4:20 Spire

The last spire was placed yesterday in yet another annual ceremony. At approximately 4:20 in the afternoon, we gathered around 4:20 and esplanade to raise the last Spire. In true DPW fashion, the raising was one big giant party.

The Man was raised up on his platform yesterday. Rigging and carpentry crews are working hard to finish off the mechanism that will allow people to turn the Man.

Deadwood

We are much like the characters of the TV show Deadwood out here in the desert. We are early settlers staking our claim in an area soon to take on Boomtown status. We have fenced off our area and construction has begun in major parts of the town...soon to be city. Small encampments are sprouting up in several spots. Profanity and alcohol are prevalant, but cocksucker doesn't seem to be the word of choice, as apparantly back in the Wild West days of Deadwood. Center Camp Cafe is a slow evolution, resembling only wood rings set within each other. We got the tour of the Man base platform the other morning, which well, I can't divulge, but will be spectacular. A couple of the larger art installations have laid claim and it is exciting to see the projects evolve.

Calm before the storm

I slept on the playa last night for the first time this year. There was just a few of us with nothing but a sleeping bag on the playa, lying where the Man will soon be, and only the stars above. It was the last night where Black Rock City is nothing more than survey flags and a grand plan. The Perseid meteor shower was blossoming to hit its peak Aug 12. So, we watched many shooting stars and enjoyed the playa for it desert qualities, quiet and solitude. Two things that will be harder to find on the playa as the days march on. Tomorrow is the real kickoff. The first day of fence begins at 5 am. Something like 4,000 T-stakes will be pounded into the playa and the 7.5 miles of fence stretched and tied between them. We also start transporting all of our materials needed, meaning loads of shipping containers and semi-trucks will be driven to the playa. All major construction jobs prepare for the build. There is no slowing down now. All you can do is raise your hands high above your head and scream while the roller coaster begins its long descent.

Gerlach Water Tower BBQ

This past weekend, we threw a town BBQ. In appreciation of the community, Burning Man each year throws a BBQ in the Water Tower Park. The tower was nearing extinction. But in the last few years, a movement grew to save the historical monument. The Gerlach Water Tower, built in 1909 by the Western Continental Railroad, is one of the oldest Redwood structures of its kind. But because of wood rot, neglect and age the tower was close to being demolished. The community, including Burning Man, have raised thousands of dollars to fix it. As of last Friday, the water tower had a new roof. Burning Man carpenter's scrambled to get the shingles on in time for the BBQ on Saturday. It is a nice communal event. Burning Man takes care of the hamburgers and hot dogs and beer and locals bring the salad and dessert. The chef was so good that I ate my first meat hamburger in almost ten years. It just looked so good!






The best 78-year old bartender ever. Bev of the Miner's Club.




Beloved Burning Man Gerlach office manager Sherry and her husband.

Golden Spike 2005

In May 1869, the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroads met and created the first ever Transcontinental railroad. In celebration of this massive feat, a gold spike was pounded into the last joining tie.

This morning we had our own Golden Spike ceremony on the playa. Only we weren't commemorating the finish of something, but the groundbreaking of the city that is about to be built. As an annual tradition, the crew gather around the spot where the Man will stand and together as a group drive in a stake. While we each take a turn at swinging the sledge hammer, onlookers pass champagne bottles. We polished off two cases of bubbly before 11am. Nothing like a champagne buzz before work.



The not so golden stake....blame it on the dust.


Sledge hammers haven't changed all that much.


Better than coffee.


Saaawwwwing.


Not much left to pound.




Prep for cleanup.

Population explosion

And, poof, just like that our population has more than doubled! I arrived to our 6am breakfast this morning to be greeted by an explosion of fellow DPW. The room that the night before had four round tables for eating now had eight occupied tables. When I arrived two weeks ago, we were a mere twenty - only two tables worth. There was a slow growth and literally in one day we went from thirty to about seventy hard-working, die hard individuals. Where once we were only making a small dent in this town, we are now a force to be reckoned with. I have heard the non-Burning Man related population of Gerlach is somewhere around 100-150. We are sure to match this number in no time at all.

Game on.

Big Issues In small Places

The residents of Gerlach are no stranger to outsiders descending upon their small town for use of the beautiful desert that surrounds them. But, recently there is an intruder of a different caliber knocking on the door. A southern California power company, Sempra Energy, has set its sights on the hills surrounding Gerlach as prime real estate for its brand new, two-stack, coal-burning power plant. If plans move forward, the $2 billion plant would be up and running by 2010. The link below is a recent article on the burning issue from the Reno News & Review and its effect on the community of Gerlach. The article makes some very crucial points.

The article says: "How can Sempra make pollution and hogging water resources look good? For a Fortune 500 firm, it's simple. Wave money at people."

It is predicted that the plant could utilize as much 15,000 gallons of water per minute to run. Not to mention the toxins released into the air which would blow over and into Pyramid Lake and, potentially as far as Lake Tahoe. Also, for the first several years in operation, all of the power produced would be sent down to Southern California. But, the bid to build the coal plant has been flaunted with the promise of thousands of jobs created and millions in property tax revenue. However, the Nevada Clean Energy Coalition is attempting to prove that utilizing renewable sources of energy, such as wind and geothermal, would have just as great of economic benefits as Sempra's plan and in the long run be far less damaging to the earth and the community around it.

So, the debate is on and it is hot. The issue has reached as far as San Francisco, where the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in June to to oppose the coal-power plant in northern Nevada. But as Bruno Selmi, the 80-year old owner of Bruno's and the Shell gas station in Gerlach, was quoted in the Reno News and Review article saying:

"What do San Francisco have to say about Gerlach? It's bullshit. I live here. What do they have to say about where I live?"

He told the reporter a year prior that he felt the power plant would be the beginning of a growth spurt in Gerlach.

I hope that the bid is shot down, but it is very hard to tell which way it will go. Perhaps the immediate economic reward is just too much for them to pass up.

For the full article:
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/reno/2005-07-21/cover.asp