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That's because it got trendy. Stars go now, complete with deluxe tents with electric hookups and bodyguards. It has been close to impossible for regular people (outside the art world) to even get tickets in the recent past, you have to enter a lottery or something. Tickets are also $390 plus another $50 for a vehicle pass, so it stopped being a "hippie" type event a long time ago.
When music executives saw how many people showed up for the Woodstock festival, it got their corporate wheels turning. Popular events are seen as a cash cow, so I'm not surprised.
It's only a shadow of what it once was. You have billionaire tech moguls in private jets and executive chefs out on the playa. Allowing cell phones kind of defeats the "self reliance" part of it. There are "turn key" camps, and people leave mounds of trash all over the playa.
But never forget, yesterdays broke "hippies" grew up and entered the commercial world.
BM has been running almost 20 years. At this point the founders/organizers have made millions of dollars and as long as they keep getting the land permit then they will make changes and try to make it a better experience.
I would love to attend but honestly I would want the RV experience. Too hot/ dirty out there to sleep in a tent for a week!
That's because it got trendy. Stars go now, complete with deluxe tents with electric hookups and bodyguards. It has been close to impossible for regular people (outside the art world) to even get tickets in the recent past, you have to enter a lottery or something. Tickets are also $390 plus another $50 for a vehicle pass, so it stopped being a "hippie" type event a long time ago.
Burning Man, after all, is a place where money is frowned upon. Almost nothing can be bought or sold. Everything must be shared. Revelers usually sleep in modest campers or tents, with tens of thousands of people covering a remote section of Nevada desert for a week of art, dancing and anything else they desire.
But the well-heeled techies anonymously cavorting with artists, musicians and other bohemians often arrive by private jets, stay in air-conditioned dwellings, eat meals prepared by gourmet chefs and employ servants called sherpas who take care of all their needs.
"Rather than going up to a bartender and saying you want a cocktail, you go up to a gentleman who is one of the sherpas," Bilton said.
Critics say that in embracing Silicon Valley's elites, Burning Man has essentially "jumped the shark." Some of them have even started competing festivals where attendees must set up their own shelters and are banned from using sherpas.
That's because it got trendy. Stars go now, complete with deluxe tents with electric hookups and bodyguards. It has been close to impossible for regular people (outside the art world) to even get tickets in the recent past, you have to enter a lottery or something. Tickets are also $390 plus another $50 for a vehicle pass, so it stopped being a "hippie" type event a long time ago.
Lol, yea. I live right on the route to Black Rock. I'll tell ya, I wouldn't spend that kind of money to go hang out there with anyone. I ran into some kids , last year, who came over from Germany to go there. I guess you have to be an artist to understand the mentality behind the event. I kinda see it as a gathering of ...esoteric..minds. An event where people , who are a bit off plumb, can be "normal". Ive seen some really strange folks come through heading to Burning Man.
I actually took time out of my day to watch this girl , who was with a truly choice crew, and it HAD to be LSD or some really good sh rooms she was on, have a conversation with a signpost in the parking lot of the smoke shop. The event still draws its share of "hippy" types. I guess it did put Gerlach on the map. ' Bruno loves Burning Man. Lol
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