R.I.P. Lance Hahn (1967-2007)

I came upon this sad story Monday morning:

Founding member of J Church and all around well-loved punk icon Lance Hahn has passed away. Hahn had been comatose since Friday, October 12th following a collapse during dialysis. According to a post attributed to Hahn's girlfriend:

as far as the doctors can tell, this collapse was due to a sudden, drastic drop in blood pressure, which in turn was probably caused by a recurrence of the infection he had had in September combined with the stress of dialysis. he received immediate CPR from medical professionals at the dialysis center, but as it took fifteen or twenty minutes to resuscitate him, he suffered neurological damage from lack of oxygen to the brain, leaving him in a coma from which he never returned.

Lance Hahn was the lead singer, guitarist, and founding member of J Church. He also wrote extensive "punk rock history" articles for Maximumrocknroll. In addition of all of this, he found time to run Honey Bear Records. Hahn was working on a compilation book of writings on anarcho-punk bands, called "Let the Tribe Increase," to be released on AK Press.

To me this story has special significance since I was a big fan of J Church and had the pleasure of seeing them live in Winnipeg 1996 and 1997. After both shows, I had the opportunity to talk to Lance about life on the road and upcoming projects and of course to sign a couple of CD's. He seemed to be a genuinely nice guy and very knowledgeable about music and the punk scene in the U.S. If you don't know J Church, seek them out and listen to their music, they were greatly under-rated and very prolific releasing at least a dozen albums and countless 7'' ers during their 15 year career.

I noticed in the last day or so, a memorial blog has been created for fans and friends to share their remembrances about Lance and the band.

If you have never listened to J Church, I've posted a small sample of the band's highlights. I also recorded both Winnipeg shows when they were in town and I posted the complete 1996 show on Dimeadozen, sort of as a tribute to Lance. I've included 4 songs here from that show.

Bomb (from: Camels, Spilled Corona And The Song Of Mariachi Bands)
Rockville (REM cover: Camels, Spilled Corona...)
Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Procession Of Simulacra)
Simple Gesture (The Drama Of Alienation)

Pyramid Cabaret Winnipeg, MB June 12, 1996My Favourite Place
No Surprise
Hope (Descendants cover)
Yellow, Red And Green