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Hello Random Pizza People,

It’s time to get our act together and prepare for our journey to the Playa. 

First, we’ll be imbedded within Transmorphagon, as we were 2 years ago. This will provide us access to 2 art cars, 3+ domes, killer tunes, and nice people. Our structures (Platform and Pizza Boxes) will compliment the definition of a Transmorphagon: a shape with as many sides as it currently has.

The idea for this year is to make Random Pizza Experience (RPE) more random by having the experience be portable. That is, we will be able to move the key aspects of the RPE set up to other camps and make pizzas from their camps. For example, if we think the folks at Skinny Kitty are rocking the house, we would go over to their camp, set up our tables and grills and make RPE do it’s thing at their camp for a few hours. In addition, Critical Tits have invited us to play. Yay!

The goal for this year is smaller and more intimate experiences. To achieve this (among other reasons) we will be creating small “pizza boxes” which will be approximately 10’ x 10’ x 8’ (WDH). Each PizzaBox will be an enclosed and portable LNT box made out of flex angle and taps. Pizza Boxes will have 1 8’ table, 2 grills and a waiting area designed to comfortably hold 15 people and produce 30 pizzas per hour (PPH). Design attached. It is most likely that we will only make 1.

Built out of flex angle, bolts, tarps, and various braces and wires gives the box and erector set looking sense.  In this case, the material is part of the art. It also provides interesting “go –cart” options, like building a giant rector cart. It is designed to be moved by walkers, pushing the cart. If possible to be pulled, slowly, it would be interesting. Steering and breaking is manual and hence is no under DMV regulations. When brought to a destination, the pizza box would be anchored and monitored for a number of hours in place (estimated to be 4-8 hours or approx. 120-240 pizza experiences, averaging 200 pizza per session) These might be called “Random Pizza Sessions.” After a pizza session, the box is sealed and left until it is re-provisioned and probably moved. It is estimated that there will be no more than 2 RPSs per day, often 1 per day. Exceptions might include the night of the burn. Therefore, if RPE started in earnest on Wednesday, we might do 10 RPSs or a maximum of 2,000 RPE over 6 days. Given historic records it is more likely that we will do a maximum of of 6 RPSs and more like 1,000 pizzas. Or less, if that’s what we chose to do.

For those who have done this before know that as soon as we get RPE started, we’re full. People smell the pizzas and seek us out. The grills are the limiting factor in how many pizzas we make, with each grill being able to cook approximately 15 pizzas per hour and we have 2 working grills. One of our grills has a bad regulator and as a large grill can do more than 20 pizzas per house.

We also have an opportunity to take RPE to the Critical Tits after party, which will be Friday evening. I think a long RPE session with a potential of doubling the PPH to 60 (more grills and outdoor tables). We might even consider what would logistically required to produce a very large quantity of pizzas to grill and deliver.

Holy shit. Here’s a free style thought meteor. What if people (mostly guys) would make pizzas out of ingredients delivered, randomly throughout the city, to people near people who have grills. The pizzas ingrediants would also include a cookie sheet for use on the “neighbors grill”  and a pizza box and label for telling where the pizza came from.

At 4pm, the same time as the start of the ride 50 “Random Pizza Pack” RPP each capable of making 10 pizzas. Instructions are to begin making by 6pm and deliver before dawn. Each Pizza Pack will likely require individual instruction and approximately 10 minutes if done in a hurry, but likely 20 pleasant minutes. Therefore, the PPH is 30. In order to deliver 500 pizzas within, we need 14 people hours or 6 people for 2.5 hours. Those who delivered pizzas in the time from 4 to 6pm would arrive at the party well in time for pizzas to begin arriving.  In addition, we would need to kneed 500 pizza’s worth of dough, which is a huge undertaking, but could be done back at RPE HQ.

So I propose we do the Friday Critical Pizza Experience of 500 pizzas and 5 Mobile Pizza Experiences (5 3hr RPSs @ 100 PPH) for a total of 1,000 pizzas or approximately, $1,000 of ingredient costs. Fixed costs of truck rental, propane, parts, shared camp structures average $1,000. $2,000 total. Everyone’s economic situation is different and we have always operated on a “give what you can” and we will again in 2008. Use the contact link to arrange contributions.

