EP 56 Ranger Beauty

Episode 56 with Ranger Beauty is out now! Meet Ranger Beauty, a veteran volunteer with over two decades of experience at Burning Man. We explore her extensive history with the event, spanning her roles as a Black Rock Ranger, an emergency medical volunteer, and a DJ for the pirate radio station Radio Electra. Throughout the interview, Beauty emphasizes the importance of radical self-reliance, the practice of gifting without expectation, and the profound interpersonal connections fostered within the Burning Man community. Her story talks about the evolution of the culture through the eyes of a long-time participant while highlighting the diverse ways individuals contribute to the festival's unique social fabric.

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Transcript

Before we start, I would like to ask your help to do two things. First, tell a friend or two who you think might like the show. And second, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The more reviews the show gets, the more likely it will even appear in search results. Thank you, and now on to the show. 

They make the trek out to Burning Man for a week and a day. After a lot of work, oh, there's a lot of play. Party party, drama, drama, drama. b****, b****, b****. Year after year, they come back to scratch that itch. They all say their lives have been changed. After many years, lives have been rearranged. That changes what this show is all about. You'll see the impact. of burning up and out. So sit back, relax, and cancel all your plans. These are the stories about the shadow of the man. 

Hello and welcome to the Shadow of the Man Show. I am your host, Andy. Finally, a ranger. No, now it's just that Andy. Today our guest is is Allison Brown, aka a Ranger Beauty. Welcome.

Thank you, Andy. It's a pleasure to be here.

Okay, so the background story with us. I met you. I was doing I just started to do the the my old shadow shorts program on the Playa this year where uh if people I mean by the time this comes out in April, I I I think I'll have a number of shadow shorts out. But yeah, it's basically five minute uh recordings I had with people where I asked people to challenge them. It's like in five minutes, explain Bernie man's impact on your life. You And so and you had a wonderful interview, but then when I came home, it was all this like wind noise and I was like, "Oh, it was such a wonderful story, you know, but I I just it was just like unusable." So I managed to track you down and said like, "Okay, let's have a longer regular show." So

Well, I'm glad you tracked me down. Thank you so much. Yeah. Uh we were we just stumbled upon you between the man and the temple. Uh I was out with my campmates, uh Ranger Tough Love, Julie Johnson, and uh also Ranger, oh gosh, Oak Leaf, uh, Maddie Jones. And we were just

girl powing around and then we found you and you said, "Hey,

do you want to do an interview?" I looked at them, they looked at me, we said, "Why not?"

And uh, I'm sorry it didn't turn out, but I'm glad you tracked me down.

Yeah.

And now here we are.

Well, it was funny because we kind of learned we had to, my brother and I, we had to kind of profile people because there was a number of people like you know walking between the man and the temple and and we kind of were like is that would that would be a good one for an interview like I don't know and so at first it was we're just asking anybody who would like walk by but then after a while we kind of came across a couple of rules we're just like because basically if you're asking a question how's Bernie man impacted your life it you can't have just walked through the gate right I mean if some some time will have had to have passed right like more than just that day or two virgins not so good.

Yeah. Yeah. So, we're like, well, how do you not get the virgins? And we're like, hm. So, we stumbled upon a couple of rules. One of them was um if they look too clean.

Good rule.

Where it's like whether you're like in a costume or an outfit or what or regular clothes, it's just like if they look too clean, we're just like, yeah, no. You know, or if they were wore like what would one would call like the uniform You know, it's like any different like of the five or six like archetypes of like outfits, you know, it's like like yeah, if somebody was like unique or you obviously are like, you know, volunteering or like working with the or just like Rangers, aha, you know, or yellow shirt like, you know, ESD or something, you know, you were like DPW, you could kind of tell like people driving by and various vehicles be like, "Aha, yeah, get them, you know."

But you actually

I'm glad you chose us. We were kind of Ranger Incognito because we were just paddling around. We were not in costume or anything.

Oh, you guys weren't on shift.

No, no, we were doing the uh the girl thing

and just exploring the playa and that's how we found you. It was pi dippity.

Ah, so you were as people say, you went to Burning Man.

Oh, yes, we went to Burning Man full throttle.

Well, you're actually my my first ranger and see this is episode 56 and I'm kind of I feel ashamed that it was like my very first Ranger.

Well, I thank you. 56 is very special for me because I just turned 69. I was born December 31st, 1956. So, thank you for

gifting me that. That's very special. You know, I'm looking forward to, you know, 60 69 is divine and uh celebrating my 69th birthday on Playa

and uh looking forward to 70.

All right. Well, how did it all all start. When was the first year you went to Burning Man? How did you find out about Burning Man?

My first year was 2000 and that was the year of the body and uh I had I was living in San Diego and uh had been u married since 98 and uh my husband is Ranger Rat Bastard and uh so he uh he didn't attend he let me go and I found somebody we we drove up and we came became uh part of a camp called the Less Monkeys of Zara. We were camped at 2:00 in Esplanade. And that year, oh god, built the camp, had Wednesday night opening, wonderful soft opening, but was very nice. And then the storm came and it was a wicked wind. And as you know, wicked winds can do wicked things. Destroyed many camps and also destroyed Zara. And I'm going like Okay, I'm a virgin. Um h what am I going to do? Everybody's boohoo. It was like I'm not boohooing. Got to get over this. You got to enjoy the playa.

So I went out and like okay what can I do? I went to center camp. I became uh a cashier at the uh coffee bar which is no longer in existence.

And I did that. I volunteered at the post office and that was wonderful. And then I found the Rangers and it was like oh this is great. And they're going I'm like, it's kind of late in the game for you to get in this, but if you come back, you know, it's like, you know, it's like boom. I skipped 2001 and then in 2002 I became a ranger and uh I've been rangering ever since. So I'm going on like 23 24 years depending if you count uh Renegade,

was there excellent, you know, and uh yeah, so that's how I did that. And uh Rap Bastard started in 2003 and uh Uh yeah. So uh there we go. The rest is history. Uh our camp uh I started with uh most my pieces are then uh went to Johnny and Applia Cruisers which was out of Seattle because I was with Ranger Silver Hair. He was my first partner and God love him. He's no no longer here. But

was that the second camp called again? Johnny and what?

Johnny and the Playa Cruisers.

Oh, what was that all about?

And we were a bicycle repair camp. And we were at uh nine o'clock in esplanade

and that was wonderful. The only thing that well kind of sucked, you know, camped in a tent, you know, and it was like I'm okay, you know, I survived. And then Rat Bastard came 2003 and uh then he camped in a tent and he's going, if I'm coming back, it's not going to be in a tent. And I'm going like, woohoo, we got a we got a trailer.

There you go.

And uh we we had that Now it's evolved into another toy hauler trailer which we call the little house on the playa

and it's wonderful. Oh god. And uh after Johnny and the playa cruisers kind of dissolve uh it was very interesting. I was doing a temple burn and a temple burn you know how they have things that you can put in a temple and everything and boxes

currently. Well before that you know I was I was on the perimeter and I'm going around any any last minute donations for the the temple, last minute for the temple, anybody got anything? And people were passing stuff off and that was good. And then uh I'm going like, okay, this is great. And then uh after that, somebody tracked me down kind of like you

and it was uh Rockstar from Radio Electra. Mayor

and uh he said I don't think I'm a weirdo, but I tracked you down. I heard your voice coming from uh the inside of the circle at the temple burn. I'm going like, what?

I heard what you did.

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, we continued exchanging information and he's been with Radio Electra

since 2000. And uh we ended up being becoming great friends and part of Radio Electra, which just celebrated its 25th year on the Playa last year.

So, what year did you camp with uh Johnny and the Playa Cruisers? Was that

uh probably 2002 through 2004? Couple years and then the rest of it was with Radio Electra. Has been with Radio Electra

and ever since.

