Life is a Festival

Is Burning Man a “white people thing?” Radical inclusivity is one of Burning Man’s 10 Principles, but is it enough simply to say “all are welcome?” or should the burner community take proactive steps to make people of color feel welcome? JR Nexus Russ (he, him, his) is a black and Filipino-American, queer cisgender man, and in several ethically non-monogamous relationships. Nexus went to Burning M...

Stephen Brooks wants to change the world a thousand hectares at a time and I’ve never met someone more optimistic about our chances to pull it off! I first met Stephen as co-founder of Envision Festival in Costa Rica, now in its 10th year. I was struck by what a nourishing teaching school the event was. Stephen is also the founder of Punta Mona, a year-round permaculture ecoversity and intentional...

Of Timelessness, Flow States, Psychedelics & Death The ancient Greeks had two words for time: Chronos (consensus time or mechanized time) and Kairos (archetypal time or dream time). Jason Silva, the host of Brain Games and the award winning creator of Shots of Awe has spent his life capturing and sharing the timeless. From his adolescent anxiety about transience to his sensational viral videos, Ja...

Welcome back from Black Rock City! At Burning Man this year, Jex, Operations Manager at BMIR (Burning Man Information Radio) invited me to be on her Monday afternoon show. My pal, David Block, The Human Experience, wandered by my camp just before I left so I brought him along. In the studio, we were also joined by Wolverine, BMIR’s Assistant Sound Engineer. The show started out pretty silly, but t...

For those about to Burn… Caveat Magister (AKA Benjamin Wachs) was a founding member of Burning Man's Philosophical Center and a lead writer and researcher for Burning Man’s education program. Caveat has just released a beautiful book on Burning Man philosophy and culture called "The Scene That Became Cities." And that’s what brings us together today. In the podcast we talk about the collision of p...

The most important political revolution of our time may be connected to how we love, at least that’s what the erotic visionaries of the Tamera community in Portugal believe. According to Tamera, the revolutionary peace research eco village in Portugal, liberating love from fear violence and lies is the root solution for a true system change. Today on the podcast, I’m speaking with Ian MacKenzie an...

Would you like to make money making art? How about 158 million dollars? Not easy, but apparently not impossible. The intersection of art and business can be tricky for creatives wary of “selling out.” That’s why today’s guest is such an interesting life-designer. Not only has Vince Kadlubek designed his life like a festival, but he’s helped do so for hundreds of artists, as CEO of the mighty Meow...

"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." - Emma Goldman, 1931 Abi Getto and Liz Garard are two co-founders of Nap Girls, a membership-based nonprofit that supports and empowers women and non-binary people in the music industry and beyond. On the podcast we talk about how the iconic napping pose drew over 250 members to the collective. We discuss intersectionality and white f...

Mauricio, a former street performer from Argentina, is the Creative Director of the club at Heart Ibiza. On the podcast we talk about how street performance taught Mauricio to embrace failure as a teacher, the history of Ibiza and why Mauricio is optimistic about the future of the White Island. To be rich in this life we must learn to embrace the whole spectrum of the human condition, including ou...

When did weird stop being so, well… weird? Today on Life is a Festival I’m speaking with psychedelic elder, writer and host of the Expanding Mind Podcast, Erik Davis. Erik has just published a new book called High Weirdness focusing on the super weird early 70s through the figures of Terence and Dennis McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson and Philip K Dick. On the podcast we talk about where the true weir...

Have you been enjoying the intro music for Life is a Festival as much as I have? That song, “Peculiar Colors”, was written by Atish Mehta, my guest on today’s episode. Atish is a former software engineer turned full-time DJ, producer, and label boss. Atish is a thought leader in the festival world and his earnest ideas and opinions always inspire me. Atish’s story about a difficult Burning Man exp...

In 2016, the Burning Man Project, stewards of an ephemeral city in the Black Rock Desert, purchased a property called Fly Ranch. Fourteen donors gave the organization millions to secure the property, which boasts rejuvenating hot springs, a diverse ecology, and the famous Fly Geyser. Zac Cirivello is my longtime friend and the Operations Manager at Fly Ranch. He has worked in many aspects of festi...