I have almost all of the parts necessary for a functioning camp and for all aspects of the above describe mobile box.

I am open to all suggestions of all kinds. I am open to new people. I am open.

Looking forward to the best year ever!

Tom

And this one shows how the Pizza Box will be constructed.

Currently it is a burning man theme camp participatory performance art piece involving pizza, gifting and the creative process. Whew. Maybe some pictures would help.

On the playa, people come by our camp, usually registered under an assumed name like Black Rock Real Estate or Transmorphagon or Imagine-Nation, and randomly encounter other people, making pizzas. They ask WTF? And discover it is a place they can make a pizza to randomly deliver to someone else – and one for yourself, if you’re inclined.

Everything is done by the Random Pizza Community (those who participate) from making the dough, to slicing the veggies, to cleaning up the mess, to singing the songs, to reading the palms, to laughing at jokes and all the other essential elements of a community.

This year, Random Pizza Experience (RPE) is going mobile. We will be constructing on the playa a self-contained mobile pizza trailer, where the RPE can be brought to a camp or deep playa in all forms of weather, taking the randomness to a new level. We actually won’t know where, or when RPE will be operating. We expect to deliver 500+ pizza experiences.

As you can imagine, this will not be simple. And you can help. Use the handy form below to let us know how you’d like to participate. See you on the playa!

cforms contact form by delicious:days

I have been going to Burning Man annually since 1998. My first burning man was 1992, before there was a gate and a fence.

Returning randomly in 1998 at the suggestion of a friend I spent my first few years at Burning Man as a nomad – generally unassociated with a camp of any “theme.” Dressed almost always in black robe (a Moroccan Jellaba), I earned the nickname Death. One year, with my Swedish cousin we declared our camp the Kindom of Nothingness and with myself as King we began adding neighbors as dukes and duschesses to our ever expanding kingdom. This continued until 2003 when I decided I wanted to expand my contribution to the playa and create an interactive theme camp. That next year was the first Random Pizza Experience.

I started by consider what I wanted the experience to be. I wanted it to be interactive, to bring people together. I wanted to tangibly demonstrate the power of gifting. I wanted the experience to only be possible by the communal will of individuals. I wanted people to reflect on the nature of the randomness of our encounters and how we are all interconnected. Finally, I wanted to affect as many people within “reasonable” constraints of cost and logistics.

As I mulled and mulled and mulled about things I might help instigate on the playa, from somewhere pizza came to mind. “Pizza is affordable,” I thought. Could you make a pizza on the playa? Could you deliver pizzas…randomly…without all the effort of a giant camp? On a small budget?

Since 2004 the answer has been yes.

Since my early experiences at Burning Man I wanted to find a way to contribute a theme camp appropriate to my experiences at Burning Man. Somehow, randomly I suppose, Random Pizza Experience is that way.

How can you become part of the Random Pizza Community? Well, start by reading this far! Well done!!

You can join us on the playa by randomly finding us and contributing in your own beautiful radically expressed way. Or.

You could send us money. Or.

You could join our camp. Or.

You could send us pizza supplies. Or.

You could start your own Random Pizza Experience. Or.

You could do something we couldn’t imagine. Or.

Do any of these by contacting us. We live all over.

Anyone in particular you’re looking for? Maybe, I can help. I’m Death. Use the form below to contact me.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

We are currently accepting applications to become part of our camp. We are looking for people who are fun. Are you fun? If so, apply below.

Or read about Random Pizza Experience’s History, Description, Opportunities, and of course, Photos.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Tell us your story. Simply post a comment below and Death will review and post it. Unless it’s spam, of course!

Including:

2004 - Year 1. Neighbors of Giant Titty-Totter. Learn about “health codes” 500+ Pizzas. Run out of everything.

2005 - The year of the Tree. Year 2. Neighbors of Electro Shock. 1,000+ pizzas.

2006 - The year on the Esplande as Transmorphagon. Year 3. The Year that never should have been. The worst year ever. A really fun year, truth be told. Like 1,200 pizzas, but left-overs galore.

2007 - The year of the Box. Best Year Ever. Year 4. Like 1,000 pizzas, but perfect amount of everything. Flawless.