SF Decompression: October 9th 2011 Heat The Streat FaIRE

[trilobyte]

The first half of the day was wonderful. The second half of the day, not so much. Most likely had to do with where we were placed (between the Dusty Rhino sound stage and the entrance to Cocomo), by nightfall people were using (and abusing) our art as anything from dance floor to jungle gym to place to dump booze bottles, empty whippets, and tampons. At one point while we'd made a quick porta-potty run, asshats had even made an attempt to rock the van (the outpost was built on our vehicle) so hard that full drinks and water bottles came flying off the side and splashed dangerously close to the high power lines & junction box several feet behind us. We raced back to find ESD folks freaking out and people covering big chunks of our art with caution tape (to keep people away from where the box had been moved). And after everything was over, we had to argue with and shoo away people who kept climbing up. Far worse than any burn night experience, so many pieces of the outpost were just completely trashed. After MOOPing up our space and some of the bigger bits in the space around us, we barely made it out by 2AM. :-/

[ygmir]

from the light, and actions of the crowd, I thought Moroni himself had descended and walked among us.......
I was thereafter, gratified to find it was Dougly, strolling towards me.

But, did he tell you the theme?

y know, he did...........well, actually, it was written on these golden tablets..........lemme go back and see if I can find them. I seem to forget just exactly what they said.

[theCryptofishist]

from the light, and actions of the crowd, I thought Moroni himself had descended and walked among us.......
I was thereafter, gratified to find it was Dougly, strolling towards me.

But, did he tell you the theme?

y know, he did...........well, actually, it was written on these golden tablets..........lemme go back and see if I can find them. I seem to forget just exactly what they said.

Ayup, that's how it happens. Next thing you know, you're crossing the mountains pushing everything you own in a shopping cart...

[Eric]

Far worse than any burn night experience, so many pieces of the outpost were just completely trashed.

We noticed that as well. The crowd was okay earlier in the day, but as it went on it got extremely "weekend warrior". I would take the frats on the playa over the night-time Decomp crowd anyday. At least the playa frats had to make an effort to get there and are in a better head-space. We got tired of getting bumped into by drunks & jackasses on their cell-phones, so we left around 6:30-7. The good news is the walk home was great & almost all the decomp we had wanted!

We did have fun earlier, and I did get to see some lovely people- ActionGirl (who I never got to see on the playa), Fishy, and Killbuck & Snake; as well as bunches of non-eplayans I haven't seen in a while.

[Ugly Dougly]

from the light, and actions of the crowd, I thought Moroni himself had descended and walked among us.......
I was thereafter, gratified to find it was Dougly, strolling towards me.

But, did he tell you the theme?

y know, he did...........well, actually, it was written on these golden tablets..........lemme go back and see if I can find them. I seem to forget just exactly what they said.

It was real profound whatever it was. But I guess I spaced it.

The Samba Stiltwalkers was awesome! Brought back the old Drum Massive vibe to the streets!

[Ano]

Holy fucking SPECTATORS batman. Rave babies, kids on drugs, and horny teenagers everywhere. From watching a group of kids at the pink mammoth stage practically fucking each other while rolling, to the people trying to rock over the two story van-thing by the Pink Mammoth, to the kids lighting off fireworks in the park, the kandi-kids acting like fucking retards, and ALL THE FUCKING TRASH EVERYWHERE HOLY SHIT.

Can it be 18+ next year? Or can we somehow force it to be Playa people only? I'm all about radical inclusion, but seriously, what a fucking terrible crowd. I met countless kids on drugs who had never been to Burning Man before, and clearly didn't belong there, either. God damn good reason why we travel out to the Playa, and the spectating at decomp showed it.

[ambird]

I was pretty disappointed at how hard it was to talk to people. I guess I figured that the friendliness of the playa would be present at Decompression. I agree that there seemed to be a lot of folks who haven't been to Burning Man, so maybe they thought I was weird for saying hello in passing or trying to chat in line. It made me miss BRC so much!

[Dr. Pyro]

I can see my decision to miss Decompression this year has been complete vindicated. As it will be next year as well.

[theCryptofishist]

I was pretty disappointed at how hard it was to talk to people. I guess I figured that the friendliness of the playa would be present at Decompression. I agree that there seemed to be a lot of folks who haven't been to Burning Man, so maybe they thought I was weird for saying hello in passing or trying to chat in line. It made me miss BRC so much!

YOu think it was indifference? I never got to hear enough to figure that out. Heck, I almost want to buy one of those condos for sale, so I can spend the day lobbing water balloons at the annoying people...

[Bin Noddin]

Dougly and Ygmir (2009 at the Booby Bar) - when gods walked the playa.

Dougly & Ygmir.jpg (66.92 KiB) Viewed 1268 times

[MOOP_Czar]

Ygmir stole my goggles...

I am pissed.

[Eric]

Ygmir stole my goggles...

I am pissed.

You stole mine:

BRC2007.jpg (112.29 KiB) Viewed 1260 times

(BMan 2007- pre-mustache)

waiting for the next person with an older picture...

