Tracklist:

01. Guy Ripley (intro) [:40]
02. Ludacris (interlude) [:40]
03. Fall Out Boy - ALPHAdog and OMEGAlomaniac (demo) [2:09]
04. Fall Out Boy - Lake Effect Kid (demo) [3:37]
05. Fall Out Boy - I Don’t Care (27) (featuring Clinton Sparks & Seth Green) (interlude) (demo/snippet) [1:09]
06. Fall Out Boy - Catch Me if You Can/Proclamation of Emaciation (featuring Travis from Gym Class Heroes) (demo mashup) [2:51]
07. The Cab - Bounce (snippet) [1:25]
08. Tyga - First Timers (featuring Evan from the Black List Club) [2:31]
09. Panic at the Disco - Northern Downpour (snippet) [2:02]
10. The Paul Revere Jumpsuit Apparatus - Nearly Witches (demo) [:58]
11. Cobra Starship - I Kissed a Boy [3:01]
12. The Academy is… - Automatic Eyes - Suave Suarez remix (featuring Tyga) [2:40]
13. Hey Monday - Homecoming (snippet) [1:07]
14. The Cab - Take My Hand - Machine Shop Production (featuring Cassadee from Hey Monday) [3:38]
15. Tyga - California Girls (demo) [2:47]
16. Gym Class Heroes - Cookie Jar (snippet) [2:02]
17. A Rocket to the Moon - Oh, Dakota (acoustic demo) [1:14]
18. Four Year Strong - Bada Bing! Wit a Pipe! [3:26]
19. Text Fall Out Boy: FOB to 66937 (interlude - signup and instant betterment) [:15]
20. The Academy is… - About a Girl (snippet) [:53]
21. The Hush Sound - We Believe in (Barack Obama) [1:52]
22. The Hush Sound (interlude) [:24]
23. Butch Walker - Mixtape (snippet) [:28]
24. Cobra Starship (interlude) [1:46]
25. Fall Out Boy - America’s Sweethearts (demo/snippet) [:37]
26. Clinton Sparks & Pete Wentz (outro) [:34]

You can download it here.

On that page, there’s also an ad that confirms a new Fall Out Boy album [November 4th — 3rd if you’re in a country with Monday releases] — it’s called Folie A Deux, and well, there you go. I’m guessing the next couple of months will be full of interesting free things like this mixtape and other Web sites.

Say what you like, but the band is definitely embracing the Internet, and that’s never a bad thing. Way too many bands/labels are still shunning it, despite the whole “it’s here to stay” thing. It’s good to see bands with power [however you define it] in the industry doing original things and taking chances. It’s the only way we’ll ever see major label stupidity undone.

So, that’s where we are on this whole CFOB thing.

If you want to spare yourself the pain of the rap-filled horrorfest that is FNMTV, head here to check out “I Don’t Care.”

Hey, maybe they wrote it about that awful show that in no way makes sense to have Pete Wentz host.

Waiting for something more interesting….

Here are the latest links:
Citizens For Our Betterment: click “data.” I’m pretty sure the first 100 might be filled, but they’re still taking addresses. I hope I get something. It’s nice to get cool mail/good news once in a while. “Media” also has a new picture on it - not sure what the deal with that is. “Exposes” and “Scandals” also brings you an old photo [that is still nice to see, mind you.]

And now it appears William Beckett [The Academy Is…] is in on it as well — check this out The Wiilliam Beckett Blog. It seems to have lyrics or something — plus a link to a new site, Run Right Back to the Art. At the moment, there isn’t much going on there, but I am sure at some point, there will be.

Clearly, there’s more to come… this is seriously the most interesting viral thing since NIN’s Year Zero, which was also really well done. Feel free to post any discoveries you make….

Oh, and — people seem to think Midtown might have something to do with this: so here’s their deal: they re-did their myspace, and there’s this video:
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

This really makes no sense — but here’s what I gather. Someone posted a link on a Fall Out Boy LiveJournal, and Copeland sort of just latched on to the Fall Out Boy campaign, as they were already doing some viral stuff of their own. [Which is news to me, but hey, let’s face it — it’s Copeland. I don’t think they’ve ever made it to the “elite” area of my overfilled iPod for even an afternoon.]

Speaking to MTV, here’s what Aaron Marsh of Copeland had to say:

“We had been discussing a viral campaign for three or four months now, placing some stuff on the Net, so some of this was just wacky timing. The whole concept behind our campaign was that we wanted people to be looking at our Web site while they were thinking they were looking at someone else’s. So we were poking around, and then FOB started their site, so we decided to use theirs. There was nothing malicious about it; we just saw an opportunity to reel in way more people.

