All language subtitles for The.Man.Will.Burn.S01E02.HMAX.WEB.h264-GRACE.en-US[sdh]

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-[indistinct chatter]
-[hands clapping]

[laughing]

[interviewer]
So, can we, uh...

-Thank you.
-...can go backwards?

Nice, I can see the camera.

Uh, yes, yes.

[interviewer] Backwards
to the initial inspiration

for doing the first...

I thought you were gonna
try to hypnotize me.

-[interviewer] ... Burning Man.
-Let's go back, Larry. Go back.

[John Law]
I never expected to hate Larry.

You have to understand,
he was a 42-year-old man

when I met him
who had never paid taxes.

He didn't exist
in the real world.

And I thought,
how did you do that?

I was impressed.

But he didn't really
have a real job, either.

B-Burning Man was--
was it for him.

It's how he got
his standing in the world.

In the early days,
Michael Mikel, Larry Harvey,

and I were the legal owners
of Burning Man Partners.

-[burner] How's it going, John?
-It's going very well.

[crowd cheering]

The early Burning Man,
when we were on the playa

with, you know, fewer than
a thousand people,

you didn't know
what was gonna happen.

It was completely free.

[crowd cheering and howling]

[Larry Harvey]
In my imagination,

I thought the whole world
was going to come.

[crowd cheering and whistling]

[John]
Larry said so many times,

"Oh, we're gonna get
a million people on the playa."

Are you out
of your fucking mind?

The fucking event
went too fast.

We were not a professional
event organization.

[flames whooshing]

I warned him repeatedly,

"People are gonna die."

[wind gusting]

[♪ ethereal music playing]

[♪ music swelling]

♪♪

[♪ tense music playing]

[newscaster 1]
For the second year in a row,

Burning Man is canceled.

[newscaster 2]
It's usually the busiest time

of the year
in Northern Washoe County.

It's been estimated
that Burning Man

brings in more
than $60 million

for the state economy
every year.

The loss of that revenue
for the second straight year

is really not good
for the town

that sits closest to the site
of the annual festival.

[newscaster 3]
Now, even though the event

is not officially
going on this year,

those that live here
in Gerlach tell me

they still expect
to see plenty of Burners.

[Joel Briggs]
When the announcement came,

"Hey, Burning Man's canceled,"

within 20 minutes,
Plan B was executed.

There you go.

Alright, Lofax, you're gonna
introduce everybody, correct?

Make sure we're
following the agenda.

Do we have an agenda?

My real name's Joel Briggs.

Uh, everybody calls me
Sergeant Pepper on the playa.

My occupation, I do work
for the Department of Defense.

I... do risk analysis
and so forth.

1996 was my first year.

And then I went again
in 1999, 2001, 2002,

'04, '06, '08, '09, '10, and
'11,

'12, skipped '15, '16,

'17 ended up
going to Afghanistan,

and then '18 I missed,
went to '19.

Those are my burner years.

Originally, Plan B
was never a plan.

It was just the name
of our camp.

We had about 30 people.
That 30 invited 30.

Those 30 invited 30,

and within a week,
we were at 3,000.

Very quickly,
a decision was made,

'Hey, we're going down a path.

We've got to be very careful."

So, I actually got on the phone
with an attorney, said,

"This is what's going on."

She laid out the ground rules.

"Do not set this in motion.
Do not say this.

Do not collect dues."

I just want to kinda recap...

Very quickly, a decision
was made to structure it

in such a way
that there's no power.

Nobody has-- Nobody runs it.

Because there was fear that
Burning Man would shut us down.

I mean, that was always
in our back, and...

you know, every day, I'd get up

and I, I would go, like,
to my email like,

"Ooh, is it there?"

[Marian Goodell]
The first time I saw a link

-to Plan B...
-Wow.

...I was like,
"Ooh, this is cheeky."

But the biggest fear was that

if it went really, really wrong

and people
were injured and hurt,

that it would affect our future
on the Black Rock Desert.

[Power Surge]
Now, it's unclear just how many

brave souls are gonna
venture to Black Rock Desert,

but there are over 400...

After the official video
from Marian came out,

there was like a divide
in the burner community

for a few months.

Everyone was very nervous

about making a super-spreader
event of COVID.

People made special requests

to the Bureau
of Land Management,

and the response
from the federal government

was "No" to almost
every request.

No structures may be built,

no burning of structures,

no lasers, no nudity this year.

They don't want
Porta Potties to be serviced.

People are gonna really
have to pick up their poop.

[Lofax]
The idea was to have a map,

who's gonna come on playa.

And the map grew very fast.

[Joel]
Everybody was going to Plan B

for the information,

and, uh, it-- it just turned out
to be that way.

I mean, we were very factual.

[Lofax]
"You may die. This is Plan B.

"The ticket holder, you,

"assume all risk
of property loss

"or damage, mental breakdown,
serious injury, or death.

"This document
entitles you to nothing.

"You will get nothing.

"You must bring enough food,

"water, sunscreen, toilet paper,

and poop buckets to survive."

A lot was riding
on our shoulders,

especially when we got
to that 15,000 mark

on-- on the Facebook page.

I'm like, "Oh, if this fails...

we are doomed."

[♪ tense music playing]

[Marian] There was
a lot of interest very fast.

And if you're not careful,

you could have a disaster,

like in 1996.

[♪ tense music continues]

[indistinct chatter]

[Stuart Mangrum]
1996 was the first year

that we had a Burning Man
theme.

The theme was "The Inferno."

[laughing]

[actor] Suffering from
a recent bankruptcy?

