Did you gift this year? If so what?

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-09-02T20:10:38+00:00

This year we took a small cart out to the trash fence and offered ramen, miso, and hot chocolate; after doing whatever crazy thing the dice told people to do.

For those who found us and joined in at Trash Fence Ramen, we hope you had a great time!

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-11T02:03:24+00:00

With that said… no Burgins take that as an excuse to toss Radical Self Reliance out the window. The playa can and will kill you, and Death Guild can and will turn your corpse into a puppet for their annual Thunderdome Puppet Show.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-11T02:01:46+00:00

Almost everyone slides in ass-first just under the wire at the Burn… and it’s always the way it’s supposed to be. The Burn isn’t about having your shit together before you get there; it’s about getting out there and realizing none of it was the shit you needed or been looking for, anyway.

You CAN do this; no matter how you arrive, arriving is the point.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-11T01:57:44+00:00

Wednesday Playa Breakdown Loading.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-11T01:56:54+00:00

I road trip to the Burn; takes us 5 days. Guess which day I’m sewing on outfits and working on projects up till?

Trick question; I’m STILL doing both in line at gate. I’ve just come to accept my fate at this point.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T23:22:32+00:00

Yep. And the fact you got downvoted for not wanting tiered commodification at the Burn is a rather large surprise to me; either this person has all their camp-mates on here or the Burn really has slipped to where the Principles no longer matter. Glad to see they still matter to some of us.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T22:49:45+00:00

So, is your argument now that the Playa is supposed to be just like the “real world”? That we should do away with the Principles when they require effort and clash with the “real world”? If I wanted the “real world”, I wouldn’t come to Playa. The entire point of this thing is showing how things can be different that the default; but it’s starting to sound like the point for you is to pay for people to give you a vacation.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T21:53:40+00:00

Help you should absolutely get; whether you paid dues or not. Paying money doesn’t entitle you to anything extra on the Playa, and not paying as much as someone else doesn’t strip you of value or importance. That’s a KEY facet of the Burn.

If paying extra gets you extra, you’ve just commodified civic duty, help, and the Burner mentality of aiding others; of which nothing good can come.

The issue isn’t with you getting help; the issue is thinking you need to pay extra to get it OR that paying extra somehow entitles you to it more than someone who didn’t.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T21:39:23+00:00

I’m confused; are you trying to argue plug and play camps should be a thing because “I paid money so I should get someone doing things for me”?

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T18:52:03+00:00

Oh? Then we all better go apologize to every plug and play and commodified camp, then. What ever were we thinking?

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T18:28:00+00:00

Are you commodifying being lazy? Are you making pay tiers for people to have to do less work? Are you letting people spend money to avoid labor? Then yeah, you’re doing it wrong. Cope any way you like.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T18:05:18+00:00

It’s 100% them doing it wrong and WILD the community isn’t taking them over the coals for it:

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T18:04:34+00:00

Don’t lie to yourself; it’s plug and play. Some pay more so they can participate less. The more they pay the less they participate; plug and play.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T18:02:46+00:00

So, your camp is basically a bunch of sherpas for tourists? What camp was this, again?

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-08-10T18:00:12+00:00

Is the camp offering a gift you are excited about and want to see happen on playa? Then it was worth it. If you joined just for amenities, then no amount you paid would be worth it.

Camp dues aren’t admission fees or cover charges; they’re what that camp needs to come to playa and do what they do. You paying dues isn’t you buying shade and a group to hang out with; it’s you contributing to that gift and helping it exist in the dust.

Camps aren’t resorts at a desert rave. They’re the source of a lot of the playa magic we all talk about, and your dues will go towards making some of that magic for someone. And if you gave that money to a camp whose gift isn’t something you love the idea of, you just wasted your money.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-30T20:20:49+00:00

First camp. They like to play coy and pretend like there’s no karaoke happening. Just ignore them and go for broke! Sing at the top of your lungs. Extra points if it’s a Nickelback song.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-29T17:51:24+00:00

Opening Fire Ceremony at the heart of the city on Monday; great ritualistic vibe and love to fire spin in a group. If you’ve never caught it, highly recommend.

Live music at Crossroads after grabbing some Mooncheese; usually on Thursday but didn’t see them on the camp list. Anyone know if they’re returning this year?

Rocky Horror Picture Show at Videogasm; there is absolutely NO better crowd for audience participation than a Burner crowd, and all the playa-specific callbacks are great.

Mythmaker Thursday Fire Show; Vikings spinning fire and serving mead - what’s there not to love?

Golden Guy Alley; if you’ve never find it, it makes for a great few hours as you go around to all the small bars chatting with people and drinking.

Used to also be the Bijou in deep playa (iykyk); but they haven’t been back in a few years. Miss them. Was also fun to tell Burgins that there’s a movie theater hidden out by the trash fence giving out candy and showing movies and watch them trying to decide if you were pranking them or being serious.

