Jail time might only give them street cred.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR6kVM6Ntuo

Because musicians are just innocent, noble “creatives”. Only an ‘oily-hide’(?) ‘exec’ with a ‘fool-proof plan to cash in’(!) could be behind it.

Nope, sorry. This is purely amateur-grade stupidity.

I can’t even begin to imagine a ‘record exec’ dumb enough to think this would be a good idea. Even record execs have to commute to work.

Only a bunch of ‘creative artists’ who spend their days getting high in their garage could think this would be a good idea.

“I know, man! We can do it as a charity gig for the homeless! That’ll keep people from being too pissed off about it.”

Amateur stupidity by wannabe ‘artists’ completely out of touch with the everyday reality of working people.

Dollars to donuts, no ‘execs’ involved.

On the bright side, this stunt may have revealed a critical fault with the LAPD’s freeway anti-terror plan. Can one really stop traffic for two hours by stopping a truck and running away? That’s unacceptable.

I agree that NOT posting the name of the band (and possibly blurring it in photos of the incident) would be a great start. LA Times embedded their music video and after watching it, I have a hard time being mad. They are really, really bad and pathetic.

Teach them a lesson, Mr. Criminal Justice System.

At every gig they do for the next five years.

US-101 is a US Highway Route, but not a federal Interstate.

US Routes are just a nationwide system of highway numbering, administered by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, a nationwide association of state highway (and other transportation) officials that serves as a national standards-setting body.

US Routes are built, maintained, and policed by the individual states. The designation of a highway as a US Route doesn’t give the federal government any special jurisdiction over crimes committed on that highway.

1. Number of people stuck * time * ave. hourly wage of locals (likely in the millions considering location)
2. Number of vehicles stuck * time * ave. gas usage at standstill * cost of gas
3. Any resources wasted by the city/state handling this problem
4. Emotional damages (road rage is srs bzness)
5. Punitive damages

Imagine that, they stopped traffic. Stopped traffic!

Maybe ya’ll ought to just hang them. In a public square. With children in attendance. And draw and quarter them too. Ya. That’s the ticket.

I mean, really, just imagine, stopping traffic! To make music!!

Wow. What a vile, evil, wicked, mean and nasty heinous crime that is indeed.

/Mama they inconwenienced me. Can I kill ‘em now?

Criminal Liability?:

I haven’t found any misdemeanors yet, just infractions.

Tort Liability?:

Public safety response is one thing – seems like you could enforce some sort of hefty fine on them for that. But is there any way to enforce liability on these guys for causing traffic to back up for thousands of people(?)

It doesn’t really matter how any of us think they should be punished. The more interesting question, at least for an attorney (or law student with some time on their hands!), is how _can_ they be punished?

Their band name and image would be up for grabs for a couple of years of internet-based irony until we were all sick of the joke.

Actually, this is already possible. Have at it, internet. Let’s see the Imperial Stars sue everyone for copyright infringement.

Regarding the Borgnine meme in this thread, get this: There is a one-legged homeless (?) man who spends all day with a bottle of windex polishing the stars on Hollywood Blvd. True story.

Also, I am going to jump on the “we’re being punked” bandwagon, now that I think about it. These guys are little too over-the-top douchey/terrible with apparently only one song, which directly references the ‘stunt’ and was released that same day. Said song already also has a hilariously cheesy video that is a little too ‘slick’ (as someone else has mentioned). How does a band that awful (and apparently with no self-awareness) that no one has ever heard of afford video production like that and an obnoxious truck with their likenesses painted on it?

I think this may just be the point where viral marketing has been pushed to its unfortunate, disturbing extreme.

As for whether the anger is justified, absolutely. If you’ve ever been stuck in L.A. traffic you might well understand how unfathomably frustrating it would be to learn that someone had made it even worse, on purpose.

Add to that the fact that among the thousands of people forcibly kept prisoner in their sweltering cars for hours on end doubtlessly included people who were late to work, missed appointments, missed flights, missed picking up their kids, maybe even a few who were on the way to an emergency room and yeah, frothing rage seems pretty appropriate.