HELCO can help you rebuild
your credit in this world

and the next with our easy
qualifying soul debit

ATM check guarantee card.

[Stuart] We created
this whole mythic structure

where Burning Man was going
to be purchased by HELCO,

a satanic corporation.

One thin soul.
That's all it costs.

And best of all, you won't
even notice it's missing.

When was the last time you...

It referenced general concerns
about the event selling out

and becoming a,
a mainstream consumer event,

which were real.

We're good. We're good.

Lord of Evil. How you doing?

[Larry]
Well, I first got the idea

because there were people
coming out to the desert artists

who were-- who were in effect
doing hell

in one form or another,
they're blowing things up.

Extravagantly
destructive spectacles.

That um-- And I thought perhaps
we should--

We should channel this, uh,
hellish energy,

uh, it-- and--
and make it mean something.

[people chattering]

Essentially, a hell is a place

where one confronts
whatever one has banished

from one's world.

[evil cackling]

So, this year,
our theme is The Inferno.

And whatever you have,
uh, cast out of your world

or cast out of yourself,
there rises up to confront you.

[motorcycle engine rumbling]

[♪ foreboding music playing]

[John] A couple nights
before the event,

a guy I knew pretty well
was on his motorcycle

out in the desert,

playing chicken with a van

coming on straight ahead
on the van.

And, uh, he miscalculated

'cause he was pretty high
and drunk.

And, uh, he impacted the van...

[motorcycle zooming]

...doing 70 miles an hour,

and he was decapitated

by the side-view mirror.

The death of Michael Furey
was hard on all of us.

For John,
it was definitely harder.

Here's my friend, decapitated,
lying on the desert.

[indistinct chatter]

They'd put a coat
over his head.

And the Pershing County
Sheriffs show up.

-[sirens wailing]
-And I'm there helping them

and trying to do
whatever we can to--

You know, they have
to get an ambulance

to come and take the body away.

So, we were there
for many hours.

[sirens continue wailing]

A little bit-- I don't know,
like 3:00 in the morning,

Larry shows up.

And, uh, he wanted to know
if it was before midnight

that my friend died...

so that when the press
found out about it,

it could officially be said

that it didn't happen
at the Burning Man event.

It happened before it.

Like, get the fuck out of here.

[♪ tense dramatic music playing]

[Larry] John is a stalwart
and full of passion

and thinks continually
about others and their welfare.

If we hadn't had that, uh,
bone in our bodies,

this thing would have
degenerated quickly

into a truly
anarchist society.

Larry's way of processing

was think about it
from 5,000 feet,

when John was on the ground.

[John] It was terrible,

and the people who
dealt with it

were traumatized by it.

So, that's how '96 kicked off.

You're coming to the performance
tonight, right?

[camera operator]
Uh, yes, absolutely.

-Or shooting it.
-[camera operator] Yes.

[♪ rock music playing]

[John] The conceit
of this performance piece

was that HELCO,

this giant
international corporation,

was trying to buy Burning Man.

We built a bunch
of different constructions,

which were parodies
of American companies.

[♪ intense music playing]

Including a 32-foot office
tower that said HELCO on it.

[burner]
No smoking here.

No smoking zone.

This is Cal dousing things
with gasoline.

[crowd cheering and whistling]

[♪ intense music continues]

-[flames whooshing]
-[crowd shouting]

Evil lurks amongst you!

There are those amongst you

who are not spontaneous.

Those amongst you
who are not creative.

Hard though
it may be to believe,

you know who you are.

[John] We had wired up
the, uh, top of the tower

with a giant pile
of explosives,

and I dropped
a road flare into it.

[loud pop, flare sizzling]

[explosives booming]

[crowd cheering]

It was awesome.

[glass shattering]

But it was
pretty fucking stupid.

[crowd cheering]

That's the whole point
of this place, right?

To be able to be doing stuff
that pushed your boundaries.

[burner 1]
Move back as far as possible.

-We're too close.
-[burner 2] Push back, please.

Push back, please.

Push back, please.
Push back, please.

-[flames whooshing]
-[people shouting]

[Stuart]
'96 was a bit of a disaster.

We had pretty much
a breakdown of civic authority.

No civic responsibility.

[crowd clamoring]

We had people
just running around

and burning everything,
other people's art.

It really turned into kind of
a scene from hell.

Live every Burning Man like
it was your last Burning Man

because it just
might fucking be.

[laughing]

-[explosion booming]
-[people shouting]

[sirens wailing]

[John] The next horrible,
horrible accident,

it was some
drunken drugged-out guy

in a stolen car

rolled over a tent
with two kids in it,

you know, 3:00 in the morning
and injured them severely.

And I can't just say, "Oh, well,
people get hurt at events."

You know, "That's how it goes."

And you just, like, "You have
your insurance for that."

Blah, blah, blah.

That's not how I operate,
you know?

I don't want to be...

involved in creating something
where shit like that happens.

[crowd clamoring]

The fucking event was too big.

It grew too fast.

It was going
to blow up in our face.

And I said so, repeatedly.

Larry just kept going.

He just kept going.

[Larry]
We're about to start something

that's gonna
shake the world up.

He was relentless about that.
Relentless about that.

[Marian]
Burning Man was on the cover

of Wired magazine.

The word was out.

[John]
We didn't have the resources

to deal with a real festival
with 10,000 people.

We simply didn't have
the resources.

And my intent was to not grow it
so fast, take it slower,

not be in a fucking rush to get
a million people on the playa.

Do you even know
what you're talking about?

He didn't do logistics.

He had no idea
what was involved.

We'll do it when it's safe
so that we don't kill anybody.

