Great Rite 1 Some Eminent Atlanteans Village Life Elsewhere on the Playa
1- Tarquinia on the giant swing
Next to the Village of Atlantis on the Head Way (Esplanade), Tom Ness and Ruth had their giant swing.
Canadian singer Katherine Hill specializes in early music (to which her playa name makes reference). Three days after Burning Man she and Christopher headed for a small town in the Pyrenees, where they began a five-week tour of France.
After the French tour Tarquinia will be based in Amsterdam, where she will spend a fellowship year sponsored by the Canadian government.
2- Maestro Eric von Oberthaler, Composer and Kappelmeister
During a lull at the choreography meeting outside Pepe's trailer, after early return from a pancake breakfast hosted by our allied camp, the Superheroes of Atlantis.
3- Annie Hallatt at sunset on her enhanced bicycle
A professional mask-maker, Annie made numerous contributions to the Opera including the Minotaur and masks for the Moonbull and Monkey standard-bearers.
She herself inhabited the Sun Thar-Taur of the Sunsnakes. Part of that costume is visible in these pages as the dominant element in the Sunsnake altar.
4- Grady Cousins in builder mode
Of all the Atlanteans, Grady exhibited perhaps the widest range of talent and expertise.
Here he is setting up lights and running cable. The truck he and other members of arts collective One People brought to use as our sound & projection center was still on the playa when most of us had long since gone home.
But as anyone who saw his performance in the Dance Vortex as the Monkey Man will tell you: this man was born to command the stage. He had hundreds of us down on our hands and knees, scratching the dirt to express our monkey nature.
5- Tierza biking up to Pepe's trailer in a dust storm
The Opera, like all Burning Man projects, is largely a labor of love for amateurs.
Certain key roles, however, require the experience of professionals. We were lucky this year to have Tierza, Paradox, Jehanne, Papa Wu and others to lead us.
6- Professor Rubik and Alison
Rubik is the principal architect of the pyramid. Alison is a young singer is a young singer and China scholar who met Christopher and Tarquinia weeks before at an early-music workshop in Vancouver.
One beautiful feature of the Atlantean community was its generational inclusiveness.
7- Courtney in the kitchen
Courtney led the Pleiades, a group of dancers that played a key role in each Vortex Dance and also in the Great Rite.
Courtney has the model's gift of looking like a different woman according to what she wears, doesn't wear, or exactly how she wears it.
8- The Mayor of Bucktown and Pepe
Man of many names--Mayor of Bucktown, Papa Wu, Kevin Burrows, Master of Atlantean Tai Chi.
9- Teri Ann and her Playamobile
From Moab, Utah came our Standard Bearer for the Sun, the card chosen in the live Tarot Reading during the Great Rite.
10- Wolfie
Another woman of many names--Wolfie, Memy Selfi, Uktena, Diane.
Proprietor of the Sandala theme camp.
11- Pam in the door of her tipi
All the way from Memphis, Tennessee, Pam is a world traveler and maker of lovely mobiles. In the Great Rite she was a Sunsnake fire performer.
12- Marissa as Madame Butterfly
Another of our far-flung Standard Bearers, Marissa comes from Idaho.
For some reason, journalists covering Burning Man this year kept repeating nonsense about how it was all dot com people from Silicon Valley. Opera participants come from Vancouver, Utah, Oregon, New York, Georgia, Holland, Germany, Denmark...
In their other lives they are accountants, exotic dancers, rock and roll band members, retailers, therapists, circus performers, Marine officers, sex toy designers, prison officials, construction contractors, filmmakers, nurses...and a few dot.comers, yes, but hardly a majority.
13- Hadley demonstrates proper Safer Sex technique
Hadley led one of the several groups of musicians resident in the Village of Atlantis.
Robert set up the Safer Sex theme camp as a distribution point for free condoms and other useful items. Someone else with a similar idea dropped off this phallic penata stuffed with condoms as a contribution to the cause.
14- Jehanne and Linton
Jehanne and Linton met at Burning Man 1999. They were among the team that came out early to help Pepe mud his sculptures and the Professor build the pyramid.
Jehanne later led the Sunsnake Fire Performers and played High Priestess in the pyramid initiations. Linton was coordinator of the Alien House Band.
Great Rite 1 Some Eminent Atlanteans Village Life Elsewhere on the Playa
