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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Ma'aM the Mammoth @ Burning Man



loupiote.com photograph of Ma'aM, Burning Man 2009




















2003:
Winnemucca's MineShaft Bar likes the original Ma'aM
http://www.themineshaftbar.com/images/b_03mammoth.jpg

Nick DeWolf's video documentation of Ma'aM the Mammoth on GrassRoots TV
http://mc.grassrootstv.org/vodcontent/1492NicksJournal.wmv
http://mc.grassrootstv.org/vodcontent/1493-NicksJournal.wmv
http://mc.grassrootstv.org/vodcontent/1408-1-NicksJournal1408test1.wmv


2004:













Gabe Kirchheimer Photo:
http://www.gabekphoto.com/portfolio/bm/2004_11.htm

Brad Templeton photos:
http://pic.templetons.com/brad/photo/bm04/cars/
http://pic.templetons.com/cgi-bin/imget?d=brad/photo/bm04/cars&fn=img_0061.jpg

Ma'aM's builders and caretakers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dboo/314321523/in/set-72157594405751174/
Text by Eric Ringsby ( http://www.ericringsby.com/exhibition.htm ): "Ma'am: The Mammoth," is a bicycle powered Mutant Vehicle or Art Car and was designed by Nick DeWolf and Harvie Branscomb, Aspen, Colorado. This group collaboration was built and rebuilt by many friends of the Ma'am, including Eric Ringsby, who served as all purpose volunteer and financial contributor. Although Eric is no longer involved with this project and Nick DeWolf has passed away, Harvie Branscomb and Yayoi Wakabayashi carry on the Ma'am legacy.
Nick DeWolf was born July 12, 1928 and died April 16, 2006 and was co-founder of computer testing giant Teradyne. It was my great privilege and honor to make art and experience Burning Man with Nick. Please see the above photo of the Mammoth mobile with Nick and crew of Piltdown people. In the "Piltdown Man" palentological hoax group photo, I'm wearing the big black Nevada Buckaroo hat! Perhaps I should note, Nick was inspired by the Piltdown Man, the false missing-link hoax and also the Columbian mammoth skeleton found in the Black Rock Desert, location of Burning Man, and can be seen in the Palentological Museum of Winnemucca.
"Ma'am: The Mammoth" Mutant Vehicle by Nick DeWolf & Harvie Branscomb Made with aluminum bicycle powered chasis for four bikes Skull, tusks and ribs made of laminated ridgid insulation foam Size 2m wide X 5m tall and 5m long with 4m long tusks Previously based at Emabassy Village, Piltdown Camp, Ma'am Camp and Camp I Am, BRC, NV.
Initial fabrication was in Cripple Creek, CO then moved to El Jebel, CO.

Mastodon-mobile:
http://www.sangres.com/dimages/nevada/blm/burningman/03big.gif
http://www.sangres.com/nevada/nvphotos/burningman01.htm%20


2005:
Ma'aM the Mammoth at Audrey's Brain Wash and Set
http://images.burningman.com/index.cgi?image=22491

ma-am the mammoth art quadricycle - burning man festival 2005
http://www.loupiote.com/burningman/photos/52108287.shtml

From: http://www.nmpproducts.com/bm05.htm
Photo #5: Ever drive a mammoth? This contraption has been evolving for three years now. I cruised over to see Mike Perry who's hangin' with this camp and I wound up getting mammoth-napped! Got to pedal at the left rear position, which includes running a synthesizer that honks out mammoth noises at the push of a button. The steersman took us to a big-ass dance camp up near 10:00. After groovin' on the sounds for a spell I hoofed it back to my art car. Only got lost once! http://www.nmpproducts.com/images/img_0788b.jpg

Photo #6: Mike Perry in desert-friendly kimono, enjoys a bit of shade behind the mammoth.
http://www.nmpproducts.com/images/img_0789b.jpg

A city of 35,000 people, complete with an electrical grid, huge dance clubs, countless bars and restaurants, beauty salons, a post office, lecture halls, swimming pools, monumental flaming art and at least one oversize mobile woolly mammoth, vanishes in just a few weeks. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2005/09/14/gree.DTL#ixzz0RcCWTeLo
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2005/09/14/gree.DTL

