BREAKING: Oakland Rave Turns Deadly, 34+ Dead or Missing After Fire [Updates]

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An horrific tragedy happened last night at 1305 31st Avenue in Fruitvale, the home of Satya Yuga Collective who seem to be into shamanism, magic, and manifestation. Just under 100 people were present at an event for Golden Donna “100% Silk/Not Not Fun” at an underground “rave cave”. At least 9 people are dead, with more than 25 missing and unaccounted for. 55 firefighters were on the scene battling the blaze. The cause of the fire is still unknown. There were no sprinklers in the building and firefighters saw no evidence that smoke detectors were activated. Our thoughts and prayers go to the victims of this disaster and their friends and families.


[Update 12/6/16 7:34am]

Today has a video interview with Derick Ion Almena. He admits that there were multiple people living on the site, including his children. He tries to paint himself as a hero of the arts, lured into this situation.

He says “I didn’t do anything ever in my life that would lead me up to this moment”…see below for some of the comments he has made in the past.

 

 


[Update 12/5/16 12:10pm]

The founder of the artists collective has made a public statement today (Monday). He has also taken down/made private his Facebook page.

“In my previous Facebook post, I had no idea there was a loss of life,” Almena’s statement to NBC Bay Area read. “This tragic event consumes me every moment. My heart is broken. My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends who have suffered the loss of loved ones.”…

According to a KGO-TV report, Almena and partner Micah Allison were seen at 10:45 p.m. Sunday in the Oakland Marriott City Center. Almena and Allison had checked into the hotel without using their names, and KGO reporter Lilian Kim and a camera person saw no sign of the pair’s three children.

[Source: San Jose Mercury News]

One of the videos I shared below which showed Derrick Ion at the property has been made private, did anyone get a copy?

Spare a thought for the horror of the firefighters and others who have to sift through this rubble identifiying bodies.

Work halted shortly after midnight Monday at the warehouse known as the Ghost Ship” because the building became unstable. According to Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton, the front wall began to lean inward, creating a dangerous situation. 

“We will not put our firefighters in harm’s way, and we won’t put Alameda County Sheriff deputies in a precarious position,” Drayton said.

Work was expected to resume between noon and 2 p.m. Monday, Drayton said.

Police announced that a 12-hour power outage would affect the area of the warehouse, due to a large crane being brought in to assist the recovery effort. An estimated 50 to 500 customers would be affected, police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said. A team of city officials would contact residents in the area to check on whether they need additional resources to cope with the outage, she added.

City officials called for patience amid the slow progress and called for support from those awaiting answers.
“It’s really important to give the firefighters everything they need. This is very emotional and taxing work, not only physically but emotionally,” councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan said. “They deserve a lot of credit and support from that.”

The schoolmates of one of the juvenile victims are all in mourning:

On Monday administrators from Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, a prestigious public arts school in San Francisco, confirmed the 17-year-old victim was one of their own. The school did not release the victim’s name, but said he was in 11th grade.

The San Francisco Chronicle on Monday identified the student as Draven McGill.

“This is an incredibly unsettling and sad event – for the Asawa SOTA community, and especially for the victim’s family,” Principal Barnaby Payne wrote in a news release sent out by the school. “As sad as we are today, I know that how we react in challenging times is what defines us as a community. As parents, teachers, children, students, brothers, sisters, and friends, we share in the heartbreak of his family and will embrace them and each other as Asawa SOTA family. We must rise to this occasion and rally around each other with love, compassion and support.”

The school provided counseling for students and faculty Monday morning…

Weather conditions could pose a possible threat to the timely recovery of victims and evidence. According to the National Weather Service, dry but chilly conditions early this week are expected to yield to storm systems that could bring from one to three inches of rain to the region. Chances of rain could be highest Wednesday evening through Friday morning, followed by slight chances of rain Saturday night into Sunday morning.

[Source: San Jose Mercury News]

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms might seem an unusual addition to an event in which none of the three seem to be a major factor. Technically they are the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and they have a unique Fire Research Laboratory in Maryland for criminal arson.

 

Image: NBC Los Angeles

Image: NBC Los Angeles

 

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Image: NBC News

Geri Ungurean has done some occult analysis of the “Hell House”:shiva-hell-house-best

I knew that if I dug deep enough, I would find Satan at the heart of the tragic fire which took the lives of dozens of people in Oakland, CA.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.  What I will show you about the “Warehouse” in Oakland will express more than I could ever write.

As you will see, Shiva – the god of destruction in Hinduism, was greatly revered by the lost souls who gathered and even lived at the warehouse.

One of the pictures of the “Oakland Ghost Ship” as it was called, clearly shows a woman in a ritualistic dance, with fire above her.  There were no smoke alarms nor was there a sprinkler system in place at this satanic gathering house. One could speculate that the inferno began during one of these dances.

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[Source]

Read the full story here.

This angle really needs to be investigated by the police, there are many signs of intense interest in the occult on these peoples’ Facebook pages. They have the same statue as CERN in Switzerland, where a couple of months ago there was a Satanic ceremony: a ritual sacrifice to Shiva , the god of destruction. In this religion, Shiva the Destroyer ends the Kali Yuga, the age of suffering, to herald in Satya Yuga, the golden age in a fiery cataclysm:

“Kali” is the reigning lord of Kali Yuga and his nemesis is Sri Kalki, the tenth and final Avatar of Lord Vishnu. According to the Vishnu Purana, Kali is a negative manifestation working towards the cause of ‘the end’ or rather towards eventual rejuvenation of the universe.[15] Kali also serves as an antagonistic force in the Kalki Purana. It is said that towards the end of this yuga, Kalki will return riding on a white horse to do battle with Kali and his dark forces. The world will suffer a fiery cataclysm that will destroy all evil, and a new age (the next Satya Yuga of the following Mahayuga), will begin.

[Source]

There was a skull painted over the entrance, and they called it Ghost Ship and their collective Satya Yuga. It’s very hard to see this as just a coincidence, especially when they keep talking about all the “Alters” around – as you can see in this video by RichieFromBoston which builds upon Geri’s work.

“Unofficial Burners” recently held their own occult fire ritual about the birth of a new golden age. On the recent once-in-a-lifetime Super Moon, the ex-military group staged a multi-day-and-night occult ritual in front of the obelisk at the National Mall in Washington DC. It was about the phoenix and the Temple of Rebirth, an egg hatching a new age under the theme “Returning Home”…presumably they were expecting this to be a grand magickal celebration of Clinton’s victory, commencing as it did 32 days after the election – at 11:11 on 11/11.

