Andrew W.K. in New York in 2004. (Getty Images/Scott Gries)
UPDATE: Andrew W.K. will not be visiting Bahrain in any official diplomatic capacity, DCist has learned. A State Department spokesperson says that while the singer and evangelist of partying was invited by the U.S. Embassy in Manama, the department, after considering W.K.’s wild oeuvre, cancelled the trip.
W.K. was also never designated a “cultural ambassador,” the spokesperson says, though embassies around the world routinely invite artistic and cultural figures to make appearances. But such events are subject to oversight, and W.K.’s offer of showing the Persian Gulf island nation the “power of positive partying,” did not pass muster.
“The embassy determined that was probably not a best choice and didn’t meet our standards,” the spokesperson says.
W.K., for his part, says the story of his abortive diplomatic career is a bit more elaborate. “It’s not as simple as they’re making it,” the singer writes in an email.
But it seems he’s a little broken up about the broken engagement, which he says was planned for a while. “I’m just blown away,” he writes on his Facebook page. “After a year of planning, the US State Dept. just canceled my Middle East trip because I’m too party.”
***
Original post, if it matters:
Citizens of Bahrain are about to get a serious lesson in partying, courtesy of the State Department. The singer, songwriter and pizza-guitar-slinging party monster Andrew W.K. was named the United States’ newest cultural ambassador last weekend, and he’ll soon be dispatched to the Persian Gulf island nation.
W.K. will be visiting Bahrain next month, when he is set to visit colleges, grade schools and local music venues, according to the performer’s website. In his diplomatic capacity, W.K. will bringing the virtues he espoused on tracks like “Ready to Die” and “Party ‘Til You Puke” to a part of the world that is sometimes sorely lacking in good spirits.
Bahrain, population 1.3 million, experienced a months-long uprising against the ruling monarchy last year during the early stages of the Arab Spring. The protests were eventually put down after dozens of deaths, thousands of arrests and the razing of public spaces.
But perhaps W.K. is just the emissary the Arab world needs. “I’m very thankful to the Department of State for giving me the opportunity to visit a place I’ve never been before,” the singer says on his website. “And I feel very privileged and humbled by the chance to represent the United States of America and show the good people of Bahrain the power of positive partying.”
