The rain persisted Sunday (Sept. 3) at Burning Man, leaving the event’s roughly 73,000 attendees still confined to the site.

Rain came down hard in Black Rock City, located in the remote Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada, on Sunday around noon and then again around 6 p.m., making it still unclear when attendees will be able to leave. This rain has continued to leave the event at a relative standstill, as it has turned the site’s ground into thick mud that’s nontraversable by car and bike. Authorities issued a no driving order when the rain began on Friday.

Complicating matters, more than 300 cars and RVs are currently stuck at the event’s gate after having attempted to leave. Some have been stuck in the mud on the road for a few hours, and some for roughly two days.

A volunteer at Burning Man’s official information booth said that tow trucks are not currently coming to the site, and that when the gate does open, priority will be given to those who did not attempt to leave, given the no driving order that was issued.

One death was reported at Burning Man late Saturday.

According to CNN, the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating “a death which occurred during this rain event.” Authorities did not name the person, but noted, “The family has been notified.” On Sunday, the Sheriff’s Office said that the individual was found on the playa and lifesaving procedures to revive them were not successful.

On Sunday, a White House official said President Biden has been briefed on the situation at Burning Man. Administration officials were in contact with state and local officials, the New York Times reports.

Officials are still planning to burn the event’s namesake man structure at 9 p.m. on Monday, with another large-scale art piece to be burned later in the evening and the event’s temple structure to be burned at an as-yet-determined time on Tuesday.

In the city, talk is rising of Burners concerned about getting back to their lives in the outside world. Discussions about how to tend to children, pets and plants has been overheard. “I need to leave!” one woman at the information booth stated. “I’m supposed to go on vacation in Greece this week.”

The event’s airport remains closed. The Burner Bus shuttles to Reno and San Francisco, which transported roughly 20,000 people into the event, are postponed until further notice. Once shuttle service resumes, riders will be organized by departure time, with priority given to those whose departure time has passed.

Steve Harwell, who performed as the lead singer of Smash Mouth until announcing his retirement from the group in 2021, is in hospice care, a representative for the band tells Billboard.

Harwell, 56, is resting at home and being cared for by his fiancé and hospice care, Smash Mouth’s manager confirmed on Sunday (Sept. 3).

“Although Steve is here with us still, sadly it will only be for a short time,” he says, adding, “We would hope that people would respect Steve and his family’s privacy during this difficult time.”

TMZ first wrote of Harwell’s current health status earlier on Sunday, reporting that he’s reached the final stage of liver failure.

Harwell was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that can makes it hard for the heart to deliver blood to the body, several years ago. Following his initial diagnosis, he suffered from “nonstop serious medical setbacks including heart failure as well as acute Wernicke Encephalopathy,” a condition that greatly impacted his motor functions, including speech and impaired memory, a statement said in 2021.

Harwell shared the news that he was retiring from the “All Star” group due to his ongoing health issues in October 2021.

Harwell’s comment about retiring from Smash Mouth read: “Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being a rock star performing in front of sold-out arenas and have been so fortunate to live out that dream. To my bandmates, it’s been an honor performing with you all these years and I can’t think of anyone else I would have rather gone on this wild journey with.”

The band’s first single was 1997’s “Walkin’ on the Sun,” and they landed a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with the earworm “All Star,” which peaked at No. 4 on the chart in 1999. Astro Lounge, Smash Mouth’s sophomore album that included “All Star,” reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart that year. “All Star” was nominated for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals at the Grammy Awards in 2000, an award that ultimately went to Santana for “Maria Maria.”

Smash Mouth’s most recent album is 2012’s Magic, though they released an acoustic version of debut set Fush Yu Mang in 2018, following the 20th anniversary of the original recording’s release.

Smash Mouth continues to tour with vocalist Zach Goode, who joined the band in 2022.

The .8 inches of rain that fell on Burning Man Friday afternoon (Sept. 1) and early Saturday morning (Sept. 2) have left the event at a relative standstill.

Burning Man officials have closed the event’s gates, making it impossible to enter and exit. All vehicles, other than emergency transport services, have been told to not move. The event’s airport is also currently closed.

Rain turns the ground of Burning Man, an arid desert playa, into thick, sticky mud, making it difficult for vehicles to move without getting stuck. The forecast in Nevada’s Black Rock City, which is what the temporary city of Burning Man is called, calls for a 60% chance of rain between Saturday afternoon and Sunday at 5 p.m.

