23: The Burn
Curvas Peligrosas emptied into the night. We rolled together left out of the camp, then hung a right up the 4:30 spoke, once again passing the Roller Disco I'd never played in. At a bar on our left people whooped and chattered. The night the night the night was here! "WOOOOHOOOOO!" I shouted over my handlebars and my glowing friends in the dark replied with laughter. There was a stream of humanity emptying from tents and wheeling to the Man. Lots of people walking tonight and I had already been told that we'd have to dump our bikes eventually.
I could feel the lsd beginning to affect my mind. As soon as we'd gotten back to camp from the free feast and hammocks and afternoon fun, I'd cut the tab just about in half and handed part of it to Lu. We were in our tents layering up, sitting on the airmattress. We looked into each other's eyes and placed the tabs upon our tongues. Now forty minutes later, on the bike, on the road, on the way to the Burn, I was on.
I swoop and weave, circling friends and eyeing the trampolines as we zoom by. But we're on the go. Going deep tonight. All the way to the hot center of everything. Everyone of Black Rock City will be all swarmed together around the tall, tall form of the neon Man. He's blue and red and green in the distance. Arms at His side, the spin of participation now quieted, around Him rages a party thirty-five thousand strong. And the Gods have elected to appear, in all their playa glory. Some are humanoid, but far too tall and spindly-legged. A massive head rolls by, grinning. Off to the right as we ride onto the playa, the Midnight Ship glides menacingly, enormous even at this distance. Creatures roam its decks.
I'm catching trailers as the wheels of our bikes turn laced through with glowrings. I know the spin of Lu's glow. My lids are low and loose, and my smile crinks the cheeks that are flushed with sun and wind and booze. The energy within me flows effortlessly. I feel my thoughts within my mind, within my body, within the world around me. I'm sharing a mountaintop, here on this sealevel playa. It's everything I can do not to shout with joy again and again. Every now and then, one sneaks out. "HOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEHAHAHA!"
There's discussion about where to park the bikes amid the thousands of other parked two-wheelers. I don't participate. I have no suggestions to offer. I'm happy to coast in the wake of this fantastic crew. We find a spot near the sign for Four O'Clock and they are careful to remember exactly where we are. A little forethought here would have saved me hours, but I'm blissing out on the cacophony around us, and Lu's talking animatedly with Nell. Their laughter makes me smile.
"You ready bro? You ready? You ready bro? You ready ready ready?" Strobe asks me boxing around on his toes. "Burn burn it doooooowwwn!!!"
"Yeah!" I shout. "YEEEEAHHHH!!"
"Assholes! This way!" Wags yells to us and we scamper to catch up. We are rolling deep tonight. So many friends. All the Curvas kids. One dude with glowhorns. The girl with pasties. Nell in pink hair. Jodi wearing flowers over her nipples. Furry vest. Short shorts. I'm caped and lamayed and goggled and googlied eyed. It gets thick as we get closer. The Man looms above. We're far back, a good two hundred feet, but the crowd is dense before us, and there's a large space around the Man fenced off to prevent death or injury.
There's madness on the playa. We all together are a living, breathing, whooping, laughing, pulsing mass of wild, wonderful madness. There's space enough for everything out here. The art installations I know are hidden in the darkness all around. Dicky sits in his plastic cage out off to my left. The whole Curvas crew is around me and I'm gripping Lu's hand tight. We kiss and grin.
Motion in the crowd. A form with flame runs towards the structure and it arcs into the air to land above the maze, between the Man's legs. Wood has been piled high. No, it starts all on it's own, in the center of his form. No, his fingers fire first, and then the rest of Him goes. No. The eyes. His eyes burn hot and then He is consumed. No.
He stands there whole and then He is on fire. Up from below, somehow, the lessening of Him begins. There's a shout from the crowd, a unified roar, as the flames grow massive, fast. A little part of me panics. Oh no oh no! Its loose! The fire's free! So huge and hot and old it's free it's free! Fireworks explode from within the Man. His soul fired loose into the night with cascades of brilliance raining down from sunbursts of blue and green and red and white. BOOM BOOM BOOM. Then there's pushing and a group shoves through with signs and shouts and maybe, could it be, rage?
"SAVE THE MAN! SAVE THE MAN!!" They shout as they flap their signs around and holler in our faces. I nearly fall down, laughing.
The fire races up His legs around his waist and tongues of fury thirty feet high blast up towards his head. The fireworks above are a continuous grand finale. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM and then one sizzles far above with a bright snaking tail.
"I can't see!" Lu says to me. She's little. I'm a giant compared to her. I kneel down and offer my head, she latches on and then loops her legs over my neck, and then supported by my friends around, I lift her into the night. "Oh!" she gasps as she squeezes my head and hair.
"Ah! Don't pull my hair! AH!"
"What?" she says bending down fast and I start to wobble.
"No! NO! Sit up! Sit up straight! Hold my forehead not my hair! AH! There, I've got your legs. Jeez!"
"It's scary up here!"
"I know I know!" I shout back up to her. The noise of fire and cheers and fireworks are deafening. "It's scary down here," I mutter, laughing to myself. I settle her in and there's another gasp as a leg gives way and His arms really get going. The heat is powerful and it's coming at us in waves. Cheering from all sides with every new burst above and then the flames destroy him altogether. He falls out of Form, into Light, into Burn, into Fire and Smoke and Heat and Death. Out of Existence, into Energy. There's a final, crushing groan and then everyone rushes in. The Man is gone. Now the night belongs to Fire, and all of us burn within.
