Portal Patch closure.... WTF!?!

[rheos]

Portal Patch got shut down on burn night... I left to go get some warmer clothes and when I came back found out they were closed due to noise complaints..

Noise Complaints in Black Rock City at 2:30AM on BURN NIGHT !!!

Are we trying to be more like Salt Lake City or did someone miss the memo we're having a party ?!?

Portal Patch had the best lineup and vibe going anywhere...

How does anyone convince the BRC Rangers to shut down a stage for being too loud on burn night ???

In the Black Rock City I love, any complainers would be given a gift of a few drinks and ear plugs...

What is up!?!

[lucky420]

where was it located?

[diatoira]

i was unlucky enough to be camped somewhat near portal patch last year (i was actually 2 blocks away... kind of far... but didn't feel far at all). i can see why someone would make a noise complaint - their ridiculously loud subsonic bass kept me from sleeping pretty much my whole time at BM. it was the only negative in my BM experience.

you mention earplugs. oh, i had earplugs - and earmuffs, the kind that you wear in a woodshop, rated to provide sound protection, over the earplugs. that stuff makes no difference when the sound is loud enough, and low enough, pitch-wise, to shake the ground you're sleeping on. and just as their music would end, 10 am, it would get hot enough in my tent that i couldn't sleep. oh, the misery... it was pretty sucky.

if portal patch wants to play loud music and doesn't want to be shut down due to noise complaints, they should request placement at 2 or 10.

[rheos]

Portal Patch was only on 2 nights. Thursday and Saturday. I'm interested how they could keep anyone from sleeping their "entire time" at burning man if they were not on for most of it.

they were at 3:00 & H near where they were also placed last year i believe. I'm certain they would have stated their intention to party on their application. I'm also interested why they were placed there.

i realize technically sound camps are supposed to be on the outer rim but this sound wasn't so big as those. i don't know its specs tho. I did not think it was exceptionally loud.

but it was good.. really good.. it had the best lineup for burn night and I still think it's ridiculous to turn them off when they've put so much work into making it happen.

[Bay Bridge Sue]

3:00 and H is NOT sound land. Period. Burn Saturday or not. Awesome lineup or not. And if they were there before - they know this.

Our camp had that issue with Fringe in 2005 - tried to BS about having a "special exemption" (which they couldn't produce - no shock there) and almost 86'd for their unburnerish attitude. Sorry - if you're not on 2 or 10... well, you know.

ALSO... ULF is a mondo no no - the BLM were watching (er, listening) for it and shutting camps down for it. If you didn't get the "impossible to aim and direct and can cause bodily harm" memo, I'm sorry... but they were really tight. And if they WERE running ULF (there were at least 2 this year) the complaint could have come from anywhere in the city. No shit - it carries a looooooooong way. But those who DO ULF effects know this anyway.

And... just because it's Burnday doesn't mean the rules change. Ask the placed sound camps - they don't frack around. Nor do the interior sound camps.

[bluesbob]

I'm trying to figure out why anyone complains about anything on here. Portal closed...so what. Portal played loud music...so what. I thought this was an adventure, a total free-for-all of fun, art, and meeting new people. Seems BRC is full of the same crap you find in real life. Idiots who want to control everything and make sure it fits their guidelines. Don't like loud music at 3 am? Go back to the nursing home. I had music blaring all around my camp from four directions at 4 am. It only made me smile.

[Galaxo Magic]

We were camped a couple of blocks from Portal Patch last year. Ridiculous how loud they were. No consideration for any of their neighbors!

We moved this year to a better part of the city. Better neighbors. I am all for partying all night long, but in the camping areas, you should be able to get some sleep!

[rheos]

i was camped nowhere near portal patch this year. I was at 6:30 & D. i also had neighbors who were loud... but i liked what they were playing.. in fact i was super stoked i had such loud neighbors playing good music.

then again when i need to sleep i could probably crawl right up in a bass bin and pass out.. music doesn't become noise to me unless it sucks.

i guess i don't get it really.. Portal Patch sound was nowhere near the size of any of the 2 or 10 o'clock systems... they also weren't playing anything crazy hard like with womper giant systems.. mostly all Bassy glitch and hip hop.. it was more of a living room vibe. why should they have to be out there on the outer rim with them? having them in the inner city created a really nice vibe. One that should be supported.

and who's to say when is the time to sleep? Black Rock City is supposed to be a party. If people want quiet why don't they camp up beside Hushville and let folks have a good time?

[AntiM]

There's a sound policy. Not everyone likes the same vibe, so be judicious with it. Don't force it on others. That's called Not Being a Dick.

