… all the prior days of overwhelming emotions, hard work at the theme camp, lack of sleep, and that heightened level of being a virgin burner, I drifted into mystical realms. Once they lit the set on fire, I was pulled to the flames like with no hindrances. People were jumping over a low wall of flames, which got hotter and higher as I approached. I didn’t think twice (or at all) and jumped through the wall of fire. Right after I cleansed my old self, welcoming a new me, the BR Rangers closed in and shut down the now too-high wall of fire. Suddenly, the crowd behind the Rangers began to part. A white Stetson floated through the opening and, with a smile at the Rangers as they took his hat, Larry Harvey jumped through the huge wall of fire. We all cheered and I went on to wander aimlessly in the desert, coming to grips with losing my identity while gaining a brand new one. I’ve met Larry a few times and heard him speak a few times more, but the one memory I will keep to my last breathing day is sharing that wall of flame with him after Pepe’s opera. Cleansed and renewed / cheering and laughing, the fire turned the wood and mud to ashes and dust.
After Pepe’s Opera, in 1999…