Andrew W.K. Teaches You How to be the Life of the Party

We first wrote about Andrew W.K.’s weekly advice column for The Village Voice (cleverly titled “Ask Andrew W.K.”) back in September, when he responded to a woman who wanted her boyfriend to stop listening to metal with a stirring defense of the genre. Honestly, the column is always pretty great, but this week’s edition struck me as being, once again, worth sharing.

And what, pray tell, makes this one stand out from the pack? The fact that it pertains to the one subject Mr. W.K. may know more about than music: partying!

The reader, a self-professed “quiet and reserved person” who “really enjoy[s] spending time alone” but has recently “been feeling pressure to be more talkative and social” asks Andrew: “Do I need more friends to be good at partying? How do I become the life of the party?” And given W.K.’s status as the Professor Emeritus of Partying, he is certainly the right person to answer such a query.

Still, you might be surprised to learn that W.K.’s answer is considerably more sensitive than “DRINK MORE BEER!!!” or whatever. Here’s an excerpt:

“You already are the life of the party. Your life is the party and you’re always right in the middle of it, all the time. Stop trying to modify your true self to fit some prefabricated idea, and instead put all that energy into loving your own true nature. We come not only in all different shapes and sizes, but in all different textures and attitudes and dispositions. As long as you allow your natural love and kindness to lead the way, you’ll always be OK. Next time you feel shy or reserved, think of it as a great thing — just as good as being extroverted and social — it’s just a different version of the same beautiful thing: a human being. And that’s what partying is all about.”

No joke, that made me all misty-eyed. Andrew W.K. may be infamous for an album cover where he’s sporting a bloody nose, but he really is just one big warm hug of a human being, ain’t he?

Read his entire response here.