Hushville has loud neighbors, so fuck off about camping next to us. The guy across the street was delightful, making sure his speakers weren't aimed directly at our camp. Then again, he worked a lot of shifts, so he wasn't playing much. There was a bar set up across the way, with a really crappy DJ. I may not know the name of the styles, but I do know good from bad (I
'm from Utah and have the pleasure of BassCamp at every regional). He was shut down for the week by the rain because his gear was out, protected only by camo netting. I didn't feel sorry for him. I dubbed the group "Camp Irony" because setting up a loud dive bar across from Hushville is just strange. "Hey, let's pick an audience least likely to appreciate us!"

A camp on another side had very loud music, again, the guy was happy to take it down a notch when it was pointed out we couldn't even have a conversation in our camp a block away (double village blocks). I was disturbed on burn evening when he went for hours of straight White Supremist selections. Weird. I didn't have time to wander over to chat about his concept.

That's how Hushville does it, individuals wander over and ask nicely for a compromise.

Burning Man is more about community than chaos, in case you missed the memo.

I don't know if it was Portal or not, but there was some overly loud Micheal Jackson and such from blocks away early one morning, loud enough earplugs didn't help, and played into the morning. We had to raise our voices to hear each other. That's not a gift, that's sonic masturbation.

[Edana]

Yeah, we were at 5:30 and D and the Michael Jackson was a bit annoying. I didn't mind the Art Cars pumping music while driving past too much, but I did get a bit irritated when they stopped and parked and played for an hour or so. If I wanted to camp right next to a sound camp I would have done so.

[d6]

I also heard mj on friday morning in the 3:00 plaza, overly loud and no one in sight.
No, I don't want to rock with you, mj............

Our awesome neighbors, "Cereal Thrillers" were just starting their public day so i fired up our tiny system, 2 18's & 2 15's, set amps to conversation level, and let "franks wild years" go start to finish as they had requested earlier in the week.

it was a great morning.

usually we'll direct sound at "oonce-unce" offenders and let fly bluegrass metallica covers, yodeling, off-time Cantonese rap, songs by the natural gas board, and anything else of a punishing nature. - always and only in the afternoons.

[rheos]

out of curiousity I looked up the Portal Patch description posted on the website here..


Portal Patch
Hometown: Venice, CA

A camp dedicated to exploring consciousness. Ceremonies, parties and cocreated ruckus will abound! We come correct with interactive domes, aerial rigs and a bumping sound system. If you love amazing DJs, musical & visionary artists & performers, then come take the cosmic leap into the PORTAL PATCH!


Seems pretty clear what they were trying to do.. So if it was going to be a problem why would Burning Man placement put them there... That's more my question than why do people feel like they should try to shut down someone else's stage.

[whaleboy]

Grr the michael jackson early friday AM at the 3:00 was my only sound gripe from all the whump and whirr and crack all week long. Damn that made me angry. Makes me more angry to hear that there was no one there!!

Ok maybe I'm discriminating against michael jackson. But grr I was pissed off.

But- I support the right of people to play even shitty music a little too loud a little to often in Black Rock City. Such is the burn.

but ooh I was pissed off.

[unjonharley]

[quote="whaleboy"]
But- I support the right of people to play even shitty music a little too loud a little to often in Black Rock City. Such is the burn.


Fuck you..

[HandJamMasterC]

You guys are totally lightweight. Try camping next to the freak'n Country Western Saloon playing the same damn music all night long at ear spltting levels - starting at 2 am Sat before Burning Man even opens. The Black Rock Rangers were called more than once - by camps 2 blocks away !!

If I hear " John Deere Green " or " A Boy Named Sue " one more time, bullets are going to fly.................

[Angela]

I had the misfortune to be camped across the way from Portal Patch and I promise you they were not only going two nights. They were blaring their music from about 9 in the morning until 3 in the morning every day, and on Thursday it went over 24 hours straight. We didn't complain to the rangers until after more than 24 hours of large-scale sound during which our structures and air mattress (earplugs don't fix that) never stopped shaking, after days of trying to talk reasonably to them person-to-person, asking them politely to tone it down just a little for part of the day. None of my own camp's planned live music events happened because we couldn't even hear each other talk, much less play live music. My tent-mate and I personally went to the rangers after spending an evening shouting at each other across a space of five feet just trying to be heard within our own shade structure. Portal Patch was ridiculous and were shitty neighbors the entire time. And you know what? When the rangers first yoinked their amps - they had multiple warnings for two days before they got shut down completely - their music was brought down to a tolerably loud level and no one complained again until they brought it back up. Had they been cool, and willing to cooperate with the rest of their community, no one would have complained to the rangers. Instead they were jerks for an entire week and no one camping near them was feeling a whole lot of pity when their personal party was cut short. You go to the Burn, you're a member of a community. Deal with it. Either you apply for Large-Scale Sound Art for your LSA camp, or you're just being an asshole. It wasn't two or three misplaced senior citizens complaining about them, it was at least 20 people from 3 surrounding camps (according to the Rangers' own records).

