Episode 32 with Kay Morrison is out now! Before discovering Burning Man Kay was involved in the world of protests in Seattle and internationally. She first landed in BRC in 2000 and then camped with the Space Virgins in 2001 (and then Area 47 village). In 2004-5 Seattle started to organize as a Regional group with the first Critical Massive. Kay helped to start Ignition Northwest and became a Burning Man Regional Contact for Seattle, a part she played for 7 years. She then became a member of the Metaregional Committee and in 2012 she became a Burning Man Board Member. Kay also helped to found the Iron Monkeys metalworking collective in 2007 which she is still very active in to this day. This interview with Kay is a great one, please give it a listen. Note: the Flaming Lotus Girls hoax thing never actually happened on the playa this year, but it was a good laugh!

https://www.ironmonkeyarts.org/

https://ignitionnw.org/

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Episode 31 with Paradox Pollack is out now! Please give it a listen today. He ran away from home and went to San Francisco, almost dying in a fire on the way. Paradox is one of the founders of Cell Space, an iconic event venue in SF where many early Burning Man events were held. He first went to the Black Rock desert in 1991 and was part of Desert Site Works. In 1992 he returned and was part of a 48 hour performance organized by Pepe Ozan that covered the life cycle from conception to death. Paradox was part of Pepe Ozan’s operas from 1995-2001, and part of One People Voice (Gamalon?) from 2001-2005. Paradox was also part of the Dream Circus from 1994 and the Mystic Family Circus from 1997/98. He has worked in the film industry as a movement director, cultural designer, actor, and choreographer in many notable films.

https://paradoxpollack.com/

Threadseyeseesitself

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Episode 30 with Metric is out now. He first went to BRCin 1998 when he worked as a sound engineer in San Francisco. In 1999 he volunteered with the Temple of Ishtar. In 2000 he volunteered with Burning Man and first went to the Ranch. After the first SF Decompression at Club Cocomo he moved out to Gerlach. From 2001-2004 he was Burning Man’s first Ranch Manager. Metric was part of the Man crew from 2001-2019 and from 2004-2019 he was part of the Gerlach/Empire Citizen’s Advisory Board. From 2008-2012 he served as Executive Director of the Friends of Black Rock. Metric still lives in Gerlach where he is a part of the Black Rock Stewards and he is starting a local radio station. Please give it a listen today.

https://blackrockstewards.org/

https://blackrockstewards.org/kbru-fm-92-5/#comment-35

http://metric.cc/

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Episode 29 with Diva Marisa is out now. Meet Marisa who first heard about Burning Man as a 12 year old girl living in the bay area by reading about it in a Cacophany Society newsletter. She first hit the playa in 1999 to sing in Pepe Ozan’s opera. Death Guild has been a San Francisco club since 1993, and the themecamp Death Guild/Thunderdome was founded by David King. In 2002 Marisa sang at the first SF decompression and in 2003 she started with Velocity Circus. In 2004 she started working in leadership for Death Guild/Thunderdome which she has been involved in ever since. In 2008-9 she started singing on the trapeze at Thunderdome. Marisa is a trained operatic singer, has been involved with running the show at Death Guild/Thunderdome for a long time, and she has an incredible story. Please give it a listen today.

https://www.deathguildthunderdome.com/

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Episode 28 with Monique Schiess is out now. Meet Monique who first landed in Black Rock City in 2004. By 2007 she was co-founding Afrikaburn with Paul Jorgensen. She helped to run Aftrikaburn for 16 years before she was “abruptly let go”. She is currently working on a film about Afrikaburn (see links below). Monique was no stranger to the wild before hitting the playa, she had experience out in the bush in South Africa camping and working as a Ranger. Monique has an incredible story of resilience, give it a listen today and find out the story behind the largest Regional event in the Regional Network.

You can contact her at [email protected]

https://www.afrikaburn.org/

The documentary about Afrikaburn:

from.ashes.story.of.afrikaburn (Instagram)

afrikaburn documentary crowdfunding campaignBackaBuddyhttps://www.backabuddy.co.za › campaign › from-ashe… (crowdfunding campaign)

[email protected] 

Please visit shadowoftheman.com for all of the details and links.

