September 27, 2008 by PT Rothschild.

AFTER ‘BURN, BABY BURN’, IT’S ‘DANCING IN THE STREETS’

DCP Zone, CA – The postcard reads, “Rising from the Black Rock Desert in one of the flattest most remote places on earth is an 80 foot temple topped by the stylized figure of a man. Each person (49,599+ this year) is responsible to, pack in their water, food, shelter, and fuel, and leave no trace from the week long celebration. Burning Man with its incredible (art) sculptures, mutant vehicles, fire dancers, music, radio stations, theme camps, and barter society is a life changing experience for those who participate.” (J - Barry Costello, PO Box 37, Nevada City, CA 95959). The picture side shows a girl and three guys looking like the MTV ‘Tank Girl’ edition similar to the girl pictured here, except two of the guys are painted all blue. It is the expression of one of the blue guys wearing a much lighter shade than the famous ‘blue man crew’, that sets the comic tone of this postcard. He looks out in his outrageous attire like he is surprised to see our ‘alien’ Default World culture where ‘sex’ is used to ‘sell’ everything and ‘money’ is valued over people. The addition of a Chevy pickup truck and two mobile cherry pickers grounds the picture as being here and now. Otherwise, they could all be stars standing there, with their hands on their hips, for a Hustler Sci-Fi movie. Now probably you may be thinking that this whole party is not kid-friendly but while you might not want to bring your smart mouth, won’t-follow-the-rules, ‘I know it all’, hormonally ruled teenager who’s deep into puberty with you to Burning Man, children, on the other hand, are welcomed and there are activities galore for them and you (no children are there without parent or guardian) to participate in, like the Mouse Race! where you end up at Brigit Camp for grilled cheese sandwiches, or to just hang out with you and look at all the sights. They even do a Census, but on Saturday night, after chilling most of the day to the feel of anticipation in the air at Coffee Camp with my hair feeling like it was moosed, my nails and cuticles all dust-caked and dry, my heart wondered what was in store for this evening. Friday night had been a blast but you could feel the build-up on Saturday for the night time. The city with its child-like innocence reminded me of what Jesus had said about such a mindset seeing Paradise. So with that in mind, Goose and I set off to cross the Playa and see the Temple beyond the Man (and the temple structure that he was built on). That Temple was set to burn the night after the Man burns. It is said to be a much somber affair as it is sad to see the ‘religious order’ of things being set aside from the world. I would ponder that this is because so much of the world’s charity comes through organized religious systems. So we trudged out the miles, which look deceptively close thanks to the white flatness, and checked out the Temple, stopping for pictures taken of each of us. Then it was back to camp to wait for nightfall, but we took our time on the journey home. Though we were to see the Man burn as a group, Goose left Coffee Camp around 6PM to garner a front row seat for the ‘burn’. It would be a portent for the evening.

After some food handsomely prepared by IPod with Orion celebrating his 28^th birthday, I headed over for a drink at my favorite bar, the Tree Top Lounge with B.A. serving up the ‘funishment’. Then I joined up with the crew and we were off. At first we had some extra people but it soon narrowed down to KB, Capt. Tuesday, Bumper, IPod, Orion, and myself. The night of the ‘burn’ is the climax for a day that seems to be rising up to a boil, an unsettling day actually. So it was that while some of us had gotten more than we expected, there were those who felt they hadn’t gotten what they thought they might. As we waited for the Man to burn in our viewing spot from the third row, a tiff developed. When it was over and the smoke had cleared though the fire hadn’t yet started, only Orion, IPod and myself remained, though KB remained close, mired down by his own very free flowing checkered robe in the tightly packed crowd. Our viewing area was close enough to feel the heat from the pyrotechnics that happened later in the evening. Before the night was over we would all be separated, except perhaps for IPod and Orion.

Before the Man burned, we sat on the hard surfaced Playa packed like sardines in a circle around the Man, so I was able to discard my jacket even though the night air had cooled down, and use it like a pillow for my aching ass. It took four days for the lower back stiffness to leave my body. Again the harsh climate was like a lash on your back so you didn’t get too lulled into Paradise. And then the Man’s arms started to rise on the neon lit Man structure, a structure so high that you could climb up four floors, at least inside the see-through lattice work. The crowd erupted into a roaring cheer. Once the arms reached the Nixon ‘I am not a crook’ position, fireworks started shooting out of what would be fingertips, and then from the structure base. The awesome amount of fireworks against the moonless black desert sky at a ground level of almost 4000’ above sea level, with the bursts of light were breathtaking. After eating a slab of chocolate from a suspicious looking piece of tin foil to which Bumper inquired about (“Sorry Charlie, only the best tuna. It was a leftover from last night’s wild, wild west days, and just enough for one.” – see MSN’s story on ‘magic mushrooms’ in the health section), I was set for the night. As I watched the ‘bombs bursting in air’, the lyrics from the Star Spangled Banner flashed into my mind. Burning Man and the society of Black Rock City, as outlandish as it is, really represents the feeling of ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness – the ‘American Dream’. We have been ‘taught’ that the ‘dream’ is to own land bought from a bank (Wa-Mu, anyone?), be indebted, and become a guaranteed laborer for 30 years. At best this may be a wanted necessity, at worse, the current nightmare, as so many are finding out as I pen these words, all due to the occupation of Iraq for its oil. But before I could dwell on that point too long, a massive explosion and fireball lit up the area with light and heat. You felt the warmth on your skin as another round of cheers also warmed your heart, right down to its cockles. When another explosion went off causing more of the structure to catch fire as the Man was still shooting off fireworks from his hands and base structure, I thought of the last scene from ‘Star Wars’ (Episode 4) after Luke and crew have received their medals for the victory against the (first) Death Star. The Rebellion against the Empire, well, that certainly fit the day, or night as it were. Everywhere and everyone I had talked to in the last six days was a rebel against the Empire, the Establishment, and the Man. All seemed spiritual, some were religious, and maybe there were a few Christians like myself there, but we were all now rejecting the ‘world’, the Default World, like it says to in the Bible, whether any or many of the people there realized it. No money, no use of automobiles per se, and no washing your hands before eating. In the desert, if your hands get sticky from eating a free mouth-watering, cold and delicious ‘bomb’ pop, because you gave an impromptu definition from a picked word card (patriot – ‘a person with a good heart easily misled by cooked Intel’), you simply stooped down and ‘washed’ the stickiness away with a rinse of Playa silt or dust! In the Default World your mom’s head would spin like in ‘Scary Movie’ if you sat down at the dinner table with that announcement. Yet here it worked. I looked over at IPod and watched as the fireworks light bathed her face in varying colors. She was like a Princess Leah. She was as fiery and as headstrong, but Leah would have seen through and banished most of the ‘douche bags’ that IPod (Keirah) took into her heart to the outer moons of Xanadu. Maybe that was part of her charm, certainly that was a large part of her drama, but the timeless expression of youthful marvel painting her face as she gazed at firework burst after firework burst, as she snuggled back against Orion for comfort and warmth, made me speculate as to just what new adventures awaited us in the future. I hoped Orion would be better than the rest.

