HE SPENT HIS "BURN" IN JAIL

               CHOOSING INCARCERATION

     People came to Burning Man last month to be amazed.  They saw incredible art, 

 

Talking Toilets

 

 

 

 

 

leggy models posing with soaring sculptures, 

 

 

 

 

 

and one young man stuck in a prison cell.  

 

      That was Eli Rogers, 27, spending a week inside his "Prison Sit Project".  I was anxious to meet him as I had done something similar ("The Cage Project") in Gainesville three weeks earlier. 

     Words weren't necessary to convey his message.  He was locked in his 6 x 10 cell for a week with a 

folding cot, food, water, a makeshift toilet and a few milk jugs to pee in. I asked how I could help and later brought him a few things.

      Eli told me he would be living in his cell for the duration of the week-long, 24/7 event.  Sleep wasn't easy as burners roam the Playa at all hours. 

    "How many take you seriously?", I asked .  Eli said about 70%.  The others made jokes and 

threatened to set him free.

   The artist from Durango, Colorado raised over $1000 on GoFundMe to finance his imprisonment. He explained on his GFM page,

 

The Prison Sit is a interactive performance art installation that will take place at Burning Man. I will build a generic prison cell on the Playa. I will be led in and locked up by a guard on the first day and stay there until after the man burns on Saturday. 

The culture of Burning Man is one with an emphasis on freedom. This project is a way of honoring those who don't have it, who are living behind bars, while challenging the the culture of excessive consumption all around us. It will give the people an opportunity to reflect. 

       The contrast between his prison project and the "happy" art surrounding him was a shock for most of his visitors.  

      

   Burning Man should have more artists like Eli connecting the 75,000 partying there to the world's problems. Out of the 200+ art projects displayed at Burning Man '25 there were only three that I saw addressing world issues.

     "Fu-k You Elon" was displayed on the far reaches of the desert expanse.  

      

 

     The Man complex at the center of everything included a banned book library.  It was burned -with The Man and everything surrounding him- on Saturday 

night. 

Little banned book library before the burn

 Visitors were encourage to take its books home before the big burn.

 

 

    

 

    

 

 

 

     The most massive art work was "Black Cloud" by Kiev's Ukranian Art Group. 

 

      

  Inflated and tethered the morning before the festival began, their press release said it was intended to "give dangers a tangible form" and that "recognizing threats is crucial to addressing them".

     It seems their country's suffering has no end. Hours after Black Cloud was set up a powerful dust storm packing 55 m.p.h. winds tore the cloud's  fabric to shreds. 

     It feels like our country (and much of the world) is being torn apart now.  I appreciate Eli, the Ukrainians and the other artists who won't let us forget.

 

 Eli before his was given his prison clothes and haircut

 

 

 

                                 __________

 

 

 

 

BURNING THE MAN LAST WEEK

                LAST WEEK'S BURN

   It's hard to say "no" when your son asked you to go camping. Even if it's in the dusty Nevada desert.

    Ten days ago Ian and I drove to Burning Man '25 in the family camper. We enjoyed a week of fun, excitement, and occasional dust storms. Ward Shelley, my Gainesville neighbor, joined us. 

Ward and I learning to "trust in the dust".

    

   This was my fifth "Burn" and again, I was amazed at how well 75,000 people could get along in this endless expanse where nothing lives.

      There are no spectators at this grand celebration of creativity. Everyone is expected to contribute some sort of art, to assist artists, or, to volunteer for the many tasks that make everything happen.

 

Bad artists at rest

      My son, Ian, brought fifteen of his friends and the bunch of us set up a "Bad Portrait Studio". People passing could sit to have themselves drawn badly by incredibly untalented artists.

Bad artists working in our desert studio.  Here I am playing the hawker.

  

 

The unexpected, that's what you encounter at Burning Man. 

It could be a bad portrait or, the "Chicken Ranch". It was a tribute to the Rubber Chicken Nation.

  Inside I saw the real story of how these supposed novelties are created. 

 

along with a loud, moving, diorama of rubber chicken procreation.  

    You "egg-xited" (so said the sign) by jumping through a large curtained hole in the wall that mimicked, umm, the place where eggs (and poop) come out of our fowl friends. 

     Egged on my son I jumped through and landed in large net of fake, squeaking chickens. Crawling out in front of a crowd made them squawk even more.  It was delightful and and oh, so burning man!

    Afterwards I chatted with an older guy who explained how he and his friends in his small Alaskan town had spent a year created Chicken Ranch. Yes, they have a thing for what looks like a dead, plucked bird that squawks when you squeeze it.

 

     Again, our posse took the easy route. We had no rubber chickens, just paper markers, and no talent whatsoever. We drew dozens and dozens of awful portraits for our fans.

 

A mini-art car's occupants stopped for a group portrait.

 

   I've been an occasional bad portrait artist since 1980. People love them.

 

 Our artist, Rachel (smiling) is especially good at drawing bad water (the pink line)

    

 

 

When we ran out of chairs we drew them in the dust.

  

We gave this artist a hard time for being too good.

