Andrew WK Bottom of the Hill March 12, 2002 Review by Janet Flemer The opening act last night was Louie Austen, a dapper elderly man who sang to a pre-recorded disco tape while sitting on (and occasionally falling off) a stool. At one point he chatted with his imaginary dog Chollie and told it to go make him a sandwich. It was really the only thing you could book to play before Andrew WK. The crowd loved him and actually seemed to be applauding harder for him than they were by the end of Andrew's set. (As the guitar player said "You like that shit? That makes two of us".) Andrew had a gigantic tour bus and heaps of equipment, and a dirtball roadie who'd tell anyone within earshot "I got a wild hair up my ass about this place" before launching into a story about taking four Xanax and pissing all over the floor. The bass player from Third Eye Blind was pointed out to me, and Gold Chains was there as well. Andrew himself, who as we all know is very health conscious, asked for a baked potato instead of french fries at the food counter, and called everyone "sir". I think he had wet himself down before the show so he'd look like all his publicity photos, but I was stationed near the back because I didn't want him to knock me out with his head. I think somehow he's knocked himself out. But wherever he grew up (Louie thought England, the guitar player said Florida, and from what I hear he used to park cars in Grand Rapids Michigan), they have really really good orthodontists. His teeth were so blindingly white you could see them even when the evil spotlight was pointing into the crowd. Ah and the music. I was sort of surprised at how wussy it was. Three nasty guitarists couldn't rough this stuff up. The keyboards have been called cheesy but I liked them. It was sort of Midwest power pop, with silly choruses that they'd all sing together in harmony like"We do what we like and we like what we do". I laughed even harder than I did at the Faint.