Rave Girls at Burning Man in Black Rock Desert.

Today marks the opening of Burning Man 2010 at Black Rock city in Nevada which runs from Aug 30, 2010 through Sep 6, 2010. The enormously popular annual event now draws approximately 50,000 people but started out much smaller in 1986 (possibly even earlier) at Baker Beach in San Francisco. 1990 marked the first year the event was planned in the middle of Black Rock Desert, about 100 miles from Reno. This year’s theme is Metropolis.

Burning Man Temple in Black Rock City

In addition to the burning of the man at the end of the festival, it has become customary to erect and burn a temple. David Best was originally behind the project, which has also been led by Mark Grieve before being turned over to the Burning Man Community.

Burning Man Temple on Fire in Black Rock City

The Burning Man event is governed by 10 principles, which are radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.

Burning Man Mutant Vehicle

Mutant Vehicles are creatively modified cars and trucks, distantly similar to parade floats. Burners who intend to bring a mutant vehicle must submit their plans in advance to the Burning Man DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles) for approval as well as for physical inspection at the event. Not all designs and proposals are accepted.

Photos by: mdanys and JahFae

Carl Cox has been my top influence since the first time I saw him play at Subconsious – an all night rave event that took place in the UBC hockey rinks before they stopped hosting such events. As a producer I’m not a huge fan of Carl and even his mixed CDs seem more Chicago House than I would ever listen to. But in the 3 times I’ve seen Carl Cox play on the West Coast his sets have been uber-brilliant – maybe best described as Tribal Trance. His live DJ sets – at least the one’s I’ve heard – are nothing like his house CDs.

The biggest reason I have such high respect for Carl Cox is his mixing style. When I have seen him, Carl Cox has always played on 3 turntables. His mixes are almost constant – that is – he almost always has more than one record playing. After watching and listening over the years I picked up a technique that Carl seems to employ. I swear I see Carl play in ‘tripples’ – that is 3 records that fit well together. He will mix back and forth until the first 2 records are properly lined up to peak together – then he will prep the third record to peak at the same time, but waiting until the other two peak before slamming in the third record so all three records peak at the same time and the new sound of the third record adds intensity to the peak.

Carl Cox doesn’t line up beats – he lines up entire records to fit together.

After the three records peak together there’s not much left and so a short mix leads into the beginning of the next ‘tripple’. I remember hearing these short mixes every now and then when Carl was playing and thinking how wimpy it sounded after such colossal intensity of his previous mixing. It was only when I stopped to pay attention closely that I could see why the need (and the justification) for such a short mix.

My other memories of Carl Cox are that he always played late for a headliner. He might not even start until 4 or 5am – and rumours would start that he wasn’t even going to show – but he seemed to prefer to play long sets for the die hard fans that were still going strong at 8am. I remember seeing Carl play for about 50 dancers that were left on the floor (after 1000s of others had dispersed). Another 50 people stood around the dance floor in a semi-circle just watching.

I’ve never seen a group of ravers stand and watch a DJ with such a respect as that.

Those of us still on the dance floor where absolutely exhausted – but every time it seemed like a lull to take a break, Carl would bring it up again and we were held hostage on the dance floor. Ever since that night (morning) I’ve known Carl Cox affectionately as ‘The Puppetmaster’ – his ability to keep people moving on the dance floor is second to none.

DJ Carl Cox Vancouver 2008 with Jon Rundell

Tue Oct 21, 2008 @ Plush Nightclub, Downtown, Vancouver
Cost: $35
By: Twisted Productions, Trust & Cargo

Trance legend, DJ Armin van Buuren will be at Plush Nightclub this week for two nights.

DJ Armin van Buuren with Guest Glenn Morrison
Oct 9, 2008 & Oct 10, 2008
Plush Nightclub
$60 in advance

Presented by: Twisted Productions, Solid Entertainment & Pure Image Entertainment

Another huge Trance DJ hits Vancouver. ATB is behind massive club anthems like 9pm Till I Come and Ecstasy. Don’t miss a rare clubnight in Vancouver.

ATB with guest Canyon Boulevard

When: Thursday October 2, 2008
Where: Plush Nightclub, Downtown, Vancouver
Cost: $45
By: MSH Sessions

John Digweed is not one of my favourite DJs but he is world class. Well known as half of Sasha & Digweed – the DJs behind the highly successful Northern Exposure CDs – John Digweed is a little too melodic for my taste which prefers a little more intensity. I have heard Digweed play once – with Sasha – at a huge party in Victoria at Memorial Arena. However the sound engineer really messed up the sound design so my own experience was less than thrilling.

DJ John Digweed Vancouver 2008 with Kevin Shiu

Friday Sep 12, 2008 @ Celebrities Nightclub, Downtown, Vancouver
Cost: $35
By: Blueprint Events

I’d love to hear how Digweed’s set goes this Friday at Celebrities – so drop a comment if you see the show – or even better, send me some pics to post!