You're not dealing
with the medics.

You're not dealing
with the law enforcement.

I was.

[Harley K. Dubois]
Larry was always trying

to create his family that
he never really had.

You know, he was adopted,
and so Burning Man

was an outward expression
of his desire

to bring people together
and create community.

[Larry]
I was raised within a family

that didn't communicate
within itself

and didn't communicate
with the world outside of it

in a state
of fairly radical isolation

from the rest of humanity.

And-- and thought from
a very early age

that there was something
terribly wrong.

And... [stammering]

Uh, and came to realize
as I grew older,

that-- that, in fact,
my state was not unique.

We are ruthless
and looking for a community.

Tremendous desire for it.

I suppose my idea
was a childish and crude one.

You know?
I always sort of dreamt

of doing some creative thing

that all the neighbors,
all these people

that I've-- we're never
even allowed to know, really,

would-- might all gather
somehow in the fields,

you know, together around
some wonderful thing.

Soulful expression
of themselves.

It touched a lot of people.
I'll give him that.

Is it worth that?
There's a trade-off there.

-[fireworks popping]
-[crowd cheering]

[Marian]
I remember leaving in 1996

and planning to never
come back.

It didn't feel safe.

[John]
It was not sustainable anymore.

I'm like, "I will never work
with this guy again.

I am fucking done."

[Marian]
John and others saw that.

[John]
It was obvious in '96,

there was a major
metaphysical fork in the road.

The event was either gonna end,

or, if it continued,

it was gonna have to have
a bureaucratic infrastructure.

And, you know,
I couldn't be part of that.

So, that was my swan song
at Burning Man.

[burner] Are we done?

[Harley] In a sense,
they came to represent

the struggle of Burning Man
in that era.

Do we want to remain
underground and stay free?

Or are we building a movement
that could change the world?

-[crowd cheering]
-[bell jingling]

[camera operator] What does
Burning Man mean to you?

-Um...
-[people chattering]

Death, destruction, mayhem,
and lots and lots of fun.

[Stuart]
If you were a participant...

you probably didn't really
realize that much of anything

happened between '96 and '97.

Burning Man was still awesome.

But if you were an organizer
or a volunteer,

you were caught
in a very hard turning point.

And a whole lot of people
walked away and never came back.

[Sgt. Nathan Carmichael]
So this year,

non-festival.

Uh, again, we're...

playing it by year.

We got a week to go.

I don't think anybody
knows what's going on.

The federal government
has allowed this to happen,

and again, we plan
for the worst

and hope for the best.

[Ranger Crow]
Gerlach is the closest town

to the site of Black Rock City,

and it has been a love-hate
relationship at times.

Burning Man is now the main
source of revenue for the town.

It's also the main
source of chaos.

Welcome to, uh, Operation
Non-Event, 2021.

I'm Crow. I'm the Ranger
Operations Manager.

Our main thing here
is to address the concerns

of the people
who live in Gerlach.

[speaker 1] I don't think
there's any preparation

because of the fact
that there's no Burning Man,

so that everybody exiting,

that might become a huge issue

and might need emergency
ranger help in that situation.

[Crow] We will have
approximately 60 rangers

stationed in Gerlach,

or housed in Gerlach,
I should say.

[speaker 2] Part of the
community's largest concern

is people defecating
behind their house,

in their front lawn,
in a variety of places

because there are no
Porta Potties in town this year.

[♪ quirky music playing]

[Tony Diebold]
When I came here in 1971,

it was a lot different then.

It was a little more quiet
than it is now.

[burner 1] I'm going now
to try to find a spigot

to fill our water jug up.

[Tony]
Then the Burners came.

-[burner 2] Burning Man gas.
-[Tony] They changed things.

[♪ quirky music continues]

[Sylvia Fascio]
In '91, they had 200 attendees.

They were making a mess.

There were no Porta Potties.

They were going to the bathroom
out in the desert.

[Brandy Wilber]
It's like a little
mini circus up here

when Burning Man
is going on.

Okay, there's three
more bags, Terry.

-[Terry] Alright.
-And I'll get your tortillas.

I'll get my big, strong,
muscly guy here to help ya.

The rumors are so widespread.

I've had 10,000, 15,000, 20,000.

Somebody tried
to tell me 30,000.

Nobody knows.

That's what's making
this year hard.

This is one idea
that I've just picked up

from the Plan B Facebook group,

is people wanting,
you know, five-gallon buckets.

I have 400 five-gallon buckets
underneath the store.

So, if nothing else,

if people just want to buy
some five-gallon buckets

and figure out how to perch
themselves on the edge of it,

fine with me.

I kind of feel like BLM
should have found a way

to allow Porta Potty
companies to come out

because I feel like
it's going to be a shit show.

Literally a shit show.

[Tony] If this experiment
goes off well,

they're gonna say, "No, we
don't need the organization."

What happens
out there this year

will be a maker or breaker
for Burning Man.

♪♪

Hello, Burning Man community.

We will not be collaborating

on Black Rock City
in the desert.

[chiming]

But we look forward
to inviting you

to come to the virtual
Burning Man.

[computerized voice]
Calling all virtual explorers,

adventurers,
swashbucklers and Burners.

[Marian] Black Rock City
is in the multiverse.

I truly believe that
this gathering is reckless,

so we're pushing the platform

to be a world-class place

for the global community
to gather.

Everything is there,

but it's in the digital dust.

At BRCvr, you can dream,
create, and elevate,

go as far as your
imagination takes you.

Hey, I'm Lindsay.

I was planning to go
to Burning Man

physically in 2021.

