Episode 246: "What Really Happens at Burning Man: An Insider's Story" with Kenny Reff

nce a year, roughly 70,000 "Burners" gather two hours north of Reno in Nevada's Black Rock Desert to create Black Rock City, a temporary city "dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance." Burners declare that Burning Man isn't a "festival." Rather, "it's a city wherein almost everything that happens is created entirely by its citizens, who are active participants in the experience."

This year Burning Man was much in the news because of the sensationalized coverage about the rain that fell on it. But was it as bad as the press made it sound?

In this episode of Backstage with Bill Walton, we get a first hand account from someone who was there: our producer/director Kenny Reff. An experienced journalist - Kenny was one of CNN's first White House producers - he's been a Burner since 2012. For this show he's jumped to the other side of the camera with entertaining stories and a captivating description what goes on there.

"To read the recent press accounts about Burning Man and the rain there this year," Kenny explains, "you'd think it was an unmitigated disaster. For those who were there it wasn't. Far from it. And so this was fascinating for me because it's rare to be at an event and know really what happened and then see the reporting on it."

It seems like there's a personality type that goes to Burning Man that wants to be adventurous, wants to be self-reliant and is looking for experiences. As its founder Larry Harvey put it "All real communities grow out of a shared confrontation with survival."

Many of the people there - mostly young, the median age is 37- thought there was something special about sharing a weather event and living to tell the tale. And a lot else, shares Kenny:

"People change there. One of the reasons people go back and keep on going back is that it's a totally different environment. For one week, you're in this community that has a different set of rules, a different set of ethos. People are fun. They get into deep conversations. They're fun loving. And it's so different from what burners call the default world."

Of course, it's also an extravagant week-long party for those with the stamina to take it all in. Kenny's one of them. This episode is best watched rather than listened to since Kenny incorporated many pictures and video from Burning Man.

www.thebillwaltonshow.com