Free Spirits Flock to ‘Life-Changing’ Party

For most of the year, Austin Richards pulls down a six-figure salary as an engineer at Santa Barbara-based Indigo Systems Corp., a leading maker of commercial infrared systems.

But during the week leading up to Labor Day, he’s Dr. MegaVolt, whose high-voltage pyrotechnics are a top draw at the annual Burning Man counterculture festival in the northern Nevada desert.

With the help of a high-powered machine and a stainless steel knit-mesh outfit, the 34-year-old Richards shoots long arcs of electricity from his hands and head during nightly shows in the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach, 120 miles north of Reno.

“This is my fantasy of what life should be like all the time,” he said. “You can do your favorite things with your best friends all the time and play and not have a lot of responsibility.

“I have the best job at Indigo, but Burning Man is the most fun thing I do, the highlight of my year.”

Richards, who’s attending his fifth straight Burning Man, is among 24,000 techies, artists, spiritualists, old hippies and rave regulars expected to attend the 16th annual gathering.

Celebrators from at least 40 states and 12 countries will let their hair down at the Mardi Gras-like event that combines wilderness camping and an eclectic mix of art and music in a surreal five-square-mile encampment known as Black Rock City.

The weeklong gathering on the ancient lake bed climaxes Saturday night with the ceremonial torching of a 70-foot-high wooden effigy of a man that gives the event its name.

Billed as the ultimate celebration of radical self-expression and self-reliance, Burning Man features a crazy, anything-goes atmosphere.

It’s a place where men can be seen walking in diapers or skirts and nude women can be seen bouncing on pogo sticks--and no one thinks anything of it.

“It gives us all the artistic and social license to be the children we once were,” said Matty the Mutaytor, a 31-year-old Los Angeles musician.

“I think it allows us to return to the openness and playfulness that adults were forced to shed. I come here to live out my dreams,” added Matty, who was wearing only goggles and a zebra print G-string.

Organizers and participants criticized the media for focusing on the festival’s nudity and drugs, insisting that artwork, such as fire-belching sculptures and fish-shaped vehicles, is what makes Burning Man unique.

“You can party anywhere, but you can’t see this kind of art anywhere else,” said a 41-year-old Ventura woman who would only identify herself as Helen 13.

“So much money and effort goes into it, and they’re not doing it to further their careers or make money. You can truly express yourself out here,” added Helen, who was wearing only a colorful Indian headdress and short rabbit-fur skirt.

A Santa Cruz couple, Patrick Flanagan and Stephanie Sutton, spent about $120,000 on their Emerald City attraction, which features a laser dome with a 360-degree surround-sound show that spoofs “The Wizard of Oz.”

“People here definitely march to a different drummer,” Sutton said. “We do this for the pure art and enjoyment of it. Burning Man is not like society, which does everything for profit and greed.”

Burning Man creator Larry Harvey describes the event as an outgrowth of “San Francisco’s bohemian scene.” He started the first one at Baker Beach in 1986 with the burning of an 8-foot effigy and moved to the Nevada desert in 1990.

Admission for the week began at $125 and increased to $250 as the festival drew near. Ticket sales at the gate ended at midnight Thursday. No commercial vending is allowed.

Participants reciprocate by operating hundreds of theme camps, such as the Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet, where celebrants can line up dates, and the Barbie Death Camp and Wine Bistro, where revelers can dispose of unwanted Barbies while sipping wine.

Other activities include bicycle soccer, egg volleyball, body painting, a “weird” underwear fashion show, dominatrix training and seminars on making your own pasties.