Welcome to August everybody! Where did the year go? Where did my sanity disappear to? What are all these damn Barbies doing in my backyard? Oh, that’s right, Burning Man begins in 26 days! So here we go with the last (scheduled) newsletter before we all head out to TTITD. There will be a lot to cover here, including some suggestions from our fellow campmates and friends, which I will get to shortly. But first off I have several things Barbie Death Camp related. One is from our placer Hep Kitten and she asked that it be sent out to everyone in our Village. It’s some kind of Facebook link about the 3:00 Sector. The second on is a series of videos that I included in the Newbie Primer that were so well received I thought I would share them with everyone. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/BM12300Sector

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/e98f9c0ed9770d815feb8ef91730b25d/video/148381451 Unfortunately two of the last three videos did not migrate, but oh well.

First thing I would like to do is to simply go over the theme camps within Barbie Death Village because apparently some people didn’t realize last year that the Barbie Day Spa was an entirely separate theme camp from Barbie Death Camp & Wine Bistro. Our newest camp is Blukis 2.0, made up of some 15 Lithuanians over here with Misa helping with the CORE project. Then we have Eden, Dye With Dignity, Dread Pirate Barbie that Julia and Graidawg are overseeing, AntiM’s Home For Wayward Art, Camp Wet Dreams, The Shangri-Playans, Loose Nutz, and Clan O’Crash. If you include Black Rock City Body & Paint that makes for a dozen separate theme camps, even if some are in existence for only a fleeting moment. That should be enough to confuse even the most stoned hippie.

We have had a few tickets become available. Jewella has two. Also Sandy has a ticket available. I told you that as we got closer to the event there would be tickets becoming available. Early arrival passes? Not so much.

Texas Joe has suggested I add a few housekeeping items here today. First, when the time comes to leave Black Rock City, exodus can take up to eight hours if you leave Sunday or Monday. Even with “pulsing” which is the BMOrg’s inefficient way to move people out of the city, you will be burning a lot of gas and there’s no guarantee it will be available in Gerlach. Please have your tank full prior to entering Black Rock City. Otherwise disaster could strike. Texas Joe also wanted me to remind everyone, especially the burgins in the group, that communication on the playa is hopeless. You cannot call or text anyone out there because there is no cell service. You need to make plans and stick to your arrangements otherwise you will get hopelessly lost. Especially if you see something shiny.

All of our Early Arrival passes were awarded! Everyone who requested a pass prior to July 15 will be awarded one unless you were delinquent on your dues. If you’re coming in from outside of the USA that does not pertain to you. As soon as they arrive Felony and I will begin emailing them out individually. You must print up your pass yourself and have it with you when you reach the gate. I suggest stapling your ticket to it. No pass, no entry, no exceptions. We have a short wait list of people who would like a pass. If you are not going to be needing yours or would like to be placed on the wait list, let me know ASAP. Everybody coming in from outside of the country will need to bring their pass with them and have $60 cash on hand as they enter the playa. If you do not have your camp dues you will not be placed.

There are a few things we are going to need periodically throughout the week. First off, we could use a propane torch, a small hand-held device for setting off fireworks. For The Punjabi Dating Game the fireworks will be ignited by hand, so a propane torch is a must. Secondly, we could use several power strips, you know, the kind that have four or five outlets in them. The reason is that we can run the generators and use the power strips to plug the crock pots into for the Monday night Chili Cook-off that Maryanimal is heading up. It’s nice to have hot chili! And finally we’re going to need extra drinking water for both the coffee and the pancake batter for the Pancake Pork-out. I should think 10 gallons should be sufficient. So come Saturday if you have extra water laying around, plan on using it that morning.

Speaking of The Punjabi Dating Game we are still looking for gentlemen from India or Indian decent for our game. Come game time on Friday we might have to widen our parameters a bit. Ron Bishop has stepped up to volunteer to design the set, my friend Jack has secured the fireworks and documentation, and Felony will be overseeing safety. Hay, quit laughing. We will be done in plenty of time to tear down the set and head over for the Wall Street Burn. It will be quite a night indeed.

Since we will be taking the mutant vehicles out to all of the various parties around Black Rock City, we are still in the hunt for drivers, especially for the second shift. We generally head back to camp just before midnight and fire up lumpia (we will even have vegetarian this year for those of you who eschew meat) and afterwards head back out to the playa. We are short drivers for the second shift. If any of you would like to volunteer for this duty, please let Chris know.

As is our wont every year, we try and scour the AAA websites to determine where the least expensive gas (unleaded) is prior to hitting 447 at Wadsworth. If you need to fill up before turning off of I-80, here are your best bets. Coming from the west (California/Reno): Take Exit 32 in Nevada, USA Parkway. Turn right, go 1 mile to the USA Parkway Mini Mart. They also have a nice deli and fairly inexpensive selection of beer. Unleaded regular (as of this writing) is $3.44/gallon. Coming from the East (Winnemucca/Utah) or south up US 95, the Quikstop in Fernley on Hwy 95A (Veteran’s Memorial Highway) just south of I-80 is $3.45/gallon. If you wait until you reach Wadsworth you will pay $3.64/gallon. Coming from the north via US 395, by far your best bet is to avoid Alturas and take CA 299 into Cedarville. Regular is $3.71 at Rabbit Traxx.

