Some real shitty news for you hardcore fans, Tom "Pig Champion " Roberts died yesterday. This really sucks, I miss him already. RIP big man, you rocked.

Balkin - how the fucked did you find out? I live in Portland and I didn't know and I have met and hung with the Champian on several occasions - that and Slayer Hippie!!! Sad news indeed!

I saw it on myspace yesterday.

sad, sad news.

Holy sh*t. PI rules. My favorite harcore band of all time. Even though it is sad, I am suprised that Tom didn't pass away years ago...a pretty self-injurious lifestyle was happening for "the kings of punk/world's loudest drunks."

Likewise, I am here in Portland and hadn't heard yet!

At one of the last shows I saw of theirs here in town (probably almost a couple of years ago, or thereabouts at Sabala's ) Pig Champion was sitting off to the side of the stage and toward the end they pulled him up for a little 'reunion performance' of sorts. It looked kind of emotional for him.

I can't believe how long those guys kept on making that music. DECADES!

Hyper I am with you. No disrespect but I am not surprised he hadn't passed away a few years ago also. I know he had lost a bunch of weight in the last few years but was still a BIG man. I had heard that PI went out uncerimoniously a few weeks ago with a thrown together show (week notice) at Sabala's here in town. I guess Jerry's finally calling it and I heard rumor he was moving to NY? Sorry to say I missed it.

Yeah, that would have been a neat little piece of music history for us both to have experienced. I haven't been paying attention to what is going on around town for awhile now, so I was out of the loop...It's a shame.

Now I need to dredge up some of my albums of theirs and re-live the brutal glory that is Poison Idea's music.

I read punk and metal news sites everyday to keep up, its part of my "real" job. It was a real eye opener when going through the news today and seeing that he had passed away. And yeah, I know what you guys mean, it is a surprise but kinda not with the way those guys lived. Gotta go find my "Pick Your King" ep and remember him in a good way.

There is still time to officially pay him some respect:

From the Oregonian, Thursday, February 02, 2006:

Thomas E. Roberts

A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006, in Omega Funeral & Cremation Service for Thomas E. Roberts, who died Jan. 31 at age 47.

Mr. Roberts was born Nov. 4, 1958, in Portland. He was a guitarist and songwriter with the punk rock band Poison Idea.

Survivors include his mother and stepfather, Phyllis and Arthur D. Carlson; brother, William F.; sisters, JoAnn Jones and Lynn Roberts; stepsisters, Jennifer DeWolfe, Vanessa Armstrong and Constance Taliaferro. His father Dr. William F. died in 1966.

Stay Tuned...New Project...New Fun...And will only be serious to those that take it seriously...

"Toy Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes"
(in case of automatic edit - the last word is the mean word for A-Holes).

It will be fun...Hopefully a bit of a pisser too.

What the Fuck does that mean?

Nice real nice - a friend and fellow musician passes away and you fucking asshole type that. Your a fucking DICK! You like that? Stay tuned jerk off!

mark...wha...??? that's a fuckin' BURLY response. worse than some of mine. do you have ANY IDEA the homage and inside joke this refers too or are you just reacting?

i hope you understand what the phrase means...??? yeah...??? no...???

i'd call it "homage" and i think pig would too. as a "former" record collector - record collectors have got NOTHING on toy collectors.

did you get the e.p. - "Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes" when you were young, dumb and proud? It's a POISON IDEA record. And there's a BEUTIFUL STORY behind it. It's HOMAGE.

And incidentally don't "pay no more than $225". We upped the ante by 2 bills.

AND DON'T FORGET "LOCKJAW" PORTLAND PUNKOS!

and Burnside before it was "cool". huh?

Sorry man - I titally missed the inside joke there and yes I do get it now. I saw your post late last night, I had been in front of this 21 century idiot box all day and thought you were first ragging on Pig and then dragging the fine folks of the board through the muck.

Sorry for my knee jerk reaction....... now that I think about it thats pretty fucking funny!

I was wondering whether or not you got the reference after reading your response about it. LOL

What can i say in my defense? I read quickly and then react even quicker.......

I said I was sorry sheesh

well i gotta say...cool.

i think you'll like some of the "newer", "funner", "pisser" projects me and a few cholos are kickin' 'round. yeah we wanna pay homage to those that took a good piss but this time we're taking that piss at a genre that needs a bit of that.

if we actually get some stuff done; and understand what we're about you might dig it.

we shall see.