Burning Man torched early; artist held
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 47 minutes ago



Burning Man became Burnt Man four days early on Tuesday, and a San Francisco performance artist was arrested on suspicion of igniting the signature figure of the counterculture festival in the remote Nevada desert.

The early morning fire scorched about 85 percent of the structure, Burning Man spokeswoman Andie Grace said. Event engineers decided it would be best to dismantle it and rebuild a less elaborate version, accomplishing in two days what normally takes weeks so the figure would be finished in time for Saturday night's scheduled burning, she said.

The approximately 40-foot-tall wood and neon structure was supposed to go up in flames in the ceremonial climax of the weeklong annual event. Burning Man, an art, music and performance festival that draws thousands of people, began in San Francisco in 1986 and moved to Nevada's Black Rock Desert in 1990.

Many festival-goers who were awake watching Tuesday's lunar eclipse said they saw a man deliberately ignite the figure at about 3 a.m., Grace said.

"It was in plain sight of many people," she said. "Everyone is looking at it this morning, this big black figure in the sky and that wasn't supposed to burn, saying, 'Now what do we do?'"

No injuries were reported, and the festival's in-house fire department, the Black Rock City Emergency Services Department, extinguished the fire in less than half an hour, Grace said. The fire also damaged part of the Green Man Pavilion, the exhibition space on which the figure was perched, Grace said.

Paul Addis, 35, of San Francisco, was booked into the Pershing County, Nev., jail on suspicion of arson, illegal possession of fireworks, destruction of property and resisting a public officer, according to the sheriff's department. He posted a $25,632 bond, a sheriff's dispatcher said.

Sheriff's officials did not know whether he had a lawyer. No one answered at two phone numbers listed in his name.

Addis is an actor and writer who is active in the San Francisco arts scene and recently portrayed Hunter S. Thompson in a play about the late journalist known for his drug-fueled lifestyle, according to entertainment listings posted on the Internet.

Grace said she assumed the early burn was timed to coincide with the eclipse.

"It's obviously a pretty selfish act, and people are disappointed about that, but spirits overall are pretty high," she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070829/ap_on_re_us/burning_man_burned

he countercultured their counterculture, they should applaud his passion for being so counterculture

And a whole group of my retarded friends is out there for the first time.

Will the Hippies really care once the weed starts blowin?

Also i read that they are going to all work together to try and get something going for that night anyway.

It warms the cockles of my black heart that we can find unity in hating the tools of Burning Man.

I'd like to see the hippies trying to scramble around and build a new one. It would likely make me vomit.

But people! PEOPLE! What will the subversives do now to get their kicks?

Wash, maybe? Trim their pubes or something?

Playa Suicide
A Burning Man participant was found dead this morning, hanging from the inside of a two-story high tent, according to Mark Pirtle, special agent in charge for the Bureau of Land Management.

The apparent suicide would be the festival's first in its 21 year history, Pirtle said.

Pershing County coroners are investigating the scene and preparing to remove the body. Pirtle said the man was hanging for two hours before anyone in the large tent thought to bring him down. "His friends thought he was doing an art piece," Pirtle said.

A makeshift morgue is being set up at the law enforcement command center on the outskirts of Black Rock City. Pirtle said authorities can not release information on the dead man's name until next of kin is notified.

The incident has gone unnoticed by most of the 36,000 revelers who have already arrived. The city's population is on pace to hit 46,000, Pirtle said, a fourteen percent increase from last year.

source

Thats what happens when you roll on e,

Dude, that looks like the parents from Family Ties.

Let's petition Luke to go to burning man next year with the camera of death. That's a fucking win/win.

As long as we fill him full of "e" first... Before he starts driving.

I know 12 people there this year.

I *WISH* this would happen to one of them. The other 11 are cool.

So I guess I have a 12/46,000 chance of knowing the victim?!?
That's kinda cool.

Well, he was asked if he could hang his own work.

I like the way she's drawn attention to her hysterectomy scar. That's a nice touch.