Not saying that all these geographically separate rituals are directly connected to each other, but on an occult level they definitely are. Dabble with the dark gods and sacrifice and fire magick, you can expect death and destruction and mayhem as the result.

Image: burningman.org

Image: burningman.org

 

 


[Update 12/5/16 7:55am]

The death toll is now at 36, with parts of the building still unable to be searched. Only 35-40% has been searched.

Derick Ion said “I can proverbally get away with murder” several months ago. He, his wife and kids were not present at the property when the fire occurred.

Although some Burners have been saying on Facebook that “nobody lived there”, one of the residents said she escaped with her cat. Authorities believe the fire began at the rear of the building on the lower floor.

[Source: some good coverage at the San Jose Mercury Newsalso here and here.]

There were multiple minors killed in the fire. A criminal investigation has begun with Federal involvement:

Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, said the majority of the victims were in their 20s and 30s, but that some were teenagers.

Kelly said the district attorney’s office has sent a team of criminal investigators to work alongside the sheriff’s arson task force and the Oakland Police Department. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has also sent representatives to help in the investigation, providing resources, forensics and laboratory work.

The investigators are working to uncover any potential criminal activity that may have led to the blaze.

[Source: LA Times]

The East Bay Express says Burning Man artists are worried that a crackdown on underground collectives that don’t live up to building code will hurt the arts community.  Sorry, but no art is worth 36 lives. You can’t host commercial events in places without fire exits and sprinklers, no matter how broke you are.

Some Burners are butt-hurt that the mainstream media described this all-night underground event with a lineup of DJs playing electronic dance music as a “rave”. Apparently glowsticks are offensive to them, and if there’s no glowsticks it can’t be a rave:

Let me explain something, and i’ll make it as simple as possible. This was not a rave, or an empty headed dance party, not a place people came to consume. This was a show, part of a vital and important underground world. The stakes are different and the connection level is intense. You want to talk families? These are chosen families. People with very little in common with the family they are born to, or choose to make their lives based on shared interest and values.

[Source]

Hmmm, wonder if those “shared interests and values” include LSD, meth, and ketamine?

People love to think of the bay area as a hotbed of creativity, but with a few very rare and notable exceptions our aboveboard venues are very conservative and trend risk averse to keep the doors open. Staying open is a daily battle. So when you talk of true innovation, it’s far more likely to happen at a place like Ghost Ship than a place like the Fox Theater

…these are our spaces, these are havens. These are the places where we make our culture happen and they matter. It’s a welcoming place to the marginalized, the oppressed, the freaks, the dorks, the last ones picked, those that don’t fit in anywhere and don’t have a whole lot of interest in complying.

[Source]

Silicon Valley is internationally renowned as a world center for innovation, but which specific inventions came out of the Oakland warehouse arts scene is a mystery to me. It seems that the creative talent of the Bay Area can work just fine when building codes are enforced. Even the freaks, the dorks, and the last ones picked deserve safety. Nobody deserves to die at a rave intellectual dance party, and “leave the junk-filled death traps the way they are and throw more dance parties” is not a solution.


[Update 12/4/16 9:05pm]

33 bodies have been found. 70% of the venue is yet to be searched. [Source: ABC]

Mayor Libby Schaaf suggested that there were juveniles found among the dead. Victims have been found in every section of the building.


 

[Update 12/4/16 1:54pm]

Beware of fundraisers relating to this event. This person Jonathan Lee Riches was caught trolling people on Derick Ion’s Facebook page and soliciting donations. Thanks Matt for the tip.


[Update 12/4/16 12:37pm]

Eyewitness account from Bob Mulé

 

Official death toll now at 30 [Source: CBS]

Source: Facebook

Source: Facebook


[Update 12/3/16 5:23pm]

They are now saying as many as 40 people were killed. 24 bodies have been recovered from the hellish scene [Source: LA Times].

The building was inspected just over 2 weeks ago, and ruled illegally unsafe. There had been multiple complaints. [Source: East Bay Express]

The owner of the warehouse was Chor Ng. [Source: East Bay Express]

The building was assessed at $86,000 – can you believe there is any building like that in the entire Bay Area? [Source: SF Chronicle]

NOTE: this fire has nothing to do with the Ghost Ship Halloween parties. It seems the Satya Yuga were calling themselves “the Oakland Ghost Ship”.

Notice he said “ceremony”. Different from “underground rave” or “Halloween party”. There is certainly a lot of occult imagery on the proprietors’ Facebook pages.

The owner of the business hosting the event has made a stunning comment on Facebook.

screenshot-2016-12-03-17-18-09

Understandably, the community is not impressed with this response. Selected comments at the end of this article. I’m disappointed that I have some amazing mutual friends with this guy.


[Update 12/3/16 7:46pm]

 

This list is from CBS:

Here is a list of names from the Oakland police of those who are believe to be missing from calls by family and friends.

  • Alana Kane
  • Alex Ghassen
  • Alex Vega
  • Amanda Kershaw
  • Ara Jo
  • Ben Runnels A/K/A Charlie Prowler
  • Cash Askew
  • Chelsea Faith (Dolan)
  • David Cline
  • Donna Kellogg
  • Edmind Lapine
  • Eliott Rattle
  • Griffin Sean Madden
  • hanna Hennikka Ruax
  • Ivania L. Chavarria Gonzalez
  • Jason Adrian McCarty
  • Jennifer Kiyomi Tanouye
  • Joey Matlock a/k/a Casio
  • Justin/Feral Fritz/Pines
  • Madison Machado
  • Michela Gregory
  • Naomi Riches
  • Nex/Chase Iuguolo/Wittenauer
  • Nicholas Walrath
  • Nick Gomez-Hall
  • Nicole “Denalda” R Siegrist
  • Peter Wadsworth
  • Travis Hough
  • Viktor Kastro

There were two reported to be treated at a local hospitals.

  • Samuel Maxwell
  • Tobi/Geyl Chase

[Source]

Derick Ion’s Facebook page and his wife Micah Allison’s are deeply disturbing, full of occult symbols and lengthy rants. It appears that the party-loving couple had their kids taken away by Child Protective Services several years ago. They were in a hotel room when this disaster happened. Now they are supposedly on the run:

screenshot-2016-12-03-19-49-33

They are Burners. A couple of the rants were targeted at Burning Man. See below.

