Saturday, December 15, 2007

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Monday, January 26, 1987

Ken picked me up and it was too cold to pass Interviews out so we didn't even take any (magazines $6). Went to the West Side to Dr. Li's (cab $4).

Our Charlie Sheen cover is really good timing. Platoon is the big thing. And Interview's coming down an inch, Gale said. With the new postage rates it'll save $20,000 a month. I guess a big size magazine doesn't mean anything--I don't know what does.

Paige said there were big advertising dinners on Wednesday and Thursday, and Nikki Haskell called and invited me to a couple of parties at the Tunnel on those nights. I don't know about these advertising dinners--you give up a night of your life just to try to get one ad. But on the other hand you do meet people, and sometimes it turns into other business with them.

Nick Rhodes called and wanted to go to dinner. Cabbed to Il Cantinori ($5). And when Pino doesn't do the food it's just awful. It was also with Elizabeth Saltzman and her new boyfriend--Glen Dubin! And it was so odd to see him there making out with her. And I guess he does have money after all, I wasn't sure when he was with Bianca. They had just flown to the Superbowl in a private plane and stayed at the Beverly Hills and come back the next day. Simon LeBon and Nick Rhodes arrived (dinner $240).

Oh, and I talked on the phone to Glenn O'Brien about why the sixties were coming back or something, he was doing an article for Elle, he was fun.

Got home and at 12:00 the phone rang and ti was Billy Name. Have I forgotten to say that he's been calling? He's up there in Poughkeepsie and he's organizing a sixties reunion and he has like three jobs up there, deputy sheriff and everything, and he was just chattering away--"You know how deeply I love you, honey"-- about how Gerard is coming up and Ingrid Superstar and how I'd be picked up and taken to Stephen Shore's house--he works at Bard College now--and all this stuff. But I'm going to just have to tell Billy that I can't face the past. And I'd walked into the house and didn't look where I stepped and so I was talking to him with dog poo all over my shoes.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Sunday, January 25, 1987

Paige was sweet, she brought over soup and bread and dessert from the Café Condotti. She really goes out of her way and she's got so much energy, she's like Chris, except that Chris only does it for himself, and Paige does it for other people. I can see why she gets upset when things happen, because she puts so much into other people.

And Mrs. Aquino's being so grand in the Philippines, smiling away, and her guards killed thirteen people at the palace. Why didn't they shoot over their heads? Or use tear gas. It makes you think that Communists did it to other Communists just to start trouble. Or Something.

Then there were tickets put aside for me at the Joyce Theater where Robert LaFosse was doing a guest appearance in Karole Armitage's Ballet. This is the thing that her boyfriend David Salle did the costumes for, he's the artistic director. And then Paige had arranged dinner at Indochine with the New York City Ballet people to talk about the curtain they want me to design. That was at 9:45 or 10:00.

The phone kept ringing and my stomach was a mess, I shouldn't have eaten the dessert Paige brought. Kenny Scharf called trying to get me to buy land in Brazil and I'd been ready to send him a check but then Fred had screamed at me about it while we were in Europe. He was insisting that it's just black-market sales and you don't have a contract or really proof that you own it. But it's so cheap. And Paige wanted to go in on it with me and she was going to go down for a week and check it out. You get (laughs) your own coconut tree. But they say there are too many killings there and that they could just take the land away from you at any time. But gee, it's so cheap.

Stuart and I went to Sotheby's and it was packed, they had Americana. Jamie Wyeth was there but not Phyllis, and he looks older, he's lost his boyish charm, he's grander. then I felt worse so I went to the drugstore and got some Maalox.

And Peter Wise called up, I knew he would call because I heard he wants a job with Stuart Pivar. But ever since that time he wouldn't accept my word over Kent Klineman's, I just think he's stupid... Didn't I ever tell the Diary about this? About the big fight I had with Peter? I mean, here I'd been good friends with him for six years and I'm telling him a fact and suddenly he was saying "Well that's not what Kent says," and I said, "Well if I say something's red and can see that it's not, you should still believe me because we're friends." so I told him that if he didn't want to believe me he should just ask Fred and he did and it turned out I was right, but he hadn't believed me along, and that made me so mad, I just thought it was so awful. And when he called yesterday we never got around to talking about the job he wants to get working for Stuart, but I know that's what he wanted.