Uh yes. Yes.

Radio 89.9 on your pod dial and how However, we're taking the year off this year, so we will not be on Playa. And uh I have uh contacted someone else who was really wonderful. I've had a I've had two hip replacements. I had one in 23 and one in 24.

So, you know, I'm getting around pretty good. Knock on wood. However, uh a good friend of mine, uh Ranger Rat Lady, she is in charge of the mobility camp. And I just spoke with her last night and I said,

"Oh yeah,

is there any room?" You know, and she goes, "Well, you fit right in." And I'm going like, "Yeah, I fit right in." You know, and she said,

I'm going, "You know, I get around pretty good. However, you want to see my X-rays?" And she says, "No, beauty. I know you've had a double hip." And uh, chances are we will be with mobility camping this year.

Yeah.

At the inner circle at center camp. Please come by.

Yeah. So, actually Last year, I think it was episode 24, I had a Katie Katie Taya, which is she uh she helps run Mobility Camp. Like that was a Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow.

She's really cool.

Well, I'm looking forward to meeting her.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And actually, I this past year I camped like just like a couple of doors down from her like Yeah.

Well, we're going to have a good time.

Yeah. Although this year, as everybody probably knows, it's like, yeah, I can't make it to the play this year because my son, he's going to be going off to college and so I got to I got to drop him off at school and so I you know I

family first Andy.

Yeah. Well, very gingerly, you know, like I asked my wife. I was like, "So, after we drop him off, you know, like uh we're on our way flying back cuz I live in Hawaii and he wants to go to school like in the East Coast somewhere." So, we're like, you know, it's like, "You go back to Hawaii and and and I'll just go off to to Burning Man, you know, and she was like, you know, it's like you're going to leave me and pretty nasty, you know, like like not if you want to have a home to come back to.

Yeah. Yeah. So,

well, congratulations for that with your son.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Time flies.

You know, you can't burn them all.

No. No. I actually took off 13 years. Like I I went in 2011 and then the last time after that was 24.

Wow.

So, I missed the whole like uh sold out era.

Like, so 2011 was the first year it sold out and 2024 was the first year it didn't. So, I was like, "Hey, what's the big deal?" Okay.

So, you're riding the highs and riding the lows. I hear you.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, if you have anything to burn, mail it to me and I will put it in the temple for you.

Ah, yeah. Well, okay. No. So, now there's rules about that, right? It's like you can't

no human remains or anything.

Correct. Don't send me any of those.

But if you have a letter or anything like some people I've done this in the past which is really nice because people send me letters or pictures

and I put them in there or I write their names in the temple and I take a picture of it and I send it to that person so they have a token that they can look at and they know their person or whatever they had has been placed in the temple and I fulfilled my my not obligation my purpose to help them and that's my way of kind of

I don't know if you want to call it gifting but doing something for somebody else.

Yeah.

An act of kindness. Let's call it that. A random act.

There must be like certain limits to that too, right? You know, where it's just like it must fit in a box that is like 4 in by 3 in or whatever.

They've they've downsized it because oh my god, one year.

I can only imagine.

One year before they limited that, you wouldn't believe the things that I got. I actually got two I'm I'm serious. Two coconuts. Freaking coconut. I can't make this crap up. I can't make this up. Two coconuts. Okay.

And they were labeled and they they made it. I put them in the temple.

I Yeah. And then I got a hat

a hat from a a ranger ranger Garzam who is in Thailand. And uh he's been in Thailand married to a lovely Thai woman. And I think burnover for him. He said, "Put my hat in there. So, I had the coconuts and I put the hat between him. I took a picture and sent it to him. He's going, "That's great."

Like, perfect. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, different things, but the coconuts, I think, were the most epic thing. I've had people put stuff in like a a plastic bottle, like a message in a bottle. I don't know how they

And I've had everything from um bracelets to candy to different things with my name on there and the camp address. And they have made it to the flyer.

What I also imagine is like he probably wouldn't want like glass or plastic like anything that would make it kind of difficult to clean up afterwards, right? No human remains, right?

If it's something weird, you know, I will use my discretion about putting it in the temple or how can I adapt it to put it in the temple so it won't be moot.

Yeah.

Because like you said, you know, you don't put certain things in there. You know what I mean? They got a big enough mess to clean. up.

Yeah. But what if somebody was like, I'm making this like a pine box. It'll be about six feet long. It'll be made of wood, you know, but you know, it'll just have momentos inside. So,

Right. Right.

So, you're carrying it through the crowd of people. It's like, look, they're carrying up the the coffin in there. Like, that's what's wrong.

Yeah. Well, at Radio Electric, we have uh people who are Temple Guardians and have been with Temple Guardians forever. Uh Jesse and April, uh, they've been married and and I actually renewed their vows. Oh my god. On the player because I've been a, uh, ordained minister since 2002 and I do weddings.

I can marry you and I can bury you. So, but, uh, I can't bury you on the play, but I'll write your name in the temple. So, uh, yeah. So, they they fill us in on what's what's good and what's not, you know, because, uh, it's it's nice to know somebody who's a temple guardian and have them in your camp. And, like I said, what Radio Electractor not being there this year, everybody's either gonna take a year off or, you know, they'll camp with whoever. So, it's going to be interesting.

Yeah.

But learning to adapt.

So, I thought I heard or Rockstar put something out was it last year or whenever something about Radio Electra like I don't know was he like is he kind of tiring of it or or or I don't know if he had like had some something going on in his life or something but like

I don't I'm not staking for him but I don't know if I'd call it retiring. Uh-huh.

Uh, as as for this year, Radio Electra is taking a year off.

I think it's a healthy thing.

Yeah. You know, and uh I think what they want to do with some of the camps, I'm not saying who or what, is it, if you were camping, you've been there going forever. Why don't you take a year off?

Why don't you take a couple years off, reassess, come back if you want, or burn over, which is nice because they can let other people in camps and uh put them where they need to. You know, we've been on Esplanade a few times. We've been on uh Rod's Ring uh which is no longer there. And uh you know, six o'clock, 5:00, and then this past year uh the Ply of Gods decided to put us at 2:15 and echo.

Oh, wow.

We were in the birds. And we were in the birds and we adapted and it was it was nice except for the commute into

I was gonna say was this before or after the hip replacement was

uh this was after

okay good

oh you know this so it's like uh I have uh my truck which is uh we call it BART it's a big ass red truck

I had BART and I had a handicap placard went through DMV had that because I had it for I had a hip replacement in 23 so you go through DMV have the proper papers, you can get a a placard and be able to drive. So, I had that, which helped because I could drive to uh Ranger headquarters, which is at 6:31 and Esplanade. So, you figure 2:15 and Echo, walk it to 6, you know, 6:31 in Esplanade. That's a hike. And you know how fun it was this year?

Yeah.

It was past year, you know. So, we had the the winds from hell. We had to take down our sh at least two or three times

and not to mention the mud, but I was there with Rap Bashard and Rockstar uh 23, which was Mud Apocalypse.

And uh you know, we we actually got to spend more time on the Playa and get to know our campmates better because and and broadcast a lot more, which was great. And it was like this isn't so bad, you know? It you kind of turned it into what you wanted because Oh god, this is terrible. Chris Rock and you know, whoever Diplo, you know, walking out. Who cares? They missed the freaking burn, you know. So sad, you know, and then he had the best time.

Yeah. Yeah. So what what the what what is Radio Electra again? He said it was like 90

89.9 FM on your play dial.

And uh yeah, got to DJ. I' I've been DJing for a couple years. And you know, I would fill in, you know, and uh had the Ranger Beauty show and I would I will always come on with the tubes. She's one in a million. She's a beauty, you know.