 

 


Original story:

The first responders from @OaklandFireLive were there at 11:27. Half an hour later, the fire was out of control and all units were ordered to be evacuated

An eyewitness report:

It was too hot, too much smoke, I had to get out of there,’ Bob Mule, a photographer and artist who lives at the building and suffered minor burns, told the Times. 

‘I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke. I couldn’t get the fire extinguisher to work.’ 

Mule was able to make it out of the building that was engulfed in a matter of minutes.  

It’s unclear how the fire started, as it’s believed an artists’ collective that is adjacent to the warehouse was also engulfed in flames. Arson investigators will be called to the scene, officials said.  

[Source: Daily Mail]

The fire inspector has asked that people post the names of those known to be safe or missing at this Facebook thread. The police have asked for missing people’s photos and identifying features. Piercings, tattoos, clothing they were wearing, weight, birthday, hair color etc. There are more than 20 people listed here as missing, if you know any of them please try to get in touch and share their information on Facebook.

oakland-coroners-bureau

Only about half a dozen are confirmed to be OK. Someone posted the list from the hospital:

oakland-rave-list-accounted-for-dec-2-2106

These people are in the hospital

These people are still missing

These people are still missing

The list on the Facebook thread of missing people has more names. Many of the people seem to have pseudonyms, which complicates the search.

The “live/work collective space” seems like one of these Burner warehouse packed full of “stuff”. Their Facebook page describes the space as “An unprecedented fusion of earth home bomb bunker helter skelter spelunker shelters and indonesian straw huts rolling into valleys and down alleys”

satya-yuga-inside-2014

satya-yuga-guitars

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satya-yuga-internal

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Image: Google Streetview

Satya Yuga’s profile pic and other Facebook posts on Derrick Ion and his wife and children’s pages (yes, there were children living in this raver collective) suggest occult interests in dark magick and death:

satya-yuga-profile-pic

satya-yuga-facebook

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Further coverage:

Daily Mail

San Jose Mercury News

East Bay Times

Russia Today

TMZ

Vice

4Chan


Event Details:

Golden Donna (100% SILK/ CGI Records/ Not Not Fun)
Golden Donna is the electronic outlet of Madison, Wisconsin’s Joel Shanahan. The project draws on genres ranging from psych to house music to create layered tracks built on powerful, danceable rhythms and bass lines and intricate, headphone-worthy synth composition.
“As Golden Donna, Madison, Wisc.’s Joel Shanahan makes synth-based instrumentals that slide from psychedelic workouts into the kind of soaring pop that evokes 1980s movie soundtracks.” —Marc Masters, Pitchfork
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/14875-machete-bathtub/
“In truth, it all comes off more as a composition than a track, the song’s six-minute run landing on a number of different musical sections, each with their own distinctive moods and melodic hooks.” —Glenn Jackson, XLR8R, on “Empty Charm Vessel”
http://www.xlr8r.com/mp3/2014/02/empty-charm-vessel
http://www.soundcloud.com/goldendonna

Cherushii (100% SILK / Run The Length Of Your Wildness)
Cherushii is Chelsea Faith, an electronic musician based in San Francisco, California. Her passion for dance music history is evident in her work, which takes cues from Detroit techno, Chicago house, and classic rave sounds. A multi-instrumentalist since childhood, Chelsea began experimenting with electronics as a teenager, which lead to playing live techno and house at underground raves in the 2000s. She has been working as a live performer, producer, DJ, and remixer for over a decade, using her gear savvy and innate musicianship to create lush, retro-futurist productions. Cherushii signed with LA-based dance music tastemakers 100% Silk in 2013, and released her second 12″ for the label “Far Away So Close” in November 2015.
http://www.soundcloud.com/cherushii

Nackt (100% SILK /Outpost/ Rare Form/ AYLI)
Nackt is a DJ, Producer, Lover, and Gentleman. As a co-founder of the Outpost, Rare Form and Deep East parties, he is committed to bringing excellent talent to Oakland and San Francisco.
Excited by the techno-influenced house and garage revival happening in the UK bass scene, Nackt plays techno, funky deep house, and forward-thinking bass music from across the globe… Nackt’s original productions and remixes have appeared on labels like 100% Silk, Chillin Music, Popgang, Don’t Say Techno, and 3AM Devices.
http://nacktmusic.com/

Russell E. L. Butler//Black Jeans (Opal Tapes/ Jacktone Records/ Intersection)
Russell Butler is an experimental artist and DJ based in Oakland, California. Originally from Bermuda, Russell has developed a process of improvisation that draws from a rich cultural of history rooted in their island and the black, queer diaspora.
“Oakland synth artist Russell E.L. Butler used to record heavy acid jams with a punk aesthetic under the name Black Jeans…He’s since delved further inside his machines, exploring a variety of techno expressions.” – The Fader
http://soundcloud.com/russellelbutler
http://www.thefader.com/2016/05/31/russell-butler-without-fear

OBSIDIAN BLADE (Oakland no-rave)
pomo post club from the oakland underground crafted for the purpose of facilitating ecstatic camaraderie and cyberdelic transcendence
https://soundcloud.com/obsidian-blade

PIANO RAIN (AJA VISION)
Rooted in Denver and flowered in Oakland, Aja Archuleta spins webs of sound and rhythm in a study of memory and the processing of trauma through our right to dance.
https://soundcloud.com/ajavision

R △ D △ Я
“RADAR is wired for innerspace sonics and mind to mind transmissions. RADAR is bent like light through water as it reaches us through time and space. RADAR hears us, sends us back to ourselves. RADAR has conjured who we’re becoming within ourselves together: RADAR programs synths and percussion sounds to the echoes of what we’ve become by the time RADAR’s heard us. RADAR is playing the warehouse rave on the space station. RADAR could be Jon Hrabko of Oakland, CA. RADAR could be electronics, corrosion, flavor crystals in permanent shadow.”
https://soundcloud.com/j0n-1/sets/r-d-ya_ya-3-m-1-x-3

Live Visuals provided by
VISUAL AIDS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZHJJge4PU

featuring Brook Munchhausen‘s “VIDEO CUBE”

**RAVE CAVE HAIR AND NAIL SALON PROVIDING CUSTOM LOOKS**

SECRET EAST OAKLAND LOCATION
ANNOUNCED DAY OF SHOW.
$10 before 11PM
$15 after

 


Comments from Derick Ion’s public Facebook page:

