After many noob-esque blunders...I've got the display driver working. NOTE TO SELF AND EVERYONE ELSE: Read the datasheets and think about WTF they actually mean...then hard-wire test the components to make sure they work right given the correct input! (where applicable)

Anyway, now that I have the DISPLAY DRIVER (ie, hardware) working properly...all I need to do is write some software. Sadly, because I'm not driving the display the way it was originally intended (multiplexing 24 columns of LED's instead of 3 X 8 columns) it's about 1/3 the brightness I'd originally planned on. Thankfully this isn't REALLY an issue...I'm only testing. So now, without further rambling...check out my (VERY gamma corrected) picture below of a static test of the sign.

Update: WOOT! I got it scrolling! (rather dim video here) Now I'm done with the little bastard until I decide what I actually want to do with it.