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| Elgin James |
Elgin James was the founder of the Friends Stand United crew, also known as FSU (which originally stood for "fuck shit up"). Elgin James is a filmmaker and a musician. During the late 1980s in Boston, Massachusetts, Elgin disagreed with the nationalist, right-wing, third movement, and conservative working class political direction of the punk rock and hard core music movement. He formed Friends Stand United to attack, beat, and purge from concerts groups which he disagreed with politically, especially white power skinheads and other various racist gangs. Friends Stand United's initial mission was to use violence to cleanse the punk community of gangs with racist beliefs and take over the punk rock community.
Early life
After a short time in orphanages and foster homes, Elgin James (who is of mixed race) was raised by civil rights activists on a rural farm in the Northeast. With a crop of marijuana in the backyard and alcohol and drug abuse in the house, Elgin formed strong anti-drinking and anti-drug beliefs which would later lead him to be a pivotal figure in the 1990s militant straight edge movement within the punk scene.
Elgin discovered punk rock through an older foster brother and saw shows of seminal hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Agnostic Front and Millions of Dead Cops. He was arrested for the first time at age twelve, and by fourteen he would end up in juvenile hall. There, he rejected the pacifist beliefs of his parents (who had marched with Rev. Martin Luther King and the Freedom Riders movement), and began studying the writings of Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and Huey P. Newton fusing them with aggressive punk ideals.
Elgin left juvenile hall, and inspired by civil rights attorneys William Kunstler and Morris Dees, left for Antioch College at age seventeen to study pre-law. During a break in his first semester he was involved in a gang fight and beaten in the back of the head with a baseball bat which left him with left hemispheric brain damage. He could not speak or move the right side of his body. After intensive physical and speech therapy he eventually recovered his speech and motor skills. But he ended up homeless living on the streets and in squats across the country. Eventually he settled in Boston, Massachusetts.
Initial activity focused on the Boston punk community and often led to gang violence. Friends Stand United has established chapters in many major cities inside the United States and Canada. Elgin currently denies involvement with the gang, however he was arrested on July 14, 2009 on extortion charges relating to his affiliation with the gang five years prior. The gang has splintered several times since its initial incarnation, with different chapters holding different values. Universally, the gang espouses violence as a valid means to accomplish their goals. Many East Coast hardcore bands, especially those in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Massachusetts, openly endorse FSU's lifestyle and/or beliefs.
FSU
In Boston he began singing for hardcore punk band Wrecking Crew and befriended a multi-racial group of kids from the tough areas of Boston and Brockton. They started FSU (originally 'Fuck Shit Up', however it came to be known as 'Friends Stand United' or 'Forever Stand United'). They formed to fight back against the influx of Neo Nazi skinhead gangs in the area.
Having successfully eliminated several Nazi groups; Elgin turned his attention to drug dealers. He eschewed the usual passive ideals of straight edge and instead went, in his own words “right after the heart of the enemy, money”. He would rob drug dealers and then give half of that money to local charities.
Elgin had become a vegetarian or vegan at age eleven after watching the animals he raised on the farm slaughtered. While part of FSU he used a tactic learned from the United States Government, with he and other FSU members setting up an "arms for hostages" scenario in which they traded handguns with inner city gang members in exchange for pit bulls used in dog fighting rings. The dogs would then be nursed back to health and fostered until safe homes were found for them.
The founding core of FSU would eventually splinter with a large section moving on to motorcycle gangs including the Outlaws. The split was amicable, but Elgin and other founding members decided to leave a more positive legacy and steer FSU away from the criminal world. They established the "Foundation Fund" which set up scholarships at local universities (Berklee College of Music and Suffolk University Law School) in the names of FSU members who had died. The Foundation Fund also holds yearly benefit concerts to raise money for charities that reflect "hardcore punk culture" (teen homelessness, anti-handgun violence, suicide prevention and local orphanages).
Elgin and FSU were featured in profiles on National Geographic, the History Channel's Gangland Series and in a feature article in Rolling Stone.
Music and film career
After years spent playing in mostly straight edge hardcore bands, Elgin began experimenting with country influenced solo work that has been critically acclaimed and described as "Hooligan Folk" by the Boston Phoenix and "Folk-Punk" by Wonkavision magazine.
In 2006 Elgin moved to Los Angeles, California to work as a filmmaker. He wrote and directed the short film Goodnight Moon starring Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, which was released by THINKFilm. In December 2008 he was announced as a fellow for the Sundance Screenwriters lab, whose alumni include Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alison Anders, and Darren Aronofsky.
Arrest
James was arrested by the FBI in Los Angeles, California on July 14, 2009 stemming from an incident four years earlier. He was charged with a criminal complaint of federal attempted extortion filed in Chicago. It is alleged that in 2005 James sanctioned an attack on an individual who had past personal ties to White Power politics. James is then reported as to have said that the man could avoid further trouble if he made a $5,000 “donation” to FSU. After that incident, the FBI became involved, and after another attack, the victim scheduled a meeting with James to give the $5,000 while the FBI had surveillance on the encounter. The individual has been revealed to be a member of the band Mest. Speculation has been raised that lead singer Tony Lovato's past ties to white power groups, were the reason why they were targeted, given FSU's anti-racist stance. However the exact Mest member that was targeted has yet to be revealed.
Discography
1992 - Wrecking Crew, single, (vocals)
1995 - 454 Big Block, "Your Jesus," Century Media (vocals)
1996 - 454 Big Block, s/t single, Big Wheel Rec (vocals)
1997 - 454 Big Block, "Save Me From Myself," Big Wheel Rec (vocals)
1997 - The World is My Fuse, s/t single, Espo records (vocals)
1998 - The World Is My Fuse, "Drunk," Single, Espo Records (vocals, guitars)
1999 - The World Is My Fuse, "Good Intentions," Espo Records (vocals, guitars)
2002 - The Jaded Salingers, "s/t," Espo Records (vocals, guitars)
2003 - Elgin James "For Carol.." Lonesome Recordings (vocals, guitars)
2004 - Elgin James, "Long Way Home," Lonesome Recordings comp (vocals, guitars)
2004 - Righteous Jams "Rage Of Discipline," Broken Sounds (guitars)
2005 - Elgin James, "Tinted Soft Green," Emusic Digital Singles Club (vocals, guitars)
2006 - Righteous Jams "Business As Usual," Abacus Recordings (guitars)
Filmography
* Release (1998)
* Live Thee Fourth (2000)
* Boston Beatdown Vol. 2 (2004)
* Dark Planet: Visions of America (2005)
* Enemy (2007)
* Goodnight Moon, THINKFilms, (2007) (writer/director)
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