That was my

Yeah. Yeah. I love the tubes. And

so Radio Electro was the 24 hours or

Yeah. Yeah. And at night if we uh you didn't have a DJ, uh Rockstar would put on uh you know, he would have a bunch of songs and stuff and they would just play and there would be no narration. Then we had like Mike in the morning he would come on and do the the AM show and um Rap Bastard had a show. A lot of people had shows and we had other people come on and um you know that weren't necessarily in our camp but you know we had spots for different just jockeyies. He John from Arizona. Oh gosh. Uh you know for Micah from uh gate and uh it's it's just wonderful to have different people who could come in and do their thing and uh support Radio Electra even if they weren't camping with us. They might have been past camp mates or it's like hey you know it's hey I'm a DJ you know you heard hey I'm a DJ you know

let me do some stuff for you. So but uh yeah rockstar amazing and uh he's he's uh thinking about uh some some future plans at at different things and we'll just leave it at that.

Yeah.

And uh if that comes to be, I will let you know.

Okay.

He's got an ace in his hole.

Okay.

We'll just leave it at that. He he is truly a wonderful wonderful burner.

Like he wants to do more with the with the radio station or with the camp like on the player,

you know,

or is he running for president or something? Oh yeah. No, he's already president of our camp, you know, but uh he's got some things that he would like to do to uh support, you know, other projects and it's going to be amazing fruition.

So, we'll just leave it that. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it happens and when it does, I'll let you know. And then

Well, I know that um like BMIR is like it's I mean it's very competitive or it's hard to to get a slot on there, you know.

They always say that. And then I don't know if you remember Bobzilla. Do you remember?

Oh yeah. Yeah. Good friend of mine.

Bobzilla is over in uh Europe now. Y Netherlands.

We we would if if they had something wrong with their station, Rockstar would go over and help them and try whatever. If we had something wrong with Radio Electra, BMIR would come to Radio Electra and try to assist. So it's kind of a lovehate relationship,

but you know, it's like BMI, oh, they're nothing. You need to go to radio electro, you know, it's it's like the people's the people's radio, you know. No, no, no, no. You have a choice. And BMI was nice because, you know, you listen to them at the gate and they tell you all the things and what to do. And then with radio, you know, we could say anything and do anything. And uh, you know, uh, the only rules kind of

Yeah. What are the rules?

Don't play Bohemian Raps City, Stairway to Heaven, or Jimmy Buffett. Now,

are those FCC regulations?

Oh, no. That was Rockstar. And then we were on the Playa and Jimmy Buffett passed while we were on Playa. So, we kind of lacked that and pay tribute to Jimmy Buffet. So, it it's kind of a friendly haha, you know what I mean? How many times have you heard,

you know, Zeppelin,

you know, Bohemian Rap City,

you know? So, it's kind of a running joke, but uh other than that,

you have to play uh what is it? Little drummer boy. And What's that?

Oh, no. LBD. No.

And that was that wham Christmas song and

Oh. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. I I rap Ash Bastard and I actually won and we had the bonus round because after Christmas, if you make it to New Year's Day, you get the bonus win. I don't know. For LBD.

Oh, you make it through the entire season without hearing it.

Yes. Yeah. Very rare. very rare. I lost it one year. I was getting a massage and they were playing Christmas songs and I got killed on the massage table.

He's like, "You're all you're so tense all of a sudden." Like,

I know.

You need to relax. Like, put on something else.

I know. What a way to go though. You know, what a way to go.

Is there like a grace period? Like, is it kind of like a 3se second rule or something? You know, like if you can get to the knob fast enough like

I don't know. I don't It It could be, but I was definitely dead. You know,

I'm a massage therapist. Uh I've been a physiootherapist since 98 and I'm nationally and internationally certified. And uh I bring my table to Burning Man. And uh I only gave one massage this year. And I have a campmate uh who's from Missouri and she is also a therapist. And uh she and I gave one of our campmates massage at sunset and it was a gift and that was the only massage we did. And that campmate,

his name is Bart and Bart's amazing because he's a techno techno king and he said, "This is the most amazing gift I've ever gotten." And uh yeah, Ranger Holl, that's who who's the other therapist. And uh we pick her up in uh Missouri on the way out. And uh yeah, she is amazing. Well, that's kind of be interesting like being a massage therapist and bring your table out to the PL because on the one hand like jokingly not jokingly it's like I've heard so many I know so many people who like who've been working with Burning Man all these years and like they do this and they do that and then they're just like you know what I'm I'm going to take some time off and this year I'm going to Burning Man you know like like you know the other rangers we were just like we're going to take some time off and we're going to wander around was like so if you're a massage therapist you going to burn like I want to you know give people massageage is it's like yeah but like to what degree I mean do you want to be like well these are you going to put up your shingle and be like these are my opening hours

usually do doing my thing and people looking and going like oh god can I be next it's like no sorry you know fully booked you know and uh bring it out and what was it in 23 did not bring it out at all because of the mud had to wrap it in two giant uh construction sized trash bags and then tape it up and put it under my trailer and it was perfect. Perfectly sealed, hermetically sealed and uh it was fine. And then uh this last year, you know, it's like you can leave it out in your bag or keep it in the back of Bart, you know, it's fine. And uh yeah, it was funny because when I say Bart, it's either big ass red truck or Bart, my campmate.

Yeah. Yeah.

Bart Bart gets a little confused when I say Bart, so I say the truck, you know. So, he's he's one of our DJs, too. And uh yeah, so that was nice. And uh you know, if if I'm out and somebody has an issue, you know, it's like, why don't you sit down, you know, do the neck, you know, do the hands, and pardon the expression, you know, I I give a really good hand job or a head job, you know, because and that's an all joking very very professional. I am so professional, it's ridiculous. and you know, but I can do your hands. And I do one hand and I said the first one's free. And then it's like, no, no, give me your other hand because I can take that gift anywhere.

I take my hands with me wherever I go.

Yeah.

I don't have a patch because I'm a patch w****. I admit it. And uh you know uh it's like, "Hey, sit down." And it's not all about swag, even though I am a swag w****. Uh it's not about that. It's like listen, you know, people are going like, "Oh, I'm dying here." It's like, if this spirit moves me and I have time, it's like, why don't you sit down? And then the first thing I ask him is, may I touch you? Consent.

Oh, consent thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Consent. Even when I have clients on my table, they're f***** naked or dressed, you know, they, you know, disrobe to your level of comfort. and they're under, you know, the blanket and the covers and they're on my my table. The first thing I do before I even go anywhere is like, "May I touch you?"

Out of a courtesy and respect because, you know, I carry that with me wherever I go because, you know, even even um people who come in, it's like permission to hug and you know, even if somebody, you know, it's like they put their arms out, you know, I say, "Yeah, permission to hug. you know, or if I know him, it's like permission to hug. Granted, you got, you know, dispensation. However, you know, you with everything that's going on in the world, you have you have to just ca it covers.

Yeah. Exactly.

You know, and that way it's not like, oh, they touched me. It's like, come on now,

you know.

However, if you you got that and then you do something like you give a neck rub or you do their hands, you know, and it's like,

wow, that was amazing. It's like, thank you. You have a great day. Can I give It's like, no, because I, you know, I'm swag heavy. I'm trying to dwag, you know, dwagulate. And it's like, you know, that's a very, if it's something unique, I might take it. Otherwise, it's like swag it forward.

It's like, you know, I appreciate your gift. Thank you so much. And do me a favor and swag that to somebody else and tell them, you know, you know, I was gifting it to somebody

and they wanted to swag it forward. Mhm. Yeah, that's something that like the past couple years I've gone to Burning Man like I I started I never did before but just like making stickers to give out to people and like so one of them was uh it was just like a little two by two inch by two inch sticker sticker and it just says um uh there is no them there's only us.

You know

this is this is one of my favorite that I just got.

Ah it's like why yes I am

beautiful. You are Beautiful. And then other people sent me

like cats and this is this is like a see-through and uh mushrooms and

more mushrooms. And I'm going, you know what? Swagging it forward.

