It is difficult to describe precisely how Burning Man is not your average festival. A combination of factors-- alkali dust creeping into the cracks of your skin, piercing sun and mild dehydration, constant distractions and intensity of purpose, myriad social dramas and emergencies-- all these combine to create an otherworldly atmosphere and a "time dilation" effect much like the never boiling watched pot. They say that Burning Man begins the moment you leave home, but in my case it began in late April when the fuzzy notion of the Granite Skunk project began to take form. I can say without reservation that this year's event was the most personally satisfying of the 8 that I have attended, and the project fulfilled and often exceeded my expectations.

The success of the project hinged on the convergence of its disparate parts. Airafe (pronounced AY-rack) and Samantha joined the team in early August, having been denied work with the DPW upon arrival in Gerlach despite previous assurances. I agreed to house and feed them and secure their entry to the event in exchange for their help, and this proved critical to the production. They will continue to live with me until October, and I hope to provide them with a cash bonus to assist their departure and reward their significant efforts. Marc "Fracas" Brutschy helped begin the collection of materials (the first contribution coming from the Dog Ranch neighboring the DPW work ranch), and he also assisted in the pre-build of the structure and created the transmission towers which went a long way towards defining the project and making it recognizable as a power plant. Other DPW people entered the Granite Skunk orbit and assisted in the production to varying degrees-- Tyler, Jeff, and Dan of the Man builder crew, Scruffy Andhi, Special Steve, Didgeridoo Alex, Caleb "Shooter" Schaber, Carl "Megashear" Copek, Lura Beaumont, and Steve "23" all contributed. All of these people looked to me for direction and many relied on me to provide for their needs, and this was the most consuming and challenging responsibility in the management of the project. Also, Erin "Playground" Maccool of the DPW provided and delivered most of the materials for the burn shield, which was necessary to protect the playa surface from scarring, and also delivered a large box of coal which was an effective prop and provided poignant smoke and stink when burned.

The burn shield consisted of a layer of fiberglass cloth on the bottom, then fire bricks placed with spaces in between over the entire area, then thin gauge steel sheets on top. The fiberglass cloth was left over from the Man installation from last year, and gathering it required disentangling it from a heap on the DPW work ranch-- a messy and uncomfortable chore. The bricks were inherited by Burning Man when they purchased the 200 acre property now called Black Rock Station, and there was a brief moment when the use of them was challenged late in the planning stage. Another person had come up with an idea to use them for a patio at the event, mimicking an installation from the early work ranch-- a compromise was reached where some of the bricks were diverted for that purpose, but the patio was eventually not built in Black Rock City after all. Sheets of plywood were then laid on top of the burn shield to provide stability for the structure and a walkable interior. The building was placed so that it obstructed the view of the Man when looking down the 5:00 o'clock road, and I camped with the Man builder crew at 5:00 and Esplanade, providing them with a travel trailer and some support for the production of their camp. I also produced KDPW 105.9 FM, and was able to promote the project via public service announcements. These announcements helped encourage a young couple to take signatures on a petition of their own, which they presented to Commissioner Bonnie Weber at her "coffee talk" in Gerlach the Thursday before the event. Exploitation of other media outlets in Black Rock City did not transpire, although the Black Rock Beacon (formerly the BRC LLC-managed Gazette) did print an article on the Sempra project.

The structure was erected fairly easily since the walls were prepared at my house before transport to the site. Although the wind tweaked the building before it was fully braced, this was easily remedied. We used a minimum amount of screws to avoid hazards in cleanup, and wrangled paint and rollers for the completion of the structure at the last minute from various sources on the playa. A last minute decision to increase the height of the main building made it much more comfortable to inhabit, and the use of road stabilization cloth for the roof allowed ventilation and made preparation for burning much easier. The interior pegboard walls were installed along the bottom first to allow for stuffing with cardboard and paper, then completed to the top of the walls. Plexiglas windows near the top of the taller sections allowed interior lights to shine out in horizontal bars which were visible from a distance. The posters provided by Anna Miller were displayed on the longest interior wall, and the panoramic photography donated by Steve Chandler filled in the rest. Old control panels from a Sparks junkyard were also donated and installed to add extra flavor to the interior setting. Although the other information materials were not displayed on the walls, they were available for perusal and lent a professional tone to the installation. The Granite Skunk stickers proved to be very popular, and although all of them were distributed, very few pamphlets were taken (I have them all and will distribute or return them as necessary). Another DPW worker who owns a printing business provided large decals for the building identifying it as the "Granite Skunk Coal Power LLC," and smaller decals were applied to the utility vehicle art car. Somehow I managed to get a staff sticker for the car through the Art department, allowing it to be operated in the City. I spray painted "Clean Coal" on the large box of coal placed in front of the building, and told people that instead of soul power, we were coal power. Exterior lighting was concentrated on the Esplanade-facing front of the building along the path of the transmission towers, casting large shadows on the building, and the last minute addition of red strobe lights on the transmission towers was very effective. We had to place road cones and caution tape along the path of the transmission towers once the wires were hung, and we caught at least 2 drunk bicyclists through the course of the event. Several long flexible tubes were installed coming off of the long wall of the building, and these snaked around each other into the ground to represent the well fields sucking out water. At one point I was pleased to find two petite orange-jump suited interpretive dancers interacting with the piece, mimicking the towers and the flow of electrons along the lines. Since the "uniforms" of the Granite Skunk crew were orange vests and hard hats, these dancers appeared to be a part of the installation, and they were very talented and entertaining.