This was supposed to be
my first year on playa,

physical playa,

and then Burning Man
got canceled.

I have never gone physically,

but I've been so heavily
involved with the virtual one.

I know it like the back
of my hand at this point.

I give people tours
and teach them

how to walk and fly
as an avatar.

Oh, wow.

Being around other people
in VR,

I became very close to them.

Alicia!

Oh my God!

[laughing] Let's go.

[Alicia] Yeah.

[Lindsay Handren]
We haven't met in person.

We've spent a year together
on Zoom and in VR.

Hopefully, we can at least
spend Burn Night together.

Being in, like,
an open and a loving space,

it's something
I really need right now.

But I'm not brave enough
to do the Renegade Burn.

Where did everybody else go?

[Ray Christian] Initially,
I was gonna go solo.

You know, I'm a commander.

I'm gonna go by myself.
That's my expectation.

I don't know
any of these people.

People started
to mention to me,

there's a regional group
out there called Rootpile.

Like... where? In this area?

-Hey, man.
-What's up, man?

What's up?

[Ray]
When I heard about the camp,

I think I picked up
bluegrass and moonshine

and I go, "Oh shit."

[both laugh]

You gonna have a lot of stories,
I promise you.

We're a hillbilly camp

because I wanted to take
this culture out there

to show them to people
because they all think we're

a bunch of racist rednecks,
everybody that lives here.

-[Ray] Right, right, right.
-And not everybody is.

And that's what I wanted to show
by taking it out there.

So, we're not taking any
Confederate flags to the playa?

[Fixxer] Nope.

[laughing]

[Ray] But I found out

that the official Burning Man
was canceled.

I heard something
about the Renegade Burn,

but, uh, I don't know if
it's still a good time to go.

[Sheriff Jerry Allen]
Burning Man does a great thing

when they bring
the city together.

They have landmarks.
They have streets.

They have street signs.

So, if we have to respond

to a call for service,
we know where it's at.

[ranger] Anyone can transmit
on ham in an emergency.

[Jerry] This year, all we have

is the great expanse
of the desert.

Hit the button and hope
someone hears you.

-[Jerry] What could go wrong?
-[ranger] Let's see.

[Jerry] I guess anything.

After this, we have
a "stop the bleeding" course.

[Crow] If it's like, "Holy shit,
I need an ambulance right now,"

they're asking
for resources from Gerlach,

like, this is serious.

We'll be monitoring all of this.

There's a lot of different
concerns we have out there,

but personal safety
being number one.

And there have been deaths.

[Nathan] There's a mobile jail
we bring out here.

We're just gonna try
to keep the peace

and make sure everybody goes
home safe, including ourselves.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

♪♪

[burner] Hey! Welcome home!

[excited chatter]

Let's go on a little
scooter ride here at Plan B,

Black Rock Desert.

[burner 1] Fucking '21.
Fucking Renegade Burning Man.

Dude, no other place
I'd rather be.

[burner 2]
Ethan, are you ready, man?

I think we're about to roll.

-We ride.
-We ride!

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

-[crowd] Whoo!
-Hi.

[excited chatter]

[burner howling]

[chuckling]

[howling]

[howling continues]

-[train whistle blows]
-[burner howls]

[burner]
Welcome home.

You guys are now
officially Burners.

We're improvising
with train whistles.

We don't have a bell.

[train whistle blowing]

[laughs]

[Zoe Nightingale]
Alright, we have arrived.

We are following
GPS coordinates to a place

that we think could be the place
we reserved on the imaginary map

that somebody made
that nobody knows.

[laughter]

[Zoe] It is 1:30 a.m.

The moon's out.

We have no clue what's happening
or what's going on.

We're exhausted.

We've brought everything
that we don't need

and nothing that we need.

[♪ pop music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[Nathan] So, right there,
the fire dancers this year

are actually in violation
of BLM's rules.

Sometimes, you have
to pick your battles.

Uh, do you actually
go in there and shut that down

with the amount of people
that are there?

We've been having a little bit
of trouble finding things.

No streets, no signs.

Out here now, there's really
nowhere to tell where you're at.

I took my oath
August 31st of 2001.

[crowd reveling]

Out of 20 years,

I have actually
worked Burning Man,

I would say right now, it's 16.

I had no-- I had no idea
what I was getting involved in.

No idea.

Good and bad,
it's awesome what you see here.

Yes, actually I know
where we're at now.

That's a crane with the light...

[chuckles]

...in the shape
of, uh, somebody's genitals.

[Nathan chuckling]

[indistinct chatter]

99% of people actually say
thank you for being here.

It's that 1% that kind of
ruins it for everybody.

[indistinct radio chatter]

There's definitely a lack
of law enforcement here.

There's nothing saying
they can't speed.

[excited chatter]

-[thudding]
-[burner] Oh, shit. Oh, shit!

You alright?

[flames whooshing]

[crowd cheering]

[Nathan] It's a little chaotic.

[burner laughing]

Whoo!

[♪ dance music playing]

[screams]

[♪ electronic
dance music continues]

[crowd cheering]

♪♪

[siren wailing]

[sirens wailing]

[burner] My friend
just flipped his ATV over,

and he's losing consciousness.

He had, like,
blood coming out of his mouth.

Like, I was like,

"This could be really serious."

You cannot have anarchists
and chaos at 10,000 people.

It just doesn't work.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

'96 really just left
the organization in shambles.

One human being
lost his life last year.

Other human beings were,
were injured

and injured critically.

That had to be brought
under control.

[Harley] One officer slipped us
a memorandum that said,

"The probability
of Burning Man causing a riot

"was so great
that all police officers

should be issued
bulletproof vests
and rubber bullets."