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A couple of his rants were Burning Man related:

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FIRST… let me say ive said this all before… and now i will say it again…
And again and again…. because it cracks me the fuck up to see every year an endless line of hungry ghosts desperately getting in line for the ultimate ritualistic right of passage …. that they have been seeking thier entire lives….. So good to see that they have found it…… and remember…… we are not there with you.
WE ARE SATYA YUGA.
maybe you do not know what we do… it’s not … looking cool or participating in the very construct that has robbed BURNING MAN… run off the truly talented community that spent a generation plus… building a village free from the bullshit corporate wasteful ridiculously enormous ego driven mockery of participation.
I AM…. that barnacle of old stone and ancient wood and bones woven together with the family songs and cultural offerings tenderly stitched intimate upon the backside of never forever and no where now.
Not the present nightmare gaining momentum as I slip into honest dreams… it attempts to murder me with the horrific shouting of vomiting madness.
The pre recorded fabricated endless loop of a constant loving arrival … self importance systematically designed like video games for pathetic lonely 30 year olds… the childish tantrum for attention … as big money industry chains a monkey and drunk bum to the ableton serato virtual scratch live pro auto tune native mouth LIP SYNCED AS AGREED ARRANGEMENT … INVITATION TO ENDLESS IMPOSSIBLE SLOT MACHINES DRIPPING TREASURES GOLD HONEY ENDLESSLY COMING DONKEY KONG ALL NITE LONG MAINLINED DIRECT FED 25,000 WATTS ORGASMIC WADS OF POWER SUPREME…. FULL VISIONARY ASSAULT. LIKE GIANT MATRIX BRAND STEROIDAL TROPICAL FRUIT FLAVOR SHERBERT ICE CREAM EDIBLE UNDERWEAR BEING ATTACKED AND LICKED AND SUCKED ON ALL SIDES TO GET TO THE THE DELICIOUS CHEWY NECTAR OF IMMORALITIES CENTER STAGE… RED CARPET RUNWAY.. TO BE HERALDED AS DIVINE BEAUTY . THEN… LIGHT AS A SACRED NATIVE AMERICAN EAGLES FEATHER WITH DIGNITY… EAR-WING WORN COSMIC TANTRIC ALL WHITE PRAYER-FORMERS WITH PLATINUM GOLD TRIM SHIPIBO G STRINGS… LIFTED ME TOGETHER IN COMMUNAL ORGASM … SAMPLED AND LOOPED ME WITH JUST THE RIGHT FLANGIE DELAY THEN AUTO TUNED A REALTIME REMIX …. ALL OF US … THE ENTIRE 70,000 BROTHERS AND SISTERS INTERTWINED IN SACRED COMMUNAL HARMONY.. LIKE A VILLAGE… A small little village… that the devil had just visited and made us… forced to drink wine… he put his finger pointy and red … into the table… and when he pulled it out… wine as crimson as the lords sons tortured blood… sprang fourth like a fountain… of life… of forget… of passion and recklessness… we did it for jesus and spoke not of it ever again. BUT THE FUCKING BLOOM SERIES WAS THERE AND THEY ONLY FILMED THE REALLY NASTY PARTS AND BROADCASTED IT LIKE PIRATE WHALE KILLERS SEDUCING THE NEXT VICTIM WITH THE SAD YET JOYFUL SONGS OF BABY WHALES…(engineered at expressions audio arts school in emmeryville ca.) CRYSTAL CLEAR INTO EVERY DERANGED CROTCHLESS DRY HUMPER PLAYA PERVERTS EAR… IN SONIC FORCE SO LOW IN MISERABLE ATTEMPT TO REPLACE NATURAL RHYTHM… TIPPER $$Xryllix NASTY DUB STEP SY TRANCE NECROMANCE DRIVEN AS TURNCOAT ASSASSINS SELF PROMOTING MANAGER PAID TO ARRANGE THE PATHETIC FACADE OF RECKLESS AND WILD MIDDLE AGED DANGEROUS MASTER BACKER FAT ASS BUSTED BALI CROTCH BLOWN OUT FROM FUCKIN THREE BITCHES IN DESSERT POSITION … AS AGREED IN THE SIGNED CONTRACTS UNDER ALTERNATIVE GIFTING BUY IN PERCENTAGE VARIABLE OPTIONS OF SUBMISSIONS AND PERMISSIONS TO SELF AMEND THE TRADE FOR SERVICES AGAINST A SUBSTANTIAL MONETARY DEBT… DEPENDING OF COURSE ON EXISTING BENEFICIAL TO CIRCLE CONDITIONS…. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAINSTAGE OR THAT DIRTY LITTLE CLUB IN THE MISSION. IT AINT LOVE OR LUCK ANYMORE… ITS BUSINESS … BOTH SIDES FUCKING TO THE MIDDLE FOR THAT LOVING MUTUALLY EARNED GIFT OF POSITION. CUP CAKE CHEESE AND CRACKER TONY BENNETT FRANK SINATRA DEAN MARTIN… CROONER.. OUT DATED VINTAGE OBSOLETE MOB BITCHES. DIFFERENT DAY… UPGRADED EXTERNAL MONKEY FINGER SPLICED ASS SIDE OF MULE FUELED INSTANT PARTY TOOL… JUST ADD APATHY… BURNING MAN AND CLEVER STERILITY… PRE PACKAGED WITH SHELF LIFE ADVERTISED…. DEEJAY… CULTURE KILLER. FACEBOOK BILLIONAIRE RENTAL ART CAR CRUISING THE STRIP NAME BRAND HOUSEHOLD FAMOUS DOOLAB HEADLINER SOUNDTRACK AS LURE CLAIMS THIS FLY BY NITE ILLUSION OF PRETTY LIGHTS DECREPIT ROLLING COVEN OF VAMPIRES… TO BE COOL… … HUNTING WITH A SOUNDTRACK… SACRIFICIAL PIT… AIR CON DOME.. SECRET SOCIAL VIP MIXERS … GUARDED… BY BLACK-WATER ARMED MERCENARY SECURITY INSTIGATE AS CHAIN OF COMMAND MATTER OF FACT K-HOLE ROLLED BIG TITTY RAVER GIRL SEDATED STERILITY PENETRATED AND GAPED THEN WET WIPED BY PERSONAL ASSISTANTS AND PAID CATERED EXECUTIVE ELITE . SOOOOO SENSITIVE SEXY FUNNY AWKWARDLY ATTRACTIVE HONEST AND QUIRKY THE LITTLE ANIMALS IT KILLS WITH “HERTZ” AND DATE RAPED SLIPPED INTO SIPPED DRINK BURNING MAN AS EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS ghb 2cb ketamine lsd bath salt aderol legal speed doctor roberts studio 54 vitamin b eedie sedgewickes 1960 and velvet undergrounds nyc it will never be… only this… like a rerun of gomer pile. Wurlitzer crank organ… preloaded with spools of paper thin commands as holes… empty space ,,, organ music… if you can even call it that… that shit packed prosaic D.J. CRAP… THAT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR “WINNING” ALL OF THE TIME. im sorry… and i apologize ahead of time for fucking being horrified by your pack mentality mindless regurgitation of nothing. great party.. real loud. real big. wow. what a waste of the fruits of desolation and struggle… that place commands reverence… not arrogance … not sing falsely as zombies thru a function one and little man with a laptop… void of truth and ability… broadcasting as a tonal weapon that kills real breathed nervous poetry and turkish banjos puppet shows prayers lovers confessions and gentle lessons that i as your GUEST … was treated as a man and father … like a dog. fed heaping potent sonic and pathetic portions of disrespect. throwing yourselves into perpetual celebrations of self glorification. where was your families blue grass salsa samba klezmer congo polka rumba punk ska buto blues dub funk jazz junk card trick pottery kungfu carnival gospel devotional tantric day of silence for all souls past…. PEPE… THE OPERA… WITH TOTALLY LIVE ORCHESTRAS AND THROAT SINGERS…. LOST LOVES THAT LISTEN FOR THAT GENUINE SONG… WITH FUCKING WORDS… LIKE SPELLS… DONNY HATHAWAY LAHSA celia eartha billy cave jim murphy iggy smiths bauhaus war curtis fela eekamouse agustus tubby miles dexter roshan coltrane souixse smith frankie elliot ben bob perry sade nina paul pena chet flea anthony sonic portis clash floyd moody zepplin janis oconnor reed marvin niel petty dylan cash extra action idiot flesh crash worship beyond race hamza lila yard dogs breakfast alix sun eenor tommy pagan sunru moondoggie xeno cooper austin ali akbar ravi shankar manu chow mandril palmerie cachao santamaria marlena shaw X vega hagen Howie bonno mike d beastie biggie curt saul williams harper fishbone Prince elliot also green screaming j barretto earl fatha hines carlos……
awe fuck. you got the point.
PEACE. Derick Ion

