Hearts of Flame Trilogy I :
IGNITION
07/August/08 | DJ
Playaduster
23 days.
In a little over three weeks, the Man will burn. Over 50,000 revelers, seekers and freaks will gather around the effigy on a remote, desolate, dry lake bed in a forgotten corner of Nevada to drum, dance with fire and lose their minds to the magic of the moment.
Though I've long decided that I won't be returning to participate in The Event in the Desert in 2008, I have to admit that with the arrival of August, Black Rock City's invisible, inevitable gravitational pull is agitating my soul. I have other projects and efforts I am dedicated to this year, namely establishing a relationship and a new home with an amazing woman and very special 7 year-old boy, but that doesn't negate my natural affinity for ritual, for community gatherings in sacred spaces, for ecstatic release, for psychedelic sojourning, for intense life-reflection and inward reorientation and for creative pranksterism.
My Burn brother Edubious and I have hatched alternative plans for the Burn weekend, and we plan on some deep-delving and freestyle soul-expression in the land above tree line in Washington's North Cascades. We'll be with all y'all, if not geographically, surely in spirit. More on that journey later...
As the days lean in closer to the gathering, I feel all kinds of emotions bubbling up, all kinds of personal needs I recognize as neglected, and an intense desire to create and share with friends. The most I can muster together for now is sharing music with the listeners dialed in to this dBM network. To that end, I'm reposting my Hearts of Flame, a Burning Man tribute-trilology in a podcast formulation.
I went through a similar process of longing in 2006 during Burn week, when I was back here in the Default World but feeling the massive energy gathering on the playa (the intensity of that longing was what ultimately led me to find a way back to the Burn in 07). Night after night in Bellingham, staring at a webcam focused on Center Camp and tuning in to the video reports from TV Free Burning Man, I wove together deeply-felt musical mixes on my Macbook. The music and the vibe were inspired by Burning Man, reflecting what I learned from my first Burn in 2004.
I set out to make a cohesive 1-hour mix, but got carried away on a wave of inspiration, and didn't wind the mix up until 4+ hours later. I had to split it up and the Hearts of Flame trilogy was born. It was a mixing session that lifted my skills to a new level -- I took what I knew about serving up music mixes and then pushed my own boundaries until I ended up with a blend that was like nothing I had heard before. It was strange and lucid and inspired and unpredictable, with massively overlaid sounds morphing in to a weird soundtrack emanating from my heart.
Listening to it today, there are all kinds of things I would do different, tracks I would like to get rid of and transitions made smoother. Yet when I hear it I am instantly transported to Black Rock City, as well as to those feelings of participating in the Burn from far away. It connects me to the primary vibe of the Burn, plugs me in and takes me away.
So, yesterday I decided that to share it here on Destination Burning Man and plan on posting one chapter of it per week from today until the Burn. (I posted it in 2006 as I was creating it on my other podcasting website, The Podcast Cafe, but have a more sympathetic audience right here.)
I hope it will inspire those of you who are busy getting ready for the journey to the Black Rock Desert right now. I send it out with the intention of connecting all of us, those who are Burn-bound and those who have chosen other routes this year. If Hearts of Flame stimulates you in any way, I'd love to hear about it: destinationburingman@gmail.com
Love and dusty kisses, DJ Playaduster
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