Andrew W.K. burst onto the scene with a hybrid of metal, pop, and dance. Because of his unique style of "rawk", W.K. quickly created a buzz from fans and critics alike. Soon Andrew W.K. found himself touring extensively for his newly released album "I Get Wet" and one of the dates landed in our town. Sterling wasn't able to make it, so this left me on my own trying to meet W.K.

       It was a chilly day, but still seemed like a great day to try and get autographs. Before I got there, fellow collector Newt called me and said that he had just met Andrew W.K. at his hotel. He said he was a really cool guy, which gave me extra motivation to get down there. I arrived at the venue around 4:30pm and was glad that Newt was still there to keep me company. I had quite a bit of luck right off the bat, as I met a couple of the guys from his band.

       They were real friendly, but I still anxiously waited for Andrew W.K. An hour and half had already passed and it was now approaching 6:00pm. This wasn't good because I had free sneak preview passes to the newest James Bond flick "Die Another Day" and I had people waiting on me (including Sterling). I waited as long as I possibly could and then had to take off, but planned to return after the film was over.

       After the film ended I wasn't about to give up the fight for his autograph just yet. I arrived back at the venue around 9:50pm and was able to see most of the concert from the window in front of the building. It looked like a really good concert, too bad I couldn't go. The concert eventually ended about 10:30pm and I ran to the side of the building where his tour bus was parked.

        Another fan was already there with his CD out and ready to be signed, so I hung out with him. Seconds later Andrew W.K came from the backstage area walking quickly to his bus, he looked at both of us and before we could say anything said, "I have to do a few things, but I promise I'll be back to sign". At least I had now seen Andrew W.K. in person, but wasn't sure if he would keep his word.

       A crowd started to form around the front doors of the bus and anxiously awaited his return. During this time his band signed autographs and posed for pictures for anyone who asked. All of them were so very nice and truly appreciate their fans. When the bassist came off of the bus he signed one autograph before saying, "Everyone follow me, they're about to do a Jackass type of stunt on the side of the building."

       The massive crowd followed him and saw a crazy stunt indeed. A teen pulled down his pants and took out his balls from his boxer shorts and prepared them for what was to come. His two little friends were about to be shocked by an electric taser. A man came up zapped the teens testicles and then maced him in the face. The poor, stupid, kid was in so much pain and reminded me of the live Jackass show I saw a few years back starring Steve-O and Wee-man. Unlike the guys from Jackass, this kid did it for free! Throughout the night I would continue to hear his cries, I guess he deserved it. After that unusual experience the crowd returned to the bus in the hopes that W.K. would return.

       Finally at about 11:35pm Andrew W.K. came off of the bus and walked to a nearby wall to sit down and lean on while he signed. The autograph frenzy soon began as the crowd surrounded Andrew and he started to sign away. This seemed easy enough and I was sure that I would be out of there in no time. Time passed and it seemed the line wasn't moving at all. I managed to get a closer look to see what the hold up was and it was Andrew who was the big holdup. Andrew signs at least 3-4 sentences for each fan and really puts thought into what he writes. It was quite amazing to see this guy take so much time with each individual fan and I've never seen or heard anything like it. He is such a personable guy and fans are definitely an important part of his life.

        At one point Andrew looked up at everyone and asked if all of us were hungry. Before anyone could say a word, Andrew jumped up and ran into the bus. He came back bearing full size Snickers, Hershey Almond Bars, and various other full size candy bars. He made sure everyone in the crowd was taken care of and said, "I thought all of you might be hungry and thought, Hungry why wait?" which was an obvious reference from the Snickers Bar commercials. We were well fed, but that didn't keep us from the horrible freezing weather. Every second that passed seemed worse and most of us were just downright miserable. Oh why didn't I bring a jacket?

       Andrew's devotion to each and every fan is an amazing thing, but it is also his biggest downfall as the wait to meet him is unbelievable. There were probably 20-30 fans and I ended up being one of the last 5 fans out there, just my luck. Andrew started to sign one of the last remaining fan's set list, when he suddenly looked up and counted how many of us were left. We didn't know what he was doing until he said, "Let's warm up in my bus." He opened the door and ushered us in the tour bus. This was just simply amazing, in all of Sterling and Earl's celebrity encounters we'd never been in a tour bus but that was about to change. This kind of privilege usually only comes to beautiful girls, but I assure you we weren't.

       As we walked into the bus his band looked at us confused and Andrew said it was getting too cold out there so he's bringing his fans to the back to warm up. They told Andrew to just sign autographs in the lounge area of the bus, but Andrew responded by saying, "No I'm taking them to the back." We entered the back of the bus and it was another type of lounge area but clothes and suitcases covered the seats. Andrew apologized for the mess and proceeded to make room for us to sit down. There still wasn't much room left so Andrew had us all squeeze in and I was eventually knee to knee with the man himself.

       From there he proceeded to sign the guy's set list again. Just as he was about to sign, Andrew looked up at all of us and said, "How about some music?" It sounded good to us so Andrew got up and put a CD in the DVD/Stereo/TV combo set and started jamming out. The funny thing was it was the new Shania Twain album "Up". I love Shania's music so that was no problem, but it was funny to see that this hard rocker got so into her music. As he was signing he would continually stop to thrash his head up and down at the beats of the songs and play air guitar.

       After signing for the other fan he was about to get to me but instead said he didn't think we were enjoying Shania, so he asked if we'd like hear something else. The other three fans responded with a head nod and the final verdict was to listen to Hatebreed's new CD. Once again Andrew started rocking out and finally got my picture and started autographing it. After he was done signing that, I gave him my CD case with the cover turned around so he could sign it. I had saved the front of the album cover just for him by having his band sign on the back of the album cover.

       Andrew started to take out my album cover and saw that his band signed the back so he added his with theirs. I thought oh well at least he signed it, but I was surprised by what he did next. He turned the CD cover over signed the front and if that wasn't enough started flipping through the CD booklet searching for another good spot to sign. Andrew proceeded to write me a nice little note in my booklet and signed it again, along with dating it. After signing he was cool enough to take a picture with me and we talked briefly. This was such an amazing experience and I made sure to thank him for everything. It was now 1:20am and it was a very long day but Andrew more than made up for it.