Micah Allison was safely in a hotel room with her kids the night 33 people died in the fire in their “home”

 

 

Sheriff Takes Family on Raven Trip to Burning Man

raven washoe 5155

Who said Burning Man is not a rave? The Sheriff of Washoe County took his wife and kid on a joyride official police business trip to Burning Man in the company chopper. The name of the military grade, electronically souped up aerial enforcer? RAVEN.

Anjeanette Damon at the Reno Gazette-Journal has the scoop:

Washoe County Sheriff Chuck Allen hitched a ride on a preplanned RAVEN helicopter flight to Burning Man last year, and brought along his wife and adult son.

Allen said he had to attend a multi-agency meeting at the annual arts celebration in the Black Rock Desert 110 miles north of Reno on Sept. 5 and didn’t want to make the two-hour drive that often ends in a traffic jam. So, Allen said he asked the department’s chief pilot if he could jump on the flight planned for that day.

“Yes, I did include my wife and son,” Allen told the Reno Gazette-Journal on Thursday. “I can do that as sheriff.”

“I checked to make sure I wasn’t breaking any of my own policies,” he added.

The policy that governs the sheriff’s office helicopter program does not specifically address civilian ride-alongs. It has a section, however, that limits “non-RAVEN affiliated personnel” who are authorized to ride in the helicopter.

“Police, fire, REMSA, (Search and Rescue), county, city, state, military and federal employees actively involved in public safety missions may be carried on RAVEN aircraft in accordance with public law,” the policy reads.

The sheriff’s office Regional Aviation Enforcement Unit was formed in 1996, when the department obtained four helicopters through the U.S. Department of Defense’s surplus program. The unit’s primary mission is to respond to crimes in progress, search and rescue operations and drug enforcement surveillance missions…

Allen said he saw the trip to Burning Man no differently than if his wife went along with him to a department function in “my vehicle assigned to me.”..

Allen said his undersheriff and a chief deputy also brought their wives along on a previous flight to Burning Man…

Allen needed to make the trip to Burning Man to meet with Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen, as well as Bureau of Land Management personnel. Burning Man staff also gave him a tour of the 70,000-person Black Rock City. Allen said he also greeted all of the Washoe County deputies working the event and attended a dinner, which included other law enforcement personnel and their spouses…

The day Allen and his family traveled to Burning Man included the celebration’s pinnacle event of the burning of the man.

Read the full story at the Reno-Gazette Journal

What is RAVEN? It’s the Regional Aviation Enforcement Unit.

In 1996, The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office was able to obtain four helicopters through the Department of Defense’s excess property program. The four aircraft that were delivered to the county were hulks that need quite a bit of restoration and overhaul before being transformed into useable assets. Building two flyable aircraft from the original four, the Regional Aviation Enforcement Unit, or RAVEN, was born. In addition to the two Kiowas that the unit operates, RAVEN is the proud operator of the very first of only 30 manufactured HH-1H Huey helicopters, originally built by Bell for the United States Air Force for Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) purposes. The two Kiowas and one Huey are all in outstanding mechanical condition thanks to the dedication of the full time and part time maintenance personnel assigned to the unit, and were acquired and refurbished using drug forfeiture money rather than taxpayer dollars.

Originally staffed with part-time pilots from the local Army Guard helicopter unit, RAVEN has become a self sufficient aviation unit that has dedicated deputies assigned both full and part time to flying duties.

[Source]

The RAVEN unit operates both rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. They use the OH-58 Kiowa, which is a 2 seater surveillance chopper; and the HH-1H Huey, which is a USAF Search And Rescue variant of one of the largest passenger capacity helicopters ever made. The standard model can take 14 troops as well as the 2 pilots. I’m guessing the Sheriff and his family rode in on the Huey; were there other civilians with them on this flight?

The story has this to say about the logistics:

The Reno Gazette-Journal obtained a flight log from the sheriff’s office that listed three RAVEN flights to Burning Man last year on Sept. 3, Sept. 4 and Sept. 5. However, no public records apparently exist to document the family members’ flight or whether any other civilian ride-alongs have occurred in the past.

