In the future, everyone will be Andy Warhol for 15 Minutes

For which labours, in addition to a weekly fee, she was compensated, as was Jed Johnson and many others, by being on Andy’s tab at Max’s for all she could eat and drink.

Thought I'd drop by and share a thing I wrote about Mr W's Diaries, a long-held obsession of mine. Only two episodes into the Netflix series (I watch slower than I read) but so far it illuminates and expands on the book. Agree with everyone who commented on the overall tone of sadness. As though Andy desperately wanted to connect w/other people on a deeper emotional level yet couldn't quite get there.

https://markcoleman57.medium.com/andy-me-living-vicariously-through-the-andy-warhol-diaries-4d43c98cd135

As always - thanks for reading!

You're quite welcome! Read it before when you posted it elsewhere, now reading it again. Good stuff.

Full disclosure: Andy and I stood in the same room at a Manhattan night club several times during the Eighties. And how many other people can say that?

Jed Johnson established himself as an interior designer; he died in the 1996 TWA Flight 800 crash.

Thanks for the link!

So much to think about.

Just finished the last episode, the first half of which was a slow-motion freefall towards the inevitable, I have enjoyed and will watch it again soon.

It definitely filled in a lot of areas that I was unaware of, such as the importance of John Gould, I wish more artists' biogs were structured like this, less of the spurious talking heads, more footage/clips/photos, time given over to the more emotionally resonant colleagues, the loss etched into the face of Jay Johnson, for instance, was greatly affecting.

I was disappointed when they cast aspersions on Pat's motives, right near the end, and I feel she was quite right to be ticked off, it felt a little cheap, and if there was strong evidence, at the time, that people felt she had steered the narrative one way or another then they should have had more people speak up about it.

I know what you are saying in this last, but maybe in the end that made it stronger, airing that out. Speaking of this last word, it was also interesting to hear what the Warhol diehards said about that when pushed and hear John Waters refer to them, at least I think he meant them, as the "Warhol cult." Although maybe he didn't mean them in particular but it kind of worked in that they were defending some sort of particular image of him.

Even though it was a simple sentiment, I felt the most righteous thought at the end was the curator lady that stated that no matter how many films/docs/books there are, we'll never get to the core truth of him.

In lieu of the AI voice, they could have had John Cale recite Warhol's narrative moments.

When I heard 'A Dream' again after reading the diaries I realised how beautifully and accurately Cale had nailed the tonality of Warhol's diary voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsCx5Iej6HY

As stated on another thread, I never listened to that album until yesterday. Yeah, I like Cale's take on Andy. Feel like he has aged gracefully and is pretty thoughtful and sensitive when commenting on his fallen comrades.

xp Yes. I'm watching now and have thoughts. But I am wishing there was more of a Warholian inflection and rhythm to the AI voice, and you're right, Cale really gets the tone right there.

True Confession: Lou is a serial killer! I actually went into the diaries to see if "Trouble with Classicists" or "A Dream"
were drawn from specific diary entries.

Even though it was a simple sentiment, I felt the most righteous thought at the end was the curator lady that stated that no matter how many films/docs/books there are, we'll never get to the core truth of him.

Trying to remember which artist Andy got annoyed at for explaining his paintings.

XP - Yes! Totally agree.

The part of his life that I feel I haven't yet gotten any kind of perspective on is the transition from Raggedy Andy, the eager-to-please commercial illustrator to the quiet, voyeuristic sentinel of the sixties Factory, perhaps I should crack open that Bockris book again.

I haven't looked at the Bockris book. I have the Blake Gopnik book which is really long but has a lot of detail so good for reference. Think Gary Indiana really hated it, hated it.

Last year I read Blake Gopnik's doorstop-length Warhol biography, which delved into that early 1960s period at length. Overall I wouldn't recommend Gopnik's bio; he's an art critic hence knowledgeable about Andy's art practice but also seems hostile or even contemptuous about Warhol - both person and artist - as the book grinds on and on. John Giorno's memoir Great Demon Kings details the poet's sexual relationship with Andy in er graphic detail as part of a fascinating deep dive into the entire early 1960s underground art/creative scene in New York. That book I recommend.

Bob Colacello's Andy memoir Holy Terror parallels the Diaries but I found it tough going. He seems even-handed in the documentary but Colacello must've written this book when his feelings about his old boss were still raw. Bitter about being underpaid, unappreciated and manipulated. Which is understandable but what I found unsavory about Holy Terror was the endless sucking up to what he terms New York Society. By the end, after he leaves Interview, Colacello basically says "nah nah nah Andy Pat Buckley and Nancy Reagan liked me better." Andy: "I told Bob he should just marry one of those old bags."

