Bloglander

Until now, nationally-renowned DJ James Pants has been Whitworth University's big name musician alumnus.

But now, “Friday,” the work of James Pants' one-time classmate, Patrice Wilson, has far exceeded Pants' cultural ubiquity.

Patrice is the one who wrote the lyrics and produced the video to the sudden silly musical sensation from Rebecca Black — with lines like “Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday / Today is Friday, Friday”

“The lyrics are so simple people think it might be cheesy,” Wilson says. (His inspiration, he adds, comes from working late Thursday into Friday morning.)

Back in 2001, Wilson was studying business and singing Ludacris songs in the Seeley G. Mudd Chapel during Whitworth's Gospel Explosion. But later he moved to Los Angeles and started the ARK Music Factory, with a unique business model: Singers pay anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 dollars, and Wilson writes them a song, creates a high-def music video, and promotes it.

“Friday,” was his first megahit. It became an internet meme, with more than 84 million views on You Tube. It reached number one on Billboard's Heatseeker song list. It has spawned death metal and Bob Dylan covers, Conan O'Brien parodies, and an elaborate Late Night with Jimmy Fallon number featuring Taylor Hicks, Stephen Colbert, The Roots, and the Knicks City Dancers.

At the end of the month, Wilson says he'll visit Spokane to hold auditions.

“I've had people suggest I make a song about Monday, and I think I'm going to take them up on that,” Wilson says.