According to the log, the helicopter departed Reno at 10:50 a.m. and returned at 11:20 p.m., reporting a total of three hours of actual flight time.

Allen said the flights were not “joy rides.” Rather, they were pre-planned missions that were able to accommodate the extra passengers.

“I would have to stress, yes, it was a scheduled mission,” he said. “I would never encourage or even allow someone to go on a joy ride.”

He said his wife and son stayed with him the entire day and did not travel to participate in the Burning Man event itself.

“My wife and son shadowed me the entire time,” he said.

[Source]

Even though they watched the Man burn (presumably from a VIP position), and attended a fully catered dinner, the Sheriff takes pains to stress that they didn’t participate in the Burning Man event. This is similar logic to BMOrg’s claim that 80,000 people sitting down to watch a 30-minute uninterruptible performance with hundreds of fire dancers, followed by an hour+ pyrotechnics show when they burn the Man, does not in any way constitute live entertainment.

It doesn’t sound like these civilians needed tickets. Glad to hear that the LEOs can entertain their families by spectating on all the participants. Hey, if they can’t have bottomless Chocotacos, at least they can perv on some titties and shirt-cockers, and laugh at all the freaks they’re looking down on.

washoe sheriff huey1

Read more about the Washoe RAVEN unit at Vertical Magazine.

 

The Techno Ghetto – the History of Dance Music at Burning Man

Recent announcements from the Org make it seem like Burning Man is trying to deal with Electronic Dance Music like it’s a new problem. In fact, this is not the case. Burning Man has been taking place in the desert since 1990 and ravers started playing there in 1992, the third party. Since then, rave has grown from a few DJs to more than 5,000 different sets listed in Rockstar Librarian last year.

Not only was it fine to post the names of DJs on flyers from the very beginning, it was also personally endorsed by Larry Harvey.

burning man 1992 djs and lasers

Burning Man Flyer Advertising DJs, 1992

DJ Niles recalls:

I was DJ Niles and organized the first rave at Burning Man. I met with Larry Harvey in his kitchen to pitch him on the idea and he thought amplified music would be awesome at BM though warned me that any of the old timers wouldn’t like it and made us set up a mile from center camp with our speakers facing away from camp. We had about 20 people that came specifically for the party and about 50 people that came from BM camp. We had The Fly hotsprings to ourselves.

From Edgecentral (writing by Graham St John):

What was then known as “rave” music was first amplified at Burning Man in 1992 when a small “rave camp” appeared a mile from the main encampment, “glomming parasitically…onto the Porta-Johns.” The camp was organized by Craig Ellenwood of the early Oakland acid party crew Mr Floppy’s Flophouse. The headline act was Goa Gil, who played from Aphex Twin’s “Digeridoo” on digital audio tape to no more than 25 people. Also playing to hardly anybody were Brad Tumbleweed, Dave Synthesis (aka “Dsyn”), Craig and Terbo Ted. Terbo Ted has the mantle of being the first person to DJ at Burning Man. Ted informed me that in 1992 he “played on Friday afternoon to literally no one, with only ten miles of dust in front of me. It was awesome”. While he can’t recall it with precision, the first track played was some “spacey stuff” from a Jean Michel Jarre 12 inch from Craig Ellenwood’s record pile, “a record he was willing to sacrifice to the elements … it was literally a sound check” (ibid). Here is a link to a short excerpt from Terbo Ted’s live acid techno set in 1995, which was the first electronic music recorded at Burning Man to be released on CD (“Turbine time” on Shag).

The period was primitive to say the least. As Charles A. Gadeken reported in 1993: “I remember going out to the rave camp, it was five guys, a van, a couple of big speakers, a card board box covered in tin foil, colored lights and a strobe light. It was all cool.” But the reception was generally less than enthusiastic. Ted recalls that the punk (add your own prefix: anarcho, cyber, steam, shotgun, etc.) sensibility predominating at Burning Man held DJ culture complicit with “consumer society and a stain on an otherwise anarchistic, art-oriented event.” 

Even in the early days, this was an issue for the hippies – one they were ready to get all “stabby” for…

On one morning near sunrise in 1993, a hippy dude came up to me while I was playing music on the sound system and he holds up a knife towards me and yells “are you crazy?” And I say “no, you’re the one with a knife”. And then he says he’s going to cut me or the speakers. So I turn it down, ditched the decks and circled far and wide off into the desert. He tried to cut the speaker cones with his knife but they had metal grills on the fronts, he looked like a fool and gave up and wandered off. I put on a cassette of Squeeze’s Black Coffee in Bed as he was walking away. 

As early as 1994, there was an “official rave” listed in the Burning Man brochure.

Burning Man forced the techno reservationists to maintain their isolation a mile from Main Camp between 1992 and 1998, during which time the camp evolved into a kind of outlaw satellite of Black Rock City. Over the following two years, San Francisco’s DiY music and culture collective SPaZ (itself co-founded by Ted and D syn, along with Aaron, No.E Sunflowrfish and various others) orchestrated the sounds exclusively. It was extreme, eclectic and haphazard…Listed as the official “rave” in the Burning Man brochure for 1994, SPaZ would effect a great influence on sound system culture at the festival. 

It was the ravers who encouraged Burning Man to let anyone bring their sound, big or small. A number of music collectives then converged on the Techno Ghetto. This was the first expansion of Burning Man’s crowd beyond its San Francisco Cacophony Society roots that kept numbers steadily in the low hundreds for the first 7 years. After the rave camp was established, Burning Man’s population started doubling every year.

