This years Burning Man was nearly ruined when a prankster with an agenda set fire to the 40' tall statue. And in the true Burning Man tradition, the culprit was a nut job. Paul David Addis was arrested Tuesday on felony charges of arson and destruction of property, as well as misdemeanor possession of fireworks and resisting a public officer, after the Burning Man figure was set ablaze at 2:58 a.m. that day. The fire was doused within half an hour, and the figure was rebuilt in time for the official burning.

In a telephone interview Friday from his San Francisco home, Addis said that while he was not claiming responsibility for the blaze himself - "I'm facing charges. I'm not stupid" - he did characterize himself as the representative and sole surviving member of the satirical group that was responsible. He called the group Black Rock Intelligence, or "the CIA of Burning Man."

Satire aside, Addis said there was a more serious point behind the early burn: The celebration of individual expression and community-building at the core of Burning Man has been lost in recent years as the event has become too "suburban." A spontaneous act like prematurely burning the Man was an attempt to recapture some of the original spirit of the event.

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