Burning Man Links

Collection of helpful links I have verified, as of 1/25/12 links below are working.

Preparation Guides and Survival

• http://www.burningman.com/preparation/ - preparation
• http://burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/relationships.html - relationship guide
• http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2011/08/xlr8rs-ultimate-burning-man-surv - XlR8R Mag Guide
• http://www.cieux.com/bm/dorksGuide.html - A Dork's Guide
• http://www.burningman.com/first_timers/ - First Timer
• http://www.softcom.net/users/rocksci/bman/ - how to stay alive funny link
• http://dancefever5000.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/shilo%E2%80%99s-virgin-burning-man-guide-by-tricia/ - Vigin Guide by Shilo
• http://www.sfbg.com/burningman - Guide by SF Gaurdian
• http://ballettothepeople.com/2011/08/17/burning-man-survival-guide-for-dancers/ - Dancer's Guide
• http://wikitravel.org/en/Black_Rock_City - Wiki Travel Org
• http://polyparadise.azcompuguy.com/emotional.htm - Mental/Emotional Guide
• 
  

Packing Lists

• http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Tools-Burning-Packing-List/lm/RWOZMDGPVRMH2 - AMAZON LIST user generated
• http://bureauofmisinformation.com/rascal-haskells-burning-man-packing-list/
• http://www.caveday.com/hangovers/the-burning-man-hangover-survival-guide with check boxes
• http://www.scribd.com/doc/17388429/Crunchy-Mamas-Burning-Man-Packing-List
• http://burningmanstyle.com/
• http://matadornetwork.com/goods/ultimate-burning-man-packing-list-75-items-to-bring-to-brc/

Burning Man Bikes

• http://artpredator.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/bikes-at-burning-man-part-two-lets-go-ride-at-night - Very informative bike specific guide :)
• http://www.monkeylectric.com/ - COOL BIKE LIGHTS!
• http://playacycles.com/ - Bike care info
• http://www.burningman.com/on_the_playa/bikes/index.html - Official
• http://www.cieux.com/bm/maxicon.html - Buying used bikes
• http://burningtribe.com/html/playabikes.html - Advice
• http://www.ifixit.com/blog/2010/09/15/burning-man-bike-repair/ - Bike Repair on Playa

Building Desert Structures

• http://www.desertdomes.com/dome.html - Dome construction

Black Rock City Fashion

• http://dustycouture.com/ - Dusty Couture BM Fashion Blog
• http://blogs.laweekly.com/stylecouncil/2011/08/burning_man_fashion_guide.php - La Weekly Fashion Article
• http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2009/burning-man-packing-list/ -Etsy!!!! shopping list

Burning Man Resting Relaxing And Recovering

• http://www.caveday.com/hangovers/the-burning-man-hangover-survival-guide - Hangover Guide

Burning Man Ideas for Hair, Makeup, Clothing and more

Photo by John Curley

Girls guide to staying pretty on the playa. The key is try to keep things as low maintenance as possible, while still looking nice. Below are some ideas and suggestions on girls stuff for Burning Man.

Hair

• Rule of thumb stick to what’s easiest for you at home.
• Wigs are great for the night. Not only do they protect your real hair from getting sandy, but they also keep your head warm from cold playa nights. During the day it can be very hot. For some it might be too hot for wigs, so as long as you’re comfortable you can wear a wig.
• Braids are a great option for playa. They are
• Playa is not the time to be crimping and curling. You do not want to spend a lot of time on your hair while at burning man.
• Fun hair accessories, big flowers, clip on feathers and colored hair extensions
• After 3 days your hair will be crispy from all the sand.
• You will need heavy conditioner and various shampoos once you get back from Burning Man.
• When you finally was your hair Do a light vinegar rinse, this will help get rig of playa sand and protect it the alkaline.

Makeup

• Bright colored lipstick is great looks better in pictures too
• Sparkly eye make up
• Bright eye shadows
• Big fake eyelashes, i find them annoying to wear but alot of girls had them on and they look great.
• Check out Xotic Eyes and Violent Lips makeup one time applique solutions. Paste and go.
• Warpaint and Tribal style
• Over the top
• Try All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray by Urban Decay. It should help your make up last a little bit longer.