And when I think about how it might affect Fall Out Boy, all I can say is that Pete’s a clever bloke, and he probably would’ve done the same thing had he thought of it,” he continued. “I mean, think about it: The two campaigns are very similar — theirs is supposed to look like an ominous organization that’s mucking around. The way [the two campaigns] crossed didn’t hurt anyone.”

Well, obviously, nobody was hurt! It’s a freaking viral campaign. Then again, is Copeland going to suffer a bit for it? In my eyes, they’re unoriginal hacks. The quote above should really read, “Yeah… well, we were doing a viral campaign of our own, but nobody was paying attention. And then Fall Out Boy did theirs, and it was successful and got people interested and talking, so we decided we’d just copy them since they’re smarter than we are. It’s not like they’d mind, they’re smart, after all!”

It reeks of pathetic, if you ask me. And I find it hard to believe that Pete, being a “clever bloke” would have done what they did. Say what you like about him, he tends to have pretty original ideas and seems above latching on to someone else’s coattails to such an extent. It must suck to be a band and realize that someone has outdone you in the whole viral thing, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Fall Out Boy’s campaign is actually the first viral campaign I have paid attention to in ages — most of them have been boring, stupid, or ill-planned.

For the record, Copeland also launched a fake AbsolutePunk site — Abso1utePunk.net. Which is hilarious because nobody would type that by accident, though I guess if they were putting fake links to AP, it would work. Christ, they’re so desperate, I’m wondering when the EPB mirror will show up… [note to Copeland: do it! I’m writing an article trashing you right now — nobody will catch the fake! That’s what I call using your heads!]

Copeland’s final comment was just a bunch of crying that their “brilliant” idea was destroyed over night [welcome to a world where people can look things up and aren’t entirely retarded] and repeated insisting “Pete would have done the same thing.” I’ve never seen anyone so positive that someone else would do the same stupid thing they did, but check it out:

“The whole idea was mocking other sites, and if life went according to plan, you would’ve seen that continue, instead it got ripped to shreds overnight. But, like I said, this wasn’t done maliciously. And everything I’ve heard about Pete is that he’s a marketing kind of guy; he’s the king of making people talk and ruffling feathers, so he would’ve done the same thing if he could have. So if Fall Out Boy fans are mad about this whole thing, well, all I can say is that Pete would’ve done the same thing.”

Mad? No. Laughing at you? Yes. Pete said there are still “many twists to come” and it may have nothing to do with an album… he said it was really just art. Not surprisingly, concerning Copeland, he didn’t say he would have done the same thing. Go figure.

All of this started a couple of days ago when Decaydance was “hacked.” It has since been restored to its normal self, but the “hack” was credited to Citizens For Our Betterment. That site wasn’t much — until today. When you click on the sidebar, you’re taken to Run Right Back to the Start, which says “this is a maze.” And it is — each page has a sort of “choose your own adventure” thing going on, and you can get lost in circles or keep finding new things, depending on where you go. I played with it for about 20 minutes and kept finding new things.

But here’s the most shocking part - the words are very clearly Pete Wentz — and they’re gorgeous. They strike me as almost on par with his usual writing… and much more in touch with emotions, ala “The Boy With A Thorn in His Side” or believe it or not, From Under the Cork Tree. If this site is full of lyric blurbs from an upcoming album [title: Run Right Back to the Start ??] — I am really looking forward to some new Fall Out Boy. Who knows? My eternal pessimism may lead to a surprise — I figured we’d get great lyrics again when his wife spat out her spawn and they had a MTV show and got divorced.

Anyway, play with the links, see what you can find. I’ve yet to find any music — but Absolute Punk had a simple post that said, “Fall Out Boy fans should make sure to watch FNMTV on Friday.” [By the way, I had no idea when this was on, but just set my DVR — it’s Friday 8-9pm EST on MTV.] I suspect if there is an announcement, or even better, a song or video, clip, this is it. A lot of people are speculating the new album will come out on Election Day [because the CFOB site looked really political on the first day], but you never know with these viral things — or with Fall Out Boy. I can’t imagine they did all of this for a tour announcement or some weird goal like playing Antarctica.

I guess we’ll see. I’m not in love with viral campaigns, but this one actually seems pretty well-done, and without too much of a wait time if something is happening on FNMTV in two days. It could all be a huge letdown, but in an odd moment of optimism, I’m hoping for the best.