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Episode 27 the Season Premiere is out now. Meet Michael Mikel (aka Danger Ranger) one of the earliest founding members of Burning Man. He first encountered the Cacophany Society in 1986 and got hooked. In 1988 he showed up at Baker beach at Larry Harvey’s beach burn. In 1990 when the park police shut down the Baker beach “Man burns” Michael helped to convince Larry to bring the Man to the Black Rock Desert for the Cacophany Society’s “Zone Trip”. Michael becomes “Danger Ranger” when he forms the first iteration of the Black Rock Rangers (which formed to aid participants who got lost in the desert). Over the years he is one of the driving forces behind the growth and evolution of Burning Man as one of the main founders. He is still a beloved if sometimes controversial figure in the burner community to this day. The shadow is very long on Michael and he describes the strong influence Burning Man has had on him over a considerable part of his life and why he is compelled to come back again and again.

Please visit shadowoftheman.com for all of the details and links.

Email [email protected] if you want to be a guest or if you have any concerns about the show.

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Episode 26 the Season One Recap is out now. The inaugural season of the Shadow of The Man show is now over, next week Season 2 will launch with the Season Premiere EP 27 with none other than Danger Ranger! Learn about what happened behind the scenes in Season 1 and get a sneak peek at Season 2

This episode recounts the wobbly but promising beginning of this show and all of the startup problems the show faced. Over time these issues were ironed out and the show started to get more regular and professional. The issue of equity in the show is discussed as one of the show’s guiding principles. The future of the show is discussed including a ramp up to even more regularly scheduled episodes. The Shadow Shorts project is introduced with details about how it will unfold on the playa in 2025 and eventually another stream of episodes. There is also a short discussion of a blind spot in developing the show, the fact that some people have come to think of the show as dark (usually just making an assumption off of the name). There is also some discussion of technical issues about the show and the ongoing attempt to improve the quality of the show. This show is a gift to the Burning Man community and there are no plans to monetize it. The show ends with a preview of episodes to come in season 2.

Please visit shadowoftheman.com for all of the details and links.

Email [email protected] if you want to be a guest or if you have any concerns about the show.

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Episode 25 with Caveat Magister is out now! Learn all about Burning Man’s philosopher laureate and his backstory. He first got involved in Regionals before moving to San Francisco where he first went to Black Rock City in 2006. From the beginning he volunteered with Media Mecca eventually becoming staff (which he did for 5 years, over time becoming their volunteer coordinator). In 2010-11 he started to write for the Burning Man Journal where he has written many articles over the years. After avoiding him for a few years Caveat first met Larry Harvey in 2013 and started a great friendship. In 2015 Larry brought together Caveat, Stuart Mangrum, and himself to found the Burning Man Philosophical Center. Since then Caveat has written a number of Burning Man Journal articles and written two books (The Scene That Became Cities and Turn Your Life Into Art) while also helping to ghost write a few other books. Caveat is a very knowledgeable and thoughtful writer whose books and articles about the world of Burning Man and beyond has been a touchstone for at least a generation or two (and perhaps more into the future). He is truly one of the gems of the community and a wonderful person, please give this episode a listen and learn all about Burning Man’s own Caveat Magister.

Please visit shadowoftheman.com for all of the details and links.

Books by Caveat:

The Scene That Became Cities: What Burning Man Philosophy Can Teach Us about Building Better Communities

Turn Your Life Into Art: Lessons in Psychomagic from the San Francisco Underground

https://fascinatingstranger.com/

https://journal.burningman.org/author/cmagister/

Caveat's Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/join/BenjaminWachs

Episode 24 with Katy Tahja is out now! Katy first went to Black Rock City in 2012 following her daughter who had been going for 10 years. She thought it would be a one and done trip especially as she uses crutches and it was difficult for her to get around. She found Mobility Camp and got hooked, she has since returned year after year helping to organize the camp. Katy also writes articles about BRC for the Anderson Valley Advertiser. Some of her articles over the years include stories about Mobility Camp, the oldest person on the playa, medical services at BRC, lost and found, Playa Pops orchestra, and more.

https://mobilitycamp.org/

https://theava.com/ (Anderson Valley Advertiser)

Episode 23 with Lisa Scheinkopf (AKA Sassy Cat) is out now!. She first went to Black Rock City from her home base in Arizona in 2011 where she caught the bug for burning. Later on she helped to run the themecamp “Cat World” and later another called “Ignited States”. She has been a part of the Arizona Burn (Seguaro Man, 4th weekend of April each year) since 2015. Lisa helped to organize “Ignite” in Phoenix in 2019 and became a Burning Man Regional Contact in 2020.

You can reach her at [email protected]

azburners.org