Summary: "It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us.." --Charles Darwin, 1869 "The Tangled Path" series begins here with part one, "Loose Ends." This episode opens up with a far-flung band of Burner brothers and sisters in the days leading up to Burning Man 2008, tracking their movements towards (and away from) the playa. Moontroll and the Most Dubious E first plan to go backpacking in the North Cascades instead of burning, but thunderstorms and snow through them off course and they briefly consider a spontaneous run to Black Rock City -- those plans are thwarted and the two end up roaming around Central Oregon instead, meditating on the Burn, which is happening concurrent to their journey, from the banks of the Clackamas, Deschutes and Metolious rivers. Listeners will also hear from Ramona Mayhem and Torsten on their various 2008 trips, and later on, Hekter McElliott as he re-enters civilization (and cell range) post-Burn. Interwoven into these narratives are recordings from a midwinter man-gathering on Lummi Island with Hekter, E and Moontroll, along with Trail Rat and Kidd Logic -- important issues such as "negative neutral", "shiver biscuits", "solemn totems" and "fuzzy bunnies" are discussed. Scotty G. joins the conversation later on, as does DJ Grapenuts. The stories that this podcast shares take place over a year-and-a-half, on and off the playa, between friends meeting and separating again along the road. The routes that spring forth from the Burning Man Experience truly form a Tangled Path. Here we survey the many loose ends of that path, tangling and untangling again; in part two, we'll together move towards Conjunction and Burning Man 2009 : Evolution.