Nails

• If you can afford to spend $30 on a manicure suggest getting Shellac or similar gel nail manicure. This type of manicure lasts up to two weeks with no chips. I tested it last year and it worked great.
• Your nails are going to chip regardless of what you do, so iether bring some remover or adopt an "I don't care attitude"
• Crackle polish
• Glitter polish
• Fun designs

Palyawear, Burning Man Fashions

• Stay away from garments the will spread MOOP.
• Anything goes, in term of playa wear you can really get a way with anything so be fun and creative.
• Small backpacks or fanny pack, cross body bags, its good to have different size bags depending how long you will be out of you home base.
• Hats to protect you from the sun, big floppy ones, or cowboy style
• Faux colored fur it’s a Playa must have.
• Parasols make great accessories and they help protect you from the sun
• My criteria for shop
• Head dresses
• Masks
• Its not halloween so I don't suggest full costumes, but if you peace together pieces of different costumes that works!
• Bikini tops
• Mesh
• Colorful fun printed leggings and stockings, great for night time
• Tank tops, tube tops, no tops
• Shorts
• Sequins
• Someday you might not feel like fully dressing up or making your outfit a production, bring some regular clothes.

A lady will always carry with her...

• Portable ashtray if you smoke
• Small mirror
• Lip gloss or chap stick, colored chap stick
• Roll on perfume or travel body spray
• Travel Size baby wipes useful for everything.
• Hand cream, hands ten to get dry, and not just any hand cream but the higher the concentration of Shea butter the better.
• This is apart from your essentials, dust mask, head lamp, lights ect.
• Feminine wipes
• Condoms
• Breath mints, gum, or those tiny disposable tooth brushes
• Hand held folding fan, keep your self cool.
• Sun glasses

Coolest Burner Bikes Ever?

A cool collection of Burning Man dream bikes.

Bright Bike
http://www.thebritebike.com/


EL Wire Bike

Monkeylectric Bikes

http://store.monkeylectric.com/

Parker Brothers Tron Legacy Bike - Yep, you can have your own Tron bike!

http://www.parkerbrotherschoppers.com/

Burning Man Tips, Tricks, Survival Guide, Dos’ and Donts’ All in One. Part 2

PART 2 - Let’s Talk Logistics, first time RVing

How to get you and all your CRAP from point A to point Burning Man? How and when too book everything. This is how we did it, you can learn from our mistakes.

We booked an RV from San Francisco, made the bulk of our purchases in Reno.

I pretty much did things in the following order and it worked out well:

1. Book RV
2. Buy Burning Man Ticket
3. Buy Airfare
4. Pick up RV in San Francisco
5. Buy Supplies in Reno + Bikes (will talk more about this in Part 3: Collecting your Harvest)

But you don’t know anything about camping and you still want to go Burning Man? Have no fear. Who can blame you? Get and RV and join a camp. This will make you life easier your camp will help you get organized. Some camps provide meals and build showers. This is what camp dues are for, to build stuff for your camp like light up dance floors and provide food and comfort in a hostile environment.

When is the time to Book your RV? Where?
If your asking this question then probably you’re already too late, prices for booking an RV go up the closer you get to BM dates. So the time to book the RV is NOW! Before December you can get the best prices. Start doing your research right after this years BM is over to book for next year.

MISTAKE – Not Booking an RV early. Rule of thumb the sooner you can book your RV for Burning Man, the better.

The closer you are to Reno the more expensive it will be. So for a couple of hours drive from San Francisco or Sacramento, you can SAVE a lot of money.

What are the costs? Is booking an RV going to cost me an arm and a leg.

That depends on the size of RV and pick up location. Average RV cost not out of Reno is $2,700 for an RV that can accommodate 4 or 5 adults. Prices range $1,500 - $6,000+ so be smart about booking. So about $500 - 800 per person (in a vehicle for 5+ people), should cover RV and gas cost, for the length of the trip. Gas cost was actually less than expected. To fill up our is was about $120 to fill the RV, we filled up 3 or 4 times.

To book an RV you only need a credit card and a partial deposit. Worry about the rest of the money later on when you’re required to pay in full. Rules on payment vary from company to company. Read and ask questions before booking. Also expect to pay extra fee because of BM.

MISTAKE – Trying to fool the RV rental place, by saying your not taking it to Burning Man. They been doing this for years, they know. The dust gets everywhere including the motor. It’s impossible to get off. They’ll know. You’ll end up forfeiting the deposit or paying extra.