Yasmine El Baggari is a young Moroccan entrepreneur who vowed to travel to all 50 U.S. states after a life changing experience studying abroad in Kansas (she’s only got Alaska to go). She chose to travel by Greyhound bus and stay in people’s homes, all for the sake of cultivating cultural curiosity. Yasmine is the founder and CEO of Voyaj, an online platform that connects people from across the gl...

Today on the podcast, I’m speaking to a man I deeply admire about one of my favorite topics: medicine ceremonies. Tony Moss is a community leader, a musician, and an ayahuasca advocate. Thirty years ago, Tony was heavily involved in activism, trying to change the world through protesting war and inequality. Today, he is a leading proponent of the legalization and responsible use of ayahuasca and o...

A festival can be a rite of passage and a rite of passage can be a festival. Tomorrow is my birthday and so this week on the podcast my guest is myself. Or rather I am sharing my friend’s podcast. The podcast is called Life Rites and my episode comes out on Monday. It’s a new podcast started by my former producer Ari Anderson and actor Max Carver about Rites of Passage in the modern world. On the...

Bear Kittay is an entrepreneur, political organizer, musician and was once the Global Ambassador for Burning Man. He also led the acquisition of Fly Ranch for the Burning Man organization. He is currently co-founder of Good Money, a new online banking platform owned by the people in service of the planet. Bear considers himself a Social Alchemist, weaving together disparate communities around the...

Without today’s guest there would be no Life is a Festival Podcast. Chip Conley is my mentor, my dear friend and the co-founder of Fest300, an online guide to the world’s best festivals where I once worked as Creative Director. Chip hired me in 2013 and that year he went to 36 festivals in 20 countries. Chip got his start in hospitality, creating Joie de Vivre hotels. After founding Fest300, he we...

What is festival fashion? Is fashion a dirty word? Can festival fashion be truly inclusive? And affordable? Ash Lorona and Tessla Venus Goodwin are the Glitter Spies. They’re best friends, vendor coordinators, and deep thinkers about festival style as affordable, inclusive, eco-friendly self-expression. On the podcast, Ash and Tessla take us through all the magic of adorning yourself as a work of...

In 2015 my partying caught up with me, I started getting intense brain fog which ultimately turned into full blown depression. It was time to get serious about my cognitive health so I called up my friend Molly Maloof, aka Dr Molly, for a full harm reduction program. Dr Molly is an advisor to over 20 medical technology companies in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. She specializes in personal heal...

Romi Elan is the founder of SoulPlay Festivals, which occur a few times a year in California. These gatherings are substance-free and focused on intentional connecting where participants can push their edges in a safe container. Romi and his team have crafted ideal environments to approach romantic connection mindfully, so he is an excellent person to have a frank conversation about the state of c...

Android Jones is one of the most successful artists in the visionary or psychedelic realm. From live digital painting on tour with Bassnectar to his immersive dome Samskara and the virtual reality experience Microdose VR, Android is constantly pushing the envelope. On the podcast we discuss ego death and the chemical rocket ships we use to get there. We talk about integrating our shadows and how t...

From Nectar Village at Burning Man, to psychedelic interactive games, to secret parties, Benja is a master experience designer. On this episode we discuss the four elements of a dynamic experience, Benja’s time at the College of Extraordinary Experiences and different types of participatory events including immersive theater (like Sleep No More), explorative worlds (like Meow Wolf) and alternate r...

Sarah Wu is a co-founder of Envision Festival in Costa Rica. She’s also an herbalist, community leader and a modern witch. On the podcast we discuss the Village Witch program at Envision, including a holistic Healing Sanctuary alongside conventional medics and Zendo Psychedelic First Aid. We go deep on permaculture, the eight forms of capital and the Red Tent Movement. Finally we discuss witch thr...

elrow is a global event brand from a family of promoters going back to all the way to 1870. From its home in the small town of Fraga, Spain, through its sold out summer residency at Amnesia in Ibiza, to its next generation of festivals and events from Brazil to South Africa to China, elrow is setting an industry standard. And with great power comes great responsibility. Vicenç Marti is a serial en...

I know few people in their 30s who are actively thinking about their legacy but the writer Marcus Golden Barnes is leading by example. I first met Marcus at Amsterdam Dance Event in 2015. He was sliding through the crowded lobby of the Dylan hotel blowing kisses. He was a full blown festival afloat on a black ocean of trench coats and techno. Marcus is a music journalist, a graffiti artist and a D...