Destination Burning Man Blog

First of all, The Three Broke Dudes suddenly and surprisingly became The Two Broke Dudes when Hekter, our brother holding down the Inland Empire from a Spokane position, bowed out last week. Couldn't swing the finances this year, he said, and so regretfully surrendered his Green Man ticket to the swirling forces of the universe. No time to update the website at this late date to reflect this new Configuration of Dudes– the man burns in 32 days, don't you know! – so I'm just gonna let it ride for now. Hekter – we'll miss you and the playa will miss you, but we'll tell the Man you said "Whattup?" I was really looking forward to riding side-saddle with Johnny Buckskin 'cross the desert expanses in search of the Milk of Amnesia with chaps strapped loosely....

Secondly, earlier posts to this blog reference The Three Broke Dudes joining forces with Boogie Universal Arts Collective to bring a ginormous Boogie Pyramid to Burning Man. Our earlier daydreams of the mobile soundsystem/Lotus Lounge contraption got awfully technical and out of our reach for now, but then we connected with this lovely group of creative and groovy folks here in Bellingham that have been throwing dance parties and costume balls and circus performances with great success for the past 8 years. The group decided they wanted to bring their Boogie magic to the playa in '07 and put out the word on the local BurningHamsters listserv – yes, for real: BurningHamsters, the loosely-affiliated regional group of local burners.


Canadian geese fly in formation over the Boogie Pyramid work site.

Anyways, fast forward 2 or 3 months and we're a gang somewhere between 20-30 people and the Boogie pyramid is fast approaching reality-status. We've been meeting every weekend for months in an undisclosed farm field outside of Ferndale, WA and constructing this….this…thing out of recycled billboard vinyl, rivets, grommets and galvanized steel. There has been much amateur engineering and high school math skills have been dusted off as we try and figure out how this pyramid will work. People have pitched in with dozens of hours of labor, free welding work for the mast, free use of aforementioned secret farm field, etc and I think we're actually gonna pull this off.


Meeting under the camp shade structure (not the pyramid).

But building the Boogie Pyramid is only one part of the story (catch breath, safety check and swill beer...). The collective has also been meeting most Tuesdays to plan a myriad of camp logistics: food, Leave No Trace, transportation, camp theme, entertainment in the Pyramid, camping, furniture, costumage, generators and power production, booze, camp wellness, showers and grey water evaporation – the list goes on and on and then on some more. We hash through all this for hours, and then follow up with brainstorms and conundrums online on our listserv group. Impossible to say how many hours have gone in to this project, this dream, this folly – actually, we probably don't even want to know. But I have found an odd sense of satisfaction in focusing my free time on an endeavor that is madness, a mission that that makes no sense. I get a surprising jolt of inspiration in spending hard-earned time and money on a project with aspirations that lie outside of normal boundaries: we won't make any money doing this. There is no fame and glory to be earned in all of this, no job promotion nor merit badge.


Inside the camp shade structure (our tents will be set up underneath for double-shade sleeping potential).

So why are we doing it? Hard to pin down. I'm sure each member of the Boogie Universal camp would provide a different answer.

What is it that draws one to the playa anyways? An infinite amount of answers, all correct.

But, more importantly, what makes one want to return to Burning Man again, after having tasted the dust storms and hangovers and sunburn and thirst of the desert?

And why work to set up an enormous 35,000 watt sound installation in a 3,600 square-foot 40-foot tall white pyramid a thousand miles away from home in the middle of a desiccated lake bed in Nevada?

Shouldn't you be home, at work, somewhere moist and comfy?!?


Camp shade structure and Komo Kulshan.
All photos by Scott Glackman -- thanks!

(You can see more pictures here. You can listen to musical mixes bound for the playa here. You can support our mission financially here.)

It's all made of plywood, and it's all gonna burn at the end of the week. Designs courtesy of Playatech.com.

Bogie Universal is throwing a party to raise funds for our Boogie Pyramid project and journey to Black Rock City in August 2007. Come down to Hot Shotz at 1707 State Street in Bellingham Friday, July 27, for music, performance, drink specials and a Burning Man documentary. Most importantly, contribute to the finances and high energy goodness that we'll need to make this crazy dream a reality. We'll be going 'til 4 in the morn and hope to see you there!

More info at at the Boogie Universal homepage.

There is also a good explanation of the Boogie Pyramid project with photos posted here.

There is a killer hat shop in Leavenworth, Washington -- a narrow cubbyhole of a store that holds hundreds, if not thousands, of glorious hats of all shapes, sizes, colors, styles, moods and methods. Edubious and DJ Playaduster have both made pilgrimages to this sacred shrine of hatness and picked up a few lids perfect for the playa....