The extra insurance we got saved our asses. Get whatever extra coverage you can. I our case we went over a curb, and it made a slight damage to the wheel well. We paid $75, versus $300-$400 to fix with out the insurance.

MISTAKE – Not getting the insurance.

Is the convenience package REALLY worth it? What the hell is a convenience kit anyways? How many kits should I get?
Most RV companies off a kit called the convenience kit. It brings a fair amount of stuff your going to need. Fees for the kits are $50 or more per kit.

Kits include:
• Pots & pans
• Cooking Tools – Yes! It comes with can opener
• Silverware, dinnerware and glassware
• Pillows and blankets
• Towels

A lot of people say no, it’s not worth it but I disagree. It’s easy to bring all this when you live in the west coast, but if you have to travel by air to go pick up your RV its all the stuff you don’t want to bring with you from far away.

I do however think, you don’t need 1 kit per person, 1 or 2 kits for entire RV is fine.

TIP – Get at least one convenience kit.

What do I do when I pick up my RV? And Returning? Cleaning is a bitch.
This is probably the single most important thing I learned about booking an RV! When you pick up this monstrous vehicle inspect it well. We where so excited that we for got to check a couple of things.

We where already well on the road to Burning man when we realized two very important things:

1. The microwave DID NOT work … Keep Calm carry On
2. The amount of gas that rental company said they put in the vehicle was contrary to what it actually had. Supposedly they gave us a full tank. FAIL it was 1/3 full. This was a problem because you have to return it with the same amount… Keep Calm carry On

I cant stress this enough inspect ever single inch of that because you will be liable.

Check that everything works. If it run on electric make sure it turns on and its working properly. If you find any bumps or bruises make sure the company knows it.

TIP - Test all of the electronics yourself
Microwave … make sure it turns on heats up
Stove … make sure it turns on heats up
Fridge… make sure both halves are cold Fridge and Freezer
Generator… test it before you go
Meters for black water… make sure they seem inorder



OH! And expect the RV place to be rude to you, they’ve been dealing with Burners all day.

Returning, the RV is not easier. In fact it’s harder because cleaning it is a bitch. We did our cleaning ourselves this saved us some money in the end. A group of 5 of us did it in about 2 hours.

PLAYA SAND is like BABY POWDER so the first couple of times you try to wipe it off, all your doing is spreading it. Be prepared to use water and lots of it go to an RV park they will have areas for you to clean your RV and a hose. It will be everywhere. It’s going to want to stick to you and to the RV. It’s going to want to go home with you. It’s you new clingy boyfriend or girlfriend that you can’t get rid of. Good old-fashioned elbow grease is your answer.

TIP - Use moist towels with vinegar to help wipe things down and remove sand.

Burning Man Tips, Tricks, Survival Guide, Dos’ and Donts’ All in One. Part 1

PART I - Answering The Question.

No one said it was going to be cheap or easy to get there, but no one ever said it wasn’t going to be the time of your life either.

Let me try and answer the question that has been around as long as the festival itself.

WHAT IS BURNING MAN?

Forget everything you know about music festivals, it’s not a music festival. Yes, there’s tons of music there but its not music festival. I feel its important to get that out of the way since as a first timer that’s the closest thing that you might be able to equate it too. I assure you its way cooler than that. You’re going to be a part of the largest social experiment that ever was.

So... How do you describe Burning Man, I like to think of it as walking into the desert version of Bosch’s painting The Garden of Unearthly Delights. Simply it’s a city in the desert that was designed by some of the most creative artist people in the world. Its’ all done for YOU, to enjoy and a play in for one week only. So make the most of it. Yes, there’s music there good and bad, the art comes first. Everything has a creative spin on it, things are don’t ‘A La Burning Man’. Thing are just little different here, There’s a burner way of life, a funnier way of life. Like a city it has infrastructure and it’s pretty well organized. There’s everything a REAL city has, except in this city a YOUR city, it’s free. You’ll find everything a city has to offer, Art galleries, theatrical performances, fashion shows, boutiques, fitness classes and you can even pamper your self in the finest salons. Yes, I said FREE. It’s economic model, Gifting! Don’t confuse that bartering; slightly different you should give not expecting to get anything back. And always remember it’s your city and you should treat it as such. Respect it and treat it with kindness. Burning Man itself is the biggest gift, given to all of us. And if all this wasn’t enough, at night it glows. The darkness welcomes your kaleidoscopic dreams of light and turns them into your reality; a return to LITE-BRITE come to life.

