
Larry Harvey, co-founder of Burning Man, has died - NaOH
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/obituaries/larry-harvey-burning-man-festival-dead-at-70.html
======
throwaway010718
As an electrical engineer with a traditional work-ethic, I always felt cursed
that my only brother was a Bohemian/artist. Then my brother asked me to join
him on a trip to Burning Man and I reluctantly agreed.

Not knowing what to expect, my brother privately took care of everything. He
created several costumes so we could wear something different every day. He
decorated our bicycles and designed elaborate canopies. He made drug laced
snacks for barter and created games we could play in darkness of the desert
night. Upon my arrival, he made me feel welcome despite my immediate
realization that I was not worthy of attending this event. For I had
contributed nothing. I had, for the first time in my life, felt like _dead-
weight to society_. But instead of judging me, my brother made me feel loved.

Going to Burning Man is truly a humbling experience. The unimaginable massive
spectacles of creativity are beyond my ability to describe. As much as we
would like to return we both agreed we wouldn't unless we had an installation
to exhibit. A fitting mission a for sibling artist-engineering team who feel
obliged to give back to an event that gave them so much.

RIP Larry. I hope somehow in death you feel all the love and beauty that
Burning Man inspired.

~~~
sytelus
While the Burning Man experience had been one of the unforgettable for me, I'd
spent at least a day there forced to think about economics of it all. The
ticket to BM cost big money for most people ($450 + $80 vehicle pass). For
example, right now the tickets are priced at $1200 per person at the official
website. This is a significant revenues for the organizers with 50,000
attendees. I couldn't wonder but thinking why cost is so high? There is
virtually no services provided by the organizers except for portable potties
(which BTW stinks all over and is perhaps _the_ biggest factor in ruining the
whole experience). Almost all of the labor and even lot of material is
provided by largely unpaid volunteers. I understand there is grants made to
many artists, but still I'm not sure if some organizers have probably created
this whole scheme to make a living out of this. There is not much of an
explanation on why tickets are so pricey while number of attendees have kept
increasing every year while the costs should have almost remained more or less
same because of lack of services.

I was also surprised that while folks are encouraged to give and take gifts
and keep the whole thing free of cash, there is _indeed_ commercial
establishment to serve coffee. Why can't it be made free? A cup of coffee
costs less than $1 to make (especially when you have volunteer labor). Even if
a person drinks 5 cups a day, 5 times a week - it's still $25. For a ticket
that costs $400+ isn't that doable that would allow to make the event truly
cashless and keep the spirit of the event?

~~~
aurelius12
Most tickets are priced at $425. The $1200 tickets are for people who can
afford them but couldn't get them at $425. Some of the $$ from the $1200 ones
goes to support the low-income ticket program fwiw.

I will say, if using a portapotty "ruins" the experience for you, you're going
to be better off going to an event where you can stay in a hotel, vs a big
camping trip to the desert.

~~~
mcv

      > I will say, if using a portapotty "ruins" the experience for you, you're going to be better off going to an event where you can stay in a hotel, vs a big camping trip to the desert.
    

Or better: if using a portapotty ruins it for you, contribute a better toilet.
I bet lots of people will be very thankful for that.

------
mattnewton
I had many enlightenments from burning man and I hope to have many more; the
participants are worthy successors once they pick up the dance, and so I think
the event will go on.

One of my favorite memories is an early night at my first burn, there was a
man on a stool with a walkie-talkie checking ID to enter the base of The Man.

I didn’t have my ID on me, but I patiently lined up with everyone else,
planning on explaining that I only wanted to see the inside with my friends
and wasn’t planning on drinking tonight at all.

Before reaching the man on the stool, someone in front of us made a break for
it past him. He barked angrily at the guy, grabbing at him and shouting into
his handset.

When it came to me, at this point I thought my chances were slim and I would
have to sit this attraction out without an ID. I explained my situation to him
anyways.

I will never forgot his reply: “I am just fucking with you all” he said, a
twinkle in his eye. Indeed, there was only an air of official-ness around his
outfit and stool, he had no real authority. We all just accepted a queue for
ID checks voluntarily.

I walked past and learned more about society from that one prank than I had
from any textbook or class since. And that is just one experience.

I hope to carry that on that tradition. There is a real magic in culture, and
I am thankful that Larry stumbled upon it and decided to share. Thank you, and
thanks to everyone who keeps it going!

~~~
gargarplex
The opening chapter of Cormac McCarthy's _Blood Meridian_ has a story like
that except a bit more intense.

