HIPSTERS BS & POST/MOD & Philo. BS ANONYMOUS

Some of these types can occassionally be found at Burning Man's. In my experiences and readings and web searches, certain pockets of major cities also have interesting activity time to time...its constantly evolving and in movement, like a lava lamp

Burning Man's 2005 Art Theme in the desert in the summer will be : "Psyche: the Conscious, the Subconscious and the Unconscious"

That must be what the immolation of the children in Salammbo looked like from behind the ropes.

Are you part of the Burning Man marketing department?

No--sorry if it came off like that--adjusted. Just trying to share information.

You can still send me $29.95 though if you wish :wink:

Your coming across like an evangelical preacher EM 10 dollar's a month and I'll get you a seat on the right hand side of Jesus! Hallelujah

Extra-Medium -- I've never been to Burning Man -- too hot for me. Rob Brezsny talks about it a lot. I guess some hipsters link via his Free Will Astrology Newsletter

This is from his latest:

Wow, I think I'll move to Sedona.

hmmm....Pronia. I'll be dam*ed.

Well no comment. I guess I wanted to try to make this thread a sort of brainstorming catchall of all this kind of stuff. I guess that trip is cool too if thats what someone is into. I ain't gonna say nothing bad about it here. As long as they don't sell it too hard...Astrology Free Will? What we they think of next?

I guess we could all start our own religions and send each other $19.95 per month. A2K would be like a wellspring on new religions....I've heard of worse things.

Geez, Extra-Med. -- it's not ALWAYS about the money... is it? The hipsters I know are not hustling for loose change anymore. Everybody has jobs or had jobs and are now retired. The point is to please yourself and there, the sky is the limit.

Brezsny provides weekly bits of advice arranged by astrological sign, but they don't have much to do with astrology, for example:

Sometimes the best gift you can give your ego is to tell it you're not going to be its slave anymore. You say to it, "I'm tired of being whipped around by every one of your ever-shifting little needs, and I'm sick of having to kowtow to your inexhaustible demands, and I want to be free of your insatiable craving to be appreciated, recognized, and adored. Go away and leave me alone. I'm just going to be who I am without worrying about you at all."

Delivering this message often has a radically healing effect. Your ego gets shocked into a state of humility, and you get to do what your soul has been longing to do. Ironically, this often results in you creating changes that make your ego very happy.

Piffka,

You are right. I guess I was just responding to some comments above asking if this thread was about the money or something.

I was shocked at that.

Anyone that knows Beat History well knows for example that none other than Jack Kerouac wrote (paraphrased) that as soon as he made money from Beat writing, etc., he knew it was all over and he wasn't truly Beat at that point.

Its not always about the money, its true.

As another example, hell I and friends who've been to some of these various gatherings in cities and forests and deserts have done it with a backpack and a tent, barely a dollar to our name.

These groups for the most part ain't doing it for the money. Very few of the people attending these things have much money.

I didn't want to get into a sniping contest on this thread, so I tried to keep it lighter...thank for your addition.

I'd really like to just, on this thread, accept whatever cool stuff and shyte people want to put up. Brainstorming, as it were...

Some of the stuff is almost entertaining. Nothing is wrong here.

Anything goes...

Thanks Piffka for keeping it positive, and not doing like some do here, ("my way is the only way and all you all don't know...") I appreciate you positive presentation.

Anything goes here...

Yeah well in the believe it or not catagory me and the lady diane had talked a bit about trying to attend a burning man thing sometime.

Hmmmm....does that mean as in "Believe it or not we might attend" or "Believe it or not--look at these freaky beliefs--can you believe these freaks?" :wink:

Thanks.. Ex-Med.

I wish you'd put whatever you'd posted about Burning Man back. I've been drawn to it, 'course, but I can't stand that much hot weather. Have you been to a Burning Man? Are you going this year?

Is that you in the white shirt? Handsome! and you look too young to remember the Beat Generation.

Hey Piffka,

Thanks--yeah thats me.

No I don't remember the the "original" beats whenver that was (depending on who you ask--started in 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, whatever or even earlier)--most definitely at least just after WWII it was going on...

I don't remember it but I'm kind of fascinated by it, so I read up on the history, the music, read some of the authors, etc. A very interesting piece of history, I thought.

Thats why I made this thread, I thought there just might be some older timers on here that had more memories of all that.

The funny thing is, it (or imitations of it) keep going...if you look around, there is still a small group of people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, whatever and they're still into it in their own way. Some would call them "not real" about it but who's to say...I mean where do you draw the line...I think Fight Club for example, when I saw that, it reminded me very much of some beat books I read, and it came out I think? in the 90s or so...so its all kind of gray...of course some purists will argue that...

