Friday the 13th,in August of2004 a light was stolen away. A heart so big it had to crack, and out poured a drama, a tragedy, a memory and a smile.

Buddha Dave Kennedy made his first and only trip to Black Rock City in 2003. He came not as a wide-eyed newbie, but as an experienced desert dweller with so much to offer. He arrived with some 57 feet of RV and trailer which housed a kitchen, a repair shop, and the beautiful steel dome he had built to become the centerpiece and main communal shade zone for our Department of Tethered Aviation (DOTA) theme camp.

During his stay in BRC he manufactured, built, cleaned, and carefully watched over our camp. Clean and sober for eighteen years, he spent the week eating and feeding us deliciously, smoking cigarettes, drinking Red Bull, and watching the rest of us get twisted. He lovingly admired the nude playa lovelies that wandered by, but refused to look at naked me cuz I was married to his best new playa buddy. Thats just the kind of respect he had. He was an amazingly generous person, who gave and gave and never asked for anything in return except for the occasional ginger molasses cookie.

A talented kite buggier, Dave once said, "You know someones a true friend when theyll pull the cactus outta yer ass." For ten days we lived with Buddha Dave in BRC, and again and again he pulled out our proverbial, Burning Man, ass cactus.

So beautiful was his dome, that this year he was contacted to build another one for Barbie and Leos Bok Globule playa installation, a virtual reality tour of the universe, straight from NYC s Hayden Planetarium. While he was already holding down a job as a machinist and starting a very successful kite distribution business, he enthusiastically and proudly agreed and began production on another dome for Burning Man 2004.

On August 12th, we headed for Daves home in the El Mirage desert to finish building the new dome. He met us in his driveway at 1:30am, excited to tell us all about the kites he had bought for this years DOTA kite fly (Thursday at 4:20pm), the feasting we would do for the next few days and the success of his new business. We shot the shit for an hour and then headed for bed, wanting to get an early start on the dome the next day.

At 9:15am Friday we arose to find our beloved Buddha Dave flat on his back on the kitchen floor, grasping for his breath. We pumped his chest and breathed into his lungs, cried, yelled and tried to pull him back, but to no avail. The paramedics arrived at 9:45 and informed us our playa brother was gone. Left was only a body, a Buddha belly, and the hint of a smile. At least he looked peaceful in the end.

And through the next couple of days of painful drama that we shared with his family and friends, the one thing they all agreed on was that Dave loved Burning Man. He died and was buried wearing a small burning man around his neck.

Life since then has been nothing but surreal. Our DOTA family has hugged, wept and remembered our time with Dave together. We have screamed at his loss, said "Fuck Burning Man this year!" and then vowed to complete his VR dome and get it to the playa at whatever cost.

And so soon we will all be standing in his completed dome, breathing the dust and seeing the stars, peaking thru the cracks, cuz that's where the light gets in.

 Here we all are Dave... looking for that light from the cracks in your huge broken heart.

Go safely brother with our love.