Burning Man Torched Early/During Lunar Eclipse

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

This just struck me as perfectly Pynchonian, as if Zoyd really did manage to 
commit his act of transfenestration at the Log Jam. There's also plotting
to commit a supremely transgressive act in the midst of a massive ritual,
and commiting that act during a lunar eclipse. Very strange:

Burning Man Torched Early; Artist Held
             
LISA LEFF | August 28, 2007 09:27 PM EST |  

SAN FRANCISCO — 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.

___

On the Net:

http://www.burningman.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070828/burning-man-burned/