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Night

At night, the Playa comes alive with glowing fire, twinkling lights, intermittent roars, and driving bass beats. Above are some entertaining vehicles, a fire garden, lillypond (with a daytime shot of one of the lillies), Thunderdome, and a rave dome, and my favorite, the Church of Funk.

The fire garden consisted of what seemed like dozens of human sized metal sculptures with propane torches built into them, with marked pathways so you could walk among them. The lillypond, was similar, but the lillies were solar-recharged, battery-powered, blue LEDs on circuits that varied their brightness. The resulting effect walking among them was like being on the ocean floor. Thunderdome is the creation of the Death Guild, a group of goths. Inside, contestants hang from elastic harness and whack each other with padded poles. Two men enter, one man leaves! And the Church of Funk? Well, I can't think of a better homage to James Brown, and it was a great place to dance!

Another nightime favorite of mine was Camp New Day. Every night at midnight they counted down to the new day in Times Square style, complete with the descending ball, fireworks, Old Day and New Day characters, and an emcee exhorting the crowd too seize the new day, the opportunity to make a fresh start! I was still getting the hang of the Lomo, and didn't get any decent pictures of all this, unfortunately.

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