Hood River, Oregon (AP)* -- Jim Kimball and Rob McCready, of Hood River, Ore. were arrested Tuesday for allegedly torching Burning Man's giant effigy five days early. They won't admit to setting the icon on fire, but they effusively praised the action, and whoever did it, calling it a badly needed "reality check" for the desert art festival.Kimball, 22, says Burning Man has turned into an "Alternative-Disney," while the early burn acted as a protest aimed at the event's increasing commercialization. McCready, 20, explained that he had been at Burning Man for years, explaining that he had tuned in and tuned out, “Ohhh, man. Where are we?”
Kimball and McCready both claim they were not directly responsible for the Tuesday morning blaze, for which they face charges of arson, possession of fireworks, ‘lifesavers’ and mainstream consumer Nike sneakers.
News Services spoke with the two self-proclaimed hackers by phone Thursday as they waited outside a hotel in Nevada.
News Services: So, the big question is, did you set the Man on fire?
McCready: Well, Jim had passed me the kind and I was busy checking out the sky, dude. I didn’t know the dubberoo had slipped between the wood man's toes!”
Kimball: I was, like, running man that day dude, not burning man.
News Services: You have been to Burning Man in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. What made you commit this crime this year?
McCready: It’s better to burn out than to fade away, man!
Kimball: This is my first year, I swear!
News Services: A cult following has supposedly risen from the left, on your behalf, to defend the consumerism you have denounced with the premature burning. Are you prepared to lead such an uprising?
McCready: Like, man, are you for real? Cults are cool.
Kimball: We're, like, revolutionaries.
*No Summit Projects employees were hurt in the making of this blatantly false news report
