This is the second in an irregular series of interviews with local participants, highlighting some of the creativity in the Santa Cruz area.

~ How did you get the idea for Costco? What were you hoping to accomplish?
The Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet sprang from this idea we had that people really wanted to connect with other folks at Burning Man. We'd had the experience of wandering around intrigued and excited by the thousands of interesting projects out there, but not knowing how to get involved. We'd had difficulty jumping over the threshold of our own shyness. I think everyone's had this experience.

From the beginning we wanted to meet interesting people and make it easy for them to interact with others at the same time. That love we put into Costco shows because a lot of people walk out of our camp happier, more engaged, and more alive.

~ You obviously didn't pull it off yourself. How did you convince folks to get involved?
We started with a core group from the Big Yellow House in Santa Cruz. We put the word out on the e-playa and through friends and gathered an amazing group of people dedicated to the Costco spirit of serious and generous play.

~ What was Costco like the first year?
The enduring memory I have of that first year of Costco, nearly five years ago, was of being so hoarse I could barely talk and so tired I could barely stand up. I'd already been to Burning Man four times previously, but I'd never been seriously involved in anything really. So in Center Camp our first year, Costco took the plunge.

~ How was it received by BM participants?
We were completely unprepared for Costco's popularity. Later we counted and found that we'd issued soulmate cards to over 500 people. That was with a crew of only five full-time Costco campers!

Nowadays with a full-time crew of nearly 30, we find soulmates for over a thousand Black Rock City citizens.

~ After Year One, what did you walk away from the playa with, in the sense of "Let's do it again next year" or "Try something different."
We were fucking jazzed! We had never never done anything so intensely interactive and meaningful. That year, sore-throated and exhausted, we left the event absolutely sure we'd back bigger and better.

~ Keeping with that theme, how has Costco evolved over the years?
Each year, we've tried to refine the process of finding soulmates. This year, as last year, Costco is focusing on how to make our interactions with the BRC populace both high-quality and intimate. (This over a few years where the focus was working with more people.) We started interviewing customers to find out more about them, who they are, why they are here, and so on. Both our campers and our visitors liked this improvement a lot!

Each year we've come back with a more comfortable camp for both customers and employees. A watershed year was the first year we brought a full kitchen and kitchen staff to feed the camp gourmet food. The same year, we brought a full bar and a full-time British bartender to man it.

~ What is it about this soulmate concept that seems to resonate with folks?
People get it completely. Your soulmate is your best friend or your brothers or sisters or lover or mentor. Your soulmate is someone who touches your life deeply and permanently. We subscribe to the multiple soulmates in this life theory.

~ Talk about some of the nuts and bolts of what it takes to operate a theme camp on the playa (when do you start planning, what do you take, where do you store it all, how do you get it out there, how long does it take to set up and take down?)
Every year we've started planning earlier and earlier. While what we do is similar from year to year, we are always looking to make our Augusts much less stressful. We bring a ton of stuff. We tow a 20 foot flatbed trailer and a fully-loaded travel trailer out there with a whole caravan of Costco employees. During the year Costco stuff molders in the Big Yellow House garage.

One of the most important jobs at Costco is the VP of Facilities. Jefe's job is to make sure that every nut and every bolt and every extension cord gets to the playa. An important job, because once you are there, you are there. Everyone at Costco pulls together the items on our master packing list. Once there, Jefe's crew gets us up and running in less than a day.

~ On the people side, how is Costco organized?
No one person could do this alone.
What started as a corporate parody becomes a very functional hierarchical organization indeed. It has been a huge advantage. While our most important values are always warmth and generosity, behind the scenes Costco runs like a well-oiled corporate machine. We have VPs of Human Relations, Corporate Communications, Facilities, and Grub who take their jobs very seriously. And of course the rest of the staff is equally committed and dedicated.

I'm the CEO. Ostensibly I run the show at Costco, but in reality I am more of an air traffic controller, making sure that all of the energy and hard work of our excellent staff takes off and lands on the right runway, etc.

~ Do you take volunteers on the playa?
We rely on volunteers. Last year, we had more than 50 volunteers. Many of our volunteers come back with us the next year to camp.

