treating their volunteers like we are human beings and have worth…”, and of

Hoversten is not the only one who still finds value in the Burning Man community. Bond, who worked at Center Camp said she wants it to be “wonderful and beautiful again,” but that would require changes in upper management. “How do you get people to not abuse their power?” Bond asked. “It feels like there needs to be a shift in the alignment of their moral fibers.”

There are numerous queries that the BMOrg has hidden in regards of the death of Lonnie Richey. Might anyone, other than the rubbish BMOrg social media crew, know the details in regards of his employment, directions, or death, might you leave a comment, purposed to assist his children? My belief is the guardians of Lonnie Richey’s children are most in need of gaining good workers compensation legal advice, purposed to assist his heart broken children in their lives.

Image: Kolo TV via Cree Adamson
Aug 31 2019

Kiwi Suspicious Death at Burning Man

Fatalities have become a regular thing at Burning Man; so far this year there have been two (possibly three with a motorcyclist from Reno killed on the roads outside the event), as well as a plane crash which left 3 people injured (1 seriously).

Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the Medical tent to find Shane “Wingman” Billingham, a 33-year old Burner from New Zealand, dead of carbon monoxide poisoning. He was found unresponsive in his vehicle at his camp Beats Boutique. Police are treating the death as suspicious.

From Stuff.co.nz:

Shane Billingham was found dead in a vehicle at the festival, held annually in Nevada, United States, at 6.30pm on Thursday (US time).

The death 33-year-old, from Great Barrier Island, has been deemed suspicious by investigating US authorities.  

The Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office said a post-mortem found Billingham has “a concentration of carbon monoxide in his blood which would be considered poisonous to human life. Preliminary toxicology showed the presence of controlled substances to be an exacerbating factor”…

A friend of Billingham’s told Stuff the Kiwi was a “great guy” who travelled a lot and dabbled in lots of things, but loved music.
“[He was] just a joy to be around … He was very creative, loved playing and being involved in all types of music.”

A fundraiser started by Billingham’s sister to bring his body home has raised $13,795 from 186 people in 9 hours.

Great Barrier Island is the sixth-largest island in New Zealand, about 100 kilometers from Auckland. Its population is 939.

Wingman was an experienced Burner, having attended in 2014 and 2017:

Wingman at Burning Man in 2017. Source: Facebook

The Reno Gazette-Journal has an update with further details:

A spokesperson for the Burning Man organization said Billingham was discovered unresponsive in his vehicle at his camp, Beats Boutique, at about 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Bystanders immediately began CPR and emergency responders arrived shortly after. Billingham was then transferred to Burning Man’s onsite emergency care center where he was declared dead by an on-duty emergency physician shortly after. 

Steve MacWithey, lead of Beats Boutique camp where Billingham was staying, said Billingham was one of his best friends.

“He was one of the best people I’ve ever known,” MacWithey said, burying his face in his palms as he wept…MacWithey described his friend as a hard worker, a lover of sustainable farming and someone who could always be counted on. Billingham was tall, blonde, handsome and bore a resemblance to Kid Rock, he said.

Makeshift memorial for Shane Billingham at Beats Boutique. Source: Jenny Kane/RGJ

Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen issued a statement about the investigation into the death.

From Radio New Zealand:

Police were investigating the death as “suspicious,” Pershing County Sheriff’s Jerry Allen said in a statement.

“Preliminary toxicology showed the presence of controlled substances to be an exacerbating factor,” he said.

“Quantitative analysis of the toxicology will not be available for a few weeks.”

He said Pershing County Deputies responded to a report of a death at the festival on 29 August (local time).

“The male subject had already been transported to the Rampart medical tent, within the confined area of the festival,” Mr Allen said.

“Coroners were advised by doctors on site they had already declared the male subject deceased. The scene was secured to be investigated and a deputy coroner transported the decedent to the Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy.”

An unconfirmed report suggests that he fell asleep in his car with the air conditioner running, too close to exhaust from a generator.

Source: Facebook

Rest in peace, Wingman. Kua hinga te tōtara i Te Waonui-a-Tāne.

Image: Facebook