The Monkeys June 2008

So this is how the real world gets Burning Man art!!!

from Elecktra:

So during my 2 shifts as a docent today, Sunday, I met a couple who were staying at the Marriot which is 2 buildings PAST the convention center, they were on the 26th floor on the observation deck and heard monkey screaming!! so they went for a walk to see where they were...... and found the art !! thought it was too cool!! I also met a long time burner from the comic convention who hasnt been since `99 and lives in Mendocino... came back later with more buddys. Also met a couple who had built the first greeters stations.... and their daughter who had her first burn at 8 months old... She is now 2 1/2... She had been wanting to get involved with the south bay burners but wasnt sure how... .. we met and she was thrilled!!

From Neon:

I had sooooo much fun on my shift last night! The tourists and people of San Jose are really ppreciating the monkeys being in town. One woman, visiting her son in San Jose, said in a long Southern drawl, after he told her the monkeys had been at Burning Man, "Well I've never even heard of Burning Man before, but now I want to go!" Then she turned to me a minute later and said, "Are we allowed to make noise on those drums?" And when I said yes, she ran toward them squealing like a child. Maybe you had to be there to see how cute this was, but, I tell you, it was a beautiful moment. An earlier moment had a group of about 5 young kids, around 5-8 years old, all running around and around the drums, hitting each one as they went by. We had a few cars pull over...one was a group of people who had just been tattooed, they were in that semi-altered post-tattoo state and they stopped because they thought the monkeys were actual people swinging from pole to pole...

We also had a few people from a comic book convention who were really appreciative of the work.

Then there was one woman who was asking me a lot of questions and it took me a minute to figure out where she was coming from...see, she thought that the monkeys were actually swinging from branch to branch, so she was asking me if it was the speed or the centrifugal force that would make them start swinging. I could see that she didn't understand any of my explanations. Then when I finally said, "Do you see how each monkey is in a slightly different position?" and then when she saw that, I said, "They are stationary in that position, they don't move at all, they just look like they move." Then, she was so surprised, she screamed! It was so funny....her mind was so blown, and she screamed and I laughed and we high fived and then the monkeys started up again... i love that 3 minute down time!

And I look forward to my next docent shift! Neon

photo: Golddust