Spring lights fire again
The Firespinners on the Ashland Plaza are not the inventors of that activity. Rather, according to Michael Bulkin, nicknamed Puck, they are practitioners of an ancient art.
"Aboriginal New Zealanders started it," he said. "Hawaiians do it too."
The Hawaiian connection explains why the flammable material they use to create their nighttime patterns of fiery light are called "poi," the same as the mashed taro root anyone who grew up has eaten.
The Ashland Firespinners group is relatively new, when compared with ancient Polynesians, but has been around for a decade. One of the old timers, Jordan Rosemerkel, was part of the original group. Last year Rosemerkel handed off the flaming baton to Bulkin.
Most Fridays from dusk until about 10:30 a group of three to ten spinners will meet on the plaza. Sometimes extemporaneously, sometimes in coordinated fashion, they twirl sticks and wads of fabric on chains to describe sometimes very intricate patterns of light and after-image.
But the carefree nature of the activity — if you can call whirling combustible doohickeys around your head at 60 miles an hour carefree — seems to be coming to an end.
"We're getting hassled by the city," said a frustrated Bulkin. "We have to have noise permits and plaza use and gathering permits. Before, we had an agreement with the police. If the music we use gets too loud, the cops drive by, honk once and we immediately turn down the music."
But according to Sgt. Tracey Selby of the Ashland Police Department, neither the requirements nor the enforcement have altered in years.
"They've always needed permits for noise, they've always needed permits (from the Fire Department) for fire," she said. "As far as I know we've never had any problems with them," she said, aside from the occasional crowd issue, such as people drifting out into the street or a rare fist fight. "They draw quite a crowd."
Some of the concern surrounding the Firespinners centers, not surprisingly, on fire. According to rules, the Firespinners must remain 15 feet from the nearest audience member. Bulkin understands the need for safety. The Firespinners, he says, never perform without two wet towels, buckets of water and fire extinguishers.
Bulkin said he has witnessed the occasional dope and booze-addled dash by a member of the audience into the very midst of the fire-whirling crew. But he insists that they have never in ten years had an injury. Well, aside from Bulkin himself, who once whipped a blazing wad into the crook beneath his arm, giving himself second-degree burns.
If you think it looks fun and want to trot up to the plaza, grab some flaming poi and start zinging it around your head, think again.
"You have to be experienced spinning fire before you can do it downtown," said Bulkin.
Firespinners statewide have formed a "tribe" that goes each year to Burning Man, the fire-centric festival in the Nevada desert, to perform. They are also planning to rent themselves out to adventurous hosts looking for something a little more exciting at their parties than the clink of cocktail glasses.
As for the future of the Firespinners, Bulkin is ambitious.
"We're looking into making it more like Cirque du Soleil," he said.
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Rachel Roth dances during a Friday night performance on the Plaza last fall. More photos in the Tidings PHOTO GALLERY. Photos by Sarah Hale | For the Tidings |
