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Blog Entry 32 of 47 What's happening in YOUR neighborhood?

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Creative county group contributes to festival

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Contributed by: Becca Whitnall on 9/10/2007

Aug. 28

Somewhere between Elliot's Wasteland and Carroll's Wonderland lies Burning Man.

The annual arts, music, and all-around-feel-good festival, now in its 21st year (and 17th year in Nevada's Black Rock Desert), draws techies and hippies, artists and accountants and everyone in between during the week in which a temporary city springs to life on a dry lake bed, dwarfing its nearest neighbor, the town of Gerlach, NV, population 500, by about 35,000 people.

It's where I'm headed this week and I'm not alone.

Among the many Ventura County folks going out to brave the extreme temperatures, high winds and possible rain is a group of about 50 from Ojai, which calls its themed camp site the Ojai Bureau of Pleasure. And yes, there is an actual bureau, complete with drawers and mirror, that sits open to passersby and is filled with items participants may have forgotten to pack. The idea is to take something you need and replace it with something you want to leave for someone else. It sort of speaks to what Burning Man is all about.

"I don't think there's any one of us who hasn't looked into a drawer without going, 'Hey, I've always wanted one of those,' " said Jaye Hersh, an OBOP member, of the items left behind.

Another of the group's contributions is the Phone Booth to God, placed out on what "burners" call the playa, the open expanse of dry river floor around which participants camp in ever widening circles (at the center of which stands THE MAN, to be burned Saturday night, toward the end of the festival).

"It's really funny to see people pass by and then stop, realizing it's a phone booth," said Hersh.

When folks pick up the phone, it rings and "God" -someone sitting in OBOP's tent, watching the booth- answers and talks to the caller.

"We've had some really amazing gods over the years. One of our favorites was a 7-year-old girl who was great at talking and answering questions," Hersh said.
It's an idea that was copied a few years ago when another camp brought the Phone Booth to Hell, which just rang and rang and rang.

The Bureau will also bring two art cars -one 24-and-a-half feet long by 12 feet wide, complete with a bar and dance floor -and has a circus tent in which they will host music and classes ranging from hula hooping to sound journeying (I had to ask about this one -if I understand correctly, it involves meditation using voice or instruments and crystal bowls).

If these activities don't strike participants' fancy, there's always a host of other things happening, and I do mean always. My group will be arriving on Tuesday afternoon, just in time for the Cardio strip class, an activity I think I'll forego. Later, there will be a performance of the Penguin Masterpiece Theater. At 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, one of the camps is hosting the Late Nite Playa Picnic. Thursday afternoon brings the Alien Monkey Love Nest Talent Show ...you get the idea. Or maybe you don't. I'm not sure I do, but I am going to have a lot of fun figuring it out.

To learn more about the event, visit http://burningman.com. If you're going to the event, say hello if you see me there -I'll be with a friend sporting a two-foot-tall blue wig -and be sure to tell us all about your adventures on the Hub when you return.

Till then, see you online.

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