"Erykah Badu's naked stroll through downtown Dallas, Texas, for a music video has earned her a disorderly conduct citation. The singer shed her clothes as she walked through Dealey Plaza until she was nude and then fell near where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Badu said the video was "shot guerrilla style," without a crew and in one take March 17. A Dallas Police spokeswoman said earlier in the week that they wanted to press charges against Badu because children were present, but no one had called police or filed a complaint that day. Police now have their witness." [CNN]

The witness probably works for her record label. Total punishment: $500 fine. Total free press from having to pay a $500 fine: priceless.

"CHICAGO--The self-proclaimed founding member of a street gang that purports to exert control through use of violence over hardcore punk rock music in clubs and concert venues in major cities nationwide was arrested yesterday by FBI agents in Los Angeles on a federal extortion charge filed in Chicago. The defendant, Elgin Nathan James, allegedly extorted $5,000 from an unnamed victim, a popular recording artist from the Chicago area, while the victim's band was on tour in late 2005 and early 2006, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today." [FBI]

The street gang they're referring to is the notorious straight-edge crew FSU which stands for Friends Stand United, or as most know it... Fuck Shit Up (or as the FBI document refers to it, "F(_ _ _) S(_ _ _) Up"). The charges continue...

On Nov. 27, 2005, the victim and several friends left a bar in Orlando, Fla., and were jumped by a group of men, some of whom were wearing clothing with logos that said "FSU" and "FSU Nation." The victim escaped with one friend. But another friend and that friend's brother were severely beaten by the gang, the charges allege. About an hour later, the victim received a telephone call from James, and according to the victim, James asked how the victim's trip to Florida was going when the victim had never told James that the victim would be traveling in Florida......

.....On Feb. 25, 2006, under FBI surveillance, the victim met James outside the southern California club and handed James an envelope containing $5,000, which the FBI had provided to the victim, according to the charges

As stated above, these charges are just coming now - over 3 years after the above incident happened. Since then Elgin James moved to LA, released a short film starring Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and became a Sundance recognized-filmmaker! More about FSU and Elgin below...

Continue reading "FSU's Elgin James charged by FBI w/ using "Violence to Control Hardcore Punk Rock Music Scene""

"She was talkative, funny, charming, adorable. She had a tattoo on her back that read "I Love Beards.""

Someone sent me a link to VICE's "DEPARTMENT OF OOPSIES! - WE HIRED A GRIFTER" article the other day (above picture included). I assumed, being that it was VICE, that it was a joke. I wasn't really sure what the point was.

It wasn't until someone else sent me the link to Wednesday's Observer article that I realized this was a true story. Gawker sums it up like this:

It's a crazy new hipster character fond of criminal and sexual hijinks! Let's meet Kari Ferrell, the 22 year-old tattooed Utah girl who scammed her way through hipster Brooklyn. Sex, lies, cancer, and bands, yea!

Kari's story first came out when she lied her way into a job at Vice. That lasted a week, until someone there Googled her and found out she was wanted back in Utah for fraud, theft, and $60K in bad checks, and was generally a con artist.

But today [4/15] former Gawkerer Doree Shafrir comes out with a monstrous piece in the Observer on Kari's whole freaking life story (Doree is most comfortable when dealing with the criminal element). Oh it is delightful, assuming you weren't personally unfortunate enough to come in contact with the brash young pathological liar/ vixen! The short version: Kari stole and scammed her way around Salt Lake City for a while, then decamped to Brooklyn, where she resumed stealing and scamming, using aggressive sex appeal and wild lies like "I have cancer" or "I'm pregnant" or "I work there" (sometimes all at once, to her boyfriends!) to get...money? Validation? She's obviously mad psycho. [Gawker]

The Observer article is full of familiar terms like, Vice, Union Pool, Williamsburg, GoldenVoice, Coachella, Rutgers, Happy Ending, beards, Brooklyn Label, Greenpoint, and AEG.

It's strange that she came to Brooklyn and used her real name. Check her out in the Salt Lake City Police's Most Wanted video below...

Continue reading "Kari Ferrell - the tattooed 'hipster grifter' invaded Brooklyn"