I knew Chris for most of my adult life and I am so sad to hear of his passing. I have so many memories of wonderful and perhaps occasionally ill-advised adventures with him. We shared a love of bikes, music, books, and of creating artwork. I think of him often and I wish things hadn't worked out how they did. He is someone I will carry in my heart for the rest of my days along with our mutual shared friend Nils who we lost not so long ago and who shared many of those adventures. 

We are so sorry to hear about Chris. I was always thinking of him, worried about how he was doing. He was a good friend of our son, Nils, and helped him out many times, and was a kind soul, with a good heart. I was hopeful he was getting the help he needed in treatment, I'm just so sorry he wasn't able to make it out of this terrible trap. God bless his soul.

Love, Winnie Visco and Steve Richards 

This is still really raw for me, so forgive me if I ramble or seem confused. I first met Chris in the late 90's, through a mutual friend, Nils Richards (RIP). We bonded through our love of music, particularly the indie scene of that period, which included beloved bands such as Pavement, Guided by Voices, Silver Jews, Slint, Will Oldham, Cat Power, and many others. We spent a lot of time listening to this stuff, mainly on CD I guess, as well as playing guitar together, doing lo-fi home recordings, watching obscure films--Herzog, Jarmusch, Tarkovsky, etc. We drank a lot of Black Label beers, we talked, shared, fought, commiserated and carried each other to heaven. He was the older brother I never had, and he had the qualities you want in an older brother--toughness, troves of esoteric knowledge, and general inscrutability.

Chris turned me on to so many new things, both in terms of media all across the subcultural spectrum, as well as lifestyle traits, habits, hobbies, and general life advice. I was so young and so insecure, not really all that comfortable in my own skin, still seeking to figure out who I was, and what I liked. I was lucky to have Chris and Nils around to influence me and help me start to sort all that out. They're the best guys ever, as far as I'm concerned; unfortunately, the price to be paid for the gift of having them in my life in the first place, is the complete and utter devastation I feel now in their absence. You can't have it both ways, I guess. Still, I wish they were still around--everyday I think about them and reflect back on all the crazy times we had. To know them, to know Chris, was one of my life's great blessings, for sure which I am eternally grateful.
I could go on and on, there's a million great stories to be shared involving Chris, and a million other things I could mention--his deep and abiding love of books, of literature, of authors such as Richard Brautigan, Philip K. Dick and Emily Dickinson. I could talk about our trip to Chicago--we went down to see the Silver Jews in the early aughts, it was like the best trip ever and a total mess, all at once. But I'll leave those stories for another time, for another day. You can bet I won't forget.

PS Chris, I miss and love you so much, and I am so mad at you! You should be here with me right now, I thought we had got away clean. You could've stayed with me forever, and never paid a single cent, and I would have considered it the best deal ever for me, because it would mean I would still have you around. We did and shared so many things together, and there was so much more I wanted to do and share with you. You were my oldest friend, for every phase of my life, you were always there, even with all the fights we had, and now you're not anymore, and I have to figure out some way to go on without my big bro by my side. To quote one of your favorite writers, Emily Dickinson, "Parting is all we know of heaven, all we need of hell."

PPS Death, well it has a sense of finality about it, but death--death is not the end. I found your recordings, Chris, I found your box of SD cards with a lifetime's worth of your songs, brother, I found them! As I have a background in audio recording and production, and because I knew you so well, I am the perfect person to do right by these. I will see to it that your work is preserved, Chris, I will go through it, and organize and label everything, and then I will get started on some final mixes. I know how important your music was to you, and you can rest assured that, while you may be gone, or are presently inaccessible in any case, the world has not heard the last of you, Chris Bollman, not by a long shot. Stay tuned ...

I’m so sorry to hear this about Chris. I went to school with Chris and I remember him as a kind person and an awesome artist.  My condolences to his family and friends.  Rest in peace. 

Trista Nathe Hanson