Together we roam the playa night, but before long I am alone in the dust. Stranded, lonely, pissed, I search for my wife and my friends, in vain.
I could feel the lsd beginning to affect my mind. As soon as we'd gotten back to camp from the free feast and hammocks and afternoon fun, I'd cut the tab just about in half and handed part of it to Lu. We were in our tents layering up, sitting on the airmattress. We looked into each other's eyes and placed the tabs upon our tongues. Now forty minutes later, on the bike, on the road, on the way to the Burn, I was on.
I swoop and weave, circling friends and eyeing the trampolines as we zoom by. But we're on the go. Going deep tonight. All the way to the hot center of everything. Everyone of Black Rock City will be all swarmed together around the tall, tall form of the neon Man. He's blue and red and green in the distance. Arms at His side, the spin of participation now quieted, around Him rages a party thirty-five thousand strong. And the Gods have elected to appear, in all their playa glory. Some are humanoid, but far too tall and spindly-legged. A massive head rolls by, grinning. Off to the right as we ride onto the playa, the Midnight Ship glides menacingly, enormous even at this distance. Creatures roam its decks.
I'm catching trailers as the wheels of our bikes turn laced through with glowrings. I know the spin of Lu's glow. My lids are low and loose, and my smile crinks the cheeks that are flushed with sun and wind and booze. The energy within me flows effortlessly. I feel my thoughts within my mind, within my body, within the world around me. I'm sharing a mountaintop, here on this sealevel playa. It's everything I can do not to shout with joy again and again. Every now and then, one sneaks out. "HOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEHAHAHA!"
There's discussion about where to park the bikes amid the thousands of other parked two-wheelers. I don't participate. I have no suggestions to offer. I'm happy to coast in the wake of this fantastic crew. We find a spot near the sign for Four O'Clock and they are careful to remember exactly where we are. A little forethought here would have saved me hours, but I'm blissing out on the cacophony around us, and Lu's talking animatedly with Nell. Their laughter makes me smile.
"You ready bro? You ready? You ready bro? You ready ready ready?" Strobe asks me boxing around on his toes. "Burn burn it doooooowwwn!!!"
"Yeah!" I shout. "YEEEEAHHHH!!"
"Assholes! This way!" Wags yells to us and we scamper to catch up. We are rolling deep tonight. So many friends. All the Curvas kids. One dude with glowhorns. The girl with pasties. Nell in pink hair. Jodi wearing flowers over her nipples. Furry vest. Short shorts. I'm caped and lamayed and goggled and googlied eyed. It gets thick as we get closer. The Man looms above. We're far back, a good two hundred feet, but the crowd is dense before us, and there's a large space around the Man fenced off to prevent death or injury.
There's madness on the playa. We all together are a living, breathing, whooping, laughing, pulsing mass of wild, wonderful madness. There's space enough for everything out here. The art installations I know are hidden in the darkness all around. Dicky sits in his plastic cage out off to my left. The whole Curvas crew is around me and I'm gripping Lu's hand tight. We kiss and grin.
Motion in the crowd. A form with flame runs towards the structure and it arcs into the air to land above the maze, between the Man's legs. Wood has been piled high. No, it starts all on it's own, in the center of his form. No, his fingers fire first, and then the rest of Him goes. No. The eyes. His eyes burn hot and then He is consumed. No.
He stands there whole and then He is on fire. Up from below, somehow, the lessening of Him begins. There's a shout from the crowd, a unified roar, as the flames grow massive, fast. A little part of me panics. Oh no oh no! Its loose! The fire's free! So huge and hot and old it's free it's free! Fireworks explode from within the Man. His soul fired loose into the night with cascades of brilliance raining down from sunbursts of blue and green and red and white. BOOM BOOM BOOM. Then there's pushing and a group shoves through with signs and shouts and maybe, could it be, rage?
"SAVE THE MAN! SAVE THE MAN!!" They shout as they flap their signs around and holler in our faces. I nearly fall down, laughing.
The fire races up His legs around his waist and tongues of fury thirty feet high blast up towards his head. The fireworks above are a continuous grand finale. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM and then one sizzles far above with a bright snaking tail.
"I can't see!" Lu says to me. She's little. I'm a giant compared to her. I kneel down and offer my head, she latches on and then loops her legs over my neck, and then supported by my friends around, I lift her into the night. "Oh!" she gasps as she squeezes my head and hair.
"Ah! Don't pull my hair! AH!"
"What?" she says bending down fast and I start to wobble.
"No! NO! Sit up! Sit up straight! Hold my forehead not my hair! AH! There, I've got your legs. Jeez!"
"It's scary up here!"
"I know I know!" I shout back up to her. The noise of fire and cheers and fireworks are deafening. "It's scary down here," I mutter, laughing to myself. I settle her in and there's another gasp as a leg gives way and His arms really get going. The heat is powerful and it's coming at us in waves. Cheering from all sides with every new burst above and then the flames destroy him altogether. He falls out of Form, into Light, into Burn, into Fire and Smoke and Heat and Death. Out of Existence, into Energy. There's a final, crushing groan and then everyone rushes in. The Man is gone. Now the night belongs to Fire, and all of us burn within.
Together we roam the playa night, but before long I am alone in the dust. Stranded, lonely, pissed, I search for my wife and my friends, in vain.
posted by Bones at 8:59 PM
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