61. Nights Out

In the sum­mer of 2021, Elon Musk, known for his ven­tures in elec­tric cars and space explo­ration, stepped into the enter­tain­ment spot­light as a guest host on “Sat­ur­day Night Live” (SNL) in May. Deliv­er­ing an open­ing mono­logue that played into his eccen­tric per­sona, Musk joked about his achieve­ments and addressed his Asperg­er’s Syn­drome, mark­ing a moment of self-aware­ness about his pub­lic image. His moth­er, Maye, joined him onstage for a Moth­er’s Day seg­ment, adding a per­son­al touch to the episode. His part­ner, Grimes, also par­tic­i­pat­ed in a sketch. The chap­ter describes the after­par­ty at the Pub­lic Hotel, where Musk’s indul­gence into the ear­ly hours high­light­ed a side of him sel­dom seen, con­trast­ing with his child­hood.

For his fifti­eth birth­day lat­er that June, rather than throw­ing one of his famous elab­o­rate par­ties, Musk opt­ed for a low-key cel­e­bra­tion in Boca Chi­ca with close friends and fam­i­ly. This was part­ly due to a recent neck surgery stem­ming from an injury years before. The fes­tiv­i­ties includ­ed fire­works, a tes­ta­ment to Tex­as­’s lenien­cy, and time spent at SpaceX’s employ­ee restau­rant, under­scor­ing Musk’s con­tin­ued focus on his work even amidst per­son­al mile­stones.

The chap­ter also cov­ers Musk’s atten­dance at the “Rene­gade Burn” in Neva­da, a stand-in for the can­celed offi­cial Burn­ing Man fes­ti­val. Musk con­tributed finan­cial­ly to ensure the fes­ti­val’s future, high­light­ing his attach­ment to the event as a spir­i­tu­al and com­mu­nal retreat. His vis­it, brief and amidst work crises, exem­pli­fies his chal­lenge in bal­anc­ing per­son­al joy and pro­fes­sion­al oblig­a­tions.

Musk’s com­pli­cat­ed rela­tion­ship with Grimes is fur­ther explored through their inter­ac­tions at Burn­ing Man and beyond, lead­ing to a mutu­al breakup in light of their await­ed sec­ond child via a sur­ro­gate. Their dynam­ic, fraught with ten­sions and rec­on­cil­i­a­tions, mir­rors Musk’s broad­er strug­gle with per­son­al con­nec­tions amidst his expan­sive ambi­tions.

The nar­ra­tive ends with Musk and Grimes attend­ing the Met Gala in Sep­tem­ber 2021, depict­ing a chaot­ic yet glam­orous life that strad­dles the heights of tech inno­va­tion and the flam­boy­ance of celebri­ty cul­ture. Their ever-evolv­ing rela­tion­ship reflects both the volatil­i­ty and the vibran­cy of Musk’s extra­or­di­nary life tra­jec­to­ry, marked by unpar­al­leled achieve­ments and pro­found per­son­al jour­neys.