Tales from the Playa

A little of this and a lot of that

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Makeout Queen was the mistress of ceremonies at Thunderdome.

Tuesday night was a tale of two nights: A lovely gathering in our home on the playa — Media Mecca — and then a journey into darkness on the  other side — Thunderdome.

The first event was a birthday party for Andi Grace, aka Action Girl, who had a birthday that ended in a zero. We won’t be more specific than that about which birthday it was. There was an amazing turnout from various factions, with people from  from Cobra Commander of the DPW to Larry his own self. There were TWO cakes, and Flash was behind the bar. It was good times.

Then it was off to “Friends and Family” night at the Death Guild’s Thunderdome, where the DPW and the Gate crews squared off against each other. Do you know the Thunderdome? Like so much here, it’s very “Mad Max.” Two men (or women) enter, one man (or woman) leaves. The action was fierce. Really fierce. Much fiercer than you’re likely to see the rest of the week.

We couldn’t imagine two experiences so wildly divergent in a single night. But out here, that’s not really out of the ordinary.

Flash, Action Girl and Chicken John

More from the nice party in a moment, but let’s go back to the Dome first:

 

Matt is the leader of the Death Guild

 

10-9 was all business during her match.

 

Alexi was no slouch, either.

 

And now back to the party:

Jes Hobbs, who built the Temple last year, dropped by to say hello

 

Ra$pa might have fit in at Thunderdome, come to think of it.

 

Lots of Burners wear hats on the playa.

 

Thumper threw a nice bash.

 

If you have to have a boss, you'd be lucky to have one as good as Action Girl.

 

 

About the author: John Curley

John Curley (that's me) has been Burning since the relatively late date of 2004, and in 2008 I spent the better part of a month on the playa, documenting the building and burning of Black Rock City in words and pictures. I loved it, and I've been doing it ever since. I was a newspaper person in a previous life, and I spent many years at the San Francisco Chronicle. At the time I left, in 2007, I was the deputy managing editor in charge of Page One and the news sections of the paper. Since then, I've turned a passion for photography into a second career. I shoot for editorial, commercial and private clients. I've also taught a little bit, including two years at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and a year at San Francisco State University. I live on the San Mateo coast, just south of San Francisco in California.

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