 

   

  Ian led the pack as one of our best bad artists.

 

 

   

 

 

 

I also worked as a bartender at the festival's media center.

   The Grove Guy served hot coffee and icy drinks to media folks from all over the world. 

Chatting with dozens of writers, photographers, and drone pilots was a such fun!

 With Yomi Ayenyi, London-based photographer and film producer

 

     

Tough road for an old biker

 

   At night we would roam the huge expanse called "The Playa" taking in the illuminated sculptures, the "art cars", and the alfresco night clubs with their dazzling array of lights and ear-splitting boom-boom music.

Ward pausing for some big lights and boom-boom.

Golden Gate bridge built on top ao an RV

There were over 200 art cars (we call them "mutant vehicles").

     

 This hi-tech puppet could really dance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of the burners danced 'til dawn but not me. I was always tucked away by midnight, preparing to draw badly and tend bar another day.  

    And in the end, true to its name, a man standing 90-feet tall was incinerated in a blaze of fireworks and flame.

               _________________

 

 

In a few days I'll share the story of Eli Rogers. He chose to spend the week incarcerated on The Playa. 

 

                         _______

     

 

 

 

SHAME ON YOU, AMERICA

    THE LATEST News From Gainesville and Beyond.   August, '25

Building the cruelly-named "Alligator Alcatraz" immigrant prison this summer was more than shocking for most of us.  

My friends and I responded by erecting a smaller version, "Camp Cruelty" in Gainesville's roundabout on So. Main Street last August 9th.

   A dozen of us stood inside silently representing the 65,000 people now imprisoned across the country.  

 

We were joined by 150 protestors, hundreds of cars cars driving by, and the media. Reporters and photographers echoed our protest in print and on TV. 

     We'll be doing it again next month. We can't stay silent while the guys in Washington  tear our country apart. 

 

 

 

 

CHARLIE'S AFFORDABLE ART

    One of Gainesville's most remarkable artists is also a physician. Charles Williams currently has a collection of his etchings on view at the UCG 

 

Gallery on NW 5 Ave. 

 

 One of them (a numbered set of twelve) is offered for for just 25 cents each.  Such a treat it is to encounter affordable art now and then.  Thank you, Charlie!

 

 

 

KILLER SUITCASES

     Francesca and I flew to California last week. Waiting to de-plane in Atlanta we watch a careless young man pull his suitcase out of an

overhead compartment.
It slipped and hit the woman behind him on the head. He apologized.

 

   At the San Jose airport a woman rode up an escalator setting her large suitcase on the step behind her. As we started up ourselves

-twenty-feet below- i saw her suitcase tumbling down like a big, blue boulder. I yelled, shoved my wife to the side as it glanced off her leg. 

 

   She wasn't hurt. When we reached the top the woman apologized and explained, "This has never happened to me before". It was our first time too.

 

    I told a friend about this and she explained, "It seems everything is getting worse, even gravity."

 

 

AMAZING ARTIFACT

 

     While visiting Francesca's family in the Bay Area this week we discovered a 119-year-old hat. It had belonged to her great uncle, Joe Cusanovitch.

    Many of Francesca's relatives were in the1906 earthquake that destroyed most of San Francisco.  

     Uncle Joe, 28 at the time, survived but had to live in a tent camp. Everyone there was given the basics including a cotton hat. Joe drew pictures on his to describe the experience. The tall edifice you see, "the Call Building", was one of few left standing. 

     There is a drawing of Bob the dog, guards with guns, and "On April 23,1906, we slept on the step of St. Johns Church." That was five days after the historic quake.

 

    

 103 years after the hat art was created (2009)  I met Francesca's 106-year-old Uncle, John Violich. At the time he was one of the three remaining survivors of the horrific event. His voice was weak but he was able to share the biggest day of his life. If he was given a brown cotton hat, he didn't mention it.   

 

 

A LONG SILENCE 

 

    We all have friends we haven't heard from in a long time. Sometimes it's because they're dead and you don't know it.

 

     Today I wondered why my recent e-mail from Bob Ferreira had bounced back. Then, the Google gods told me he died last year.

      Bob made it to 85 which was darn good for my crotchety Coconut Grove former neighbor who loved to rant through missing teeth topped by a beat-up hat. 

    He and his wife, Maggie, were two of the most colorful characters I knew down south. They bought six adjoining houses on Kumquat Avenue to create  an artist compound. When my first marriage ended he sold me one. Their parties were terrific. It was a thrill to live on the edge of them.

 

    Bob and Maggie moved to North Georgia twenty years ago. When we visited in 2010 he told me in his salty Boston accent, "We're so lucky to have escaped f------g Miami. Our new home (Andrews, Ga.) isn't corrupt, it's safe and friendly. It takes me two hours to get city hall to do something that would take two months in Miami".  

     Good move, Bob. It took me 14 years to follow your lead.

 

 

READY TO BURN

 

Our umbrella'd "Bad Portrait Studio" delights thousands

     When my son, Ian, asked me to join him at Burning Man it was hard to refuse. A week at the sweltering,  desert party with one of my favorite people? A no-brainer.