Yeah.

So, and you know, it's like how much can you have and what can you do with it? Where where can you put it?

Yeah. Well, for me, I look at it as kind of like a gift sort of thing where it's just it's just like this by kind of way of just like you know, giving something. But but then because so many times people would just like I'd give them, you know, so it says like there is no them, there's only us. And everyone's just like,

"Wow, they pretty much everybody like really connected with that." And I'd be like, "Oh, you like that? Here, take five more." You

shadow with a man.

Yeah. You you give them out to other people. Sometimes I think I brought like 3,000 of them. So like I was I was actively I was like, "Take a packet of 50."

Swag it forward.

And then there was another one. I don't if you watch any of like the Star Wars shows, but there's a show Andor. Um, and one of their like the little the little rebel catchphrases was like to tell like if one of them was a rebel or not was they had this saying that just says, "I have you like, oh, do you have friends there?" And he says, "I have friends everywhere." So, I made So, I made this sticker. It's this black sticker with the Bernie man logo like with these yellow letters. It's the same color and font as in Star Wars. It just says, "I have friends everywhere."

That's perfect.

Yeah. And I made like like 3,000 of those, too. And so I g people were just like, "Oh my god, this is so cool." And I was just like, "Here, please give them gift, help me give them out. Like you can give these out to other people, you know, it's a gift that keeps on giving." But then, you know, like the whole concept of a gift is like there's no expectation of return, right? So I would just give these things trying to unload, you know, but then people would be like, "No, no, no, wait. Let me give you something." I'm like, "Right." Uh, yeah. No, no. But then like you're saying, it's just like, "Oh, it would be some picture of their cat or something." And like Yeah. Yeah, that's great. You know, like I mean it's a gift. You got to accept it graciously, you know, but

or it has a picture of their camp.

Electric ranger tough love, Julie Johnson. Uh she would have like uh she made this stand. It was kind of like a little bit smaller than a card table. And she had two boxes that were sealed. They were clear. And it was a swag exchange. It's

like take some swag,

leave some swag or You know, if you have it, it's up to you. If you have something, great. You want to put it in there, great. If you want to take something, you don't have nothing, great. And that was a great kind of uh piece for interaction

for our camp because we just sit back. We could sit back and watch the participants, you know, going like, "Oh, what's this?" you know, or or see. She goes out there and opens it up. It's like a Christmas present every day because it's all different.

And uh that was a really nice thing.

Yeah. I like that they're doing it like like like a clear like box that you have to open because I was thinking it's like if you just had a card table it's like oh we just have piles and it's like first win.

Yeah. Exactly. Because that way you can you know it's like you take the lid off and kind of look and it's like me or you know put it back take what you need. It's very nice and she takes that to other birds. Uh

Soral man which is in Arizona and uh I just talked to or I got a text from her and

sadly she won't be there going to Burning Man this year because is taking two months off and and going to Tibet, Bhutan, and she's going to hike and travel to the base camp of Mount Everest and then she's going to India and I'm going,

yeah, I might take two months off to do that.

We'll allow this.

It's it's not all about, you know, you can't burn them all. I go back to that, you know, there's there's more to do. And uh you know, Rap Bastard and I were going on 28 years of marriage, you know.

Wow. Congrat He'll be 28 in August 16th, this coming August. And uh you know, you can't burn him off. So he didn't go last year. It's the first year I went alone since what, 2002.

Wow.

2001. So uh and you know, he took a year off. He had a great time.

Yeah. Well, I think if you just I remember like years ago like looking at like the numbers of like the people who've gone to Bernie man like you started like 1990 there's like like 80 people and then 91 it's like 150 people and then it was like doubled and doubled and doubled and doubled and then like by like 2000 it started slowing down and then by like maybe 2010 2011 kind of sort of leveled off and like now it's roughly around 70,000 or something but I think if you add in like all the regional events and everything somewhere close to a million people have been to either Black Rockck City or like or one of the regionals like at least once. and you could only fit 70,000 people on the flyer, right? So, not everybody can go every year, right? So, this whole idea of people I know some people, some friends of mine like, oh, I've been going for like 30 years straight, you know? Like, wow, you know, but like clearly not everybody can do that,

right?

It's good to take time off like

it's just a number and it's not like, oh, I've been to Burning Man 25 times, you know? It's like it's like stop. you know, you survived. You know, it's I wouldn't call it bragging rights.

Yeah. You know,

it's good to let other people have a chance to, you know,

Yeah.

do something.

That's like, wow. You know, it's like fine. You know, it's like, let's talk about you.

I don't want to talk about me,

you know, I want to talk about people that I meet

and and how it goes and, you know, if I can help them when I'm rangering. And uh I also volunteer with ESD, emergency services. department. I've been doing that on 14 years.

What do you do with ESD?

Uh I do uh well different things and uh we're we're all out there on the playa and uh even though I'm a nationally certified EMTV and uh

when we do that we're we're first aid and I' I've done QRV which is quick response vehicle and uh that that way if we need to get to someone we can assess the the issue. And if it's something that's we can handle, we can transport them to Rampart.

Yay. Turn them over, rinse and repeat, go out and do whatever. And if it's something more important, we can call for help and they will send an ambulance delta unit.

And uh you know, I'm not I'm not talking from ESD. I'm not an ESD person, you know, whose hierarchy. So, you know, it's I'm just my experience, my personal experience.

And then uh I've been a Thunderdome medic, which totally rocks.

Thunderdome medic. Really?

Yeah. That's that's like the highlight of my burn being the Thunderdome medic. I love I love death guilt thunderdome and diva Marissa. So

no, she was uh trying to remember like she was my one of my September episodes.

Yes.

Yeah. But I it was funny like the interview like I just realizing like I didn't realize like how many like injuries. I was like yeah kind of makes sense like out outside they have like how many days since somebody's injured and it's usually zero. You know what I mean?

Or just the thing when she was telling me about she's like when you're on the inside you like all of these stuff is like falling on you and I was like what do you mean? And and she was like all like the people who are like not only like the the the the ply the dirt and stuff but she was like yeah somebody cut open their shin and like blood was like falling down.

Well I I was in the Thunderdome in 2017 with my partner when on the inside And we were back towards the edge of Thunderdome, the you know

Uhhuh.

itself. And out of the blue came a female hippie who fell on me and my partner.

Oh. From how high? Ouch.

I don't know because we were both knocked out.

Oh.

So when we came to you know it's it's you know ESD took care of us. So we'll just leave it at that. But yeah, things fall from above. And uh you know, you just have to be aware of your situation. And now when I do Thunderdome, I have a silver helmet with a Kaiser spike on it. And if you're going to fall on me, I'm beauty the impaler. So it's like, you know, I'm going to get you. I was thinking about putting I'll just say it. Thinking about putting a dildo on it.

I was gonna say, yeah.

Yeah. But that way I'd be a target and people would be aiming to fall on me and it's like, no, no, no. We'll we'll use a Kaiser spike. And uh you know it's it's silver and you know so if you see me in there in a yellow shirt with a Kaiser spike just go hey beauty you know and yeah so so I've done uh QRV uh Thunderdome medic and then this is another one of my favorites RIIT rapid intervention team rapid intervention team is on burn night and we're inside the burn perimeter. I'm talking inside. We're behind the fire spinners and in front of the sandmen who are rangers who are specially trained. In case anybody gets through there, they'll do what their little, you know, sand man foo and do what it needs to take care of the people who are, you know, trying to moth to the flame.

And uh being a a RIT member, the rapid inter team, you have the best seat in the house.

Isn't it hot in there?

Yeah, it can get hot. Yeah. you know, wear cotton. We're not stupid, you know, no polyester, no melting.

