How do you take an iconic event like Burning Man and turn it into a Rock Opera for both insiders and 'newbies' alike? Well, I seem to have found myself amongst not only my tribe of burners aka artists, musicians, performers, free spirit uber-conscious revelers who are the dusty vitality of Burning Man's heartbeat, but also... in the presence of those who were the creators, the spark, the visionaries, the believers in a moment that ignited the roaring inferno of what is the continuum of Burning Man today. This Rock Opera is telling parallel stories - one is the life on the Playa - from a 'newbie' experience to the music, dress, radical self-reliance, free expression, hard-core, tranie and tomboy, blinky, sensual, sexual, psychedelic, spiritual, madness of the core of Burning Man.... whao.... and the second is the actual time line, history and personage involved in creating what Burning Man is today - well, the history. It is diabolical, transcendental, mad, ecstatic, passionate, angry, ridiculous... and ultimately transformative and beautiful...

Check it out wild beings - Renfey is the Fire Elemental....

http://love.zinzanni.org/burningopera
www.burningopera.com

So I am up on my perch, looking out over the city's thousands of lights imaging all the wild mayhem out there.  I am trying to be patient, trying not to tear at my seams, trying not to scream for I am waiting, wanting and unbelievably excited and terrified for the New Year!  I am devising all sorts of new ways to reach out... I can become immersed in my creative bubble and shy in sharing my thoughts when I wrap them all up in the songs I sing.  But I realize I am missing a connection with the very people who are out there listening to music and sharing so many of the same experiences.  So as we begin our recording process for album #2 finally!!  I thought this would be a great place to share the story and my thoughts.  I am so very excited by all the new music Kor and I are writing and I am also overwhelmed on making all the right moves this time out of the box... will I reach the people who will like our music,  will I be able to pay for a tour and musicicans and promotion and the CD and be the manager and the artist all balled up into one.. will I do it right this time?  I ask myself, what is the measure of my success... is it money? is it fame? is it recognition?  I think I would say it would be being able to survive on the music I write and perform... and touching someone with my music or my words... if I touch you, if I give you something, if you feel or smile or cry, if we connect.... well, that would be my success... I went to an Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls) concert last night. Halfway through the show she auctioned off one of her guitars and then passed a boot around the audience for collections… all to help pay for her tour.  I guess it’s a sign of the times – tough economy and tough time for musicians. She reminded me of a traveling minstrel of the days of old come to town to play and ask for a few coins and then move on in dusty wagons to the next town… just to sing her songs.  Except she has a record deal and was playing at a major theater.  It was funny and a little endearing, but sad and strange too.  Anyway, she was great, really passionate and sardonic and I did put a few bucks in the boot!   I feel connected to her too, she reached to me – she’s gonna write and sing and play for her people no matter what! So passing her boot or not, that passion, her touching us... that is success.  That is how I measure success! So, deep breath, wings spread, I am about to jump off the cliff!  Here's to 2009!!  Will be posting music soon.... Happy New Year... In wild love... Renfey

LOVE STILL (Renfey)
I am a million miles away. Where did you go? That breathless insistence of me. That devouring eye I trust. That desire to surprise as you smile from deep inside. That calm assurance of a bond never broken. This was never a token to be changed for a five-minute thrill ride. This is unspoken. My forever with you. I cannot just wait. I am a woman and I may tend to do that. With unnecessary expectations of you. So I will plan and I will adorn and will dance about and I will shine a thousand beacons of light that you will see I am here still fulfilled in the reckoning of my love for you, my abandon for you, my surprise at every sunrise in the deepest pools of your glowing dragon eyes.

Pull down the curtains. Tear apart these endless distractions. Lay witness this attraction so potent it floats on the emotion of the well of love we have known. Carefully pull away that layer that appeared out of nowhere and was our promise to never rear here. Gently look into me and see me and remember me because you have to. It no longer writes itself. Our story. We must lay pen to paper, body to bed, hand to flesh, silence to chaos, eye to eye, heart to heart, wild creation to our silent fantasy somehow swept away in the mundane of everyday. You are my king, the lost civilization of me. I am your queen. Now enough, my love. Quietly please just take me

WICKED THINGS
I wonder
Under the currents beneath me
Where would I be happy?
I am a little disconcerted
I am a little uncomfortable
Until it is you and me or me alone
I find home in the simple pleasures
But this is not the measure of my life
A taste of strife
The sharp edge of this sword
Makes me feel alive
A little pain everyday and I sort out
The pieces of my mosaic life

I seek the smooth road of fiery beauty
Need the warmth and rapture of beauty
This exquisite visits me
But it is the dark
That keeps my pulse alive
The unknown the dangerous life
That challenges my peace and my calm
My armor glows and I stand higher
In the face of change
My face looking up in the rain

My boundaries are not yours
But the touching of the walls we build
Is a portal to see beyond our green
Into the realm of each our heart
And when I am always thinking
I seek the refuge of just being
And when I ride the seas of complexity
I breathe the relief of calm simplicity
This friction makes sense to me

I protect my world of beauty within
Then run out into lifes adrenaline
And succumb to the rush of this whirlwind
I find a thousand way to fill my time on quiet days
I live the life of magic and old ways
Play the part of queen and slave both fervently the same
And I step into the life in my darkened world
And unfurl the fantasy that is my reality

Now I awake with the eyes of troubles lofty face
And compel you to create an immortal place
Upon whose battle has been fought
I am caught breathless in the onslaught
Like fifty lashes tied to the dreams in me
My day is done and I sleep recklessly
Aware of the sweet line of dark and light
Crossed in noble flare like a wicked dare
Wordlessly I sleep and hope for simple waters deep
Silently I sleep and dream of wicked lovely things
That the dawn will bring