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Saturday evening at Cinefamily included what was billed as the Andrew W.K. Party Lecture.
I must admit that I had only vague ideas of Andrew W.K. Optimistic, right? Enthusiastic? Positive? Life's a party?
What happened on stage was completely different from what I had imagined. It was fascinating and ended up being one of the highlights of the whole festival for me.
At once, I felt like everything done and said was sincere and in-the-moment AND like it was planned and meant to mess with my head.
Andrew W.K. came onto the stage in his white pants and white t-shirt and sat down at his keyboard. He looked like this:
He told us that it was going to be an evening of discussion - a chance for us to interact with him and with each other. With each other? This stuck with me. He invited the audience to ask questions.
The first person to grab the microphone was this girl:
She made me very uncomfortable. She is likely someone who frequents Cinefamily - she seemed to know people there - it's possible she is a very lovely person. All I have to go on is what I experienced at this show.
From the outside, she seemed to want this show to be for her...like perhaps she felt that she had a deep connection with Andrew W.K. and this was her chance to make him see it. And to be in front of the audience herself.
Just from the photos - her body language and such...what would you think?
I don't even remember what her question was. I do know that later when she tried to ask another, Andrew W.K. respectfully told her that she had already asked one and that he was going to allow someone else a shot.
A lot of people asked questions that didn't seem to interest Andrew W.K. too much. Not a whole lot of thought in them or else pointing him towards an answer they wanted to hear.
He talked about how he has been thinking about death lately and how he has lived the last several years in a "glass half full" kind of way, but that it was only one perspective and that other perspectives are valid. He talked about giving people the benefit of the doubt. About how he thought he'd found his soul mate, but had he? What does that even mean?
It felt as if we were experiencing a shift that he was going through before our eyes. (But were we? I don't know! It was a performance, right?)
The questions continued. Often, Andrew W.K. would pause and look thoughtful and just as I was looking forward to hearing his answer, someone would shout a new question out, not giving him the chance to respond to the last one.
The audience seemed particularly afraid of silence, which made for an interesting opportunity. Andrew W.K. shut down. He sat, motionless, staring into space. He stopped responding to people. It ended up feeling like a social experiment. The audience started interacting with each other (which he told us in the beginning would happen, right?) and they started trying to figure out how to turn him back on. There must be some way that they could bring him back.
I sat watching him in silence and listening to the explosions of activity happening around me.
I don't know how much time went by, but it was enough to make a lot of people kind of freak out. Those of us watching him, saw tears come to his eyes.
One audience member did something unexpected. He brought his camera up on stage and took a photo of himself with Andrew W.K., who didn't seem to react.
I felt an odd combination of "that's funny" and a sarcastic "oh, yeah, take a picture with the 'freak' - nice."
The cat girl tried to get everyone to shhhhhhhhh. Even though she was the one who demanded quiet, she was the one who broke it, bringing attention to herself again. She began banging the arm of her sofa with her palm.
One of the Cinefamily folks walked to the sound area and she jumped at him and said "Hey! Can I..."
I like to believe that it wasn't a coincidence that Andrew W.K. took that moment to make a move. He struck a chord on the keyboard, which prompted her to jump back to her seat to watch.
He then did this (he wasn't making any sound - just the keyboard):
Until he finally was looking straight at the cat girl like this:
He held it there for a little extra time. Then he finished and it was "thank you and good night".
Some people were baffled. Some were delighted.
I became an immediate fan of Andrew W.K.
UPDATE: I just learned from a post on the LA Weekly site that the cookie I ate at the show had weed in it. It might be surprising, but I've never smoked it and had never eaten pot brownies or anything before. So, um...did that have anything to do with my reaction to the show and/or the people around me? The world may never know.
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