Hi,
My name's Brett Ortler, and I'm a writer/author, and I'm working on an essay about my friend, Chris Haugen. Long story short: We were close friends, even best friends, for a time (college), and while he had a falling out (my fault) he was one of those friends whose influence sticks with you even after the friendship itself is no longer in the present tense. As you all know, he passed away some time ago, and I've thought about him a lot since he passed away. I messaged with him on Facebook a few months before he passed away, and I only knew that he had MS, not that it was serious enough to cause seizures, and eventually land him in hospice. When I heard he died, a few weeks after it happened, I was stunned. Part of it was because we had been close, but if I'm honest, part of it was because he was my age--the first peer I really knew, to pass. Anyway, I'm a writer by trade, and I can't stop thinking about him, and related matters, and so I'm working on an essay about him. As you can expect, his love of Canadian music, and especially Matthew Good, takes center stage. While working on the piece, I've revisited all of the music he introduced me to--I've been playing "Apparitions" and "Everything is Automatic" on repeat--and in the process of writing it, I've stumbled across the strangest thing--the digital trail he left behind.
It's damn spotty, of course. Most of the digital conversations we had--via our school email, via Facebook--have disappeared, but I've found other things. Some of his old playlists, a YouTube account he created with a (pretty decent) music video he shot in Fargo-Moorhead, and what I could read of Matt Good's memorial message about Chris from the blog, which has since disappeared. Given the subject matter (and even some of the music he hooked me on--"Apparitions," Moist's "Underground") that somehow seems fitting, but I'd love to find whatever's left.
That's where you come in. I'd love to hear what you remember about him, about his love for Matthew Good (if anyone can find the original Good blog post about him, I'd love it), and whatever you remember. As I'm not much of a member (first post!), I don't have access to all that, but whatever you can share would be much appreciated.
I've also contacted his sister (who posted here and was kind enough to let me send her questions), and I'll likely be running the piece by her/his folks, too, to keep things aboveboard. (I'm also still pals with his ex-girlfriend, whom we both went to school with--and who was my N64 competition in Major League Baseball Featurng Ken Griffey, Jr. Baseball at school, but that'll be in the piece. (As a child of the '80s, video games make an appearance.)
Anyway, thank you for your help, and happy listening,
Brett
