| Author | Memories |
| Moon | Randy, Jimmy and I head out on Thursday afternoon. Back then, the Man burned on Sunday, so we felt we had plenty of time. We were looking for a camp called "Percussion", since Jim and Randy had built the "SUDS" Sport Utility Drum Set. We never found them and ended up Camping in Gigsville, as you all know.
My story is about my first ever morning at B-Man. I hadn't slept much. Too excited, don't sleep well anywhere but in my own bed anyway, etc. So, I was up early. I'd never seen a sky like that. So incredibly big and blue. No power lines in the way, no trees, nothing.
Just sky. It took my breath.
As I set out in search of a porta potty, there were 2 guys in their own camp throwing a football back and forth. As I began to pass them, one of them mis-threw the ball and it landed at my feet. They chastised one another (jokingly) for having mis-thrown the ball and said something about me not being able to catch that even if I'd been Jerry Rice. Well, as a die-hard San Francisco 49er fan, I heartily agreed. (Jerry still played for the 9'ers then, BTW) With that, I was pronounced "awesome" by both guys and gifted with my 1998 Fimo Clay Burning Man pendant. It is, to this day, my most treasured B-Man object. But beyond that, the gifting of it - WOW! I'd never experienced that before. And that simple act was the beginning of a sense of community I've yet to experience anywhere else. Except at Burning Man.
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| Ruvi | A year that almost did not happen for me. I was all prepared - tickets purchased, bags in the process of being packed.... and then the three people who were to go with me cancelled about a week before BM and I had to scramble to find travel partners. I ended up convincing a friend of mine (Bill) who at first hesitated because of work responsibilities. I then reminded him that he worked for the same people who a week before Christmas announced that promised bonuses were cancelled due to "budget shortages", yet they flew in their top sales people from around the country in leased private jets and threw a party at one of the premiere luxury spas in Arizona. This made him realize that he was about to come down with a case of acute 1 week flu, and as such had to leave this office immediately and avoid all contact with work persons for 7 days :-) We also picked up two riders in Vegas - one who toured with Bindlestiff's Family Circus. His particular talent was to swallow sowing needles with thread and pass it out though the walls of his stomach and pull them out of belly. "Why?" is the first thought that came to mind). Closely followed by wondering how one even practice to do something like that. It's not like you can afford to fail... Burning Man itself was fun again. I met many cool people and saw many cool things. However, I decided that I cannot depend on a small group of people again so I was going to look for an extended family for 1998. I found this in the Tribe :-) and have not looked back since!
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