[Isotopia]

In the Black Rock City I love, any complainers would be given a gift of a few drinks and ear plugs...

What is up!?!

Behold! Another wailing voice of the entitled Audiorati.

In the Black Rock City I love, audio thugs would be given a gift of two warnings followed with an escort to the gate.

[unjonharley]

Loud camps seem to have very dumb management skills.

The pink momoth on 8:30 were blowing the doors off Sunday nite arrival.. All night, no dancers..
Guess they wanted you to know they were there and loud.. OK.

I parked and went to sleep..

Monday afternoon the pink cranked it up.. No dancers showed up..

Tues. Wensday 1000 dancers.. They played the afternoon and closed at sundown. F'in loud.

Thur. More dancers and one hell of a lot louder into the late night..

Fri they were muted.. Big crowd late into the nite. But put the thing on auto until 5 in the morning.. Three stoners flopping around like fish out of water

Every year the Pink Dose the same until they get muted. Then pissed and beats the nieghborhood all night..

If they would save getting loud for the big crowds they would not have problems.. But blowing my socks off all day just don't get it..

[rheos]

interesting. i'm getting a picture here of a sentiment i hadn't realized was so predominant.

the truth is i didn't think the camp was all that loud. And anyone here who wasn't there wouldn't know. they were all the way out at 3:00 and H and as I would ride up 3:00 i would not hear them till i got to G. But then I wasn't camped there and hoping for quiet. I had my own loud neighbors where I was and was lucky enough to like what they were playing. It hasn't alwasy been this way. That's just Burning Man. It's never occurred to me to complain to the rangers about it.

Portal Patch aside I like having parties to go to in the inner city besides the ones on the outer rim. More to explore and it's a homier vibe. To me this means they have to be playing music at some volume. It seems there's a number tho who think these should be more loungey type affairs rather than bumping dance parties. Is that how it is?

Is there some happy medium to be reached or all all dance parties past 2AM completely restricted to 2:00 and 10:00 ?

[unjonharley]

interesting. i'm getting a picture here of a sentiment i hadn't realized was so predominant.

the truth is i didn't think the camp was all that loud. And anyone here who wasn't there wouldn't know. they were all the way out at 3:00 and H and as I would ride up 3:00 i would not hear them till i got to G. But then I wasn't camped there and hoping for quiet. I had my own loud neighbors where I was and was lucky enough to like what they were playing. It hasn't alwasy been this way. That's just Burning Man. It's never occurred to me to complain to the rangers about it.

Portal Patch aside I like having parties to go to in the inner city besides the ones on the outer rim. More to explore and it's a homier vibe. To me this means they have to be playing music at some volume. It seems there's a number tho who think these should be more loungey type affairs rather than bumping dance parties. Is that how it is?

Is there some happy medium to be reached or all all dance parties past 2AM completely restricted to 2:00 and 10:00 ?

I did not complain about the music or how loud .. I was pointing out that the dance club should have managed the timing different.. I was right across the street from a loud dance stage.. I did not lose any sleep except when my bed broke at 4 in the morning..

[Ugly Dougly]

Black Rock City is supposed to be a party.

Maybe you can begin by examining your assumptions.

[Artemis]

interesting. i'm getting a picture here of a sentiment i hadn't realized was so predominant.

the truth is i didn't think the camp was all that loud. And anyone here who wasn't there wouldn't know. they were all the way out at 3:00 and H and as I would ride up 3:00 i would not hear them till i got to G. But then I wasn't camped there and hoping for quiet. I had my own loud neighbors where I was and was lucky enough to like what they were playing. It hasn't alwasy been this way. That's just Burning Man. It's never occurred to me to complain to the rangers about it.

Portal Patch aside I like having parties to go to in the inner city besides the ones on the outer rim. More to explore and it's a homier vibe. To me this means they have to be playing music at some volume. It seems there's a number tho who think these should be more loungey type affairs rather than bumping dance parties. Is that how it is?

Is there some happy medium to be reached or all all dance parties past 2AM completely restricted to 2:00 and 10:00 ?

I like having parties in the middle of the city too, and in the day. It's kind of fun. Deep End (District) does a fun one.

But everyone needs to comply with sound policy. If it's amplified below 300 watts, AND they're willing to mediate with neighbors, there shouldn't be a problem.