Soon the Man and the structure were blazing ferociously. Curiously enough though, the Man’s right arm stayed raised in the air like a ‘Heil Hitler’ salute. Watching the burn and knowing what it symbolized to me and so many others there, I wondered about my Jewish ancestors on that side of the family and the ceremony of atonement, when they sent out into the desert the ‘scapegoat’ once a year, which carried the entire community’s sin away. Taking part in this heathen celebration felt spiritual to me in a religious way. A light had been cast into a corner made dark and foreboding by hearsay, opinion, tradition, and order. I looked over again at IPod. She was so like a favorite granddaughter to me. She takes care or rather ‘looks after me’ like Francie did her ‘papa’ in ‘Tree’ and I had come to really trust her and her intuition. To some she is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, but to me she is a ‘safe haven’. I can always find the center of her maze. I felt safe in the crowd of thousands as we sat packed in like Muslims, watching the Man finally burn, then topple, structure and all, crashing to the ground. Suddenly everyone stood up, then people from every direction and the hundreds directly behind us all started running or trotting toward the collapsed heap. IPod and Orion, hands clasped together, were swept from me and disappeared into the sea of faces and screams. I can’t describe my feeling of loss at that moment. Part of me said, ‘you’re old, slow, and stiff, but maybe if you really tried, you could catch up to them. But another part of me, maybe the Jedi part, said ‘it’s their night, I’m not a chaperon, let them go party or whatever.’

I looked around and everywhere people, ‘burners’, were moving toward the Man, or what was left of him. I decided to also go, even though doing so would cause me to lose all my location bearings. Soon I was part of the throng, a mass of people slowly circling around the burnt Man counterclockwise and remembering why I was told they do this at Mecca. After seeing the Man’s ashes for myself, I slowly made my way back to the fringes of the circling crowd, finally slipping free to pause and look around. I did not take any pictures or want to for that matter. I’m sure you can find something on YouTube. I did not want to show you something, Dear Reader, that you really should experience for yourself, if you can. To be in the midst of thousands of people, strangers all to me save less than ten, all rejoicing wildly, spinning fire, hooping and hollering, running here and there in every direction, in a backdrop of hundreds of lit-up art cars, all with music blasting in the distance, is like no other experience I can name. The chaos of it, the unbridled revelry, all lit by fire, starlight, and LEDs is an incredible rush to the senses, and even if you are perfectly sober, you head and sagacity are reeling. So I paused, thought fleetingly of IPod, turned on my ‘raver bait’ flashing pendant I had traded for a night earlier, looked out at the wild, anarchistic glory, and said to myself, ‘OMG’, then stepped off. I might add that at no time was I pushed, shoved, or jostled by the maddening crowd. It was truly other worldly. (ed note: the remainder of this night can be found in ‘Sex & the City – Some Enchanted Evening. Next, the last chapter of The Burning Man Experience, Life After The Rapture – ‘A Wave Good-bye, With A Tear In My Eye’)

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September 27, 2008 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

Homeland, California - On September 26, 2008, about 7:00 AM, deputies from the Hemet Station’s Problem Oriented Policing Team conducted a search warrant service in the 25000 block of Melba Avenue in the unincorporated community of Homeland. The warrant service was in response to community complaints of drug activity at the location.

Deputies located several firearms, methamphetamine, a stockpile of ammunition and various types of improvised weapons. Documents found at the location link the occupants of the residence to a hate organization. In July of this year I wrote an article about Hate Graffiti I discovered in Homeland after covering a fire that had occurred in the area. Although this warrant service was done in a different area of Homeland that the fire was, it still raises questions as to whether this is a major problem in the area.

Arrested were Thomas Pentico (38) and Brandi O’donnell (26). Both suspects are believed to be involved in the use and distribution of methamphetamine. The suspects have two children who reside at the location, an infant and a two year old.

Due to the serious risk to the children, the Riverside Sheriff’s Drug Endangered Children Response Team was contacted and responded to the location. The Drug Endangered Children Response Team is a multi-agency team committed to the well being of children threatened by drug related crimes. The children were ultimately referred to the custody of Child Protective Services.

Pentico and O’donnell were booked into the Southwest Detention Center on various drug and weapons charges. Anyone with info about this or other issues related to this should contact the Sheriffs Department.

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