I had more than my fair share of anxiety about how the burn of the structure was going to happen-- would it burn completely, was there enough fuel, was there enough air, how would the pegboard burn, would the burn shield work, would the building fall inward-- all of these unknowns and more pecked at my consciousness and were set aside as I concentrated on the individual steps leading up to setting the building on fire. First, all of the posters, photos, lights, control panels were removed, along with the road cloth roof and Plexiglas windows. Then the tubes were removed and transmission towers set back from the building. I kicked the walls outward slightly at the joints and removed the bracing to help ensure that the building would fall inward. A large router bit was lent to us by the Man crew to put staggered holes into the building from the outside. These holes provided ventilation but more importantly allowed the introduction of the diesel-gasoline accelerant to the cardboard insulated walls. A fire marshal approached and helped coordinate the timing of the burn, which was delayed due to high winds and a schedule conflict with another project, the Machine. I agreed to wait until midnight to burn the building, but a cessation of the wind and people walking by following an early end to the Machine project spurred me to start early at 11:00 PM. We started by filling the smokestack halfway with wood and igniting it, which produced a large column of smoke and fire and made the stack glow red. When our fuel pump failed, we had to siphon the fuel into individual gas cans in order to pour the fuel into the holes. Extra scrap wood and palettes were heaped into the center of the building and doused, and extra fuel was liberally applied to the walls from the inside. Cups of fuel were placed along the tops of the walls to provide extra "oomph" as the structure burned. I got pretty well doused with fuel and had to wash off before starting the ignition flares. Three of us then went around the outside of the building, poking the flares into the holes. Usually flames began to immediately lick out of these holes, and by the time I was halfway down my side of the building I looked back to see the walls fully engaged where I had just been. This motivated me to speed up my walk around, as did the yelling of the fire marshal and general excitement of onlookers. Finally I threw my flare into the center of the building and stepped back just as the wall of heat was making close proximity uncomfortable. The plumes of flame stretched 20 to 30 feet into the air. As people amassed to witness the spectacle, I worked the crowd-- handing out stickers and giving the "elevator pitch" of the issue, occasionally pausing to add extra information. "Didge" Alex was spiritedly shoveling coal into the fire, and the orange vested industrialists milled about keeping the audience at bay. I met a man who is writing his doctoral thesis on the effects of coal particulate on the lungs, and he commented that I had made good use of the "advertising moment" I had created. The building collapsed mostly on the platform as planned, the fire was so hot that only 30 gallons of material remained, and when the burn shield was removed after the event minimal burn discoloration was revealed.

Construction projects at Burning Man reinforce the concept that the experience is more about the journey than the destination. There seems to always be more that you would like to do than gets accomplished, and when the ultimate destiny of an installation is its destruction, a Zen quality envelopes everything and informs the effort. The building was essentially complete with all of the materials displayed by Tuesday of the event, but adjusting and perfecting continued on through Thursday. The smokestack was completed on Thursday, when holes were cut into the base to make it into a wood (and coal) burning stove. Although holes were also cut for the fuel injector assembly, the fuel pump never worked and this detail never came to fruition. As for information dissemination, I regularly engaged people in conversation at the installation throughout the event. I decided that trying to have people sign the petition at the event was not going to be effective because it was too serious and committal for the spirit of playfulness-- I concentrated on promoting the website and urged people to visit and donate there. The web address was printed on the edge of the stickers, which I spotted all over the City. It was interesting to me to find that many people had heard about the project already when they stopped by the power plant. I think the buzz had gone out, helped in part by media coverage of the Sempra issue. Production details aside, I believe that to have shown up and succeeded in producing an attractive art piece went a long way to promote the issue. Certainly it is well known among the upper echelon of the Burning Man community, and one staffer told me that he found himself preaching opposition and rattling off statistics to a questioning participant. Many people attributed things to me related to Sempra opposition which I had no part in-- the signs in Gerlach, the article in the Beacon-- and there was a rumor that I was responsible for the black smoke rings which someone else was making from their art car. In the coming weeks I will work to produce a short documentary about the project and post collected images to my website. I am looking forward to following up by continuing to promote opposition to the Sempra coal plant, specifically targeting the Washoe County Commissioners and LA Department of Water and Power.