Yvonne Beasley

ybeasley@rgj.com

Elon Musk has long-standing connections to Nevada, likely shaped by Burning Man.

The Tesla CEO has attended and supported the annual arts-tech-and-counterculture event for years.

Because what happens at Burning Man often stays at Burning Man, the details are hard to pin down. A Tesla spokesperson declined to comment, but Musk hasn't been quiet about the annual arts-and-counterculture event.

Here's a roundup from around the Internet:

- Musk digs the Burning Man mindset. At a party this year, he said he would take Mike Judge, director of HBO's "Silicon Valley," to Burning Man this year. "If you haven't been, you just don't get it," according to recode.net. Brian Doherty of Reason magazine, who is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his book, "This is Burning Man," was at that party. "I thanked him, as a Burning Man guy, for being so supportive of the Burning Man brand, as it were" Doherty said Thursday in an email.

- Muskmay have begun his dream of electric cars while traveling to Burning Man in 2004, according to techcrunch.com. The site has posted a 2007 photo showing a very Tesla-like prototype out on the playa.

- Musk's first son, who died when he was 10 weeks old, was named Nevada Alexander, according to Esquire magazine. Of his reaction to the tragedy, his ex-wife Justine said, "He doesn't do well in the dark places. He's forward moving, and I think it's a survival thing with him."

- Unless he went incognito, Musk probably wasn't at Burning Man 2014 at all. Doherty wrote that two Burning Man insiders told him there was no sign of Musk on the playa this year. Techcrunch also reported that he didn't go. (... Maybe because he had a big gigafactory deal to finalize?)

- In 2011, Musk stayed in an "elaborate" RV compound on the playa, according to the Wall Street Journal. Several recent reports have questioned whether billionaire style meshes with Burning Man, although the event's founder, Larry Harvey, told Techcrunch, "You can make a lot of money and do good with it. Elon Musk has made a lot of money."