~ At what point did you decide to operate a kitchen and what's involved in that?
The kitchen is a mammoth undertaking. A big focus for Costco has always been our kitchen and the good food we make. (There is a reason breaking bread has always been a cross-cultural metaphor for community and friendship!) We all eat around one big table. Not only do we feed our own camp (30 people), but our volunteers, Costco guests, and at times, our neighboring camps (last year we fed SuperSnail, First Camp, Spatial Delivery, Electric Ladybug, and many of the Lamplighters). Our first cook, Pippi, pioneered an aggressive generosity that we've taken to heart.

~ Ever get hassled by the other Costco?
That's a long story, but it has a happy ending. We'll just say that our dealings with PriceCostco started bad, got worse, and then got quite nice really. In the end, we found Costco's lawyers to be understanding, careful, thorough, and, well...with it. They were careful to explain that they understood what we were doing, why we were doing it, and that they understood the humor in a "discount warehouse store dealing in soulmates." They went to great lengths to say they respected our right to free speech. I felt bad for ever saying that they were humorless.

We sometimes wonder at the people who wander in off the playa completely clueless, even after we explain CSTO's services. I can truly say, even if not all of our customers do, Costco's lawyers get it. We're trying to be good coporate citizens. They seem like nice enough people. We don't want to cause them any extra trouble. Really.

~ What would you consider the toughest part of running a theme camp on the playa?
For years, we've heard after the event of this cool thing or that cool thing, and we keep going "Really? I must of missed that." For years, we've been so busy entertaining Black Rock City that we'd gotten little opportunity to experience it. We've gotten better with time. We have a rule now that if anyone, including the CEO, works more than 3 hours a day, they are physically removed from camp and sent out onto the wide-open playa to enjoy life.

~ And what's the most enjoyable?
The work we do is the hardest most meaningful work I do all year. Hands down. Nothing feels better than having someone return with a success story.

~ Done anything out on the playa besides Costco?
Some years, no. But nowadays, I am a figurehead like the Queen of England. So I have time to go out on the playa and make friends and get into trouble. Costco triumphed at the Dante's Network Battle of the Burning Man Stars. We always help make trouble with our old friends at Sindicate, Dr. Megavolt's playa home last year. We help out around Center Camp whenever we can. We serenade the Lamp Lighters every night with You Light Up My Life.

~ What keeps you coming back to the event?
Why do we keep coming back? Habit? I have to justify the expense of a giant Chevy Suburban and a 20-foot flatbed trailer? Nah, the people. Always the people. The best, most creative, interesting, and bad-ass cross-section of people anywhere. Black Rock City.

~ Talk a little bit about Big Yellow House. What was the inspiration for that?
The BYH is a cooperative house with a focus on art, food, and play. We like to fancy ourselves premier purveyor of mischief and mystery in Santa Cruz, California. Similar to Costco, we set out to make a home that was welcoming, playful, loving, and served yummy food.

~ What sorts of activities does BYH do?
The Big Yellow House sponsored the Million Clown March, as well as our annual National Pirate Appreciation Day party. We also have more low-key events like a monthly collage workshop.

~ Tell me a little about your industrial and found art.
I have two recent series of works, one more sculptural, one more 3D collage. The Strange Machina Series consists of interactive, functional sculptures that appear to have a mysterious industrial purpose, but are intended only to intrigue and amuse. They bring to mind old patent drawings or forgotten objects found in an abandoned lab somewhere.They walk a meandering line between the antique and the mad scientist.

Another series consists of glass-fronted assemblage pieces made from found materials, both man-made and natural. It reflects my interest in narrative and personal story. Half way between abstract and representational, these sculptures tend to be lyrical, more visual poetry than prose. I always hope my work leaves you with the sense that there is a hidden story, that there is always more to tell.

~ What are your plans for BM 2002?
For us, one of the most ass-puckering parts of Burning Man, is hauling several tons of shit with aging, rusting, and under-powered equipment over some of the highest mountains on the continent. So unless we break down on the torturous route over Donner Pass up the Sierra Nevadas and have to eat each other, we'll be back in Black Rock City to bring the Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet to Burning Man another year.

Photos courtesy Wes Modes and the crew of the Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet.

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