Samples

Rumors
There were more rumors than hangovers in the wake of this year's Burning Man festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Most of the prattle surrounded two events: a motorcycle accident that killed one man, and a reckless driver who plowed over two tents, injuring three.

Michael Furey, the motorcyclist, died at dusk on Tuesday, Aug. 27. According to roommate John Lieb, Furey, 38, spent that afternoon looking for "some drinks and some girls" in the nearby town of Gerlach. "He found both," Lieb says.

After several drinks, two women offered to tote Furey back to camp. He refused, and jumped on his Harley.

When he hit the playa, the wide-open lake bed that leads to the main camp, Furey gunned his bike, doing doughnuts on the dry soil. Emerging from a dust cloud, the cyclist ran head-on into an oncoming van. Pershing County Sheriff Ron Skinner says Furey died instantly of "blunt-force impact."

Furey's death resonated throughout the weekend, partly because he was close -- a "self-proclaimed manager" -- to Burning Man punk act Polkacide. Furey was also behind the late-'80s band the Grateful Dead Kennedys, recognized for his neon, and well-known for gregarious behavior after a few drinks at Polkacide shows. "He kinda died doing what he did best," says Lieb, who plays trumpet with Polkacide.

Later in the long weekend, Larry Dean Hudson Jr., driving a borrowed blue 1996 Pontiac Grand Am, ran through two tents near the rave camp, early Monday morning. Of the three campers hospitalized, one is in critical condition, another is in serious condition, and the third has been released. According to Skinner, Hudson was charged with driving while intoxicated and causing bodily injury, possession of a controlled substance and of paraphernalia (a hypodermic needle), and reckless driving. He is being held in Pershing County without bail.

By far the biggest rumor after the event was that organizers were fed up with the largest crowd in the 10-year event's history and would dismantle Burning Man.

Not so, says founder Larry Harvey. Despite Furey's death (the first ever), the Hudson accident, and several other fender benders, Harvey says this year's crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 was the most well-behaved to date. However, he is worried about the amount of traffic on the playa. "Have we reached the maximum amount of people that can attend? Absolutely not," he says. "Have we reached the maximum amount of vehicles? Yes." Harvey says plans are already in the works to create a public transportation system next year to move cars off the desert floor. "We are going to redeem that guy's death," he says.

By Jeff Stark