A little bit of tension there,
understandably. [chuckles]

'96 was a shit show.

[Stuart]
So, in '97 with John Law gone,

Larry and Michael
formed a new organization,

an LLC, with four other friends

we now call The Founders.

That was the actual
legal entity

that controlled Burning Man.

[crowd reveling]

[Larry] It became apparent
that we were responsible

for everybody's welfare.

It wasn't anybody else.
It was on us.

Then we were
de facto the state.

Which-- Which was a conundrum
for the-- for the hipsters.

[laughs]

You know, what-- what does
an anarchist say to that?

[Marian]
When I was in my early 30s,

I'd worked in a bank,
I'd worked in advertising,

I'd worked at a law firm.

And then I saw photos
of Burning Man.

It was just like a big
unfolding of, like,

"Wait a minute.

"What kind of magical circus

in the middle of a desert?"

So, I'd read everything
I could at the library

on microfiche.

Basically made it my mission
to meet the people that did it.

[people chattering]

Would you play with
my Dream Date?

This is my Dream Date.

I met Larry at a party,
and he was super quirky.

He was absolutely
in his own head.

He was a storyteller.

And he was very drunk
at this party.

[partygoer 1]
I love you, Larry!

[Marian] And being very,
very silly.

And I fell in love with him.

[people cheering]

[partygoer 2] He's a real one.

[Marian] And so I came along
as Larry's girlfriend.

He had lots of ideas.

He couldn't do it all himself.

Larry was the philosopher
and writer

and created context
for what was happening.

Harley brought compassion
and a deep understanding

of how to bring people together

and help drive them
towards some of the goals.

Michael Mikel is a storyteller,
historian,

a trickster,

a kind of third eye
of who we are.

Will Roger organized a DPW

and turned it into
a functioning entity

and intention to build the city
and break it down.

And Crimson is
the fire goddess.

She oversaw the development
of the art program

with Larry Harvey,

and then The Man is hers.

The building of The Man,
the fire on The Man,

the burning of The Man,
that is still her domain.

[Harley] Before 1997,

we were just a renegade
underground event.

In 1997, we--
we came above ground.

We started, uh,
you know, paying taxes

and being a legitimate entity.

[inaudible]

So, we started planning
basically the structure

that you see here on this map.

It came to fruition in 1997.

We planned a city
for the first time.

We made roads
for the first time.

We created structures so that
people could thrive

and be safe.

[Marian] We sold
10,000 pre-sale tickets.

Drink lots of water.
Above all else, enjoy yourself.

And we'll probably get
at least 13,000.

It's much more organized
this year.

There's a lot of things
that we put in place

to make it a safe place
to have fun.

[Larry] Culture is based
on communion, not consumption.

What we're trying to achieve
here in this experiment

is, is to recreate culture
in our world.

The new story is not the event.
It's gonna be the movement.

That's what's gonna happen.

And it's gonna
expand exponentially.

I actually believe that.

[news anchor]
The idea of a spontaneous city

does seem an odd one,

but that's exactly
what turned up

in the Nevada Desert
over the Labor Day weekend,

a city with a curious name
of "Burning Man."

What some people have called
a proto-apocalyptic,

hippie neo-pagan freak fest.

Yeah!

[shouting]

[Marian] Some people think
this is a big party,

and it's in the desert,
and Burning Man means

I can do whatever I want.

Uh, when in fact,
that's certainly not the case.

[Flynn] [over radio]
Hey, this is Flynn.

What's your 20?
I have another volunteer.

Maybe I can send them
to you, over.

We had to build trust.

But after the chaos of 1996,

it was really hard
to deal with the county.

The Washoe County supervisors
have decided that Burning Man

is an iffy organization,

so they're gonna place
sheriffs in our ticket office

and take money as it comes in

until they reach $321,000,

which is what they're charging
to protect us.

[Marian] The costs that have
been imposed upon us

by the county are so high
that it's entirely possible

and quite likely that
we will be in debt...

[clearing throat]
...when this is over.

[Larry] If you can come up
with an extra five,

an extra 10.

If you give us $100,

you get a ticket to next year

and you just have to believe
it'll happen next year.

That's an act of faith.

[cheering and applause]

That's what the part
I hate about this

because it's so stressful,
terribly stressful.

And we end up
dealing with politics.

We end up worrying
about money endlessly.

Even as we speak,
we're-- we're--

we're asking people for money.

We're begging them
for money at the gate.

I have enough faith that we'll
probably just make it, somehow.

[excited chatter]

[Adriana Roberts]
Papers! Get your papers!

[burner 1] Newspapers!
Come and get Newspapers!

[Adriana] Newspapers!

This feels like
1995 all over again.

There were still
no roads back then,

so it was literally
just running around,

handing papers to people.

-Hot off the press.
-Thank you.

1993 was my first year
at Burning Man,

and 1995 was the first year
of Piss Clear.

And yeah, I did it
for 13 years.

I found this in a fucking
free pile at the Mercury Café.

[Adriana] What? Really?

[burner 2]
And I shit my fucking pants.

Thank you for all
of your years of service.

[burner 1] Did you get
this year's paper yet?

Not yet, but I'm a big fan.
Big fan.

[Adriana]
Well, yeah, like in '95,

there was like this
communal party vibe,

and everyone sort of felt like
they were in on something.

You know, I'm getting that,
that flavor here this year.

[burner 1]
Papers! You want newspapers?

Hell yeah!
Now, see, that's who I want--

[burner 1] That's what we want.

