Michael reads the news that that alleged drug lab where MIT graduate Kevin McCormick died was actually set up to make more sophisticated drugs than meth and says it all might just be a continuation of a long tradition at Cambridge colleges:

... We remember, thirty years ago, the organic chemistry departments of Harvard and MIT were locked in thier own intercollegiate space race, to design the perfect drug. Every week the lab rats would scurry out of the depths to display their latest designs and discoveries at proto-raves in dorm rooms up and down the banks of the Charles. MMDA was a novelty in those days, along with a veritable alphabet soup of stimulants, halucinogens, morphine analogs, exotic plant extracts and even certain substances reputedly available only from living human donors.

As far as we were able to ascertain, the perfect drug was never isolated. It is interesting to note that the search goes on 30 years later, and that MIT is still at the forefront of these efforts to expand the frontiers of science, just as it is undeniably a tragedy that it has cost the life of a young artist.

But a "designer drug" lab, instead. The Globe reports on court papers in the case of that alleged sex club / meth lab at 369 Congress St. No meth, but plenty of other drugs and drug pre-cursors, including LSD, magic mushrooms and plenty of chemicals for making West Coast-style designer drugs:

... "Almost exclusively, these labs are going to be in California, in the San Francisco area," said Gregory D. Lee, a former special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and author of drug investigation texts. ..."

Meanwhile, people who knew Kevin "Frostbyte" McCormick, whose heart-attack death sparked the whole investigation, continue to post tributes.

JL wonders about the effect on the burgeoning art and residential areas in and around Fort Point Channel of the death of Kevin "Frostbyte" McCormick in an alleged sex club/meth lab:

... It's a sad, sordid, and quite unclear tale. What is evident is that the South Boston waterfront really doesn't need this sort of thing. Not like meth labs are exactly wanted anywhere, but really: with the ICA's new building going up just around the corner, the Children's Museum nearby, all the Fort Point Channel arts stuff, loads of new residential units, restaurants, businesses, etc., I have to imagine that the people who have been working to renew the area can't but be alarmed. It's a big city, and things will happen, but sheesh. ...

Meanwhile, people who knew McCormick continue to post tributes:

His death will probably forever outshadow his life, but Kevin McCormick was a sculptor who worked in an unusual medium: Blinking lights. You can see some of his work online:

Chromodome (scroll down the page a bit)
Corona (scroll down the page a bit).
A piece in the 2005 CyberArts Festival
A work at the 2001 Burning Man (scroll down for Shadow Engine).
A work at the 2004 Burning Man
A photo of Kevin McCormick (scroll down for the "Frostbyte" entry).

Tronster had known McCormick since high school:

... I haven't cried (yet) but have come close. I'm in disbelief, anger, disbelief, and acceptance. It all keeps washing over me. I was told by the reporter he had died of a drug overdose (E) which doesn't surprise me but still hurts. I had hoped Kevin would realize how stupid he was doing drugs; Just like in middle and high school I want to work through the logic and show him how I was right in this situation ... I don't want to be right; I want Kevin to be alive.

Chillonia was a year behind him at MIT:

... We sat in his room, with his newly orchestrated light symphony painting the walls red-green-purple-blue, and listened to Koyaanisqatsi.

That evening was quiet, and calm - just this side of uneventful. It stays in my mind because of the way that Kevin made me feel comfortable and welcome. He allowed me to experience the things that he wholeheartedly loved with him. He taught me a hundred things about music, two hundred about light, and more than I could ever count about love for beauty. Kevin was an aesthete of the rarest variety: he loved beautiful things, his imagination had no bounds, and his spirit compelled him to always share. ...

Twin A: One of the world's finest blinky artists, Kevin McCormick, aka Frostbyte, passed away Sunday:

... I hope he's now somewhere really, really pretty.

Know of other McCormick links? Post a comment or let me know.

Joel predicts:

You just know that at least one "Law & Order" associate producer is cutting and pasting today's Globe and Herald stories about the death of MIT-educated artist Kevin McCormick in lurid circumstances in Fort Point. ...

Michael ponders his death:

... Heard on the radio news on the way to work - HAMSTERS were discovered in the basement of the Condo. There is a major story shaping up on a VERY weird sex & drug party syndicate. This confirms our longtime conviction that, contrary to the general public conception, MIT guys are some of the most serious partiers on the currect collegiate circuit, and that's saying a lot.

J. works across the street from the place:

The building is square, 8 stories tall, white, made of brick and concrete, and concrete stairs are shadowily visible through the dirty windows on the corners, so of course it's hard to think we were able to imagine it containing anything else. Also, it seems that we all really like saying "meth lab." ...

Jonelle also works nearby:

... The meth lab/fetish palace in question is about 200 yards from my office and (more crucially) shares a building with our favorite South Boston bar. If only we'd known! Afternoon meetings would have been far more tolerable.

I wonder how many times reporters will mention that the alleged "kinky dungeon of drugs" (as Channel 7 so discreetly put it last night) is near the Children's Museum - and how long before somebody like Bill O'Reilly starts denouncing Boston for letting perverts molest children like that.

Oh, my God! Like, the meth lab is only a couple of city blocks away from the Childrens' Museum!!!

Source: The Boston Atlas

About Kevin McCormick's art.