[ygmir]

Ygmir stole my goggles...

I am pissed.

You stole mine:

BRC2007.jpg

(BMan 2007- pre-mustache)

waiting for the next person with an older picture...

[ygmir]

Ygmir stole my goggles...

I am pissed.

so yer the Chinese aviator I had to rastle them away from?

well, if'n ya wants a re-match...........

I'm a delicate, frail fellow, but, a wolverine when I want something!!!

[ambird]

I was pretty disappointed at how hard it was to talk to people. I guess I figured that the friendliness of the playa would be present at Decompression. I agree that there seemed to be a lot of folks who haven't been to Burning Man, so maybe they thought I was weird for saying hello in passing or trying to chat in line. It made me miss BRC so much!

YOu think it was indifference? I never got to hear enough to figure that out. Heck, I almost want to buy one of those condos for sale, so I can spend the day lobbing water balloons at the annoying people...

I don't know what it was. Maybe indifference, or maybe people didn't want to talk to me because they found ME to be annoying. I hope not, but I suppose it's possible!

[trilobyte]

The 2-story van-thing was us, Ano. And yeah, very crazy crowd. We had hoped to catch some great performances (Soul In The Machine for a start... they have a freaking LASER HARP!), as well as get out and see more/do more. But by 8pm we were only leaving the space one at a time for quick trips to the porto's.

To the woman (I think her name was Darby, if I remember correctly) who had seen people spill a bunch of water on or near the junction box, I'm sorry for being short with you last night. After dealing with the craziness and asshats upstairs, coming downstairs and seeing that someone had strung hundreds of feet of caution tape back and forth several times across the side and back of our piece wasn't taken well. I only wish that the ranger you'd involved had either stuck around or called for some kind of reinforcements, it only seemed to cause people to treat the space with even less regard.

All that aside, I still think Jonesy and the decompression crew deserve some measure of applause. That was a whole lot of art, music, and fun crammed into a pretty small area, and coordinating it all had to be a herculean task. They can't control the crowd, and once the event gets picked up on sites like Nitevibe and other party directories as THE event to catch for the weekend, some of the night crowd was unavoidable. I think more space or fewer stages would have been ideal for me (spread it out a bit), but I imagine the city doesn't just say "sure, Jonesy, we'll give you as much space as you want!"

Even with all the damage to our art, I'm glad that we were able to participate.

[MOOP_Czar]

Mental note-

Secure new set of goggles.

Prevent re-aquisition.

Noted.

[ygmir]

gotta say, though, Trilobyte, dressed marvelous!!! very nice outfit and accessories.
I was so envious. A real head turner.

[Ugly Dougly]

Yeah, I had a sense that there was a ton of people attending who had never been to the burn.
Having missed the previous two I should just shut my mouth.
But I went to numerous such events before actually going to TTITD, so maybe it's like an outreach.
OR
Maybe there's more to life than the Black Rock Desert.

[snake]

pouring shots of vodka at kamp apokiliptika allowed us to see all you marvelous eplayans that dropped in..but precluded us from seeing what the rest of decom was like...i thought i was missing something, but apparently not. still it was fun in the earlier part (make mental note to leave early next year)

[Jessabella]

Hi everyone. This was both my first burn and first decomp. I was in shock at the difference between the 2. I met a lot of really awesome people at both events but it seemed like most people I met at decomp had never been to the playa. I could not believe the moop. I so wish I could have come back to clean the next day but I live in Campbell with my bf and I do not drive so I had no transportation. He had to be at work early Monday morning. I hope I can find other ways to contribute.

Before getting there I was somewhat intimidated by the fact that tickets were based on "costume". I am always dressed up year round so I had no trouble fitting in on the playa or decomp, but it was the mere thought that a random stranger could judge my costume worthiness. It sorta seemed so anti burning man. My bf said last year they harassed him and charge full price even though he was wearing stuff he got on the playa, telling him it was an outfit he could wear everyday. Considering no one really knows what you look like in your day job I doubt anyone really has the right to make that call. But after seeing the obvious non burners there, I get it now. Some..... Um how to put it nicely, people who looked like a gang (sorry for judging) even tried to start a fight with my bf at one point and then changed thier attitude real quick when they saw he was with a bunch of girls. What losers. I guess it's people like that the added ticket charge is trying to keep out.

The customs were amazing and I was so inspired. I love to sew and crochet but I have been in a creative funk lately but after Sunday I am inspired again. It was nice to bump into some familiar faces and run into a ton of my camp mates as well. Also made some awesome new friends. By the end of the night we were hanging out with of huge crowd that kept growing as one of the cool new people I met just randomly chatted with people passing by and got them to join us. To me that is what it's all about.

[trilobyte]

Hi Jessabella, welcome to ePlaya! If you get a moment or two at some point, go post an introduction in the 'Greeters Station' area so the rest of us can say hi

I know how you feel about the notion of people passing judgment on the worthiness of my expression or creativity. Even though ygmir and a few others said some very kind words about my safari attire, I always feel like what I'm wearing doesn't measure up. Sorry to hear they gave your bf some grief, but it's a sort of necessary evil.

