The Shadow Of The Man

Episode 95 with Ashes is out now! Meet Ashes who explores the transformative journey of finding lifelong community through Burning Man and its behind-the-scenes labor force known as the Department of Public Works (DPW). Ashes shares her unconventional path from arriving at the desert by herself to ultimately building iconic structures like the Man base and working on the Ranch Crew in Black Rock Station. Throughout the conversation, they examine the cultural evolution of the event, the unforgiving physical toll of desert restoration work, and the deep personal growth that comes from embracing radical challenges and living authentically.

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Shadow Shorts #20 is out now! Recorded at UnSCruz in 2026 participants were challenged to explain BM‘s impact in 5 minutes or less. Each Shadow Short is one person’s story, please enjoy this short story of how Burning Man has impacted and influenced people over time.

Meet Steve, also known as Razer Beck, who shares his long-standing involvement with the Burning Man community and regional events. Steve reflects on how these gatherings have fostered deep personal connections, including reuniting with decades-old sports teammates and officiating lighthearted camp weddings. The conversation highlights the transformative social impact of the festival, illustrating how shared artistic and communal traditions cultivate open-mindedness and lifelong loyalty among attendees.

Please visit https://shadowoftheman.buzzsprout.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 93 with Stephen Payne is out now! Meet Stephen Payne, a filmmaker who documented the Burning Man festival during its formative years in the early 2000s. The conversation highlights the logistical and artistic challenges of early independent filmmaking in the desert, specifically Payne’s rapid process of shooting and editing the film Burn Baby Burn on a tight deadline. Beyond the technical history, his story explores the evolution of the festival’s culture, contrasting the lawless, improvisational nature of the past with the more regulated, corporate-influenced presence of modern media. He relates the profound personal impact of the Burning Man experience, which Payne credits with fostering the confidence, resourcefulness, and adventurous spirit that led him to his current life on a boat in Malta.

https://www.paynie.net/

Burn Baby Burn - Remastered

IG: @jaywalking.the.world

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Episode 92 with Lara Hopwood is out now! Meet Lara Hopwood, a project manager for the Burning Man Regional Network, who discusses the global expansion of the event’s culture. Lara explains that her role involves supporting a worldwide ecosystem of local communities and volunteer contacts who bring the ten principles to life outside of the main desert gathering. The conversation highlights how Burning Man has evolved from a single annual experiment into a permanent cultural movement that fosters participation and civic engagement through year-round regional events and virtual spaces. She explains how the "burner" identity is defined by a commitment to creativity and community rather than just a trip to the Black Rock Desert.

https://burningman.org/global-events-groups/burning-man-regional-network/

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/larahopwood/

https://burningman.org/about-us/who-we-are/rising-sparks/

IG: @

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Shadow Shorts #19 is out now! Recorded at UnSCruz in 2026 participants were challenged to explain BM‘s impact in 5 minutes or less. Each Shadow Short is one person’s story, please enjoy this short story of how Burning Man has impacted and influenced people over time.

Meet  a veteran participant known as Dr. Slide who talks about the transformative power of radical self-expression and the importance of building a gift-based community that exists beyond the main desert festival. The discussion emphasizes the growth of regional burning networks in areas like Santa Cruz and Oakland, illustrating how these local gatherings serve as vital spaces for liberating the spirit and fostering human connection. Dr Slide describes how the movement’s values of inclusion and togetherness can reshape a person's life and professional outlook over many years.

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Episode 90 with Yonderman is out now! Meet Yonderman aka Mark Stirling, a New Zealand professor who reflects on his serendipitous discovery of Burning Man while studying geology in Nevada during the 1990s. The conversation traces his journey from a chance encounter with naked cyclists in the desert to becoming a foundational figure in the global regional network by establishing Kiwi Burn, the first Burning Man event outside North America. Stirling emphasizes how the culture’s principles of community and radical inclusion offered him a "chosen family" and a sense of liberation that contrasted with his earlier experiences of being bullied. His story highlights the transformative power of the event, illustrating how its philosophy can be successfully transplanted across oceans to foster lifelong creative and personal fulfillment.

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https://kiwiburn.com/

https://www.otago.ac.nz/geology/staff/mark-stirling

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Episode 89 with Roxane Jessi is out now! Meet Roxane Jessi, a world traveler and author of Once Upon a Time in the Dust, who documents her global exploration of the Burning Man subculture. After a transformative first experience at the 2015 Black Rock City event, Jessi became obsessed with how the movement's ten principles manifest across different international contexts. She embarked on a spontaneous and ambitious "burn year," visiting seven regional events on five continents—including Africa Burn and Midburn—to study how diverse cultures and environments shape community building and creative expression. Roxane emphasizes that the "magic" of these gatherings lies not in the Nevada desert specifically, but in the participatory spirit and lack of commercial exchange that fosters cross-generational connection. She details the impact of Burning Man on her professional life as a consultant for international development nonprofits, illustrating how the culture's ethos of artistic healing and social action extends far beyond the temporary festival sites.

IG: @roxanejessiauthor

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Shadow Shorts #18 is out now! Recorded at BRC in 2025 participants were challenged to explain BM‘s impact in 5 minutes or less. Each Shadow Short is one person’s story, please enjoy this short story of how Burning Man has impacted and influenced people over time.

Meet Mariah, who describes how the event replaced her rigid lifestyle with a newfound sense of emotional openness and service. A central theme of the conversation is Zendo peer support, a sanctuary where volunteers assist attendees navigating difficult emotional or psychedelic experiences. By highlighting these personal stories of transformation and community care, the program aims to document the "shadow" or lasting influence the festival leaves on its participants' lives.

Please visit https://shadowoftheman.buzzsprout.com/ for all of the details and links.

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Episode 87 with David Date is out now! Meet David Date, a skilled fabricator who shares his decade-long evolution from a struggling entrepreneur to a prominent Burning Man artist. The conversation explores the technical and emotional challenges of bringing massive installations to the desert, specifically detailing the mechanical failures and "ego deaths" associated with his ambitious projects like the walking centipede and the spinning stainless steel Merkaba. Beyond personal anecdotes, his story is a critical reflection on the tensions between communal effort and "plug-and-play" commercialization, exemplified by Date’s public exposure of artists who outsource their fabrication to foreign factories while claiming credit for the work. He defines Burning Man as a transformative "experiment in human connection" that transcends modern political polarization through shared labor, service, and the raw trials of desert survival.

IG: @steelandfeels

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Threadssteelandfeels

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Episode 86 with Absinthia is out now! Meet Absinthia, who reflects on her transformative decades-long involvement with the Burning Man festival. The conversation traverses the evolution of the event from its early, unmapped days in the mid-1990s to the more structured, high-tech gathering it is today, highlighting how the desert environment fosters radical self-expression and community resilience. A central theme is the intersection of art and identity, as Absinthia describes how her experiences on the Playa led her to found a unique absinthe business and co-create the "Museum of No Spectators." Her tale is an historical oral archive, capturing personal stories of survival during the "mud apocalypse," the profound impact of the festival's founders, and the enduring spiritual pull of the Black Rock Desert.

IG: @absvermut

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https://absinthia.com/

Her new book: The Green Fairy’s Canvas

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