The Mammoth Quadricycle demonstrates that large creations can move by people power in 2005:

 http://tribes.tribe.net/bmmv/photos/cc74149b-abef-4515-a96a-0c82f1337a35

Scott Hess: Creative Fire in the Desert
http://www.terrain.org/essays/16/hess.htm

2006:
Scott London photo:
http://www.scottlondon.com/photo/burningman2006/066.html

Gir Sushi photo:
http://io9.com/5356886//gallery/?selectedImage=5

Zman4386 photo:
http://gs250.photobucket.com/groups/gg264/320MQKXHO4/?action=view&current=mammoth.jpg

Brad Templeton photo:
http://pic.templetons.com/cgi-bin/imget?d=brad/photo/bm06/cars&fn=img_8971.jpg

George Hart photo:
http://www.georgehart.com/BM06/mammoth.jpg
If you prefer to pedal your bike, then Ma'am, the mammoth mammoth is the the thing for you. It is powered by four people who sit inside pedaling it. I did a couple of miles in it, enjoying the experience immensely. You haven't lived until you have steered a mammoth through a three-point turn.




2007:



2008: (absent due to conflict with Democratic National Convention)

2009:
Burning Man Earth:
http://earth.burningman.com/profiles/maam/

Mammoth
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grimmwire/3921564595/

Ma'aM at night:
http://www.loupiote.com/burningman/photos_m/3954265703-ma-am-mammoth-burning-man.jpg
Adapt or die:
http://lushphotography.smugmug.com/Events/Burning-Man/Adapt-or-Die-BM-09/15503127_NggYy#1161092778_rLJdq

Tales of Thatcher Gray by LeeLee:
Because of the strength of the community, many Burners refer to Black Rock City as their “Home”.  We hear, “welcome home” upon our arrival, and truly it is a place where you can express your nature without fear of societal judgments common in the “default world”. During Metropolis we were fortunate to camp with Ma’am on the 9:00 plaza. The largest mammoth fossils were found here in this particular playa, so she is a very relevant figure to have there.  Powered by four bicycles, the graceful curve of her tusks are a beautiful addition to the art car display.
http://talesofthatchergray.com/category/metropolis/

2010:












Metropolis: Towering Inferno and Mammoth (photo by James Addison)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/extramatic/4977532642/

Minty Driftwood photo of Adam and crew hauling a tired Mammoth back through the dust:


http://blog.burningman.com/2010/08/metropol/the-bike-culture-of-black-rock-city/
As with most everything else on the playa, a simple bicycle, with one wheel in front of the other, would scarcely begin to capture the experience of participating in Burning Man, nor would it be very cool. Though the dynamics of bicycle engineering haven’t changed much in a hundred years, Black Rock City has spawned a menagerie of innovation, still pedal-powered, but only vaguely resembling a “bicycle.” There are giraffes and fishes, camels and glowing eyeballs, carriages adorned with mastodon bones, tall bikes five frames high, and an number of kinetic sculptures belching plumes of fire and smoke from their steel innards. Whimsy trumps utility and getting to the destination is less important than preening like a peacock along the way (a twelve-foot tall fire-spewing peacock, of course).


2011:
Ma'aM at Aspen 4th of July - best animal in parade
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yayomoose/sets/72157627166615856/
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20110707/LETTER/110709898

Ma'aM ready for BurningMan-  (Kirk Johnson)
http://twitpic.com/695oy3
from the belly of the beast:
http://twitpic.com/695pgq

Ma'aM at NBC- see the 85th photo
-->http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/weird/Burning-Man-2011-in-Pictures-129837503.html

Ma'aM in the now famous music video:
-->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQPQn9TLpPY 

Ma'aM at the Temple:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14531705@N00/6124020994/
Driving Mammoth Car:
Ron's Log: Mastadon at the Temple burn
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/ronslog/11391128

2012
Yayoi Wakabayashi photos:
Ma'aM through the Temple gates:
 
 











Ma'aM at Wall Street ready to burn:













Background:
Real mammoths at Black Rock Desert:
http://www.burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/black_rock_country.html
http://florradikal.com/wordpress/?page_id=3

The playa:
http://rangers.burningman.com/playa.shtml

Pictures of mastadons (and maybe Ma'aM too):
http://en.bestpicturesof.com/mastadon