Thread: Andrew W.K. Named Cultural Ambassador to the Middle East by U.S. Department of State

Classy, I wonder how much he donated to Obama. We will see just how long he lasts in the Sharia controlled Middle East. JMO
Andrew W.K. Named Cultural Ambassador to the Middle East by U.S. Department of State

"I can hardly wait for this adventure!"

By Evan Minsker on November 24, 2012 at 08:45 a.m.



Photo by Danny Pardoe

A bunch of people in Bahrain are about to get some inspiring life lessons about partying: The U.S. Department of State has invited Andrew W.K. to the Middle East as a cultural ambassador. According to Andrew's website, he'll travel to Bahrain next month and visit elementary schools, the University of Bahrain, and music venues, "all while promoting partying and world peace."

Here's what he said about his upcoming trip:

"This is a tremendous invitation. I'm very thankful to the Department of State for giving me the opportunity to visit a place I've never been before. 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. I can hardly wait for this adventure!"



Andrew W.K. Named Cultural Ambassador to the Middle East by U.S. Department of State | News | Pitchfork

Moron

We paid State Department employees for a year to work on sending this person to the Middle East. We need to downsize. JMO

Party’s over for would-be U.S. rock diplomat

By Jennifer Harper
-
The Washington Times
Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Andew W.K. attends the 35th anniversary screening of “Taxi Driver” in New ...

Forget talk of ambassadors and national security. The State Department had a glittering flirtation with the Office of Party Hearty. It was brief. It was sensational. It failed.

The department was poised to send a boisterous American musician named Andrew W.K. to the Middle East in early December as an official cultural emissary — the “ambassador of partying,” according to Andrew himself, who is best known for bloodying his own nose with a brick for an album cover and producing such giddy rock tunes as “I Get Wet” and “We Want Fun.” The 33-year-old New Yorker also considers himself a motivational speaker, music producer,

The columnist, nightclub owner, advice-giver and a man with “feel-good abilities.

That resume, apparently, was enough to attract U.S. diplomatic officials, who saw fit to spend a year planning the musician’s trip to the Middle East nation of Bahrain.

“This is a tremendous invitation. I’m very thankful to the Department of State for giving me the opportunity to visit a place I’ve never been before,” Andrew said on Friday. “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.

I can hardly wait for this adventure.

”The adventure was short-lived.The press got wind of the story, and of the prospect that Foggy Bottom was going the show-biz route. By Sunday, Andrew W.K. announced that the department had withdrawn its offer, even as a pair of State Department spokespersons fended off reporters seeking verification of the sequence of events that produced the initial interest in the trip .

“We had a Bahraini entity that approached the embassy about co-sponsoring a visit by this guy, who I take it is pretty popular there in Bahrain. That was initially approved, and then when more senior management at the embassy took a look at this, the conclusion was that this was not an appropriate use of U.S. government funds,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday.

“I think the conclusion was, when they looked at the body of his work, that we didn’t need to be part of this invitation. There may have been some preliminary conversations with him, but he will not be going to Bahrain on the U.S. government’s dime,” she added.And Andrew? He’s woeful, though many observers think the entrepreneurial musician was all about seeing what he could get away with, in the name of art and partying.“I’m just blown away. After a year of planning, the State Department just canceled my Middle East trip because I’m too party,” he said.But he perked up in a subsequent tweet, proclaiming, “The power of positive partying will never die.”



Read more: Party's over for would-be U.S. rock diplomat - Washington Times Party's over for would-be U.S. rock diplomat - Washington Times
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter