Downtown dance club Santos' Party Haus is a strange place to be at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday night without any house music thumping. Stranger still if the club's co-owner Andrew W.K. is addressing the audience by doing a spot-on, stumble-ridden rendition of Tiger Woods' recent cringe-worthy public apology.
Billed as an evening of "open inquiry" aimed at setting the record straight regarding his past (is he a legit musician? David Grohl's party-hard puppet? The smoke monster from Lost?), Andrew -- taking the stage in his signature dirty white tee and matching jeans -- didn't do much to clarify things, choosing to remain vague about "commitments" he'd made to business partners, friends and family.
"When I agreed to do this, in 1999 or 2000, no one anticipated this level of questioning and doubt," he began, then added later, "but the deepest part of me that goes beyond Andrew W.K., my core, stays true to that vision."
Meaning, no, a definitive answer wasn't given, but for anyone who can read between the lines, the message was clear: duh, dudes, this is totally performance art. But who cares if he stuck to the shtick instead of coming clean?
With a slew of zany and entertaining answers, it really didn't matter. Fielding questions from fanboys to journalists to friends clearly in on the joke, the positive energy evangelist with the head-banging-worthy hair waxed wacky on subjects like dark matter, the importance of clean finger nails when wooing women and the sexual dynamic between Kristen Bell and Vince Vaughn in the film "Couples Retreat."
He even lead the crowd in a call-and-response cover of the Mickey Mouse theme. And while die-hard fans were assured they’d get off-the-record answers regarding upcoming music projects after the Q&A’s conclusion, he did drop one nugget of knowledge sure to get a handful of New Yorkers partying hard.
“On March 16th Andrew W.K. will be playing Irving Plaza -- my first live show in over five years!” he screamed into the mic.