*Footnote: Ah… I love that I just posted something that would have been censored quite a bit on the old site that shall not be named. It always drove me insane that they kept me on a leash for fear I would “offend” people with my real opinions. I have to remember not to hold back anymore… it feels good. And I’ll need this site more than ever when I start a soul-sucking job come Monday.

The band’s MySpace has also been revamped with a ton of European tour dates, for some reason or another. It looks like after the current West Coast run, there’s nothing happening in the US until next year. Strange… but maybe they do better over there. A lot of bands do, unfortunately. [Well, unfortunately for me, since I like seeing live bands.]

And as for this new photo of them? I just want to touch them all. A lot. Damn. Those are some nice-looking boys. Obviously, music is the most important thing to me, but if the visuals are nice as well, I’m certainly not going to complain.

And of course, there are many reward appearances towards the end of the video, but I assure you, none made me squeal to the extent that EPB’s chosen superstar Max Bemis did.

It’s things like this video that make me wish I could experience something like Warped Tour, but being anything but a summer girl, it will never happen, unless they move it to a more reasonable month like April or October.

Anyway, enjoy the video… because it’s awesome.  And check out the band’s new album, which is out next Tuesday.

The band said:

This is a list of the stuff we lost

1 Van
PLUS
All of our bookbags and sidebags containing:
2 video cameras, 2 digital cameras, GPS, 3 Nintendo Ds’s plus games, 6 Ipods, 2 Laptops, M-Box, External Harddrive full of our recordings, $500 in cash and a full tank of gas, 100 cds and dvds, PSP plus games, 2 sidekicks, 1 Cell Phone, Two Drivers Licenses, All of our shoes, XM Radio, All of our toiletries, Most of Ryan, Ben, and Rico’s Clothing, All of our pillows, blankets, and other items relative to sleep.

Basically, it was as if our house burned down but fortunately our equipment was saved due to the quick arrival of the firefighters. In the end, all of this is just stuff and we’re stoked to be alive. Thankfully, with the help of Dear Hunter, Lydia, and Eye Alaska, along with the support of our friends and family we are happy to have worked out a way to continue on the rest of the this tour. This train don’t stop come hell or high water.

You have to respect that, but God. It seems the fire spread very quickly [summer is a demon beast of a season] and even though help came quickly, the van was gutted. The band will be setting up some sort of donation account, since they lost everything [so if you catch a show on this tour, be sure to give them money. I’ve seen bands in similar situations, and they/their merch guy will be more than happy to accept a few dollars. These dudes are not rich….] There’s no news on that yet, but when it comes along, I’ll post it.

This band is really awesome, by the way, so if you don’t know them, check them out.

You can read the whole story and see more photos at the band’s LiveJournal.

As some of you have already figured out, our band has experienced some changes - on July 28th, 2008, 1997 decided to part ways with our current singer/keyboardist Alida Marroni. Bassist Alan Goffinski also decided to leave. Alan was an original member and Alida joined the band in april 2007 shortly after Kerri Mack left the band for personal reasons. It is unfortunate, but we wish Alida all the best for the future.

On a positive note, 1997 will be back on the road in no time at all. For the time being, Cody is going to play bass, and we are auditioning girls to come on tour as a replacement for the next few months. After that we will find a permanent girl to write and record the new album with. We’re also happy to announce that Kerri will be joining us for our Chicago Metro show on August 8th for one night only, it will be a very special performance where we will be playing the whole of A Better View Of The Rising Moon so please come and hang out with us!

Although the band is sad to lose a member, we are also very excited to show every one what we can accomplish as a cohesive group of friends. We are optimistic about our future and confident that our shows will be better than ever and the next record will be the best 1997 record to date! We will never stop playing our songs for the people that enjoy them. This is what gives us joy and strength to carry on. Thank you to all of our fans who have stuck with us through all of our craziness and turmoil, we love you from the bottom of our filthy hearts.

It’s odd for so many reasons. First off, they only wish Alida well, and then they say they are sad to lose “a member.” Many people say Alida and Alan are dating, which would be a good explanation for any light animosity there, as it seems safe to say Alan didn’t want to part ways with her. I’m guessing the conversations about putting her out of the band were a bit tense.

Then, we have to wonder why they parted ways with her. They don’t really say, but it seems like they weren’t getting along, especially with the reference to being happy to be a “cohesive group of friends” in the future.

And finally, I love the way they say they will look for “a permanent girl.” I wonder why they are dead-set on having a girl singer… especially since their track record isn’t so great with them. [And especially since female-fronted bands don’t do all that well in this genre, anyway….] But hey, to each their own.

That said, the gossip hound in me would just love to know what really happened….

Okay, enough babbling from me — time to watch a cool video!