SPaZ, members of which later initiated the Autonomous Mutant Festival, were effectively encouraging Burning Man to be “more like the UK festival vibe where anybody could bring their sound, big or small”. So, in 1995, while SPaZ set up their small system at four points amplifying everything from minimal techno and drum-n-bass to psytrance under a four story three-cornered scaffolding with lights and “variously garish and random streamers, banners and tarps, from punk to dayglo-indian-balinese-cybertrance-batiks to outright monstrosities” visible from Main Camp, Wicked (the famed UK derived outfit who held full moon and other parties on beaches and in parks around the Bay area between 1991-1996) arrived with their turbo rig and scaffolding supporting their black and white banner. SPaZ hosted artists including Minor Minor (Gateway), Theta Blip, Chizaru and Subtropic. Featuring himself, among with DJs Markie and Bay area guest’s Spun, Felix the Dog, Rob Doten and Alvaro, Wicked co-founder (and now running Grayhound Records) Garth stated to me that they “played for 4 days and nights through hail, wind, rain and electrical storms”. North America’s first free party tekno sound system, Pirate Audio, also made an appearance that year. On the windblown frontiers of techno, in this nascent vibrant ghetto accommodating the eclectic, experimental and inclusive sounds of SPaZ, the house sounds of Wicked, and other sounds besides, Burning Man had begun to attract a variety of socio-sonic aesthetics, paving the way for the mega-vibe it would later become  

Poop was being MOOPed at dance camps even then: by BMOrg, who were dropping it on rave camps from the sky:

shit apple laheyIn this period, besides differences between the habitués and proponents of varying dance aesthetics (from the inclusive to the more proprietary) there was considerable conflict between those who regarded themselves true Burners and those they held as little more than raving interlopers. As Ted remembers, “ravers were always pariahs at Burning Man …. it’s like we were the poor people on the wrong side of the tracks and the wrong side of the man”. At one event, a bag of human excrement was dropped on the dance camp from a low flying aircraft. According to Garth, Burning Man had the porta-potties removed from the rave camp before the festival ended. “When people started crapping on the desert for lack of options, someone carried over a bag to main camp …. Burning Man was so enraged by this they flew over and apparently dropped it on one camp.

From the beginning, Rave Camp was a mile away from The Man, but back then it was still possible to drive your car around the Playa. That all changed when tragedy struck in 1996: a stoned driver ran over a tent, sending one person into a coma for months.

techno-ghetto

In 1996, the year of Helco, they tried to re-integrate the rave camp with the rest of the city – creating the Techno Ghetto as an outer suburb. The plan failed:

But, things didn’t go according to plan in the ghetto. According to Garth, “the honeymoon ended that year. The theme was “Hellco” and that was what they conjured up… by this point there were too many [sound systems], all bleeding into each other…. it felt more like a super club on the playa”. As Terbo Ted recalls, the “ghetto” was an “abysmal failure … DiY gone mad… Music snobbery and cliquishness and DiY anarchist tendencies prevented an orderly camp from forming and the resulting spread-too-thin sprawl proved to be dangerous in an era when cars were still driving at every vector on the playa at high speeds in dust storm white outs”. Both Garth and Ted are in part referring to a tragic incident in 1996 when three people were seriously injured sleeping in their tent near the Gateway sound system, one in a coma for months, after being collected by a stoned driver.  

It looks like ravers got the blame for the incident. An “unofficial anti-rave policy” was formed, to appease the complainers:

Together with an apparent perception that the “rave” was giving Burning Man a bad name within official circles, and the likelihood that techno was perceived as disturbing electronic chatter for many participants…this incident generated an unofficial “anti-rave policy”, which was effectively countered through the compromise entailed in Gosney’s innocuously named “Community Dance” in 1997.

We have an unsung Burner hero to thank for rave surviving at Burning Man in the face of this early anti-EDM sentiment from the old-timers. BMOrg, predictably, tried to ban doof – saying that only 100W systems were allowed. Luckily Mark Heller, Raver Marine, saved the day – and Burning Man was able to grow from 4,000 in 1995 to 70,000+ in 2015.

Ironically I was looking for info on Global Underground – looking to see how or if Narnia was still going on, and something of a TRUE RAVE which I attended 90-94, before moving to SF…. And of course hitting Burning Man 95-02… However I have news for you in the context of BM and raves… And not the stuff you can copy out of wiki..

Burning mans ‘community’ was, and IS rather anti-raver… They are just not openly hostile any longer – yes you heard me – hostile!

Let me explain the experience this stems from. I first heard of BM in San Diego in 94, with some irony at Narnia a much different ‘music based’ event. Much of my set, after finding that I was headed to SF decided to hit ‘The Man’, and we did. As I had an inordinate amount of time off that day and age, I volunteered and went early. (As I did following as well for a number of years.)

Anyway, a little correction of view and history is in order. And I’ll provide that for you here. In ’95 and years prior, were just tagging along, to the “Art Festival” that is BM, 95 being a clear demarcation of that. With two clear and distinct camps seperate and litteraly 2 miles away from each other. I’ll explain, upon arrival in 95 I got early and full access as a volunteer, as well as insight in the controversy of the time. The ‘Art crowd – Organizers’ were sick of the noise, and relagated “Rave Camp” to be at a distance, with a connecting road, and was seperately organized and paid for by an asphalt paving company to boot.

This distance proved FATAL, as a couple were run down in their tent along the ‘road’ I planted flags to demark. These were deaths #2&3 of 3 that year. (The other being vehicular suicide of sorts.) In response, driving, apart from art cars was banned the year following in 96. Also of interest in this context. [Clarification: 3 people were critically injured, 1 person died from vehicle accidents before the gates opened in 1996]

96, came no cars, and with it, NO RAVE CAMP! And a full blown discouragement of the rave community to attend by the BM authorities that be to this day. Find a ticket and map for that year, and you’ll find the typical desert death disclaimer on the back and with the hand outs, and also an interesting RULE, the first of many. “No sound systems over 100 watts allowed” yes you heard me! Where did 100 watts come from? – it was the biggest boom box you could find… Generators were also not encouraged, and a “centralized power system” would be provided for the limited center camps. (I have a unique perspective here as well…)

In 95 through 97, I volunteered with the guy running the generators in the BM base camp, which was very similar to what I did in the Marine Corps. (Yes, I was a Raver Marine – put your finger on that – try…) Anyway, on arrival in 96, the animosity was high, most of the art community was pleased with no rave camp & sound policies, thinking they could finally get some sleep…. I kid you not! HOWEVER – there were a lot of familiar faces from Rave Camp from the year previous and I got to know them much better this year as they were trying to fit into the new BM mold. And here’s why. I was the guy going camp to camp to find out your ‘power needs’ and drag the cables to many of them. “Hey how many amps you need?” And this is when the REVOLUTION began! And likely the only reason BM survived and grew! 95 was TOO BIG TOO LOUD TOO DANGEROUS! 96 was to be smaller quieter – but more people showed up…. To include a lot of ravers upset about what they helped build shunning them. 1/2 of the base camps requested 50A to 100A. And of those, almost all had HIDDEN DJ BOOTHS AND SPEAKERS IN GIANT PAPER MACHE ART! 10-20 THOUSAND watt systems. Right in the middle of the main camp.

