Andrew WK and his UM/Ufer Connection?
I came across this while reading Bob Ufer's Wiki page. Apparently Andrew WK grew up in Bob's old home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ufer#Personal_life) and also started taking piano lessons at UofM at the age of 4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_W.K.#Biography). On top of that, Andrew's father is a scholar in UofM's law school.
I'm not really a big Andrew WK fan but this was too strange not to post.
Get a party going!
Oh man, that guy loves to party. LOVES it!
Yup. I grew up down the street from him in Ann Arbor Hills, although I never knew that was the Ufer house. Great guy and great family.
way to give a shout out to ann arbor hills. woot.
Not just any scholar at the law school. Andrew WK is the son of Jim Krier, one of Michigan's best faculty. He is the principal author of the leading text on Property Law. http://www.amazon.com/Property-James-E-Krier/dp/0735557926/ref=sr_1_8?i…
Yes. Krier is generally considered the preeminent scholar in the country on property law. Unfortunately for me, when I went there, I had Schneider, who had a not-too-veiled jealousy of Krier, and instead of using Krier's property text (which I think the rest of civilization uses for 1L property), we used some bullshit property book that had been out of print for 30 years. Dammit.
Krier is also apparently quite the flirt, in an old-guy way, which I find to be quite humorous. Apparently he was no longer allowed to go to faculty-student functions where alcohol was present by the time I got there (2005).
That's the text Schneider used. Possibly the most incomprehensible textboot I've ever used in my life. We spent about a month on Pierson v Post.
I had Ellen Katz, who used Krier's book. Krier interrupted our class one time after walking in for no reason, apologized for breaking her train of thought, then pointed to the text and said "but you probably got your thought from me anyway."
If Krier was banned from attending mixed student functions with alcohol by 2005 the ban was not strictly enforced.
I really do prefer this one though:
Saw him live a few weeks back. It was a party to say the least. I got my girlfriend into his music (she doesn't listen to a lot of loud fast stuff) and she loves it. His music is just fun and filled with energy.
Andrew WK is like the Andy Kaufmann of music.
His shows are a religious experience.
He actually came up in bands around here, played in Pterodactyls and everything. Pretty rad dude, and absolutely 100% the friendliest and most down-to-earth musician in the business, when it comes to his fans.
I read an interview with Andrew WK in Newsweek (I think) a few years ago when that party song came out, or whatever it is you kids with the rock n' roll music listen to. I remember the article suggesting that he was very polite and down-to-earth and quite intelligent. He seems like he would be a nice guy based on other stuff I've read too.
Nice guy, absolutely. Down-to-earth? No way. We're talking about a guy who is responsible for the following:
- Used to collaborate with local Ann Arbor noise act Wolf Eyes
- Had a secret track on one of his early Bulb Records releases entitled merely "Wolf Eyes Rules"
- Tried to employ Wolf Eyes as his backing band when he first signed to Island Records. They said no.
- Hired the original drummer from Obituary for his group when he got signed to Island.
- Took Wolf Eyes out as a supporting act on his first national tour. They were repeatedly booed everywhere they went.
- Played up the jock rock/party thing because it knew it was an easy button to push
- Disappeared for several years before returning with a second major label album and beginning a rumor that his actual name is "Steev Mike," which prompted further discussion on teh interwebs that Andrew WK was actually being manipulated by a separate individual by the name of "Steev Mike," who had allegedly financed all of his records.
- Had lost about 20-30 pounds of muscle by the time the second album came out, leading the internets to believe that either (a) he had been on steroids when Island originally signed him because they wanted a really masculine music icon or (b) the original Andrew WK had been replaced by another person entirely altogether / the original person that was Andrew WK was actually a Milli Vanilli body-double type for the skinnier Andrew WK
- Eventually decided he was going to quit music altogether to tour the country doing spoken word at colleges nationwide, which mostly consisted of him reading lyrics to songs off of I Get Wet over nothing but an acoustic piano backdrop and headbanging a lot
- Randomly appeared as a guest drummer for the Boredoms' 77-drummer rock piece, wearing an outfit that looks like it was stolen off of a mannequin at JC Penney.
- Performed at the Gathering of the Juggalos one year (particularly odd considering that the prime demographic for AWK is indie kids who can't stand ICP/etc.) with nothing but a drum machine while he kept yelling "This night is for you! For you!" over the same beat for 40 minutes whilst being bottled by the crowd. After the show, he claimed that he had "an amazing Gathering of the Juggalos experience" and would love to do it again.
And on and on and on.
AWK rules. He is seriously the Andy Kaufmann of music. No joke.
AWK also might be the only guy on the planet who can match or surpass Conan O'Brien's energy level.
and his dad is riotously funny, and in some ways, lives vicariously (in a good way) through his rock 'n roll kid. I interviewed him for the Law School's paper once, and I had to let him edit the hell out of it afterwards because he spoke "a little too freely" and didn't want to catch a lot of hell (Professor Krier is a genuine scholar and thinks on a higher level than most human beings will ever know, but also pisses off a lot of people with more delicate sensibilities). He tends to be a love-him-or-hate-him type. I loved the guy, but he was not for the faint of heart in the classroom.
One thing for sure, he really loves WK's songs, and feels that WK's philosophy is exactly how to live life. Professor Krier interprets "Party Hard" as saying "do what you love, get the most out of life, be passionate in pursuit of your dreams". Personally, I'm not a fan of WK's music, but I think the fact his law-professor dad is his #1 fan is a pretty good family value.
Gave me a B in property, though. Still. Party Hard, dude.
Co-signed. Everytime I talked to Prof. Krier outside of class he was really nice and approachable. Which was weird, because the semester I had him, he hated our class. Like, to the point of complaining about us to his section the semester after.
What semester was this?
that avatar.
+1 to you.
Is it just me or has Russell Brand basically copied Andrew WK's style? I think there could be some sort of infringement issue that Krier might need to take care of...
Come to think of it, "Inside You" did sound rather familiar...