Indeed, when you realize how much of human experience runs on autopilot and
you try to consciously evolve past that, you can feel manic and begin to feel
like anything is possible.

~~~
Swizec
> begin to feel like anything is possible

You can do whatever you want. As long as you can bear the consequences.

~~~
toomuchtodo
The consequences are usually an illusion.

~~~
c22
But if you make a habit of testing them you'll find the ones that aren't
pretty quick.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Such is the peril of living a full life.

------
zanek
Burning Man has been one of the 3 most important events in my life ! I never
met Larry Harvey but he seemed like an amazing man. I learned so much about
myself, life and everything in between going to it. I've gone almost 7 times,
but havent gone in the last 5 years.

I really loved some of the snippets from this article about Larry. The bit
about someone waking him up at 4am with a chainsaw to work on an ice sculpture
made me laugh outloud. Definitely par for course at Burning Man, and his
reaction says alot about him. RIP

[http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/larry-harvey-founder-and-
le...](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/larry-harvey-founder-and-leader-of-
burning-man-dies-in-san-francisco/ar-AAwtwQx?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=iehp)

------
alex_young
Larry's realized vision of community has inspired so much creativity that it's
impossible to do justice to his impact on our world in a short comment.

Personally, I met my wife and many friends through his indirect action, and
I've become much more creative and understanding of those around me in the
process. There must be many more here with similar stories.

~~~
dopeboy
Could you go into this more? I've never been to BM but have always been
curious what people have gotten out of it.

~~~
defen
One of my favorite quotes from Blood Meridian (which was published before
Burning Man was a thing; I have no reason to believe it influenced Burning Man
but the two are linked in my mind because of the setting and because this
quote always makes me think of it)

 _The truth about the world, he said, is that anything is possible. Had you
not seen it all from birth and thereby bled it of its strangeness it would
appear to you for what it is, a hat trick in a medicine show, a fevered dream,
a trance bepopulate with chimeras having neither analogue nor precedent, an
itinerant carnival, a migratory tentshow whose ultimate destination after many
a pitch in many a mudded field is unspeakable and calamitous beyond
reckoning._

I would note that there is a difference between experiential knowledge and
propositional or factual knowledge - you can read as many books about dance as
you want, but none of them will tell you what it feels like to dance. In the
same way, everyone sort of knows, on some level, that essentially everything
about society is arbitrary. Your clothes, your food, your house, your job,
everything is the result of path-dependent evolution that didn't _have_ to end
up how it did.

Ok, great, so you can know that just from using logic, but how can you _feel_
it? Burning Man is one answer to that question. It lets you experience the
"fevered dream" that is reality.

~~~
leot
Basically everything almost didn't happen.

~~~
st26
A better way to look at it is, in a million different places, the odds were a
million to one. We happen to be observing from the one of those place where it
_did_ happen.

------
rladd
Back in the day (around 1995) I used to go to parties that Larry Harvey and
Marion (who called herself Maid Marion at the time) used to also go to.

I was told that the original burning man was an effigy of Larry's ex-
girlfriend's new boyfriend.

At the time you could even find this story online in a number of places.
Mysteriously, it seems to have been purged from the web. But I still believe
it to be true, based on who told me and when.

------
redwood
RIP. He leaves ripples bouncing around and amongst countless peoples' minds,
reverberating with the realization that there are no limits on what is
possible.

------
jph
Thank you Larry.

Burning Man photos that are favorites of mine by many photographers:

[http://www.joelparkerhenderson.com/burningman/](http://www.joelparkerhenderson.com/burningman/)

Photos are by many people during many years.

------
mindfulhack
Burning Man has changed my life. It will continue to for as long as I live.

------
olivermarks
I went in 2007 and keep saying I will go again.

Last year I watched all the videos here [https://burners.me/shadow-
history/](https://burners.me/shadow-history/) and found it very interesting
and intriguing. An insider's perspective on the BM organization. Downloading
the slide decks gives an overview of the materials.

------
dolzenko
> anti-establishment, anti-consumerist

Can't help but feel there is something insincere in that statement, I mean
somehow it seems like exactly the product of consumerist society to me (I mean
the attendance cost, cost of setting up you "booth" (?) there), so I wonder if
somebody feels the same/gave it more thought.

------
bdcs
A beautiful article of a beautiful man. So it goes. I will remain forever*
transformed due to him.

* Until I die, I suppose :)

------
ianai
Is it ever brought up whether Burning Man is based on the Zozobra?

------
artur_makly
more on Larry : [https://larry.burningman.org/](https://larry.burningman.org/)

------
stelliosk
But will he be cremated?

------
yerself
You must pay to read about a great man who's vision went beyond money and to
the core of humanity. Paywalls suck.

