The Man Will Burn Without You: 2011 Theme Announced–Rites of Passage

Last night the Man burned without me.

Back in 1997, I remember being out on the playa and being exhorted that “the Man will Burn without you” by someone from Porn Arena using a megaphone. It’s almost a meme out there now. But it’s true: the Man will burn with out YOU. This claim points out and reminds us that “Burning Man” isn’t really about the Man burning at all, but about a radical experiment in intentional community. The Man is just an excuse.

Last night, as some 50,000 revelers prepared for the Burn, we sat on the couch, freshly showered following a nice dinner of grilled pork chops, fresh picked squash, rosemary potatoes, green salad and home grown tomato. In our dust free house, we drank cold AUS chardonnay as we watched the festivities online at Ustream–20 minutes or so of fire dancing and fireworks followed by about 10 minutes of the Man burning then falling. We tried listening to BMIR but no luck, probably something on our end.

At one point, there were over 8,000 viewers watching it with us on Ustream.

(Live Feeds Direct From Burning Man Enjoy a live webcast from Black Rock City 2010. And listen in to the live audio stream from BMIR 94.5, broadcasting from Center Camp.)

It looked like a good Burn–not too much wind until the heat from the fire kicked it up. Last year, the wind howled all afternoon and into the evening. Seven adults and one child and one teen huddled in our van as it rocked in the gale, escaping the worst of it, even as it filtered in through the van’s pop-up. We drank a rhone blend from Twisted Oak and a wild yeast syrah from Vino V and others; the shot of the dust on the bottles gives you a clue about the environment out there! Finally, BMIR announced that the Man would Burn and it was time to head out to the playa.

After the Man burns, the next year’s art theme is announced. We checked the Burning Man website and twitter but hadn’t heard by the time we went to bed about 11pm.

This morning I learned the theme for Burning Man 2011 is “Rites of Passage.”  We’re going, at least we’re planning to right now. We’ve got a few rites to attend to: if we can convince some of our close Burner friends to join us, we’re going to get remarried out there next year. And I have some business to attend to in the Temple.

Note: )'( photo credit to Burning Mom Jennifer V Baum aka Absinthia, who celebrated a MAJOR birthday out on the playa this year before the gates opened.