It's easy to make new friends

Ian at our shaded camp, 2018 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will head for the Nevada desert on Saturday. As they say, "You've gotta trust in the dust". 

    I'll tell you all about it next month.

-G 

 

    

WHATTA COUNTRY!

                     Fun On The Fourth

  Here we are in Gainesville, a city that celebrates our country's birthday with...nothing.  Yes, the night before there's live music and fireworks on the UF 

campus but on the big day Hogtown is dead.

    I grew up in a small town next to the Miami airport. Miami Springs had a parade and all- day activities at the rec center. In the evening the city sponsored a small firework display.  We felt like we were very much a part of the nation's birthday celebration.

     Gainesville once had these traditions too but their parades and fireworks faded. "WUFT" is the University of Florida's radio/TV station.  With the city, they co-sponsor the July third event. I asked a WUFT spokesperson why they did not have it on the 4th.  She responded,

 WUFT’S "Fanfare and Fireworks" has been an annual event since the 90s. Originally, the City of Gainesville had events on July 4 so WUFT did its "Fanfare" event on the third. We billed it as a kick-off to the Independence Day activities the next day.  When the City stopped their activities years ago but we kept ours. We stayed with July 3 because the City of Alachua has a celebration on the 4^th. Some of the other municipalities do as well.

     This makes little sense to me.  Our City can't celebrate the Fourth on the fourth because the the cities around us do?  

       She wrote back with one more point, that fireworks are cheaper before the Fourth. If that's a good reason, we should be celebrating the New Year the day before New Year's Eve. Maybe Discount Santa should pop down the chimney on December 23d.

       Gainesville is dead on the Fourth of July.  I hope the city (which, again,  co-sponsors the July 3d "Fanfare" event) and UF move it to its proper day in the years to come. 

 

ATRIAS IN ACTION 

        We love our local Beatles cover band, "The Shoddy Beatles" *.  The Atria brothers, Travis and Eric,  play lead and bass guitars for this super-popular group.  Like most artists, they do other things as well. 

 

          Eric Atria is an attorney. He's been working as a public defender for the past twenty years. Eric is now running for judge.  I went to his campaign's kick-off at The Bull last week. He'll make a terrific judge.

          Besides being an extraordinary musician, Travis is a distinguished author and song writer.  He performed his latest album, "Juliet", at

Travis in song

The Lynx last Sunday.  It is a memorable collection of songs inspired by the works of another 

distinguished author, William Shakespeare.  It was a fantastic only-in-Gainesville event.

 

*The Shoddy Beatles sometimes refer to themselves as "The Shitty Beatles" and when they play their own music, "Morning Bell". 

        

  BLACK EYE FOR GAINESVILLE

    Gainesville was on the front page of Sunday's New York Times again ten days ago (the previous time, "gators in our sewers").  The article was about a UF law school student, Preston Damsky, winning an award for his paper supporting white supremacy.  Shame on the Trump-appointed federal judge, John L. Badalamenti, who chose Damsky's essay.  We need publicity like this like a hole in the head.

 

ART WALK 

On the last Friday of every month you can have a fine time going on Gainesville's Art Walk.  Seeing the latest at our downtown art gallerias you'll be amongst happy people and see surprising things. 

   

Last Friday I  started at the A. Quinn Jones Museum on NW 7 Avenue. 

 

 They had a display of  folk art created by local legends, Alyne 

"Chickens" by Alyne Harrris

Harris and sculptor Jesse Aaron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                          Jesse Aaron's sculptures

   As an added bonus, local artist/art historian Turbado Marabou began a series of lectures on outsider art. 

Artist Turbado Marabou

   It was a terrific presentation that will continue next month.

 

Artist Sylvia McIntyre-Crook greeted visitors at the  Hippodrome Theater Gallery. 

Her current work reveals the beauty hidden in micro-nature. 

 

    I was about to head home when I spied a flyer beckoning me to the Thomas Center. It said there was live music and refreshments waiting at the "Art In Meditation" exhibit in the center's gallery. 

    Meditation usually puts me to sleep but, as I am attracted to music and free food,  I headed to NE Sixth Avenue. Gathered was a large, lively crowd. The Bill Rogers Trio was hot, no one was meditating and the art....interesting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

     Did I mention that this might be the last Fourth of July as we know it?  Things look grim as the Orange King takes over.

    The City of Gainesville may be asleep on Friday but two hundred of us will be protesting the king's rule at our "Kick Out the Clowns Rally".  Here's our flyer,  

  On Thursday and Friday our art team will be decorating the DNA Overpass again on SW 13 St. 

 

 

 

   If you happen to drive by this guy  give him a honk and thumbs up. It'll give him hope.

 

   If you want to celebrate our country's 249th birthday, head to Micanopy for their 11 a.m. parade on Friday. The City of Alachua has one too.

Fireworks on the Fourth?  They'll light up the sky in Keystone Heights, Alachua, Micanopy, Hawthorne, Newberry, Ocala, Williston, Trenton, Waldo and almost every other city but Gainesville. 

                         __________________