In my last Burning Man post I found the Thermokraken grant page online and was excited that the Kraken might be coming back to Burning Man this year. I emailed the Therm guys to ask what the outcome was. Unfortunately they told me the Kraken only received 40 votes from the Borg2 community, which means no funding. It will sit in Oakland rather than the playa. I was happy to hear that it got out and about at the Fire Arts Festival at The Crucible in Oakland a few weeks back. If anyone has any serious venue or funding ideas, please check this out and contact Orion. The Kraken is an amazing piece and I hope more people can enjoy it.
While checking out the wiki for Burning Man, I was surprised to see the sudden growth last year. 2002 had a bit of a growth spurt (12%), but from 1999 to 2003 Burning Man grew relatively slowly. For some reason, 2004 brought an extra 5000 people or 17% more. I wonder what caused the surge last year. Good press?
TheHun has a write-up on the DPW BBQ for Gerlach and fixing the 100 year old water tower roof. There is also a webcam shot of the BBQ here.
Surprisingly, and for no good reason, I don’t have any contact with the San Diego Burning Man community or their events (Fuego de los Muertos, Xara Dulzura). But they are great people, go check them out.
SFGate does a story on the carpenters of Burning Man that make the man – The heart of burning man; Volunteer carpenters craft festival’s namesake totem for its moment in the moon
SFGate does a story on BORG2 – Artistic sparks; Creative ‘revolt’ falls short, but group gets own spot at festival