An information official at the information tent on-site says that the ground typically needs 12-24 hours after the last rain to become drivable. The source says that their best guess for when the roads may reopen is Monday or Tuesday, depending on the weather over the next 24 hours or so.

The current population of Black Rock City is roughly 73,000, based on details shared in the city’s information booth. Burners have been advised to conserve food and water in the event that those inside the city will not be able to leave for several days. The ice tent is currently limiting people to buying one bag only.

Approximately 20,000 people arrived to Black Rock City via the Burner Bus, which transports people from cities including San Francisco and Reno. The information authority notes that these busses will return on a first-come, first-served schedule when roads reopen.

Diplo was at Burning Man, but managed to leave — apparently with Chris Rock — and then hitched a ride from a fan. “just walked 5 miles in the mud out of burning man with chris rock and a fan picked us up,” he tweeted Saturday afternoon.

While the man traditionally burns at the event on Saturday night, an information official says that this burn is unlikely to happen today, given the wetness and the fact that emergency vehicles and fire trucks cannot currently drive out to the man structure.

Inside the city, spirits are relatively high. Music is playing from many camps, with dance parties taking place under tents and in the mud itself. Many of the people out walking around the city are barefoot, with others covering their shoes in plastic bags or wearing just socks.

Information is being disseminated to Burners via the city’s pair of radio stations. Burners have also been advised that there will likely be a citywide cheer when the gates reopen.

Billboard will keep reporting from Black Rock City as is possible.

Before Jimmy Buffett appeared on Billboard’s charts, he was writing about other artists who did.  

Buffett, who died Friday (Sept. 1) at age 76, worked as a Nashville reporter for Billboard from 1969 to 1970. He quit when his first album, Debut to Earth, was released because he was told that continuing would be a conflict of interest. 

Among the concerts he reviewed was Isaac Hayes at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium, writing, “The Hot Buttered Soul Man combined his songs and his keyboard work on both organ and piano with a full and powerful voice range that created a style [that] was truly his own.”

In 2021, Buffett revisited his time as a reporter, telling Billboard during an interview that as a burgeoning artist, he couldn’t bring himself to write anything negative about a fellow performer. 

“I can never give anybody a bad review because I knew how hard it was to get up there,” he said. “Now, there has to be something toxic that [a review] says, but I can never do it because I knew how hard it was. I know performers who are scared to death to get up there and still do it. And I go, “Why are you that scared to get up there?” I mean, you should be doing something else if you get scared to go up there. It’s one of the greatest joys you could ever have on planet earth to me.”

The best part of the job was the free music. Although unbylined, Buffett believed he reviewed Elton John’s 1970 album, Tumbleweed Connection, glowingly writing, “Although this is but his second LP, Elton John’s track record already speaks for itself and the album is sure to be one of the biggest of the new year.” 

Talking to Billboard again in 2022, Buffett recalled the thrill of getting John’s album in the mail while writing for the magazine. “People were sending me free albums because I was the reporter for Billboard, and that album came in a stack of records from I think it was MCA,” he said. “When I got [to Billboard], my editor told me, ‘Just let them know you’re a Billboard reporter and give them your address and they’ll give you records so hopefully you review them or you’ll say something about them.’ So I went ‘free albums? No sh—!’” 

He also wrote of his time at Billboard in his 1998 autobiography, A Pirate Looks at Fifty, calling it “the only real job I would have in my adult life.”

From the first day, he was wined and dined as he traveled with his boss, Bill Williams. “In twenty-four hours, I had gone from just another nobody songwriter who couldn’t get his foot into a music publisher’s door to the assistant Southern Editor of Billboard,” he wrote. “Hell, people took me to lunch. I had business cards. I flew to New York for editorial meetings. I had an expense account. I had a WATTS line at work on which I called all my friends after working hours, and I got free albums from the record companies. Not bad for a real job.” 

Buffett even managed to break some news, including bluegrass titans’ Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ split. 

After switching from covering country music to pop, Buffett interviewed Otis Redding and James Brown, reviewed Led Zeppelin at the Palladium, and learned a little about the importance of taking care of business. “What I mainly saw were a lot of wonderfully talented artists and writers who let somebody else worry about ‘all that stuff,’ and I saw the trouble it got them into,” he wrote in the book. 

Billboard threw Buffett a going away party when his album came out, gifting him a guitar case. Even though that chapter of his life was over, it’s clear his time at Billboard remained a treasured memory and set him on his way: “One of the true joys of my later success was going back and sharing it with Bill,” he wrote in the autobiography. “He was as proud as a parent when I finally broke out.”