Here's a link to the Interview magazine archives. It's worth registering for free to get full access. The late 70s disco-era issues are a decadent time capsule, though not without melancholy undertones of what's to come https://archive.org/details/pub_interview

Awesome thank you!

I'd be interested to know your takes on Victor Bockris' book and if you have read Factory Made by Steven Watson?

Impressed that you read that whole book from beginning to end. You are a good homework-doer!

Also somebody else told me they had watch the Halston miniseries and doc as well as a tie-in.

I watched the Halston doc, and there as in the Warhol doc it’s maddeningly inexplicable what they see in Victor Hugo

The Halston doc is great, as are all the Basquiat/Haring docs that are floating about

Yes, Victor Hugo was the reason it came up. So the doc but not the miniseries. What about House of Gucci?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqXI6WU5cyA

Oh, what, wow

Veering off-topic here but I just read Eve Babitz’s 1980 piece on Fiorucci - the store and the company- which is wonderful, but LONG (60 pages or so)

Interesting. Where did you read that?

In her essay collection ‘I Used to Be Charming’

It’s by far the longest piece in the book

Would read!

I stopped in the middle of an episode and spent a minute online tracking down the edition of Esquire with Andy disappearing into the soup can on the cover (May '69) to read the article 'The final decline and total collapse of the American avant-garde'

https://galeriemagazine.com/halston-house-andy-warhol-new-york/

https://harpers.org/archive/2020/06/always-leave-them-wanting-less-andy-warhol/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/books/review/warhol-blake-gopnik.html

Yeah, that has definitely put me off the Gopnik book, is it really that bad?

What I'd really love to read is a big version of Will Hermes, Love Goes to Buildings On Fire, but on a broader scale, taking in Glass/Reich/The Kitchen/Chatham/Branca/No Wave, Gordon Matta Clark/Trisha Brown/Laurie Anderson, The Downtown 500 Scene/Haring/John Sex/Jeffery Deitch, RuPaul/Nelson Sullivan, Arthur Russell et al

I think if you already know everything there is to know and try to read that book from start to finish yes, it really is that bad. But if you are like me and don't know everything and just use it as a reference to dip into, then not quite so bad.

In any case, last night borrowed the Wayne Koestenbaum bio, which is much better written and shorter by a factor of 4 or 5.

On this day in 1987: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/02/nyregion/warhol-is-remembered-by-2000-at-st-patrick-s.html
Be sure to read until the end.

Does anyone know exactly which version of Nature Boy is used on the opening titles?

It’s Nat King Cole obv. Did he record it multiple times?

Ha, if I Google that first hit is a YouTube of him singing that but then the lyrics to “Mona Lisa.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq0XJCJ1Srw

Bonus video for Commodore Amiga diehards that showed up in my feed next to that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Hd3uWKFKY

Although this might be more your speed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfPUCTQJnb8

Might as well follow through according to the rule of three:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoiTjDWISS8

Call me for your lover's alibi, kids

Now kind of want to see someone do a deepfake take on Star Trek TOS in which, say, the Enterprise computer talks in the voice of AI Andy.

Also waiting for Josefa and m. coleman to come back and voice their takes before I (re)state mine.

All right, then. I found it perfectly watchable. I reckon it works best as a supplement to reading the actual Diaries. Obviously just putting visuals to the whole thing is extremely helpful, and it seems they did a good job of amassing & organizing a ton of photographic documentation. It's good at supplying context to the main romantic relationships in Warhol's life, although the incessant focus on his love life unbalances the doc. I didn't need to see 6,000 pictures of Jon Gould. What about his other close friends (not the ones who are also interviewees)? Also would have liked to hear more about what compelled him to go out every night during his peak partygoing period. And most of all I wanted more about his sense of humor and irony, and his unique gift for observing behavior. Bc these are the things that come through most clearly when I read the Diaries.

I would've liked to hear a little more about the logistics behind Pat Hackett's work on the Diaries as well.

There's a lot of projection of contemporary attitudes and concerns onto Warhol in the doc. And some pushback against it. But that was kind of a distraction.

Some of the analysis of his art struck me as dubious, but what're ya gonna do.

It’s Nat King Cole obv. Did he record it multiple times?

It sounds like it's just him and a guitarist, no band; I can't trace this version.

Are you trolling? Listen to the video I posted.

I can’t argue with any of your points, Josefa, I just accepted that this was how they decided to tell the story. Although truth be told I didn’t really care for those commentators who didn’t know him and weren’t curators either.

Yeah there are a million people who did know him but aren't in it, so that makes you wonder. Some people just won't talk, I realize. And I know there's a budget to worry about with these things.

I mean the doc is quite enjoyable and I'd recommend it to anyone. The filler material doesn't take away from the many good and relevant quotes that are also in it. It's just the overall emphasis of the thing is not exactly where I would've wanted it.