Yes I've been to some Burning Man's and other things like that...ever hear of the Rainbow Tribe Gathering? Been to some of those...and other things...sort of entertaining.

Yes Burning Man is too hot, thats the big negative about it, but they say they do it on purpose, they want that desert vibe to the whole thing...

Have you been to other gatherings or things like that? You're in the NW?

Yes, I'm in the PNW. I don't think I know about a Rainbow Tribe. I avoid big events and I don't like crowds. There is, though, a gathering called the Barter Fair that I've wanted to go to. I've missed it by a week for enough years that I began to wonder if it was a sign. <grin> Too bad, 'cause I wanted to see it. You have to bring something to barter, of course. You set up shop.

A friend said strange things happen at the Barter Fair and it intrigued me. Sounded like the beginnings of a song or a story to me -- very mysterious.

now this is the kind of shyte i'm looking for in this thread....what kind of "strange & mysterious" things are you talking about ---care to share?

ahhh...pouring a strong coffee, adding a splash o whisky, relaxing leanng back, here to listen...

Things I've heard? Small stuff, but fun. Everything can be easily explained but still... we have a lot of gypsies in the northwest. They go, and the small town folks and the hill people who only come out of the mountains once or twice a year and anyone else who wants to be there. The oddest thing I can think of offhand was that my friend met a gypsy girl who brought her an earring, one she hadn't seen in years and years. My friend had decided to take the mate with her to barter, so there's hand-made jewelry brought back together after years of being hopelessly lost. So there's oddities and meeting people you haven't seen in years or strangers who turn out to know you. Little surprises like that -- coincidences and other good things. It's the usual mix of food, music, dance, animals and strange clothes... but the bartering, in the end, that's what's important. You're automatically going to be bringing something home and leaving something there. I think that's what is interesting. And, like Burning Man, there's no there there. It's a tent city close to the Canadian border so there's an international flavor, too.


Now, you tell a story.

Thats a good one! I like that. I've had stuff like that happen. Weird coincidences. I mean on the one hand, they are almost explainable, but not really.

I got one a little like yours....

I like to go backpacking a lot. You carry everything in on your back: tent, sleeping bag, food, all that. Having all your shoulder straps and belts and all that working is important, because there's so much weight, and you're hiking so many miles that it will be hell if a strap breaks, etc. Anyway, a group of about 10 of us hiked into this place, like 22 miles in on trail. 2 days each way, over all kinds of rough trail and stuff, about 11 miles per day, camping halfway. When we got to the main camp, we lightened our packs and went on day hikes in all directions. There were about 12 other people camped there when we got in, making a total of 22 or so. Well, long story short, I lost an important piece on my backpack, a sort of critical buckle. And on the same day, prior to losing this, I found someone else's buckle. But that buckle wouldn't fit on my pack. Now usually I wouldn't pick up the buckle next to the trail, I'd leave it in hopes the loser of it would find it, but for some reason this time I picked it up.

Well cutting to the chase, when I was ready to head out on the final day, I was having a heck of a time, the full weight was going to be so much without that buckle...at the last minute some guy yelled from the other hiking group "did anyone find a buckle?" and sure enough, the one I found was his. But weirder yet, he had found mine!.

It felt like Instant Karma, right there. I got a bit of a chill. We looked at each other increduously. We both knew it was Weird. Bam.

I mean, theres like 22 people in there, and we were all hiking on different trails, and he and I found each other's buckles out there. Of all people. One anothers. On different trails. Weird. What are the odds of that? I mean these are small black buckles, we're on different trails every day, and there's 22 people... and finding each others? Odds agains that are great.

Things like that seem to happen out there in places like that a lot...

I got others, more involved, like seeing people 2,000 miles from where you saw them last, you used to live in the same town together or something, then you both move and lose contact, then you meet up again in the middle of nowhere, USA---kind of like Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue."
I got a few of those Tangled Up in Blue weird re-meetings...

Interestingly, The Beats will write about that. Like there's this subculture of people out there, and even out of 250 million people or whatever, you might meet up with someone halfway across the world cause you might run in semi-related circles...6 degrees of Separation and all that...

hey you're a good storyteller...relaxing...

more to come! I hope you got more too...this is exactly what I was hoping for...

I better get back to work for now...talk at ya later definitely, Piffka, thanks!

Great story, Extra Medium, and weird. That's the thing about these stories. In the end, it isn't too earth-shaking really... just a buckle or an earring. But the surprise factor and the twists. That's what makes them real. I like it a lot. I've done quite a bit of backpacking. There is a lot of country out there to lose stuff.

I do have another story or two. Maybe somebody else does, too.