Gone Off Deep Presents
As the majority of the Gone Off Deep gang prepares for their departure to the Playa, our special-ops advance team of producer Mike Wilson, director Damon Brown and production support crewmember Bill Nadalini are already burning up the highway toward Nevada.
Bill was the first to leave Texas, driving an RV through the heartland for a rendezvous in the Bay area with Mike and Damon, who flew out of Austin last Saturday. The three made it to their rallying point, prompting Mike to send along a progress report.
“Damon and I arrived in San Francisco on Saturday and had the honor of breaking in Larry Harvey's brand new Airstream (well, brand new old Airstream) for its first 'civilized conversation' over tea,” Mike wrote. “I'm sure that airstream's walls will have a lot of stories to tell, and it's very cool to have been there when it was 'brand new' and get to hear some Larry's great stories and his thoughts on the future of Burning Man.
“After rounding up some supplies, most of our location camera equipment, a few hundred gallons of water, some fuzzy slippers and a fleet of mountain bikes, we hooked up with David Best's convoy in Petaluma on Tuesday, and got a first glimpse of his amazing new 30' rocketcar... which he drove... on the highway... up to the playa. Bill and Damon headed up in the RV and I came back to SF to catch some of the last minute goings on at the SF HQ. It's eerily quiet here... these guys are so buttoned down at this point that the last week in the office is fully under control. The city is fully under construction, the ticket sales crew is finalizing its lists, and everyone is peeling off at various points this week.
“I head up with Actiongrl tomorrow in her RV, which will undoubtedly make for an interesting short film in itself.
“The rest of the Gone Off Deep crew are getting in gear and anxiously awaiting departure dates... 17 days til The Man burns!”
With less than 30 days before The Man burns, Gone Off Deep is making its final preparations for our trip to the playa, and we thought we’d tie up a few loose ends here as well, with an update of some of our activities over the past few months. So read on for the magic and the mystery that is the BURNING MAN: BEYOND BLACK ROCK production journal.
Next week, the advance crew of Producer Mike Wilson and Director Damon Brown, along with production assistant Bill Nadalini, will head west to check in with the Burning Man organization as it sets off for the desert. The guys will then join the caravan of Temple of Honor artist David Best for the trip to Nevada.
Two weeks later, the rest of the crew will arrive on the playa, from Abilene, Austin, and New York City.
We’ve got a great, and significantly larger, crew this year, covering the event from the moment the first vehicles roll onto the playa, until the last Burner leaves. You can find out more about our talented team in our CREW section.
Gone Off Deep Producer Mike Wilson recently spent some quality time with Larry Harvey, catching up with the Burning Man founder in both Atlanta and London. Here’s what Mike had to say about the time they shared:
“I took producer cam on the road to Atlanta, to take in Larry's ArtPapers-sponsored talks at Emory University and at the Woodruff Art Center on public art and on "ritual without dogma." Both were really amazing talks. But the biggest treat, other than hanging with Larry and the lovely Nurse and getting completely lost in the meanstreets of Atlanta, was the first (hopefully annual) regional event they did in Atlanta, called RIPE Atlanta, which took place at the amazing Cityview Sculpture Garden there. Met Zach Coffin (Rock Spinner, 2001) and Charlie Smith (Hearth, 2000-2001; Infanity, 2001), and a bunch of other great burners from all over. It was an amazingly successful event and a real blast. We'll be following Zach's 2003 project, Temple of Gravity, closely.
“In early June, I found myself in London at the same time as Marian and
Larry (Larry was there to do a talk at Oxford Union) and got to hang with them some there and meet Yomi, the sort of spiritual leader of the UK Burner community, who was playing host to Larry and Marian during their stay there. What a great guy he was... we'll be leaning hard on him at Media Mecca this year, I'm sure. Really fun dinner, fun crowd of Burners, and I got to give Larry the "nuggie" I've always wanted to give him since the day I found out who he was.”
Photo By Marc Goldchstein
One of the most valuable aspects of BEYOND BLACK ROCK will, no doubt, prove to be Larry’s active participation and continuing support for the project. We’re fortunate to have his insights, his reflections, and his philosophy.
Director Damon Brown and I attended the Austin, Texas regional Burn, Flipside, in late May, scoring great interviews with founder George Paap and other members of the Flipside LLC. They recounted the event’s brief, but interesting, history, and we had a great chance to see the Burning Man spirit in a much more intimate setting.
Most surprising were the Burners that attended from all over the country and how the same passion, dedication and creativity that make Burning Man what it is flourishes in these regional events.
BEYOND BLACK ROCK’s Director of Photography, Rob VanAlkemade, has been tracking down great interviews in his stomping grounds of New York City.
Rob recently conducted a series of interviews with artist Rafeal Santiago, whose impressive sculpture ‘Beginning’ graced the playa in 2002, and who’s now in the final stages of his project for this year. Here’s Rob’s dispatch on the latest with Rafael:
Rafael left me a message today saying he's almost done with one piece which he'll be giving some friends to drive there I think, and he's not done with the body that I've been shooting him making so he's going to mail it there in pieces and finish it on site maybe.
He's working out of the Lower East Side on a new version of his woman cast of last year, but different, and cast from a new woman.
His work has been delayed by our insane rainy season, which prevents his plaster from drying.
We've discussed how he loves the Burn regardless of inevitable changes over the years. Some of his friends hate it now, but he always sees it as the most valuable experience of the year. His favorite time is after everyone leaves and just some artists and other weirdos remain and a dark anarchistic cacophony (my words, actually) prevails.
Rob also recently spoke to journalist Bill Werde, who penned ‘Burning Man’s Dotcom Hangover’ for The Village Voice in 2001 and recently chronicled Burning Man’s ongoing legal battles with Washoe County, Nevada.