July 9, 2000
Friends and Family:

The Burning Man Festival held on the Playa of the Black Rock Desert, Nevada will be August 28-September 4, 2000, climaxing Labor Day Weekend. This is Devi and Robert's third year, and we are celebrating by joining friends and family in a Theme Camp. We are officially registered as "Pink Chakra - the Heart Zone", and our theme camp will be on the Black Rock City Map. The exact street address will be provided by the Burning Man folks later this month.

For those of you who don't already know, Burning Man is one of the most remarkable alternative reality festivals on the planet. With incredible participatory art installations and performances, it's a feast for your senses. It's a blast - night and day. Everything you ever imagined in your entire life is already happening there. Last year 25,000 costumed people built a city in the Nevada desert, making Black Rock City the third largest city in Nevada, with 12 radio stations and a daily newspaper. And no exchange of money is allowed except for lemonade and lattes at the Black Rock City Cafe. Check out http://www.burningman.com: what, when, where, who and why, and especially what to bring (everything you will need). You can get on The Jack Rabbit Speaks newsletter mailing list mailto:bman-announce-subscribe@burningman.com.

Every year Burningman has a theme. This year the theme is The Body or embodiment. "This year the Burning Man will be the solar plexus of a gigantic horizontal figure drawn on the playa and also hovering thirty feet overhead in lasers. This gigantic body will be the site of art installations exploring The Body theme."

In 1998, our first year, the theme was ALIENS and there were definitely aliens that showed up for that party (Tho as Shaye says most of us are aliens because we are so alienated from earth - our body). Devi refused to get sucked into the Alien brain sucking machine art installation (she said she was already losing enough on her own), and later we found out, Beverly and friends helped create it. We tented on the quiet side of Black Rock City and raved with Larry and Greg on the noisy side at the 24/7 AlienRavers CCC Theme Camp.

Last year's theme was TIME, and we participated by costuming ourselves and a play that we participated in, called "Rome Burnt in a Day". Robert was Neptune, Devi was Earth and Diva was a Muse. Robert created some panoramas of Burningman 1999 showing at www.panmagic/burningman. Diva was a great stylist helping with costuming. Timothy gave out free sushi at the L2K theme camp and created magical lighting effects. Even though Timothy and Diva were 'family members' they got to hang out for the first time.

This year maybe you'll hang out with some friends and family you haven't met yet which is always a treat, appropriate for our participation in the theme this year - the BODY or embodiment. Our theme camp represents the HEART zone which we named the PINK CHAKRA. Merging with the Pink Chakra and spreading love out to Burningman will be Bodhi's tribe. In the works are yoga chi gung meditation tea tents, Aphrodite's tantra Tibetan tent, signup to put a new Love Party on the ballot, merging with the Green Party this year, and a central pavilion canopy tent. An interactive event with William, the original Burningman photographer and SiteWorks guru, will document ourselves in the heart of our theme camp.

We went from Aliens through Time to enter into our Body through the Heart Zone. If this is the year for you to come - come join us.

We'll be driving there on Wednesday August 30 in an RV to stake out and set up our theme camp, and the party will be in full swing by Friday September 1, culminating in the Burning Man Saturday Night September 2.

In 1998, Devi and I took a tent, which we enjoyed but it was great to hang out in Larry's and Greg's RV. So, in 1999 we drove up an RV, and this year we will do the same. A tent will work, but an RV is a great thing to share with others and retreat from the heat and wind and people. Many RV's all the way from the Bay Area through Reno are already rented for the Burning Man, so if you want to bring one, you need to reserve one right away.

Currently, you can buy tickets for $185 by mail order now (see the Burningman website). Tickets will go up to $200 in August, and tickets at the gate will be more, and NO tickets will be sold at the gate during the last 4 days of the event (Friday through Monday). So don't come all the way (6+ hours from the Bay Area) without tickets!!!

If you're coming, let us know so we can stake out playa space for you. Let us know if you want to contribute or participate with your own costuming, installation or activity, or your own brand of juice to pump through and to the Heart Zone at the Pink Chakra.

Love,
Devi and Robert