Meet Dan Miller, Larry Harvey’s roommate and the longest participating burner. Dan was part of everything from before the beginning. Dan and Larry lived together from 1981 - 2000, and only after they moved in did the realization occur that they had met earlier in 1978 at a raku (a kind of pottery that involves “burning” pottery in fires) multi-day campout at Pescadero beach. This campout would become the earliest inspiration for Larry Harvey which would eventually culminate in Black Rock City. Dan has participated in every incarnation of Burning Man. He has helped build the Man, it’s base, and pretty much done it all. These days (since 2018) he has a project called “The Brain of the Man” where he constructs out of leftover pieces from construction of the Man a brain that can fit into the Man’s head. He tours the brain around the playa and invites participants to write down thoughts which they insert into the brain. The brain gets burned with the Man each year. This is one of the best episodes so far, it is filled with amazing stories, some of which have not been told many times or at all. Enjoy EP 18 with Dan Miller.

Episode photo is by David Silverman

The Burning Man Journal article about the Man’s Brain:

https://journal.burningman.org/2022/08/black-rock-city/building-brc/participate/