We're like like firemen's jackets or like

that's that's different things, but we are delineated by some things that they know that we are ESD yellow shirts or with ESD because uh that way the Sandman will and I try to introduce myself to the Sandman who were in our vicinity because that way if they see us and we're going to somebody, they know it's like, oh, they're going to take care of somebody, it's all good, you know, instead of going they might we might have to watch them. But it's wonderful and we're always in contact with our ESD supervisors and uh in case anything happens, we take care of the situation and get whoever needs whatever to uh whatever they need safety wise and then we come back and take our posts and we're there. Uh and then when the man falls, we're still there.

Yeah.

Because things happen after and falls.

That was going to be my question because it's like how long do you keep the perimeter up for?

But that's entire that's entirely up to uh other powers that be

and uh they they let us know uh usually before the show starts. It's like, hey, you got five minutes. Hey, you got two minutes. Okay, the show's going to start. And then here we go. And then after uh you know, it's uh you know, after the man has fallen and things are still burning, you know, and they they hold the perimeter for a while because

uh

it's a large fire.

Yeah. And I I I don't Yeah. I just listen. I'm I'm beauty. Hey, I'm here to help. I'm not in charge of anything. And when they tell me it's down, it's down. And then we go to our rende viewpoint. And uh that way we make sure everybody's safe and accounted for. And uh you know, then it's like if there's anything to discuss afterwards, we discuss that afterwards. But it's usually like, "Hey, let's go back to the station. We're going to have grilled cheese sandwiches and whatever comes with it." Last year it was grilled cheese sandwiches

and lamb like

Oh, yeah. It's like rack of lamb. Oh my god, it's sauce. Oh, so good.

Oh, so they take care of us, you know. It's all good.

Yeah.

They could come for the grilled cheese for the lamb.

Oh, after the burn. Yeah.

Yeah. But no, that's that's interesting. thing with the man cuz I remember years ago like in 2000, you know, I mean like when it was much smaller and then the man falls and like the crowd all like rushes in. It's like okay, I guess you don't really need to maintain a perimeter that but but it's still like a very a very large fire, you know, and I imagine there still could be people like wanting to like run into the fire at that point. I mean, do they completely abandon the perimeter or they just a couple of people standing around? You be like, I'm keep

I'm here to help. I you know, I'm not in charge. I do things.

It's up to other people to make those decisions for the other people who are volunteering, which I respect.

And uh the participants, they're in charge of their own burn.

You know what I mean? I can't I can't tell somebody how to burn,

you know? It's like, don't tell me how to burn, you know? And everybody read the back of your ticket, you know. Read the back of your ticket. And uh you know, if they choose to do what whatever they choose to do, whatever. And if something happens, you know, we're there to help when we're on duty and we do whatever we need to do to help.

And then u you know, otherwise enjoy your burn and have a great one.

Yeah. And I imagine this is like the whole burn perimeter thing. Something that kind of evolved along, right? Like cuz I'm not not sure what year that was. Was it somebody who like ran into the fire? I mean, I'm sure that wasn't the first time someone's attempted to do that, but I don't know if that was the first time. was like successful. I mean, and I'm sure a after that was beefed up, right?

And when the man burned early in 2007 for Green Man.

Mhm.

Were you there?

I think I'm trying to remember. That might have been one of the years I took off, but like I two very good friends of mine were um uh uh how do you say this politely? Uh lying on the ground like within like a couple hundred feet of the man, you know, in an an amorous embrace. Let's let's put it that way. Uh but yeah, just a couple hundred feet from the man and they were just like, "Why is there like light shining on the ground?" They looked up and they're just like, "Oh my god,

the man's on fire.

The man's on fire."

Yeah. I was actually on duty that night and uh it it was very interesting and uh you know, we dealt with it and then they rebuilt the man

and it was man part two and we burned the man. And uh they it it was incredible how everybody came together to it was the two I call it the two for bird

because we had Wednesday night, we had Saturday night.

Yeah.

If you include that. How many birds do I have? No, never mind.

Well, that's the asterisk, right? Like Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's it's changes every year, you know. You might have some camps that are the same, you know, the big theme camps, you know, and uh you know, and then the the people within the camps change because you you can't go

Yeah.

And you know, you got to take your son to college or, you know, somebody's getting married or somebody's going back to whatever

and they're or going overseas and tracking Nepal.

And uh

what about like Electra Radio Electra? I mean, because how big uh is it a camper?

Camp this past year, we're about 20 peopleish.

Oh, that's a good size.

Give or take, you know. No. And some people came early and uh left early and some people came late and stayed through Tuesday and we leave Tuesday morning. That's usually when we leave. Or when uh it was apocalypse, we left on Wednesday because they didn't burn the man until Sunday

and then they burned the temple on Monday in 20 2023 because of the of the rain and everything and the conditions.

So, uh it's it it's it changed every year, which is nice because it's not, okay, this is what we're going to do. It's the same, you know,

well, you don't have the same 20 people, but I mean, like, how many of the same would it be like the same five or 10 core people or

Yeah, if we have core people and uh, you know, and then sometimes they don't come because they're going to go on a cruise or they're going to go to Australia or you know, it's like, damn, that's good. Uh, you know, and Rant and I are talking about different things, you know, because we didn't do anything really outrageous for our 25th anniversary and uh it's like uh okay 20 28's coming up. Yeah. And then we got 30 coming up. It's like what what do you want to do? Where do you want to go?

Yeah. What do you want there?

Yeah. So, we're thinking about other things, you know, and if we could fit Bernie man in. Yay. And if we can't, we're gonna have we're gonna have some fun, you know.

Yeah. Yeah.

And uh I I think that's it. Oh, uh let's see. Regional wise, I want to go to Sor Man. this year. So, that's on my list. And I I talked to Rat Lady, who's in charge of uh mobility camp. She is the ranger lead there. She does an amazing job. And it's the first official ranger training. You have to take a ranger training. You have to go through the online training first and then they let you sign up for the different trainings. So, I I like to do swirl because they have that on a Tuesday for the rangers and then on Saturday they have the green dot training.

That's I've been a green dot. That's uh rangers who kind of specialize in helping people when they're having a hard time and can get them to maybe different places or stay, you know, kind of there and help them with different situations they might be feeling or happening with camp mates. We'll leave it at that.

And uh yeah, I've been a Green Dot forever. And uh so

do you do ranger trainings? Are you involved with a training or Oh god. Yeah. And if you can't make a ranger training like at a regional, uh, Rap Rap Bastard and I have been hosting at our humble Ranger Castle Castle Chaos here in uh, South Central Pennsylvania. New park. I call it the South Park of Pennsylvania. New Park, Pennsylvania. We're only like two or three miles from the Pennsylvania Mason Dixon line.

So, you know, very close to Maryland and in Pennsylvania. So, uh, we've hosted that for like three years. And we have people who come for the day and uh they you know the veteran rangers who've been you know over a certain amount of years they come in the in the afternoon. However the the new rangers or people who want to be rangers they come in the morning and uh they do the whole day thing and we've had green dot training too and that's usually two hours and so it varies and some years we have green dot training here and sometimes we don't and it's okay but at the world man they've got at all. Which is nice. So I can go there and do everything. And then if we come back here to Pennsylvania and have at our house, I'm already trained. So I can be the hostess with the mostess. And if people want to stay, they stay. We have usually a great lunch. Oh god. Rat Bastard is the barbecue king. And uh he usually uses a Trager grill, you know, and

Yeah.

does all kinds of delicious things. And then, you know, we have some people who leave and some people who stay. and uh and some people who stay overnight.

Great. You're trained. Have a nice Have a nice day.

Yeah. So, I got two questions for So, if you're like uh an ongoing ranger and you want to maintain you like your your status and because I guess every year you have to maintain a certain do you have to do you have to do a training like every year or is it like or how does this work?

From from what I have been through and I I am not official.

I am not official. So, some things that I say might be not correct,

and I'm saying that right now.

