We had a great group of people come together to form the Xanadu theme camp at Burning Man. Loosely based around friends and friends of friends from Seattle, we all survived the week with warm feelings toward each other and a genuine pleasure in each other’s company. Some theme camps buckle under the strain of construction, chores, heat, exhaustion, personality conflicts, and the roller coaster ride of Burning Man, but Xanadu ended the week with hugs (and a few tears) from every member to every other member. The people were the best part of the camp, by far. Our funky homage to the cheesy 1980 disco movie “Xanadu”, starring Olivia Newton John and lots of bad acting, was just the corralling point for everyone’s efforts. More info about what we built is in the journal (click “Up”, above, to see it).
Robbie, Warren, and Jeff on top of the step van, with all of us returning from The Ranch where we retrieved one of Xanadu’s two geodesic “pleasure domes”
Here’s Xanadu under construction: one of the domes off to the left (the other was put in the middle of the rink), skates, altars to the Muses, and some random offerings
The Bunny Mailbox, with Josh, Jon, and Susan working on one of the altars
Warren test skating the roller rink before the dome and paint was added
Xanadu’s communal kitchen, with Colby, Deb, Karen, and Mariah doing food duty
Dan, Mariah, Molly, and Teresa just before heading out to join the Billion Bunny March
Josh demonstrating his dance moves and the black lights under the dome in the roller skating rink; the dome was lined with glowing flowers, camo netting, and disco lights
Our Snowball’s Chance In Hell snowcone stand, complete with the Wheel of Sin, sinfully delicious flavors, and devilish hosts
The Xanadu Gang
Top left to right: Jon, Jodi, Deb, Dan, Warren, Robbie, Karen, Gabe, Kelly
Bottom left to right: Scott, Jeff, Josh, Xan, Colby, Mariah, Suzanne, Molly, Teresa
(not in picture: Susan, Rebecca, Dan N)