[♪ whimsical music playing]

[Adriana] Black Rock City
is an experiment

in functioning anarchy.

And if anything,
this year's gonna prove

that we don't necessarily
need all the shit

that the Burning Man
organization brings out here.

I hope it doesn't all turn
to shit, literally, you know?

Actually, where the fuck
is Robot Heart?

If anything's gonna be
a little shit show,

it's gonna be Robot Heart

because you know everyone's
gonna do their drugs

and then suddenly be like,

"Oh fuck, I gotta go
to the Porta Potties,

but there are
no Porta Potties."

[truck beeping]

[Gary Mueller]
This camp is called
Robot Heart.

We spend a lot of time
together with our collective

creating a sound system

that we think
is pretty unique and special.

And we give that gift
to the playa.

Robot Heart, it was started
by my brother in 2008.

It's changed a lot through time.

Wow, this is going way back.

George got this 1972
double-decker bus

straight from England,

custom created
the sound system,

put a heart on top,
and so began Robot Heart.

[Benjamin Alexander]
Gio just wanted to create

this perfect acoustic
experience

for people to enjoy music,
as a big fan of music himself.

[Gary] You know,
the name came from my mom

used to always
do this heart sign to us,

to George and to me.

The combination of robot,
heart, the technology,

and the soul,
this was his passion,

creating the Stradivarius
for electronic musicians.

[♪ electronic music blaring]

I mean, if you're a real
sound aficionado,

the playa is just
the perfect place for sound.

When the bus is playing,

it has this rattling.

You almost feel like
you're flying.

[♪ "Let You Go"
by P.O.S. playing]

[Lee Burridge]
The sonic vibration

is stimulating you
on a cellular level.

It's almost like
a sort of healing,

therapeutic experience.

[Clare Laverty]
The sound just flows

through your body like your
body is an absolute vessel.

For us, it's about creativity
and self-expression.

You know,
we really value the platform

that we give to artists.

[Diplo] The Robot Heart team
hit me up and said,

"If you want to come out,
we can do a sunrise set,"

which is, I'd say as a DJ,
it's like the most coveted set.

[Justin Shaffer] Like, when you
think about the essentials

of the Burning Man experience,

there's the man,
there's the temple,

and then there's this communal
experience often around sound.

It's catharsis.

[♪ "Let You Go"
continues playing]

This year, my brother
had a sudden brain aneurysm

out of the blue

and passed away.

And I got the call, and...

[♪ plaintive music playing]

[sniffles]

I lost a brother,

and Robot Heart
lost its founder...

which for any organization
is hard.

I mean, that happened
with Burning Man.

When the Renegade Burn
was happening,

we decided we needed that.

We needed to go home.

And so, we came together
to celebrate him.

[♪ contemplative music playing]

[interviewer]
Um, what are your hopes

for the future of the project?

My hopes are--
Are, uh, grandiose.

[phone ringing]

Good afternoon, Burning Man.
This is Action Girl.

[Marian]
We understood his vision.

But in order to grow past

a quirky little
8,000-person event,

we needed to create a business
in order to survive.

If the organization is to last,

we needed to be
at the big boys' table.

Well, yes,
we do have a lot of meetings

and that's... [laughing]

...something
that we struggle with.

[Stuart]
While all this was happening,

the internet was
also happening.

-[modem dial-up sounds]
-And, uh,

when the first commercial
browsers came around,

that really changed
a lot of things.

[Marian] In 1998,

I started creating
the website.

[Stuart]
That really, really accelerated

the growth
of the Burning Man community.

The tech world was invited,
essentially, to Burning Man.

[Larry] What we call now
dot-com people

began to show up.

And I couldn't see
what wilderness camping

had to do with computers.

You see, in their imagination,

our desert world seemed
a lot like cyberspace.

With a few prompts,

anyone could generate
a kind of virtual reality.

[burner] Whoo! Yeah!

[Marian]
Sergey Brin and Larry Page

are the founders of Google.

They went to Burning Man
in '97 and '98.

The first Google Doodle
was a Burning Man symbol

over one of the letters because
they went to Burning Man.

-[burner 1] Everybody's here.
-[burner 2] Yeah.

You can't launch a product
when everybody's here.

You know? [laughing]

[Larry] So, we have
dot-com millionaires.

We have starving artists.

We have dot-com millionaires

meeting starving artists.

This really interests me.

[Marian]
We were selling tickets.

We were growing.

And we started to turn a profit.

[Larry] I was always ambitious
to make it bigger.

I saw eight people
on a beach turn into 800

on a beach by 1990.

Eighty people
turned into 8,000 by 1996.

I saw that number quadruple
till it's 32,000.

And you'll think me
a lunatic for saying it,

but I think perhaps
to millions.

They thought I was crazy
when I stood here in 1990

and said they'll come.

But they did.

[Level]
The way things used to be

isn't the way things are today.

You used to be able
to show up on the playa

and like park anywhere
and camp.

Just getting
more and more organized.

[Marian] Now, our budget's
in the neighborhood

of $60 million,

and we have 140 regular
year-round employees.

The biggest journey for me
for sure

is to not let us turn ourselves

into a big
corporate organization

or a bloated government.

[Harley]
We're really collaborative.

That's the way the regional
network has come about.

Canada and the Austin area
were our first two regionals.

That's when the global movement
really started.

And when our regional
network was growing

and we needed some way
to have people understand

that what's happening in Europe

is the same in some way
as what's happening in Japan

as what's happening
in South Africa,

so Larry went off
and wrote the nine principles.

[Stuart] Everybody said
you can't have

just nine principles.

You have to have 10,

like any self-respecting cult.

