TRIVIA

• When Adrian Roberts talks about burning his shade structure, the footage is actually of Charlie Gadeken’s great paintings at Burning Man 1996.
• Charlie Gadeken mentions that Desert Siteworks happened the year previous to Burning Man. He meant that Desert Siteworks actually happened during the year before Burning Man. Historically Desert Siteworks, which was organized by William Binzen & Judy West and many others including John Law, first happened in April 1992 at Black Rock Hot Springs, then in 1993 at Trego Hot Springs, and finally in 1994 at Frog Pond (Bordello) Hot Springs. All these hot springs are located on the edge of the Black Rock Desert flats (playa).
• In 1996, people didn’t die from being run over in their tent, but were severely injured for the rest of their lives. On the other end, before the event opened its “doors”, Michael Fury who was working for the event killed himself in a motorcycle accident while driving on the dry lake bed (playa) used by the Burning Man event.
• The black and white picture, where people are having a party, throwing cake, playing with blow-up balloons and water, are truly Suicide Club pictures. They were taken by Greg Mancuso in 1977, the year the Club formed.
• With regards to Paul Addis’ case the Burning Man organization (Black Rock Limited Liability Corporation) received a subpoena from the Nevada court, asking them to produce all the bills related to the reconstruction of the wooden effigy (aka the Burning Man). Too bad those bills didn’t burn with the Man, with the purifying and renewing fires of the desert.
• Re-enactment of the story told by Larry Harvey of the people who covered themselves in mud was played by Arthur Guibert who edited the film, and his girlfriend. He wasn’t all that pleased about doing that scene, and actually insisted in the first place that the director plays the part.
• Adrian Roberts talks about his first Burning Man in 1993. The sequence shows the burning of the wooden effigy during that exact year. In the footage you see lightnings at two separate times. The lightnings were not added to the image, but were actually recorded that same night. That night it rained a lot and there was a little panic on the playa. One camera crew left in a rush with their RV, making many people laugh.
• In 1990, Michael Hopkins talks about how he climbed on the Burning Man wooden effigy. At the same time you can see a picture represented that story. That picture was taken by William Binzen at the very time Hopkins was dousing the left leg with gasoline.
• The sequence where the person who brought the gong instrument to Baker Beach is being questioned by the police is real, and was recorded that night. Michael Hopkins and Larry Harvey were both hiding behind the crowd for a while, but then decided to go talk to the police directly.
• Adrian Roberts mentions in the film that the Burning Man organization (Black Rock Limited Liability Corporation) spends tens of thousands of dollars on the Burning Man wooden effigy. The actual budget in the recent years actually reached $200,000 for the figure and its pedestal. It has been a long time criticized spending, which diverts away funds that could be made available to artists.
  • The organization could easily let go of the wooden effigy and let the participants spend the entire week build it, and experience the so emphasized community aspect through such a collaboration. Come the night of the burn, then hundreds could help to raise it up. Whether it’d be crippled, or a fantastic piece of Art, it would bring the symbol to the center of the meaning of the event. The current $200K production is too empty of a spontaneous community effort. Of course Safety and Control always comes up as an argument to prevent such things to happen. With the careful supervision of our beloved leaders, I’m sure we would avoid any finger cutting. On top of that no one would be tempted to burn it on Monday night at the beginning of the event, 6 days before the actual show usually starts on Saturday, meaning that we would spare 4 years in jail to a soul that thought Burning Man had lost its soul.
• In one of the last scenes of the film, Larry Harvey goes up on a stage at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Just as he enters the stage, a voice says “Allelujah”.