TAMPA, Fla. -- A planned Internet broadcast of a concert and suicide of a terminally ill person was ruined Saturday because of server problems, but the band leader at the center of the controversial events said he did not know if the suicide occurred as scheduled anyway.


Billy Tourtelot, the bandleader of Hell on Earth, said Saturday night that his group performed at an undisclosed St. Petersburg location as scheduled and that he was unaware of the Internet problems until after the show.

Tourtelot said the suicide was scheduled to take place at a separate location, which he also refused to reveal. It was not shown on the band's Web site as planned, but that did not necessarily mean it didn't happen, Tourtelot said.

This one is stuck somewhere between crass (really, REALLY fucking crass) commercialism and a personal rights/first amendment issue. It's odd. Go check out the story and you'll see what I mean. All kinds of legal action has been tossed out over this stupid thing and honestly, no matter how ludicrous a bunch of fucking Floridian metal shitheads trying to broadcast a suicide might seem to me, I can't help but feel that some very heavy civil rights shit has been trampled here. Seriously, go, read. I think you might agree.

And if you don't, then fuck ya.