[Athena Demos] That's the thread
that holds us all together.

[Larry] Radical self-reliance,
radical self-expression,

they emerged
from our own experience

and makes you feel
that you belong.

[Jennifer Raiser]
The mission is to disseminate

the 10 Principles
across the world.

It's what Larry really wanted,

which was to make sure
the Burning Man ethos is spread

and continues to be
the most important thing

that Burning Man does.

[Harley] And by 2018,

more than a million people
had experienced

Burning Man events
around the world.

The big family that Larry
had always wanted

actually happened.

[Marian]
That same year,

Larry passed away.

[♪ gentle music playing]

[Stuart] You know,
he never took care of himself.

He was like a brain in a jar,
I used to joke.

He was just kind of this
thinking machine

that walked around on,
you know, the body

only as much as he needed.

But still, nobody expected him
to just keel over of a stroke.

I had just arrived in France

for our European
Leadership Summit

when I found out the news

and got back on a plane
and flew back to, um,

to see if I could see him
while he was still breathing.

But, uh...

And I did,
but he never woke up.

[♪ gentle music continues]

[Marian] I started
running the organization

without his help,

but I never had to do it
without his input.

We just lost him sooner
than he thought he would go,

and we lost him sooner
than we thought he would go.

[firecrackers popping]

[Harley] Functionally,
Marian and Crimson and I

have run the organization

since pretty much
its inception.

But he was
the Chairman of the Board,

um, and our visionary.

[Marian]
He wrote the script.

We're all the people
in the play that he designed.

[crowd cheering and shouting]

And we're all
rewriting it as we go,

and that's what's
supposed to happen.

[Chef] So, usually what I do is

go to each of the mouth
of the roads

and kinda talk about
what's there.

[Marian] Let's do that.

Burning Man has owned
property in the Gerlach area

for a long time.

We needed an office.

We bought a bar.

And we had a ranch.

The purpose of the properties

was just to run
the Burning Man event.

But are we just gonna
use it for the event?

Or do we have a possibility
to create community space?

That really appealed
to Larry and to all of us.

And we have some
very brilliant minds

that are tuned
into his concepts

and his ideas to create
this philosophical center

so that we can go forward

with his presence
into the future.

[Marian] So, why not,
in the little town

that is the portal
for the culture,

why wouldn't you
try to do it here?

My vision's been to buy

-whatever we can.
-[Chef] Yeah.

[Marian] Do you know
when you bought his property?

I don't know.

-I want it.
-[Chef] Um, I know.

Everything. You want everything.

[Jennifer] We've spent
a lot of money recently,

And I'm not sure
it was money all well spent.

And if we keep spending money
at the rate we're spending,

we're gonna have to keep
raising more and more money

or raising ticket prices.

And I don't think
either of those is desirable.

We have to be
fiscally responsible,

and we have to answer
to our community.

[indistinct chatter, laughter]

[burner 1]
Just a big hologram in the sky.

[burner 2]
This is putting down to rest

Burning Man as we knew it.

This is what it looks like
when Burning Man is canceled.

This is what it looks like
when the people

just create from their hearts.

We've created this here,

but, with, like,
no above governing system.

Look at what people can do

-when they come together.
-[burner 3] Yeah.

-So, like, let's--
-[burner 3] And, like,

let go of the fear.

Like, through the fear
of like...

-Yes.
-...what could be

when there's no rules.

When there's no governance,
what's gonna happen?

This is by far one of the most
beautiful times

I've had here. You know?

Like, I hear you
and at the same time, I'm like,

because Burning Man
existed for 25 years,

we are an evolved culture now.

We did this because
we've been doing it together,

because that organization
did give us a place to do it.

[♪ spirited music playing]

[Stuart]
It is in fact nine o'clock.

-[crew member] Nine o'clock.
-[Stuart] Yes.

-Oh, not a prop.
-Yeah.

[Stuart] So yeah,
we're gonna burn a man.

Just like every year.

I think this is the 35th,
something like that.

So, a bunch of us
from the organization decided

to come out to the desert

onto our private land
adjacent to the Black Rock

where we could burn a man,

and to live stream it
for all the world to see it.

[Lindsay]
Like, the atmosphere is...

just like buzzing right now,

waiting to watch the man burn.

Finally, Man Burn Night.

Everybody's pouring
onto the Altspace platform

so that they can watch
the actual man burn

via livestream
that we've got going.

And then, we watch
our virtual man virtually burn.

[fireworks popping]

[flames whooshing]

Ah!

[fireworks continue popping]

Oh, my God!

[Lindsay laughs]

Yeah, this is amazing.

You kind of forget
that it's not a real thing.

[Crimson Rose]
As Larry Harvey said,

we will always burn the man.

[explosives popping]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Stuart] The burning of the man
is the central ritual.

It's the formative ritual.

[flames crackling]

It's kind of a big deal
for people

to be able
to witness a man burn.

[Crimson]
Happy Burn Day!

[burner] Alright!

[♪ techno music playing]

[whistling and cheering]

[Joel] I do believe the org
has come to a milestone.

They do need to look
at what they want to do.

2021, it was my best burn ever.

There's no doubt about it.

[laughter]

[♪ techno music continues]

There's many parts of the org
that are very beautiful

about Burning Man,

but, guys,

stop the waste of money.

We don't need a lot of money.

Stick to the origins.

The people are Burning Man.

[Joel]
15,000 people came together

to build a city
based on the 10 Principles...

and no one lost their life.

It showed that Burners
can overcome.

