I honestly don’t mean to assume another man’s ego, especially a spiritually-inclined man whose ego was near non-existent … but I have to say I was sadly disappointed that for many days after Christopher Dedrick‘s passing, not one major media outlet reported on his tragic death. Notable exceptions were Tower Records in Japan and French music magazine qobuz.com.

Knowing the depth of Chris’ lifetime contribution to music through his band The Free Design (Stereolab, for instance, would never have existed as we know them today) and later through scoring for film & television, I was distressed to think his legacy could be forgotten. I wasn’t sure what to do or if it was even my place to do anything (there’s that ego again). You see, I do have a connection to Chris – a few years ago I was lucky enough to have been hired by him and his amazing wife Moira to assist them with their various web sites. (Moira is a fantastic portrait artist: http://moiradedrick.com.)

Then late Tuesday afternoon LA Weekly posted this story and the digital universe lit up with RIP tweets, Bubbles-inspired blog posts, news articles and insights. The love for Chris has been pouring in non-stop ever since.

My intention is to keep a fresh list here for reference – poach it, share it, follow the trails. The more people who learn about and are exposed to The Free Design, the better. Leave a comment and let me know if I’ve missed one.

I don’t really have much more to say that hasn’t been said quite beautifully and eloquently in many of the posts and tributes below. Both Chris and Moira have touched my life deeply.

Well maybe there’s one thing and that is I especially appreciate the tribute by Dan Shepelavy who suggests that “Proper Ornaments” would have been the perfect theme song for the television show Mad Men. I have to agree with this brilliant insight…

Articles, blog posts & podcasts dedicated to the late Chris Dedrick

• Busy Doing Nothing, on WVEW-LP Podcast
• Robbie Baldock dedicated a two-hour radio program to Chris on August 8th: http://projectmoonbase.blogspot.com – hopefully a podcast will be available soon. (Robbie is the mastermind behind http://www.thefreedesign.com)
• this, that, and also, etc (Dan Shepelavy)
• Digital Digging: Free Design’s Chris Dedrick
• The Daily Swarm
• Pitchfork
• Exclaim!
• Spinner
• The Music Swamp
• Free Music
• The Rumor Monger
• Pop Opinions
• Shadoplay
• Allmusic
• Latest Music Headlines
• Wires and Waves
• Newzfor.me
• Artist Direct
• Crawdaddy
• All About Jazz
• Music is my Radar
• Real Time Sound
• Elyse Bruce
• Weirdo Music
• Scrubbles.net
• Music Blips
• LA Weekly
• Tower Records Japan
• qobuzz.com
• Orange Crate Art
• Bob + Dusty’s Whirl-A-Go-Go
• 6th or 7th
• Playlist for Irwin – August 11, 2010
• The Obit Patrol
• Word On the Street – 8/11
• POSSO OUVIR UM DISCO?
• Female First UK
• contactmusic.com
• CBC Radio 3
• The Post Chronicle
• You Could Be Born Again – Kevin Babbles
• Playlist for Daniel Blumin – August 14, 2010
• The Big Cartoon Forum
• Adiós a Chris Dedrick de The Free Design – jenesaispop.com
• Feelin’ Alright on KPFT 90.1
• radio wowsville
• The Free Design by William Phoenix

Chris also kept a helpful and insightful journal on his experience with cancer: Circle of Fifths.

Sunday Morning Hurl just about sums is up, thanks Jill:

Whenever a right-wing woman — any right-wing woman — claims to be a feminist, she doesn’t do it in a vacuum. She isn’t just hurting herself. Her antifeminist feminism has violent repercussions and broad implications. It spreads like a contagion from patriotically-attired partisan church lady to Fox news to housewife to housedaughter, cutting a swath of intellectual death in its wake. Research conducted here at the Spinstitute for the Intellectual Lifespan of Female Children shows that for each right-wing woman who performs in the capacity of an empowerful flag-waving heterosexual, 107.6 little girls can kiss their future human agency goodbye as it flutters off into the aether. Like their mothers before them, these little girls will have to pay for their own rape kits, be denied access to abortions, shop for pink lipstick at Wal-Mart, and be judged on their compliance with male desire until they ultimately become wife-slaves in nuclear families of their own, dedicated to consumerism and the replication of patriarchy.

Because the right-wing woman’s real agenda is compulsory compliance with megatheocorporatocratic mandates governing fair use of women, it’s bad enough when specimens from the rank and file pretend to give a fuck about other women. But when celebrity airhead Sarah Palin, with cameras running, gets all feisty and empowerful, the number of doomed girls vomitosially increases to 2,320,917, rising exponentially each time somebody watches her “Mama Grizzlies” SarahPAC vid on YouTube.

Mama Grizzlies! It’s a “mom awakening.” They’re gonna “get things done!” What things? Who the hell knows? Who the hell cares? Sarah Palin loves America, and that’s good enough for moms!

Read the rest of: Sunday Morning Hurl: Mama Grizzlies

Girls suck at video games / Les filles sont nulles aux jeux vidéo from Stéphanie Mercier on Vimeo.

Read more about it at Sociological Images.