Police arrived and quickly arrested the three members of Imperial Stars performing on top of the truck blocking traffic on U.S. 101 near Sunset Boulevard, Oct. 12. However, getting the truck off the highway took a little more time, mainly because the driver vamoosed with the keys as soon as the little publicity stunt began.

But the freeway performance wasn’t some spontaneous event by a band leaping before looking. Instead, the band allegedly spent three months planning the promotion, according to a Los Angeles television station.

A man identified as the “information technology manager” for the Imperial Stars’ record label told KNBC that planning for yesterday’s stunt began three months ago to bring awareness to child homelessness, and included a message printed on the truck’s roof stating, “Over 1.5 million homeless children in the USA. What are we doing?”

What the band was doing was screwing up the day for anyone driving on 101. That means deliveries were late, people were late for work, appointments, flights, classes and the like because folks were sitting in their cars watching the day go up in a heavy cloud of carbon monoxide fumes, courtesy of a narcissistic band from So. Cal.

According to KNBC, the band’s representative said that Monday was the original date selected for the promotion. That is, until the band realized that day was Columbus Day and that traffic on the 101 wouldn’t be as heavy as during a regular workday. So they actually targeted Tuesday so they could mess with more traffic.

Now the band is famous throughout the Southland, but not in a good way, as Los Angeles drivers still curse Imperial Stars.

Just goes to show you that the old show biz saying claiming any publicity is good publicity as long as the press spells your name right isn’t always on the money.

Click here to read the KNBC article.