There were people we talked to up on the airship outpost who really didn't seem to know anything about the event. After hearing that it was our structure, they asked if we had ever been. We tried to be the best ambassadors we could, figuring that with stuff like LoveFest and other defaultia versions of playa mainstays staging events pretty regularly they might not really get the distinction.

[I am a sock puppet]

The "Costume Contest" at the gate was so lame and arbitrary. I just wore a Burning Man T-shirt, a red wedding shirt and my dusty old shemagh, and the gal at the booth said she was too tired to argue and she let me in as "costumed". I think she needed a foot massage from U.D.

I've been to dozens of De-Comps, Pre-Comps, Anon Salons and other BM art parties; this was never necessary. I mean the costume schtick.

But why complain? Have a good time no matter what!

[Eric]

Note for next year on the Costume Contest gate entry thing: it's a public street fair and they can only Ask For A Donation- they cannot require you to pay! As City law currently stands they have temporary use of the street, but it is still a public thoroughfare (although there is discussion to change the City Charter to allow admission fees to be charged.) They are allowed to control access points for public safety (ie: you have to go through the Gate), they can't keep you out for lack of funds.

I had a friend go in 2003 wearing what he wore on the playa- khaki's and a tshirt. The gate person got huffy and tried to charge him $20, he refused to pay and the blue wig behind the desk was going to refuse him entry. He very calmly asked for her supervisor, explained that because the desk-jockey was so rude he absolutely refused to make a donation but was going into the fair. When they protested he insisted they call the police over if they thought he was doing something illegal. They let him in.

I would accept a "$10 with your ticket stub to the Burn, $20 without" donation process, but the Costume one is incredibly offensive. I look like me every day of the year, I don't need someone in a Halloween Store wig deciding if I fit their lame definition of "costume".

[theCryptofishist]

Yeah, I saw that bright pink wig on everyone.
I wore my teeshirt with the blue footed booby and my lanyard from jk (thank you) along with all the other stuff that was hung onto it. I got charged the lower price. My guess is, that no one wants to mess with the scary wheelchair lady. I get the cripple discount a lot.

[Risky]

Decom was a mess, but we all had a great time!
There was about 40 of the Temple Crew that took over the corner of the park in front of BMIR who played rocking music most of the night.
Action Jackson rocked the Mariposa Stage, the Dancing Jellyfish were just as great as on the playa, and I got a ticket from the BRC SweeterMaids.

It was great to see some eplayans there.

[Jesus]

It started at Decompression 2010. I arrived quite early, and pulled over on the bridge over Decompression Street (AKA the part of 18th street that is a bridge over 280 and Indiana Street) and got out to enjoy the view. Before getting in my car to park, I noticed that in fact, it seemed that I had parked legally - like other bridges over 101 and 280 in the city, parking on this one seemed to be legal; the curb was grey, and there were no 'no parking' signs anywhere to be seen. It was early in the day and no one else was parked there, so I took some time to walk a ways up and down, but confident that there were no indications it was not a legal parking spot, I parked and skated down to Minnesota St and partied all day 'till the wee hours of the morning. I got back and found a handwritten SFPD ticket on my car.... and on a whole bunch of cars that had taken my lead and parked behind me.
A few days later, I got another (very expensive) ticket for allegedly parking near a wheelchair ramp on another San Francisco street-corner (I parked there on a date and we both looked and thought I was legally parked when we left and were surprised to see the ticket when we got back from dinner; I took photos and we left.)
I protested both tickets. I wrote and sent in requests for review and... heard nothing, except I got notice after notice after notice for around 6 months, saying they hadn't decided yet.
I got worried that they'd decide while I was out of town and went down to the office on Van Ness off Market to investigate. I brought with me video of the place I'd parked at decompression, showing that there were no no parking signs anywhere near where I parked, but they refused to look at it or google maps street view I tried to show them, which showed the same thing, and also refused to look at photos I brought from the date, but they claimed they'd nixed my date ticket protest, and sent me a notice allowing me to appeal, but the deadline had passed, even after I spoke with the manager about both issues. I was angry. I tried to get a hearing anyway about the date ticket, but was unable to. But a couple months later the ticket from decompression was dismissed. This year, I arrived at decompression early, and found that the same long strip of curb was available with no cars parked there, and the signs hadn't changed. I parked, and got out, and a helpful hottie walking by with friends told me it was not legal to park there, but I told her I was absolutely certain it was legal, and skated down to Minnesota St and partied all day 'till the wee hours of the morning. It felt like deja vu - I got back and found an SFPD ticket on my car (handwritten by the holder of Police Badge # 850) ... and on a whole bunch of cars that had taken my lead and parked behind me. I'd taken video when I first parked, so I'd have very strong evidence. And videoed myself sending in a protest letter. Today I looked online and my record is clear; it seems they've dismissed the ticket. So I avoided paying the two $75 tickets, but I probably paid about that in late fees for the other ticket they claim they they informed me I could appeal. (If I don't pay, I can't renew my vehicle registration.) I hate the parking scheme/scam. </vent>