I just got off the phone with your new best friend, Jake from Burning Man headquarters. They seem to like the sounds of what we're up to here in the Boogie Universal ARTS Collective, 'cause they're giving us ESPLANADE PLACEMENT! Whooo hoooo!!!!

I originally submitted a request for 60 feet of Esplanade frontage with 120 feet deep for our camp, they've bumped that up to 100 feet on the Esplanade and 150' deep! That gives us lots more room to make our private camp area more comfortable, plus gives us room for some shaded couches right on the esplanade, and more room for whatever we can come up with.

While this is massively exciting, it also adds a fair amount of pressure. For those of you that have been to the Playa, you already know that the camps on the Esplanade are uber elaborate, interactive 24/7, and generally pretty friggin' inspiring. We're going to have to take this thing to the next level. Most people won't even know what they're placement will be until sometime in August--we get the early heads-up to have the extra time to make sure that our camp is 100% kick-ass. 40,000 people are going to know who Boogie Universal is; I think we should make that opportunity count and leave a good impression.

Here are some of my immediate ideas from my hyper-swirling mind:

we'll need to get more serious about fund-raisers:
we may need a bigger truck, that means more gas, more rental expenses, more money
we may need more infrastructure--more furniture for public, more decorations, more art installations, more...
How 'bout a new lead person: Furniture Building Initiator
I suggest we go with the tried & true Playatech designs (you can easily build a bench out of a single piece of plywood, no joining hardware or adhesives, so it easily transport as flat pieces). They can then be decorated and upholstered/cushioned to make them more comfortable www.playatech.com/index.php
It would be ideal to also have some sort of shade structure over them--totally open to ideas....
We need talent
I think we need to push for pulling off live sound--that's going to mean about $1,500 worth of gear that we don't have (snake, mics & mic stands, 2 more used amps)
we need someone that knows how to run live sound, preferably more than one person as to disperse the responsibility
VARIETY. I think several of us share the idea that we should be more than just a rave camp, or even more than just a dance camp. Know anyone that does theater, cabaret, spoken word, performance art, fire dancing, stripping, juggling, comedy, improv, live music, or preferably all at the same time? We've got a lot of spots to fill... all day, all night, every day, every night--whoa.
start talking to bands and djs. I know Edub was interested in helping book talent, let's get together as many leads as we can, then start sorting out a schedule
Presence:
Nils talked about getting a new banner or two printed up for us--let's get on that, as big as possible
Louisa talked about making a sign and/or flag--it would be great to have these done well ahead of time so that we can display them at our fund-raisers
the dj booth could use some either touch up, repainting, or adding to what's there... anyone interested?
the dj booth could really use some sort of lighting on the outside of the roof. The way it is now, it looks cool during the day (shiny silver surface) but at night completely disappears. It would be really cool if it had sequenced rope lights rotating around highlighting the 8 panels that make up the octagon roof. Anyone interested? Brock? Chad?
Camp mates:
With the added responsibilities, I wouldn't mind if we round up just a few more people that could help out. I think there are enough of us committed now as a core group, that we can decide together about new memberships (then the "core" becomes bigger--we don't need to maintain a 'core' and those outside the core, we're all in this together)
couches:
depending on our truck size/space situation, it would be very nice to have a couch or two. keep your eyes out for a freebie that doesn't stink (it won't be coming back home).

Obviously, we didn't get the pyramid done in time for Critical Massive. It's too bad, but we did our best. We'll get to take it down there next year after its' been playa proven.

Ok, that's it from me for now. Please brainstorm with me and let's make this thing absolutely friggin' awesome!

Super stoked,

Erik