This is especially important to you newbies who have just signed on within the past six weeks. Many of you were not on the last newsletter list. We are placing everyone within the Village. (NOTE: If you are part of Dread Pirate Barbie, Eden, Dye With Dignity, Clan O’Crash, AntiM, Shangri-Playans, or Camp Wet Dreams, the head of each theme camp will be placing you within their sphere of influence on the playa.) If you are with anybody else, including Barbie Death Camp & Wine Bistro and Loose Nutz you must contact Tracy at tracy.scarborough@hp.com immediately. We may be on three acres of prime playa real estate (we are located at 4:00 and Edelweiss, stretching to 3:40 west-to-east and up to Geranium to the north) but space is still getting precious. If you do not get placed ahead of time, there will be some areas within Loose Nutz but we cannot guarantee frontage road or access road availability. Nor will you show up on the Village map. Please do not wait until the last minute to make your space request. Also please be conservative on how much space you really need. Also note, contacting me does not get you placed. Only Tracy can do that.

Mindy wanted me to pass along that this is going to be a very dusty year. If last year was your first year at Burning Man, you’ve never really been. We will not be blessed with perfect weather again. Make sure your tent or hexayurt is dust-proof (as if that’s a possibility) and you might want to try a tent within a tent under a shade structure. This will keep off the hot morning sun and insulate you to a certain degree from the omnipresent dust. Prepare yourselves and do not forget your facemasks and goggles.

This is the last week to order hats and shirts. All orders must be in to Frank by Saturday, August 4. Hats are $15 and shirts are $20. We can now only accept PayPal. Go to our website www.barbiedeathcamp.com and click on the Order Gear tab. Shirts come in sizes S to XXXL, men’s or women’s cuts, tank top or regular tee, and either in gray or pink. We hope to have them available at the pre-party.

Speaking of the pre-party, now would be a good time to dive into that. The party will be held on Saturday, August 18 beginning at 4 p.m. at my home. You can email me for directions. (This is the same address to send your camp dues.) We will be serving up hotdogs and hamburgers, soda, beer, and frozen margaritas. If you want a vegetarian option I suggest you plan accordingly. We have a swimming pool if you need to cool off. At the party we intend to: 1) hand out as many Early Arrival passes as possible; 2) hand out as many shirts and hats as possible; 3) divide out the planks of Barbies (we have 47 of them, each measuring 15″ X 33″) to have them hauled out to the desert; 4) figure out how to get rest of the Barbie-related crap out there as well; 5) load the piano onto the flatbed trailer along with everything else we can fit; 6) discuss set-up logistics for the Village itself; and 7) frankly get excited about TTITD. This is a kid-friendly event so the swimsuits will stay on until, oh I don’t know, sunset or thereabouts. And please refrain from bringing your dog.

We intend to have a caravan to the playa again this year for those of you coming in from California on Saturday. There will be several stops and we can also pick up people needing ride share as well. We will leave Newcastle/Auburn at 8:30 a.m. and stop at the Donnor Lake Rest Stop (exit 176) at 9:45. We’re back on the road at 10:00 arriving at the Sands Regency in Reno at 11:10. From there it’s on to Nixon for Indian tacos and we should be in Gerlach around 2 p.m. The best place to meet up is the rest stop. If you intend to be part of the caravan we need to know. Also if you need a room at the Sands Friday or Saturday night, now would be an excellent time to reserve your room as they are down to the last few. (866) FUNSTAY. Be sure to ask for promotion code BURN12 to get your Barbie Death Camp discount. We did have an ePlayan who booked at the Sands and has to back out. He is offering his room free of charge for Saturday the 25th and Monday September 3rd to anybody within Barbie Death Village. First come, first served. Email me if you’re interested. (This is why we say “Membership has its privileges.”) Also if you need a ride to Black Rock City on Saturday and are in the Sacramento-Auburn region, or can be picked up in Reno that morning, Blowphish and I have room in our RV for three more people. (You will need Early Arrival passes.) We cannot, however, offer a ride back home. We already have six people and that’s about as many as we can safely take.

Now on to the introduction of newbies. I think it’s safe to say the complexion of our Village will be a little different this year. First let me introduce two Burner veteran friends of mine, Twist and Red. With Barbie Day Spa please welcome Nyla, Sandy, Seraphini, Jamie, Christine, Jennifer (AKA “Ed”), Lauren and Jonathan. Joining Kim is Mike. Luis is bringing along Maria. Fresh off the ePlaya meet Squirrelhead. With Huck from Northern Ireland please welcome Chris. CJ has invited a few more Edenites and her lovely aunt Carolyn. Joining the Ohio Boyz please welcome Paul. I would like to personally welcome Shannon. We have a whole bunch of Brits invading us. Let’s welcome Rebecca, Sophie, Joe, Chris, and George. With the Burn Wall Street crew, Drew has invited Tom, Fran, and Richard. Cat has invited Kirsten and Steve. Mark and Diana would like us to welcome Andrew, Lynn, Rob, and Ev. Joining Cristine please welcome veteran burner Scott. Steve is bringing his friends Jeremy and Bethany. And finally with Jovan welcome Andy and The Comet.

The Man burns in 31 days. )’(

Doc Pyro, MOBDV

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