Normally, the news that UC Irvine will be the location for a “motivational performance” by Andrew Fetterly Wilkes Krier, with a focus on both spoken-word presentations and music, might not
sound like the most exciting way to spend your evening on Friday, April
22. Except this is, in fact, Andrew W.K., the man who turned the concept of partying hard into the song “Party Hard“–and much, much more.
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When
Andrew W.K. made his breakout splash almost 10 years back with that
song, its video and the nosebleed-from-hell album cover of I Get Wet, it was alternately praised as the ultimate in instant-fix “Cheetos
rock” in some corners and dismissed as a bad joke in others–and I'm the
first to admit I was in the latter camp for a long time.
He's not
only had the last laugh, but his overall career since then has been the
ultimate in confounding expectations every step of the way, too. How? Basically
just by doing whatever he wants to as he goes, from convoluted in-jokes
about celebrity that beat the crap out of Joaquin Phoenix's supposed
attempts at same to hosting Destroy Build Destroy for the Cartoon Network, a mere scraping of the surface of everything he does. Trust us, the Wikipedia page goes on forever for very good reason.
The
core to it all has been his joie de vivre in all he does, something
time has made even more apparent. There's an honest-to-god glee he
demonstrates time and time again–not a horrible Up With People
cheeriness or saccharine sweetness, but a lust for life that's
infectious if you're willing to let you're your guard down a bit.
When he hit Twitter,
it was another example of how well he works–his near-endless stream
of “PARTY TIPS” (recent sample: “Partying is our defense against the
pain of the universe”) are both funny as hell and serious at the same
time, a true acknowledgment of the human comedy.
The Acrobatics Everyday
crew that's putting this on will have more information later regarding ticket arrangements, exact locations and more, so stay
tuned to its website for that and much more–and if you're still thinking a
motivational performance sounds kinda boring, consider these samples:
And
in perhaps the ultimate meeting of the minds, what happens when Andrew
W.K. and his Canadian cousin-in-positive-energy Nardwaur get down:
