RIP Nitai Das - Founder of Krishna Camp at Burning Man

Nitai Das, 1980-2011

BURNcast just learned of the passing of Nitai Das from earlier this year -- almost a year ago on January 31st to be exact.  Nitai was force behind Krishna Kitchen, a prasadam distribution network that distributed food at festivals. He was most famous for feeding a 1000 people a day at Burning Man.

From their mission statement, Krishna's Kitchen "shares the ancient culture of Bhakti, through the production and distribution of sacred food." Through Nitai's expert networking, Krishna's Kitchen ended up becoming an integral part, of some of the biggest and most exciting alternative festivals of the new millennium; including Burning Man, Wanderlust and Bhaktifest.

Nitai's wife Mandali carries his photo
in procession to the temple

Nitai's spiritual community honored him with a memorial at the Temple this year. A complete recounting of his final journey to the playa can be read here.

You can listen our interview with Nitai from our old audio podcast episode "Burncast #064 - NYC Decom". It's available in iTunes or at Archive.org.


Krishna Camp Burning Man 2006 from Rasa Acharya on Vimeo.

Rhonda Bunkelman - Rest in Peace

Yesterday morning Rhonda Bunkelman, a Los Angeles Burner, passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones. She had been recovering from a stroke that she suffered from in early January 2012. Rhonda is survived by her husband Jim Bunkelman and friend Marcy Rosenthal.  More information about services are forthcoming.

Two (2) Lower Tier Burning Man Tickets for Sale - What's your story?

Quin, who was a regular contributor to BURNcast in our hey day, is selling his lower tier Burning Man tickets at face value.

Here's the skinny from Quin:

I need to sell these tickets to Burning Man due to an unfortunate turn of events. However I'd like to send them on with someone who really wants to go and is willing to tell us why.

Is it your first time, are you bringing art, toiling in a cool camp, or have friends in need? Whatever it is write it down, take a picture, paint it or sing it out.

Creativity counts, but I do need to get cash so I can put it towards seeing my family in lieu of going to the Playa. My total cost for these tix was $505.

Best submission gets them. As shown, they come with two survival guides and a Lemon Head jaw breaker candy courtesy of BMorg.

Post your submission below in the comment or send your essay to burncast (at) gmail dot com

Check back for updates as to what happens to these tickets!

Best of Luck!

Burning Man 2003 by John Pedone

BURNcast is sad to report that earlier this evening Los Angeles burner John Pedone was killed in a fatal motorcycle accident. He was 40 years old.

The video above begins with John and his journey to Black Rock City as he documents his camp the Mystical Misfits at Burning Man 2003.  More of his work can be see on Blip.TV.

Back in 2009 John participated in a video we made at Los Angeles Decom entitled "A Word About Burning Man" and he can be seen at the 3:42 mark below.

Rest in peace, John.

BURNcast.TV #66 - Burning Man 2012 with Ricky Vegas

Early last Monday morning on the tail end of Easter weekend, burner Ricky Vegas stops through Los Angeles on his way back from Opulent Temple's White Party in San Francisco to talk about Burning Man 2012.

Best of Burning Man

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Heyo, everybody.  It's DaBomb here and I've got a confession to make: I lied.  (But I really, really didn't mean to! ) Cuz when I said I was firing up the old BURNcast for another season I really thought I was.

You see, I rely on the community (drink!) to nudge me from the hibernation that occurs from the embers of last year's burn until the spring of the next one so there's really no set calendar as to when I actually roll out production on Burning Man coverage.  I just wait 'til enough cards and letters come in from fans and followers to tell me it's time to get crackin'.

So when I posted this update on Facebook last month I really thought there would be enough material to get us through to Burning Man this year.

But, whoa was I wrong.  So royally wrong.

All the ruckus I heard from this wonderful community of burners was about the Great Ticket Fiasco of 2012 and how many of you didn't get a God damn ticket.

Well, I'm sorry. Really I am.  It totally is teh suck. I know you're disappointed and I know you've been dreaming, planning and budgeting ever since you got back from Black Rock City to get your ass back on the playa this year. But did you really have to wake me up for that? 

Seriously.  I have disagree with the consensus that many of you think the Org committed a big fat fail. I just don't see how the Org fucked up here. For one, they've got cash in the bag thanks to the ticket sales.  So, um, like they're turning a profit.  Which is good. American's value profits (who all here remembers the American Dream?) and artists should get paid for the efforts, wouldn't you agree? And sure the Org created controversy, but like a problem child with unmet emotional needs, BMorg likes controversy. Hell, Burning Man thrives on it. I bet they love it.  It's like bad attention is better than no attention.  And bad PR is better than no PR which is exactly what happened.

So while this Great Ticket Fiasco is breaking burners hearts it's also causing folks to kvetch but hey, at least people are talking about Burning Man.  And wasn't that the goal: to share Burning Man with the world??? So...OK... yeah. So they're talking about it. It's getting into the vernacular, the Zeitgeist, the consciousness, the mainstream, whatever the fuck you want to call it. It's all good, although not out there like it was intended to be put out there.  Whatever. Shit happens.

Anyway, as a citizen journalist (say it with me: "blogger") covering the art, culture and community of Burning Man the news of the Great Ticket Fiasco got old and stale pretty fast.

But I really thought it would pass as stories about upcoming Burning Man art projects, theme camps and other culcha related things would start to bubble up so that I could get back to doing what BURNcast does best: lovin' on the Burning Man community (drink!).

Sadly, these anticipated stories are just not surfacing so the blogging is just not happening.

Oh, wait.  On second thought that's not true. (There I go lying again!)

Seriously though? There actually is an epic installation I heard about heading out to the playa this year: David Best is returning to the playa this year to head up Temple of Juno with the International Arts Megacrew. (However, the link to their FB page is no workee.)

If this is true, than it's pretty damn cool.

Just remember: it's not your fault. Fuck your day.  More later so stay tuned.

Love & Rockets,
DaBomb

Oh, the Places You'll Go at Burning Man!

Based on Dr. Seuss's final book before his death, this is a story about life's ups and downs, told by the people of Burning Man 2011.

Directed by:

• Teddy Saunders (www.tedshots.com)
• Parker Howell (www.parkerhowell.com)
• William Walsh (www.wbwalsh.com)
• Produced and Edited by Teddy Saunders
• Digital Effects and Color by Parker Howell
• Original Score By Darius Holbert
• Sound Mix by Tyler Payne

Brought to you by:

• www.facebook.com/tedshots