3.A maximum power amplification of 300 watts is permitted behind this Large Scale Sound Art Zone in greater Black Rock City.

http://www.burningman.com/on_the_playa/sound_systems/policy.html

[rheos]

when i was there i was hearing more of this kind of vibe.. pretty downtempo.
and it was far from a private party..

http://soundcloud.com/scuzzy/a-star-my- ... mer-09-mix

i was also gone when they got shut down..
maybe the vibe had changed drastically during that time.

as far as volume.. i guess i would be interested to know how much above 300W they were.

i met some portal patch peeps in the time i spent there and didn't think they were trying to be dicks. they seemed like good conscious folk. guess that's all perspective.

[Isotopia]

That's just Burning Man.

The very sentiment that has probably contributed the most to the increasing number of fucktards entering the event each year.

Saying that "it's just Burning Man" is a lame sluffing-off of responsibility that every person has when they come to the event. In spite of what some folk want the event to be it isn't about 'anarchy' and it isn't about doing-whatever-the-hell-we-feel-like-and-if-you-don't-like-it-then-fuck-you.

Inherent in community - any community - is the concept of a social contract.

NOTE:

The notion of the social contract implies that the people give up sovereignty to a government or other authority in order to receive or maintain social order through the rule of law. It can also be thought of as an agreement by the governed on a set of rules by which they are governed.

those 'laws' can just as easily be substituted with 'principles,' 'beliefs,' or a general understanding that everyone agrees to play by a certain set of rules that benefit the collective.

Several of those agreements have contributed to the larger foundation on which the event has been built over many years. The one that comes immediately to mind is not interfering with the experiences of others. I'll agree that how one interprets 'interfere' can have many expressions but within the context of the social contract it...suggests (in my mind) that you don't set out to assault your neighbors 24/7 with deafening music.

[rheos]

That's just Burning Man.

The very sentiment that has probably contributed the most to the increasing number of fucktards entering the event each year.

Saying that "it's just Burning Man" is a lame sluffing-off of responsibility that every person has when they come to the event. In spite of what some folk want the event to be it isn't about 'anarchy' and it isn't about doing-whatever-the-hell-we-feel-like-and-if-you-don't-like-it-then-fuc k-you.

Inherent in community - any community - is the concept of a social contract.

actually the way i meant it was more in the way of finding myself being more accepting of what others are doing even if I don't particularly like it. I believe that also contributes to community building.

I understand the need to use hyperbole to make your point. I don't think it particularly relates directly to Portal Patch but I'm sure relevant to the greater scope of the philosophical debate of where you draw the line.

I agree as well that there are obvious differences in opinion as to what defines interfering with the experiences of others.

[pinemom]

Let people burn the way they want too...

and yes, Im inquisitive of why placement doesnt put a camp like that....hmmm perhaps where we were placed????2:30 and Athens...yeah sound camp area...and we're a interactive village with no loud music cause our bar is a elbow of conversation type"cheers" bar.


Oh well.


I guess thats Placer art.

[HandJamMasterC]

But everyone needs to comply with sound policy. If it's amplified below 300 watts, AND they're willing to mediate with neighbors, there shouldn't be a problem.

3.A maximum power amplification of 300 watts is permitted behind this Large Scale Sound Art Zone in greater Black Rock City

I quoted that to the Black Rock Rangers and they just laughed. I'm going to build a massive carbide cannon to get my message across to overly loud neighbors next year !!

[retropsycho]

...if it was going to be a problem why would Burning Man placement put them there... That's more my question than why do people feel like they should try to shut down someone else's stage.

Not everyone fits at 2:00 or 10:00.

Portal Patch Sound Amplification Placement Request: "For our sound amplification, we will be bringing a large sound system. We do not feel that we should be placed completely with the Large-Scale Sound Art system, which are at 2 and 10 o'clock on the map. We will be bringing a loud system though, and take responsibility that we should not be placed in the middle of the community in quieter areas. We feel that we should be around 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock appropriately, and at social areas where sound and dancing is enjoyed! Our camp is going to have a stage, a fully equipped system for music performers, and great sound. If a permit is needed for amplified sound, I feel our system will possibly be large enough to need one. We won't be blasting people's faces off like opulent temple and similar type camps, but we also won't have a tiny little ipod ghetto blaster Somewhere between the two, which is nice!"

[theCryptofishist]

So, Retrocycle, are you a member of that camp? If so, what systems or checks did you have in place for making sure that the sound wasn't making the neighbors miserable and angry?

[retropsycho]

So, Retrocycle, are you a member of that camp?

No CryptoFascist, I am not a member of Portal Patch. Just shedding a little light as to why Placement put them there, you know, as raised by rheos in the thread.

~ Retropsycho