Uh, but every year we have to go through training. Every ranger has to go through training,

which is good, you know, because it's it's kind of like renewing your CPR every year or every two years, you know, it's good to know what's going on, if anything has changed, uh, different different things that might come into light. And it's like, "Okay, great. Bring me up to speed. Yay. And now we're up to speed and we know what's going on. We're aware. So when we hit the playa, we're ready to go." And uh you know, and they try to accommodate everybody. And they even have trainings on Playa for those who can't make it to regionals or wherever, you know, New York or, you know.

Yeah.

And uh they they're very accommodating and uh even green dot training very accommodating. I can't say enough about their training academy and uh they they try to help everybody, you know, become their own personal ranger.

So, and

so part of the training is like maybe online or virtual and the other part is would be like in person because I imagine there's some things you just can't get you can't do without being in person, right?

I have I have done the online training

so I I know about that and uh virtual part. I I can't comment on that because I've never done that.

But the online training and then then you have to go for your in-person ranger training. It's just not oh to do this and I can't do that. No, no, no, no, no, no. So, and again, I'm just speaking from me, not not for the rangers.

So,

yeah, of course.

You know,

and the next question I had was um if someone's listening to this and they're just like, I want to be a Ranger, it's like how do I do that

ranger curious. Okay, if you're ranger curious, um uh what is it? Blackrock rangers.org or go go go to burningman.org.

burning man.org, right? That's the best place to go. You go to burningman.org and then in their little search bar, you type in rangers. That's that's what I do. And then it it will probably take you to the ranger,

you know, whatever they have. And it'll say, "Oh, if you want to do this, you have to do that or contact like that.

Uh when I've had people who are ranger curious, that's what I tell them to do because it's like, oh, how do you It's like, no, no, you have to be radical self-reliant, right? Radical self, you you got to be responsible and take the initiative to contact who I'm not going to do it for you.

Uh-uh. Not going to happen.

And you know, you're not an FOB. You're not a friend of beauties. You're whoever you are. I have I absolutely zero you know, and uh you start going through the steps and if you want to go through the steps, yay. And if you choose to do that, you follow the steps and you take the training and then you do the alpha training on the training academy will decide if you're a ranger or you might want to work gate or DPW or be a temple guardian. So, you know, there's there's other things to do if you know.

Yeah.

So, that's what I would say. Check into that and you know, follow your your instincts and if they lead that way, yay.

So, the rangers don't never had to like go and like recruit or they wouldn't like, you know, press gang, you know, go into some theme camp and like, all right, we need four volunteers. We're taking you, you, you, and you. Come on.

The nice thing though, I've been in situations where I've had to range or whatever, and I've needed uh assistance

before other rangers could get there.

And I have asked other camp people, I say, "Listen, I need you to do XYZ,

you know, or I need you to form a circle behind me with your backs towards me and facing the front, you know, so I can have a little whatever here in a safe space."

More than accommodating.

Oh, yeah.

Because they feel like they're helping and it's like they are until, you know, we have other rangers or other departments come and take care of the situation and it's like, "Thank you. Thank you so much for helping." And they go like, "Oh, that was kind of cool." And it might spark,

huh,

well, I might want to do this. How do I do this? It's like, well, go to Ranger Headquarters and talk to somebody,

you know, and if you come back next year and you do da, you know, hey, so, uh, you know, I have I've had the pleasure of having other people help me who aren't rangers, and it's just amazing. about people step up. I love it.

Have you ever seen like people like a year or two later, they kind of come up to you as a ranger and they're just like, "Ranger Beauty. Oh my god." It's like, "I'm here because of you."

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, one of the most satisfying ones, and I still keep in touch with them, uh, was a mother and her son. And, uh, I was going to Ranger headquarters with Ranger Hollston and they were out They were outside of BMIR,

okay?

And they were doing something and uh you know I just walked up to because they were they were looked like they were great, you know, and it was our first time and I'm going like you're kidding me and she's got the kid and I'm going like this is great. And I had like uh a a necklace and it had you know how you have like those story books that they kind of and they have like the different pictures. This was like u a a package which had like different pictures from about 2000 or 98, you know, and it's like I went up I said, "May I gift your son something?" And she said, "Sure." And I I put that around his neck and it was like, "Oh my goodness." And and and uh we've become friends. His birthday is on Christmas Day. He just turned five.

And I Uh, and I last year I sent him a Christmas present, birthday present, because my birthday is December 31st. I know how Chris Birth really works. She roll it all into one.

It's funny. My wife's birthday is December 31st.

It's always It's always a party. Never a surprise.

Tax deduction. Tax deduction. Yeah. You know,

that's why dad called her tax baby.

Yeah. Yeah. Tax baby. And last year actually met them at the Costco in Salt Lake City and we had another reunion.

Oh, wow.

It was great because they didn't go to the burn last year.

Really?

That's okay. But we're still friends. And then I got uh an envelope from the Rangers this this 25 and it was from something that happened in 2016. I was at an event and someone had a medical emergency and I I assisted with that. and they wrote in and they said, "Thank you so much. I don't think things would have turned out the way they should have unless you were there." And I'm going like, and I kind of I said, "When was this from?" I said, "20 2016." And it was at D. And I'm going, "Oh god, I remember that."

Like nine years before

they sent me a freaking gold star.

What?

The Rangers and they were going, "Thank you so much for doing this." And I'm going like, "That was years ago. go and somebody commented on that. I'm going like and and they have it. You know, if you want to comment on a Ranger, if you had a good experience or bad experience with a Ranger,

say it. You know, it's kind of like a customer compliment.

You know, when you work at a store, if somebody did something good, you can go, "Hey, Andy was the best. You know, he helped me putting up shade or, you know, he helped me with this."

Like a ranger program or something where or you know, where it's like they give out stars or is just kind of like a haphazard.

I don't know. This is my first one.

I was just imagining kind of like you like the military, you know, like on their, you know, they have like the little stripes or like the badges. It's like you get like, you know, the the special accommodation, you know.

I was tickled pink and I don't know what to do with the star cuz it's the size of a quarter, you know, maybe the size of a half dollar. I'm going like, how where can I put that on my costume hat? I'm going, well, if it was a pen, I've got pins all over my hat. My god, my hat. must weigh five pounds. You know what I mean? And uh you know, but but I'm going like, "Wow,

somebody took the initiative to put that in there." And they the rangers took the initiative to say thank you.

Wow.

That's really cool.

Yeah. And like I said, anybody can, you know, thank a ranger and oh, we have some of the rangers have different types of swag and they can like, "Hey, listen. I really appreciate your art cart. This is for you." H you know, and if they want to do that, that's up to them. Or it's I I've got something it's it's it's a play and it is totally unofficial. Again, totally unofficial. And it's it's like a little uh square thing tilted and it uh uh it says ranger tested, ranger approved.

Ah,

and it's on yellow background with the man blah blah blah. It means absolutely nothing. However,

what does it mean?

However, yeah, it's something I created as a gift and it's nothing from the Rangers. It's it's just a playful thing. It's playful.

Playful. Nothing official. I'm beauty, you know. I'm not in charge. I do things.

But they're going like, "Oh my god." And it's like,

"I got to get one of those.

Oh, give me your address, baby. It's coming your way."

And Yeah. Yeah. And it's like it's just a fun jokey to do. But, you know, it it seems like it's the

So, you know, it's it's

Well, here I have a suggestion for you because remember you're saying like you don't have enough space. You know, you all your patches and pins. Have you ever thought of like the sash, you know?

Did that been there, burned that like the Girl Scouts.

Like the Girl Scouts. Yeah. And they could have like all the different little things going up and down, you know, like best ranger ever, you know?