In the few days prior to the first official night, the running joke was ‘don’t call the cops, my boom box is over 100w’. The first official night – THE SOUND CAME ON! AND IT WAS AWESOME!

You don’t have ME to thank for still referring to Burning Man as a “Rave” I was just a cog in a wider revolt that I did not even know was happening until I was trusted to help in the effort in an exchange of winks and nudges. An enabler…

But it was then, that the “Art Festival” known as Burning Man, embraced the chaos and the Rave community that helped make the event what it was at the time. (IMO it’s not what it used to be, and maybe that’s good too – different topic)

[Source: Burners.Me]

Burning Man flyer advertising DJs, 1998

Burning Man flyer advertising DJs, 1998

bm flyer 1999

Burning Man flyer advertising DJs, 1999

In 1998 Burning Man was described as “the ultimate meta-rave”. This year saw the integration of EDM and big art burns, with 2000 people at the Temple of Rudra (yes, they had Temples there before David Best’s first one). BMOrg shut it down on the first night, pulling the plug from the generator:

In 1998, a community sound system featuring New York’s Blackkat collective, The Army of Love, SPaZ and Arcane was unpacked on the playa. Holding their own desert dance gatherings over the previous five years in the Mojave, Moontribe also set up that year, with artists performing for three consecutive nights next to The Temple of Rudra, with the final party drawing 2000 people following Pepe Ozan’s opera. Symptomatic of the ongoing tensions, as Ozan apparently neglected to inform the Burning Man organization about his deal with Moontribe (they were providing the soundcheck for his opera), the event’s unique peace keepers, the Black Rock Rangers, unplugged the generator at dawn on the first night. With the all-too-familiar experience of having “Rangers” shut them down, Moontribe’s Treavor successfully pushed for an agreement for an all-night party after the opera on the Friday night, which also happened to be a full moon. According to Treavor, with himself, Petey and Matthew Magic performing: “we kicked in with some full on Psy Trance/Techno madness and tons of people came over and stayed in front of our system until around noon when it was about 110 degrees and time to end”

The anti-raver sentiment went beyond just BMOrg and the Rangers.

That known DJs were being targeted by Burning Man organisers was a circumstance endured by Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky), who was apparently pursued on the playa by “Pipi Longstocking” in the mid 1990s. But the tension between ravers and Burners seems to have been appropriately dramatized in a performance which saw a standoff between Goa Gil and a giant peddle-powered flamethrowing drill and Margerita maker called the Veg-O-Matic of the Apocalypse—or, more to the point, anti-rave crusader Jim Mason who was peddling the beast. Mason’s Veg-O-Matic is described by Robert Gelman in his article Trial by Fire: “It’s straight out of hell, suggesting engineering from the industrial revolution transported to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Part vehicle, part flame-thrower, part earth drilling device, I envision this machine being used to battle creatures in a 1950s monster movie, or to torture souls of the damned in the realm of satan”. With a pressurized gas-charger spurting flames as far as seventy feet from its barrel, and a gathering mob inciting it to greater acts of destruction, the Veg-O-Matic was known to burn installations in its path following the demise of the Man. On its post-Burn rampage, when the Veg-O-Matic rolled into the first Community Dance camp in 1997, Mason found Goa Gil directly in his path:

The crew of the machine is tilting the flamethrower’s barrel up at the console. Gil is staring down the 12-foot barrel of this jet powered char-broiler. I had to remind myself that this is theatre, or is it? I’m still not sure. “Burn it!” the mob chants, “Burn THEM!” Like an opposing pacifist army, the ravers are standing their ground, some shouting in defiance of the threat, some in disbelief that this could really be happening. Chicken John, like the demented circus ringmaster that he is, issues his now-familiar warning over the bullhorn [“Stand Aside”]. We seem to have travelled back centuries in time. I don’t remember ever feeling farther from home than this.

Ravers have been far more effective at bringing Burning Man culture back into the Default world than any other group. What have the hippies done to spread our culture, other than a few panel discussions?

The spirit of Burning Man is raised throughout the year in San Francisco at events such as the pre-Burn Flambé Lounge, the annual Decompression Street Fair, the How Weird Street Faire, the Sea of Dreams New Year’s Eve events and numerous sound art camp fundraising events held between May and August every year. The Decompression events have become hugely popular multi-area dance parties, and attracting many who’ve never been to Burning Man. The San Francisco “Heat the Street Faire” Decompression party is a reprise of the Burn held on 8 city blocks two months after the event.

[Source: Edgecentral]

So EDM has been at Burning Man pretty much as long as there’s been a Burning Man. This is nothing new. It hasn’t turned into Coachella or Glastonbury in 23 years, so why are people suddenly afraid that it’s going to now?

edm artistSurely a bigger problem is the miraculously consistent quota of 40% Virgins – every year it just gets harder and harder for Veteran Burners to get tickets, and more safari tourists come. BMOrg is trying to blame EDM for this, but we had EDM 20 years ago. What we didn’t have back then was a Ruling Group determined to promote themselves in the mainstream media: The Simpsons, Wall Street Journal, New York Times,  Inc, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Fast Company, Town and Country, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC, PBS, the New Yorker, airline in-flight magazines – not to mention all the celebrities and politicians encouraged to name-drop Burning Man and give media interviews from the Playa. I think if anyone is to be blamed for ticket scarcity, it should be the promoters who did this massive PR push into Default society so they could sell more tickets at higher prices – not ravers, who have been gifting awesome experiences at Burning Man on their own dime over the past 3 decades.

If ravers were there 10 years ago, and not creating huge amounts of MOOP ; and they were there 20 years ago, and not creating huge amounts of MOOP – then it is false to blame ravers now for MOOP. What else has changed, over all those years that EDM has been at Burning Man? Perhaps the entitled attitude of the Millenial generation who think they’re making the world a better place just by being in it is more of a factor.

The philosophy that has been promoted by the official propaganda channels in the past week is that if someone sees Burning Man on The Simpsons on FOX and wants to visit once to have a drug experience like Marge, they are a good person and coming for the right reasons; but if someone sees that Lovefingers is going to be on the Mayan Warrior on the art car’s Facebook page and wants to go because they like that DJ, that is a bad person and we don’t want them at our festival. Which isn’t a festival.

You can’t have this AND Radical Inclusion.

See also: Ranting and Raving