R.I.P. PIG CHAMPION

Say it isn't so...
A P-town rock icon is gone.
Tom 'Pig Champion" Roberts is apparently dead. That's a big bummer, but not particularly surprising. He proudly weighed in at nearly 500 lbs. and drank like a fish, or pig, or something.

Thomas "Pig Champion" Roberts, guitarist for POISON IDEA, died at his home in Portland, Oregon, Monday night (Jan. 30). He was 47 years old. A founding member of the seminal punk band, he continued to appear with POISON IDEA throughout the late Nineties and into the new millennium, despite officially quitting the band in 1993. Variously described as "spectacularly fat," and "the single largest man in hardcore history," Roberts crowned himself "Pig Champion" after hitting an impressive 450 lbs. on the scales. The highly regarded guitarist was revered by a devoted following worldwide. No further information is available at this time.

He not only was one of the most oppressively loud guitar players, but hosted a radio show on Portland's KBOO radio, aquanting fans with classic '77 punk, European hardcore and Japanese spazzcore. He was also a big movie fan. I once had a conversation with him in a club parking lot about some damn long forgotten film. Now I'm struggling to remember it. Poison Idea was also my first ever real punk show, and I was hooked for years.
See ya later Tom.
I will look around for updates.