[cheering and applause]

[♪ electronic music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[screaming]

[cheering continues]

[cheering and applause]

[♪ electronic music continues]

[Joel] That drone man,

it just showed the world
we are Burners.

This is what we can do.

[♪ soft music playing]

We did it.

We freaking did it.

[♪ music fades out]

[softly crying]

[Lofax] Hmm.

[voice breaking]
That's all I got to say.

[interviewer]
So, how did the drone show

really come together?

Burning of The Man is really
the ritual that we come for.

And so, there was
no ritual planned

for-- For, uh, for--
For the FreeBurn.

[♪ ethereal music playing]

There was something missing.

And so that's when I called
Ralph and I said,

"We'd like to help finance

bringing the drones
to the playa."

We just were saying,
"Hey, what if we flew the man?"

Then he said, "Who should
we ask for permission?

"In the world of Burning Man,
there is the org

or there's the government
or there's someone."

And I said,

"There is no one to ask.

"Let's just do it.

And we should invite everyone."

That was our gift.

[♪ ethereal music continues]

The truth is, Burning Man
is a very expensive event.

Financial resources is a gift.

An extraordinary gift.

And not a gift
that everyone else can do.

[interviewer] Um, did you
have a chance

to visit the FreeBurn
on the playa?

[engine humming]

[Marian] Stay slow.

Stay slow,
slow, slow, slow, slow.

[Chef] Okay.

[Marian]
I was super curious to see

what would happen.

-[Chef] That's cool.
-[Marian] Oh my God,
this is crazy.

I'm actually gonna cry!

[crying softly]

It's crazy in a good way.

I wonder what Larry would think.
[sniffles]

[♪ gentle music playing]

-[indistinct chatter]
-[cork pops]

-Meow!
-Meow.

It was like 1996,
but in a good way,

where there was no fence

and there was no road,

and the people were
gonna be gathering.

And fuck, it was
gonna possibly work

that you bring
Burning Man values together?

That would be the proof
in the pudding.

That's Larry's lounge,
you guys!

That's a piece
of Larry's lounge!

[burner] Larry's lounge.

[all cheering]

[Marian] I'm really happy
to actually be doing this

and I don't have to run it.

[laughs]

Who wants to have to run this?

Yay!

Ah! Yes!

What I don't have a handle on

is whether people
are happy with this.

If this is what people want,

they can do it.

I think the organization,
though,

still wants to be grand

and make it as big
as we possibly can

because the magic
is even bigger.

Like, this is special.

But, you know,

you bring 80,000 people together
in this environment,

it's off the hook.

[♪ gentle music playing]

[waves crashing]

[Kimbal Musk] One thing that I
have heard from Marian directly

for years now

was that she does want
to no longer be CEO.

And, um, I think the question
is what to do.

After the FreeBurn, we invited
heads of all the regionals

around the world

to talk about decentralizing
governance.

[burner] From the outside,

it looks like the six people

still are holding on to power.

[Kimbal]
The FreeBurn showed me that

this is a wonderful
self-organized community

that will gather once a year,
no matter what.

The transition between
a top-ruled organization...

Many members
of the org came down.

Marian was invited.
She wasn't able to join.

There is a table
that we're sitting at

with the board members

and the founders having...

[Zach Bell] Kimbal decided
to host a conference

about the future
of Burning Man.

I called Marian
a bunch of times.

I was like, "Come on,
just come down."

And she was like,
"I'm literally in the middle

"of, like, closing a fundraiser

that's actually running
the Burning Man organization."

She was busy.

I've been arguing
for several years

that leadership should change.

I think that the core problem

originates from its current CEO.

[Zach] Without Marian
being there to defend herself,

it started to feel like a coup.

I think that she's
a very capable person

for where we are right now.

I don't think that's
the number one priority

in the middle
of what we're going through.

As Farhad's saying,

destabilizing all
the leadership right now,

I think has potential
huge downsides.

Some of the changes
that people are wishing for

will not happen
with the current leadership.

[Farhad Mohit]
Marian, she's in a tough spot.

With the void
of the spiritual leader,

everyone is scrambling for what
is the vision of Burning Man.

Larry's not there to ask.

So few people understand
how much energy it takes

to bring people like that
together consistently.

They don't understand it.

Black Rock City comes to life,

and you have to be there
to know

it's like a functioning city.

And so I told people
at Renegade, I was like,

"Burning Man
definitely happened,

but Black Rock City
was nowhere to be found."

[Farhad]
Do you need BurningMan.org

to be able to live
a burner lifestyle?

Hell no.

Do you need it to run,

you know, the third-largest
city in Nevada

for one week and clean it up

without getting
in all kinds of trouble?

You're damn right you need it.

So, the-- So, the next meeting,

which if we schedule

before I leave tomorrow
morning at 9:00 a.m.,

I will fund, and I don't care
what the size is.

[Zach] Just because you give
a big check to Burning Man

doesn't give you a say.

And they expect
special treatment.

And Marian tells them
to go fuck themselves.

And she's not wrong.

Is that how we did it before?

[Zach]
She's protecting the magic

that she's witnessed
be created

to the detriment of her
personal relationships,

to people hating her.

There have been people trying
to get Marian fired

for 10 years.

She never even
wanted the job.

If you were to present Marian
with a better candidate for CEO,

she'd probably
take you up on it.

It's a thankless job.

[Marian] If there's
a leadership coup happening

and someone wants me
to go away,

I really fucking don't care.

I've been doing this
for 28 years.

What are you gonna tell me
I've done wrong?

[♪ tense music playing]

Great, you want
the rich, white, entitled
dude to blow it up?

Yeah. Blow it up.

[♪ techno music playing]

♪♪

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