Yeah. I I should send you a picture of my ESD jacket. On the back it has rockers. You know how they have the bike bikers with the rockers on their It says Black Rock Black Rock and then uh it says uh you know Black Rock and it says uh you know Black Rock City Nevada. Bernie man Black Rockck City Nevada.

Bernie man Black Rock City Nevada. And uh I don't know if you know someone by the name of Lowax.

Oh my god. We'll just He He is the king of kings when it comes to different things. So he's in France now. So Shout out to Loax and all the wonderful things he does.

I think someone recommended him as a guest for my show at some point. I was like,

I got

Yeah.

Amazing. Amazing person. Oh my god. He He is the epitome of gifting.

I'll just leave it at that.

All right.

The epitome and artist supreme. So kudos, bow down, you know, lower my head to Lilax, you know, hail lowax. And uh you know, but uh you know, it's it's fun. It's fun to do different things, you know, or

Well, when you stop having fun, that's when he kind of asked the question of just like, hm, should I take a year off?

Why? Oh, that's what Rat did, you know. He had a great year

and all to do something different. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And it was like, you know, take a year off and it's like it's like, may I go, May I? And it's like, yeah, go ahead. And I'm going like, okay, I'm in P H I've got a 20 foot6 toy hauler with a you know

drive up

app. I picked up Ranger Oakleaf in Ohio and we shared the driving and we went and picked up Ranger Hol and Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. And then uh Oakleaf and I drove and uh yeah, we switched driving and we Yeah, that's how we got to Black Rock City and on the way back, you know, did the same. Rinse and repeat.

Wow. Do you guys just like drive straight or you really like I drive only four hours a day and then we relax?

I I don't like driving at night that much. I can drive at night. No big deal. But, you know, with a with a 20 foot six trailer and my big ass red truck, Bart, and people are crazy, you know what I mean? So, with two people, you know, we could trade off every four hours or a couple hours, you know, and it worked out. And then, you know, we find a hotel or a place to camp. found places to camp and we ran into a couple different rangers last year and they showed us this wonderful campground and it was just amazing. Passed by it many times, never even realized it was there and I was I knew where we're staying next time.

Well, how long does it uh take you to get from Pennsylvania to to Black?

If you would drive straight through and you had to put it on Google in Google Maps or something.

Wow. Yeah.

It would be over 40 hours.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, we spread it out over like four or five days, you know, because my my drive to Ohio was like day one

all alone,

which is fine because I broke it up. You know, I see a rest stop, get out, you rest the legs, you know, pit stop. And then, uh, you know, hey, when I when I had Oakleaf with me, you know, it's like, okay, well, I can drive all the way to Missouri. Honey, I know you could drive all the way to Missouri, but we don't need to. So, you know, and then when we picked up Ranger Holston, you know, it's like, okay, just drive. Do whatever you want and wherever we land is all good.

So is the enthusiasm tank on full whenever you pick up a new person.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Because uh you know I had just met uh Ranger Oakley the year before and uh you know and then Hall I've known forever. She's been a radio lecture for forever too. And uh yeah, it's just nice to catch up. I kind of think of it as a reunion, a family reunion. Especially when I get to my own camp and people start coming in because I only see these people maybe once a year

and then you know like you said people come after me.

Let me let's get back to that. Well, just real quick um because that kind of goes get to the the third question I want to ask you. But the second one like your background. So like where did you grow up? Were you always in Pennsylvania?

Oh no. I was born in DC. So I was born in the District of Columbia, grew up in Northern Virginia. Uh met Rat Bastard Uh, I took out a personal ad in the Washington Post when they could be, you know, published in a newspaper that ran for one day. He was one of the many who answered and he rose to the cream of the crop. And then he's going, "Oh, I'm moving to California." And I'm going like, "What the?" And he says, "Well, you can move with me and if you don't like it, you can go back." And it was like, "Okay, I'm going to leave my family. I'm going to leave my job which has all my medical, dental, blah, blah, blah. You know, I've been there over 20 two years working for this company and it's like I'm going

I'm going to California. Went to California. The rest is history.

That's quite the leap. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It was a leap of faith. And like I said, we're married going on 28 years

and uh Yeah.

So, how long did you guys live with San Diego for? Because now you're with

Oh gosh. Uh we were there at 98 through 2014 and got associated with the San Diego burners which is great. Went to Topia. Uh went to uh what else? The LA regional uh up in LA. Did that uh what else did we do out there? It was close enough. Went to Sarro Man because which was used to be toast

and so went to that in Arizona. Uh and um

yeah, it was great because and it was only like

why Pennsylvania?

Oh, Rat Rat was working with a company and he was counter counter commuting from San Diego to the east coast and flying and doing whatever whatever whatever and it was like you know we've been there for 14 years things are getting expensive we lived in uh Sarah Mesa which is just above Mission Valley if you know anything about San Diego and uh it was like things were getting expensive it's like okay I can still do my job in Pennsylvania and lower cost of living blah blah blah and it was like okay let's move to Pennsylvania because you know it's more East Coast. I had my brother lives in Co Pepper, Virginia

and yeah, so closer to the family that I have and uh yeah, we did that and then we came to uh Pennsylvania. We've been to uh Plyad Del Fuego uh and then uh Portal Burn in New York.

Yeah, I've heard lots of good things about it.

And then uh an event that they have at Deerfields, which used to be the Transformers site called Welcome Home. And that's over July 4th. Highly recommended.

Wow.

And uh yeah, and then uh we're getting ready to go to Loveburn in Florida, Miami.

When is that again? February.

Loveurn. Yeah, it's uh like the first weekish in February. If go just look up Love Burn, blah blah blah.

It's near Valentine's Day or something, right?

Uh they moved it up a week.

Yeah.

And the thing with them is it it was Burning Man affiliated, but now it's Loveburn. So whatever they wanted to do. I just go and volunteer.

I volunteer. I love it. I can volunteer as um like we're not green dots, we're emeralds, you know, that's fine. And uh if we're a ranger, we're not a black rockck ranger, we're a Loveurn ranger.

Yeah. Yeah.

If I'm ESD, I work for medical.

So, it's basically the same thing without the titles. I don't care. I'm there to have a good time.

Yeah.

I'm there to have a good time, you know, and enjoy my burn and uh you know, It's It's just nice. I can't complain. And uh

Yeah.

So, yeah. Well, so get

you ever come out here, you know, let me know.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, it's definitely on my bucket list. Like, I'm actually going to be going to uh like me and my brother and a couple of friends. We're going to go to Unscrews, you know, the Santa Cruz.

Uhhuh.

Like, and so that's uh end of April, beginning of May. And so, that the shadow shorts thing that, you know, I met you at, I was like, "Yeah, I'm going to be doing that at at Unscrews. I want to collect some some there, too.

Wonderful. Yeah. Rat and I Rat and I are looking forward to different things like Lakes of Fire in Michigan.

Oh, yeah.

We're not going to go this year, but that's on our that's on our, you know,

want want to do things. So, we'll see. Oh, I've been to golly, whatever. I've been to uh Seattle for uh their C compression uh

ignition or

C compression.

Oh, okay.

In Seattle. Yeah. And then uh flip side. Flip side. Oh yeah. Yeah. Awesome.

So, you know, I'm not saying I've gotten around, but I love going to different regionals because regionals are more I'm not going to say intimate,

but it's kind to know people.

Yeah. It's kind of like a flashback to like, you know, years in the past like when when Bernie man was like a thousand people or or something, you know. It's just kind of smaller scale like more personal.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have more time to talk to people. It's not like I'm a burn. Uh oh.

Meeting, ma'am. I've got a meeting at this time. I've got I got a shift. I'm sorry. I gotta go. You know, or I'm on a mission. You know, I use that a lot. It's like somebody's talking to me and it's like, "Oh my I'm on a mission. I gotta go

for a new long time."

Well, if you ever go to a regional, it's called working band. You show up and there's a whole bunch of cubicles, you know?