But what about the citizen of Black Rock City. They are just as fun, crazy and adventures as the time you'll have. The city is has a truly diverse culture, people from all walks of life. And all ages kids from 1 to 92. And not to mention some of the nicest and giving people you'll encounter in and out of the desert. Everyone is dressed the part too hot or not, the ultimate form self expression anything goes. Let the ridiculousness flow out of you via your outfits. Or on the other hand clothing can be optional.

Picture everything I've said and bundle it into on; the art, music, the city, the giving all of it makes Burning MAn what it is. But like all good things Burning Man comes to an end too. At the end your of the week in wonderland, this pagan society of sorts comes together to burn the Man and Temple. He is a symbol of society, life, and what ever you want him to mean. She, the Temple is all you hold cherish and all you hold sacred. A party and a funeral, the ending of a cycle, the chance to let go and what them burn. This marks the beging of your return to reality. Come morning the day after Temple burns, your exodus begins.

Time to bid adios...

So long, farewell

Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.

Don't just leave Black Rock City, take something with you! Take the principals of what you've seen through out the week. The kindness of strangers and the giving. Imagine how life would be if we could apply them to the "real world". We can create our own realities.

So, Are you excited yet? You should be.

The Places You'll Go Burning Man 2011 Video, by Dr. Seuss

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Soraya AKA the Mother of Meep (and you too Baez) and anyone else willing to read. As if there aren't enough guides and things to read here is another.

Location For WMC 2012, OH! SO NEW.

***For Immediate Release*** January 5, 2012 – South Florida, U.S.A. WMC organizers have revealed the location for the 27th Annual Winter Music Conference program, March 16-25, 2012 in Miami Beach. WMC is building a modern custom-designed air-conditioned tent complex on the beach at 21st Street and Collins Avenue. "This is something WMC has been planning with the City of Miami Beach for a while," explains WMC Co-Founder Louis Possenti. "There is no greater opportunity than the flexibility to design this structure specifically to suit the needs of the WMC participants and no better location than directly on the sand at the center of South Beach." WMC has teamed up with the 10th Annual Funkshion Fashion Week and Eventstar to design and build the temporary multi-use complex on the beach which will also serve as the Funkshion Fashion Week headquarters prior to the WMC opening dates. "This partnership is a perfect fit given the synergy between music and fashion," explains Louis Possenti. "Funkshion Fashion Week is a quality event with a long track record of programming on Miami Beach. As part of this partnership WMC will be programming additional events related to fashion and music during its opening weekend." The WMC Housing Bureau has partnered with numerous hotels at a variety of price points surrounding the Beachplex’s central location on South Beach. These include The Catalina, The Palms, The Tradewinds, The Riviera, Circa 39 and the Grand Beach which are offering discounted rates while inventory lasts for WMC 2012 delegates. For special WMC delegate rates, rooms must be booked through the WMC Housing Bureau atwww.WinterMusicConference.com. Currently the WMC industry badge is being offered at a promotional Registration rate of $345 ($140 off the Walk-Up rate) until January 11, 2012. Registration includes access to panels, seminars, featured Q & A’s, the 27th Annual IDMAs, WMC official poolside events, South Beach Sessions, Record Collectors Show, WMC Rocks, trade show & exhibits, workshops (with the exception of the Remixing and Editing Workshops), DJ Spin-Offs, VJ Challenge as well as complimentary or reduced admission to WMC official and sanctioned events for the full ten days of programming. Marketing opportunities are currently discounted by 20% through January 20, 2012. WMC is also accepting applications, inquiries and requests for panels and workshops, DJ Spin Off, VJ Challenge, showcasing and events. A variety of WMC 2012 sponsorship opportunities are available within and surrounding the Beachplex. About Winter Music Conference During the annual Winter Music Conference in Miami Beach, more than 500 industry gatherings, performance events, exhibits, seminars and workshops boast one of the most sought-after aggregations of legendary and emerging artists to be found in the world. A pivotal platform for the advancement of the industry, WMC attracts over 1,400 artists, music industry delegates from 70 countries and over 100,000 event attendees each year. WMC Office: 3450 NE 12th Terrace Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334 Phone: (954) 563-4444 * Fax (954) 563-1599 Email: info@WinterMusicConference.com WinterMusicConference.com