Imperial Stars to Stand Trial

Remember Imperial Stars? The trio from Garden Grove who thought it would be a great idea if they blocked three lanes of the 101 to play a song called—wait for it—"Traffic Jam 101"? And then announced to anyone who'd listen that it was to "benefit displaced children of America"?

Well, The Orange County Register reported that Christopher Roy Wright, 33, David Paul Hale, 31, and Keith R. Yackey, 32, will stand trial and face one felony count of conspiracy and misdemeanor counts of public nuisance and false imprisonment.

They were arrested in October 2010 after their stunt.

According to the story, on June 23, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Samuel Mayerson found there was enough evidence for the trio to stand trial, although two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest were dismissed. An arraignment hearing is set for July 14 in Los Angeles.

"This was a well-orchestrated commercial stunt perpetrated by these defendants and their accomplices with no concern for the lives or well-being of thousands of innocent victims who were caught up in the prank," said District Attorney Steve Cooley in a November 2010 written statement after filing charges against the men. From a June 24 Heard Mentality blog post by Lilledeshan Bose.

POREOTICS AND THE TRANS-PACIFIC DANCE HEIST
A couple of weeks ago, the Internet started buzzing that Poreotics—the dance crew with Westminster roots who won season 5 of America's Best Dance Crew on MTV—had an original routine lifted by Monster MG, a Korean crew appearing on Korea's Got Talent.

Watching the clips, it's hard to deny the similarities. Poreotics member Justin "Jet Li" Valles says they first heard about the alleged copying via fans on Facebook and Twitter. Are there any hard feelings? Valles declares, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery—and we're pretty flattered.

"We didn't expect any of our stuff to reach Korea," Valles continues. "For us, it feels like, 'Hey, they copied us, so maybe we can go do shows there.'"

Since winning America's Best Dance Crew, Poreotics have been performing around the world. The crew, who are now both OC- and LA-based, also recently opened for Justin Bieber in the Philippines.

Last week, it came out that Cho, Monster MG's choreographer, issued an apology to Matt "Dumbo" Nguyen, crew leader of Poreotics. "I'm so sorry for what I did," he wrote. From June 16 and June 22 posts by Vickie Chang.