Oh, exactly. And uh you know, it's nice to just kind of drop back and do some other things. you know, take a few shifts. Take a few shifts. It's not like I have to be one of those people who volunteer over a hundred hours, which they do. And God love them, they could do that. That's what they want to do. Yay. It's their burn.

So, getting to our last question, uh we were talking about the kind of family reunion thing, but uh yeah, with the impact and influence of Bernie man on your life like uh

Oh, god. Uh I've met so many different people and different different aspects, you know. However, at the Burns, I don't care what you do in the mundane world. We're we're there for an experience. And if we can share the experience, and I'm I'm not preaching the 10 principles, you know, I I like that. You know, I I I'm such a mooper. It's ridiculous. I go on walks and stuff. I take a freaking trash bag with me, you know, pick up stuff on my own street and rat's going, "You can't get it. all. I know you can't move at all, but you do what you can, you know, and other things, you know, random acts of kindness, you know, there was somebody in line the other day at at some place and they were short on some cash and I said, it's on me, you know, and they're going like, huh?

Yeah. People look at you weird.

Yeah. And it's like, huh? It's like I said, pay it forward. Pay it forward. You know, you do kind things and you know, you don't litter. You don't move. Uh you it's like I said and I I've taken you know and really apply some of those principles that have gone into my soul and and do that and then when I can do it great and if I can't uh also how it's affected my life uh you know if it wasn't for rat bastard I wouldn't do this because he let me go the first time alone so I had

Did you go completely alone or you He has well I had the less monkeys that I met like once in California, you know, and it's like I'm camping with all these strangers. What the what? And that year was so wicked. Oh my god. I was in a I was freaking freezing. My god. So yeah, good thing about that. But uh you know, you adapt. You overcome. You adapt and you apply yourself. And uh it's it's just great how I've become a person you were saying like people come up and go, "Oh, Ranger you helped me with blah blah blah or you did this with medical and you d and it's like and it's like thank you and I'm going who was that and I'm going like I couldn't tell you their name you know because you know I I remember names it's like

I think I'm the same exact way you get to a certain point where you just like it's just like just take the win you know just people some they say thank you and you're just like

you're welcome and then like my wife be like who is I'll be like, I have no idea. You know,

and you know, if I and they're going like, you know, or I'm walking around and I'm, you know, doing whatever and oh, Ranger, be and I'm going like, oh my god, here comes another one. You know,

you know what? I'm I'm thinking something swag for you to give away.

H

like the FOB thing. It's like you need like a little gold kind of like a pin or something like the just for the special people, right? You know, just like, oh, really? It's like, oh, this is for you, you know? I got an FOB.

I got something this year that's uh different because I'm a breast cancer survivor going four years on five.

I just had my mammogram and everything came out clear. Hallelujah. Everybody, I don't care if you're a man, a woman, whatever.

Go get, you know, screening. If you feel something, do something. Yeah.

And I have the pink ribbons.

I have the pink ribbons

and they're a pen and I only have a limited amount. So if you come up to me me at the burn and you say, "Hey, Ranger Beauty, I hear you're a breast cancer survivor. You're going to be gifted a pink ribbon pin."

Wow. You hear that, everybody?

Yeah. That's That's your mission. You got to find me.

Find Ranger Beauty amongst the 70,000 people on the planet.

Find Yeah. Yeah. FRV. Find Ranger Beauty.

That could be a whole game on the player.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's It's like I mean, they've got the bingo cards. Have you seen the bingo cards they make up?

Yeah. Yeah.

You know, it's like uh it's like different things, you know. It's like, oh god, you know, it's like find Ranger Beauty. There you go. I didn't have that on my bingo card, you know. But uh yeah, you find me until I run out. There you go. I will I will swag you and I'm not going to be carrying X amount with me, you know. If I have X amount, you know, and if it's with me, you will get swag.

Mh. So, uh, yeah. And, uh, it's it's great. And coming upon you with Shadow of the Man with my girlfriends when we were Ranger Incognito, you know, just having a fun girls day.

Yeah.

It's piodippity.

Oh, yeah. Definitely.

It's just spontaneously. You never know when something happens. It's piadippity.

Exactly.

And I have coined that and you will get something in the future to remember me by.

Oh, wow. Thank you. So, So, yeah. So, what what's what's keeping you coming back? I mean, do you see yourself going back to Bernie man? Other regional events like just

uh Yeah. Well, I'm going to uh planning on going to Portal Burn. I love Portal Burn.

That's what upstate New York.

So, and that's in New York. That's

Almond. A L M O N D. Like the nut.

Almond, New York, which is about an hour west of Corning where they had the Corning. museum.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, and it's about maybe an hour and a half south of Rochester. So, it's it's wonderful if you

I think when I was a kid, we used to go camping up there. Yeah.

Yeah. The tickets are hard to come by, but let me tell you, it is worth it. I can't say enough about Portal Burn and the people who were there and their rangers and everybody who's there. They're freaking amazing. So, yeah. Love you. Long time Portal. Can't wait to get back.

What do you think about the whole idea of um it's like you don't have to go to Black Rockck City to be a partner.

Oh, no, no, no. Uh yeah, cuz I know people who will never ever make it to Black Rockck.

I get it. You know, it's it's either whatever the reason is and it's like it's so amazing that they can find a regional cuz the regionals are the mini burns. The mini burns. And you meet so many people from around your area or you know and even here in South Central Pennsylvania up in Harrisburg which is maybe an hour from or an hour from Baltimore and uh you know they have gatherings they have fire spinning they have socials and if you want to go yay and uh you know we had somebody come up here from uh Arlington Virginia Ranger Poison Fox Vox and uh his son Gibson and we had taken bicycles out there for him and another member, not not his son, and uh he wanted to get his bikes back. Imagine that. So, he came and we do something that's called RTS, Rangers talking s***,

you know. So, we had like a little mini a little mini rangers talking s***, which is like when rangers get together and just shoot the s***, you know, which is fun. Doesn't mean anything. We're just having a good time.

Yeah.

And you know, if you want to be active, you're active. You want to be on the board of directors, yay. If you want to be a theme camp and apply, if you want to do art, apply for a grant, whatever. Yay. It's it's up to you. It's your experience. It's your burn. It's your life. Enjoy it. If you're not having fun, you don't want to be here.

Yeah. Exactly.

Yeah. It's not for you. You know, we're walking by certain things at Burning Man or at different uh regionals and we're looking like, "Oh, that's really interesting." Or we're going like, "What? Huh? And it's like nothing to see here. Move along.

And we move along because it's not my cup of tea. Yeah.

And you know, everybody has different a flavor of tea and if they want to do that, yay. Otherwise, they might be drinking coffee.

Some people like that weird mushroom coffee. You know, it's like, yeah, whatever. You know, like

I haven't tried that, but you know, hey, I don't know. It's

I I volunteer in the in the real world with some department that you know and and you know I I have to watch my own personal well-being and you know if I come back it's like yeah I'm 100% I don't have to worry about anything or doing this and it's like oh you went to Burning Man you need to no bring it

yeah

bring it

I'm fine I had a good time

yeah

I'm glad you're bringing it because you know that's my choice and people choose to do certain things

not to do certain things

exactly

you know so it's person choice.

Exactly. Well, speaking of having a good time, I've had a really good time with you today and uh

time flew.

Time flew.

You were right. I'm going like, what are we going to talk about?

Well, this is not Joe Rogan. We're not like going on hour three, you know? I mean, some Bernie man conspiracy theories. Larry's not dead. He's really in a under a volcano in a secret city in Peru. Like, I haven't considered that, but it could be true.

All right. Well, uh, thank you so much. This has been a wonderful.

Always my pleasure. Andy, you're amazing. And like I said, shoot me your address and you will get a little thank you.

Nothing nothing in return expected except just being a friend. And you are you are an FOB.

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