~~~
yerself
I realize there are other ways to read about him. I've received the email,
posts, messages. I don't like that there is a paywall for an obituary. For an
article like "Top 10 most popular puppies" I understand the paywall, who
doesn't want to look at puppies? But the death of a person that has affected
so many people's lives, like mine, why is there a paywall?

~~~
Aloha
Quality journalism costs money.

Someone had to be paid to write the obit, someone was paid to edit it, someone
was paid to put it online, the servers cost money, so does the power, so does
the connectivity and other infrastructure to put it online - none of this is
free - heck, 30 years ago, you would have needed to buy a paper to read it.

Do I like the rates the NYT charges? no, I'd be happy to pay 5 dollars a month
so I can access the top 5 newspapers of record though.

------
almostApatriot1
“I don’t think black folks like to camp as much as white folks”. - Larry
Harvey on why there are so few black people at Burning Man[0]

[0][https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/04/burning-
man-...](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/04/burning-man-founder-
larry-harvey-race-diversity-silicon-valley)

~~~
rizwank
As a person of South Asian decent, I can validate how few people

I attribute it to a first and second generation community - if you already
have a community to call your own, you are less likely to search for others.
I’m alternative enough to be interested; and don’t identify with that cultural
background much.

Often I’m alone in alternative subcultures - gaming, the burn, the poly scene,
etc.

------
bredren
This is a cute story, but for folks considering attending bartering of any
kind at the burn is not a thing.

~~~
throwaway010718
You are right about this and we were both surprised at how sober Burning Man
was. The media literally used the phrase "drug-fueled orgy" to describe
Burning Man that year. Given all the nudity and psychedelic nature of the
event I can see how one could come to this conclusion. Well, that and the fact
that someone probably re-gifted our drug-laced snack for a masturbation
session. Seriously there was an actual tent where you could trade snacks,
pancakes, whatever, for a hand-job.

Jeez, why did you have to derail an intentionally sentimental comment by
mocking it as "cute".

~~~
bredren
Intentionally sentimental, indeed. The first thing you do here is elevate your
'engineer work ethic' above your brother who is _merely an artist_.

You go on to describe how your brother did all this nice stuff for you and
didn't judge you despite you doing nothing to prepare and coming to the event
as a spectator.

You mention how for the first time ever you realize maybe you aren't that
important to society. How surprising it is to find out maybe you aren't the
most well-rounded person ever.

Like a 30 minute sitcom you wrap up your story saying your relationship with
your brother is now a team of equals due to the experience. What was _your
brother 's_ growth in this little story? That his big important _engineer_
brother might not look down on him now?

Are you really a changed person due to this one week experience? Someone who
doesn't measure their life value by their engineering contributions, who
respects artists and their lifestyle? Is that the story you are telling?

On top of that, being top comment means this will undoubtedly influence HN
readers to ask themselves, _" What a nice story. Maybe I should go to Burning
Man this year. Maybe people will accept me as a spectator and I will be fine
going in with no preparation and have some major philosophical realization
about myself."_

So I'm reading this episode of Friends comment, hoping you at least do some
justice to these potential attendees. But, no. After a successful sparkle pony
ride down your memory lane you make a point to acknowledge drug use and
bartering. Which shows you really don't know how to represent the event and
that this is a weak intro to what it is for HN readers considering attendance
for the first time. Doubling down by invoking a description by "the media" is
fitting.

Your story reads as possibly accurate yet wildly incomplete portrayal of your
relationship with your brother. To quote another commenter, this was a "great
comment" to someone who has never gone to Burning Man and does not have a
sibling. Hence, my summary of it as "cute."

For folks considering attending Burning Man for the first time here are some
things OP missed:

1\. Don't show up unprepared.

2\. Don't go expecting some kind of breakthrough. Don't go with expectations
of any kind.

3\. Read the 10 Principals that Larry Harvey wrote in 2004.[1]

[1] [https://burningman.org/culture/philosophical-
center/10-princ...](https://burningman.org/culture/philosophical-
center/10-principles/)

~~~
dang
Now you've crossed into personal attack and are breaking the site guidelines
badly. Please stop.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