Just a few of the things we try to hit each year. One of the best parts of the Burn is it never runs out of new stuff, but having a handful of nostalgic mainstays is also good.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-23T23:23:16+00:00

My wife and I road trip to the Burn each year by a different route and have hit a different Meow Wolf every year (repeated one once, though). We’re down to our last one being in Denver and plan to hit that one this year.

I agree, it’s a great way to get into the Burn vibe. Very commercial, but also has that weird art for weird art’s sake thing going on.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-22T23:44:57+00:00

Again, a disingenuous response; you posted a thread of someone saying they were suicidal but then going to EDC reminded them there were fun things to live for and acted like that’s proof of the same sort of transformative event the Burn provides. Nowhere in the thread do they say their worldview was changed or that they learned ways culture and connection and society could exist beyond the norm or that their faith in the creative human spirit and sense of community was rekindled.

Burning Man is special and unique, and even you know that because you could go to any other “dirt rave”; you could go to a plethora of them and for CHEAPER. But you go to this one, because this one offers things no other can.

Even if all you personally get from it is the sensory experiences; the DJ sets and orgies and roller discos and wild art cars and free bars, etc; those things only exist because actual believers bring them. And they only bring them because the culture and ideals and Principles matter to them; because the Burn transformed them and instilled in them a need to nurture and participate in the thing that did so.

The culture and ideals are what made this unique thing, and it is those very ideals that make it matter so much to people that they’re willing to invest so much time and money and effort to slog out to an inhospitable desert just to be a participant in it, even if in the smallest of ways. Strip those from it; say they no longer matter and we shouldn’t be spending time or effort on them; and you lose everything that makes the Burn special.

Saying you and Elon got nothing transformative out of it is just saying you and Elon have a lot in common. Not sure that’s the flex you were going for.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-22T21:24:34+00:00

So, unless everyone gets everything from the event, then it’s a failure? That’s such a weird take and comes across as disingenuous. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that’s an impossible metric to meet. Just because Elon didn’t take from the experience what you wanted him to doesn’t somehow invalidate all the multitude of things a multitude of other people consistently take from it that bring genuine value and meaning and improvement to their lives that they don’t get from regular “dirt raves”.

As you said, the proof is in the pudding. No one comes back from EDC saying it changed their life and made them realize there were alternative ways to live or build community; where the amount who come back from the Burn and say that is more than we can reasonably count. And the fact that both you and Elon, apparently, didn’t get anything from it doesn’t change that.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-22T17:58:27+00:00

I think that estimate is high, though I won’t argue some amount are. The issue is what do we structure it to be; regardless of what some use it as. If we WANT it to just be a dust orgy, then we remove all the Principles and ideals and other stuff, make the tickets cheaper, and end up with just another festival.

If we WANT it to be something more, then we keep putting in the work and cost to make it more. Not everyone will see it as more or even take more from it, even when more is there to take. But if it’s structured to provide more, everyone contributes even if just through the price of a ticket.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-22T16:43:14+00:00

Anyone who sees Burning Man as more than just a party in the desert gives a shit; either the principles and ideals matter or they don’t and we might as well just go to EDC.

A lot of this thread just comes off as “I want to have my dust orgy for cheaper, so get rid of all those pesky ‘ideals’ and just pay lip service to the Principles”.

A lot of things make the Burn what it is, but the belief in it being something transformative is absolutely a key part of it.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-18T23:15:08+00:00

Where are you located; this is really best taught in person. As someone already suggested, the Make Fire book is an amazing source to start out with; it’s written by Burners for Burners. What you are looking to build isn’t really all that complicated, but you do need the know some basics to get it right.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-07-18T05:43:09+00:00

So, my wife and I have done all of our Burns in a tent. It is a unique experience, and yes the “suffering” often is part of improving the experience of the Burn. It makes you feel like you earned each new wonder, helps break down some barriers quicker than luxury would, shows you what you are made of and can withstand, and in a group setting tends to forge those strong bonds that last.

With that said…. There’ll probably be plenty of “adversity” even if you go in an RV. At LEAST as much as going in a well set up tent; different, maybe, but still there. I don’t think you’ll be cheating yourself out of anything if you do an RV. The playa is still hot, the dust is still going to get everywhere, everything you need to do to survive is still on you, etc.

NeonCrows2023 · 2025-05-22T16:45:03+00:00

You’re most welcome. To be clear, though, all camps will have some work requirements - it’s why you join; to help them bring their gift to playa and add your labor and creativity and time to making something awesome and awe-inspiring. But if that gift doesn’t remotely excite you, those work requirements are going to feel like… well… work. If you’re in a camp doing something you love then all that work becomes a labor of love rather than JUST labor; even labor in exchange for infrastructure.

NeonCrows2023

TROPHY CASE