And now somehow I've hired Chris's friend Ken to pick me up in the mornings, he's going to be my new bodyguard. He's a really good-looking tall blond kid. the one from Florida.

So then I went over to the Joyce Theater and Tama met us there, she came in from Princeton (ticket $40). The production was stinkeroo, but Robert LaFosse is really professional.

Then after the ballet I couldn't face dinner at Indochine so I just went to a fruit stand and I got a pineapple and bananas and apples and I went home. The driver asked me for an autograph, so I had to tip big ($9). And then I made juices out of the stuff and by the time I was done it had taken so long I could've gone to the dinner--after squeezing everything and washing out the juicer. Took a sleeping pill and slept all night. woke up at 6:00

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Saturday, January 24, 1987 -- Milan -- New York

Got up in Milan. I hadn't slept all night, after taking the pills that Daniela got me. All they did was dry me up and the suppository didn't do anything, but my fever was going so I think I just had the twenty-four-hour flu, after all. I'd taken vitamin C and even aspirin. Christopher got me some soup and bread. But those pills sort of hung there all night, just stuck, and didn't go anywhere. I hate Daniela for giving me the flu and I hate her for those pills. but I'd also taken Valium like crazy and nothing happened, but then in the morning everything was fine. Left the place (concierge $50, doormen $25, baggage $10, driver $100, magazines $20). Got to the airport easily.

And on the plane a milestone happened--I was in the International Herald Tribune and I didn't even bother to clip the article. I just--didn't--care. so I've gotten to that point. Maybe it was just that I felt so sick, but still I didn't bother. And Chris pointed out that this lady in Milan who was so nice and sweet and glamorous when she was interviewing me wrote horrible mean things.

We got to New York and the driver was waiting (car $70). I didn't get a receipt. I really wasn't feeling well.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Thursday, January 22, 1987 -- Milan

Went to the gallery for the 11:00 press conference, 250 press people. Scary and stupid. Got that all over with. Signed a lot of posters. Then we had free time. Lunch with Gianni Versace, went to his castle. Rizzoli's old castle. Big Roman and Greek statues that Suzie Frankfurt got Versace to buy. It was grand, huge, so glamorous. We had a good time.

Then had to go back to the gallery to do another press conference at 4:30. Stayed till 8:30 with Daniela coughing in my face and me signing autographs. Gianni did the costumes for Bob Wilson's Salome at La Scala. He got us tickets so I could slip away from my opening when I got tired. Finally Fred grabbed my pen and whisked me away.

Sat in a box seat watching the opera, then had to go to this dinner for me. Saw Gerard Malanga's first girlfriend there who he wrote all the poems about, Benedetta Barzini. She was with her husband and being so grand. I ate a lot and Daniela was coughing into my food. I'd been resisting her flu for two days straight while she talked into my face, but finally I gave in and got it. Went home just exhausted.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Wednesday, January 21, 1987 -- Paris -- Milan

Met by the police and they took us right through customs and everything because Lisa Soltilis was with Iolas and she'd gotten the police to do everything for us. If we'd been sneaking in marijuana or drugs it would've been so easy. She was so friendly, but later we began hearing wild stories about how her husband was keeping Iolas in a sanitarium. Found Iolas in the VIP room. He was like a little old lady wrapped up in fabric. We found out later he'd come out of the hospital just to pick us up. Then the whole story began unraveling. Iolas was just presenting me at the bank Credito-Valtellinese. "Alexander Iolas Presents Andy Warhol." He must've gotten all this money to "present" us. My Last Supper show was closing down that day and my other show was opening, so there was lots of publicity. Iolas was really sweet. He had to be driven back to the hospital. Lisa took us to the hotel. Our rooms were beautiful. The Principe di Savoy. Christopher took the best room with the TV. Fred was down the hall (bag man $10, magazines $25, waiter $5). Daniela Morera called and began taking over. She said she had the flu and I knew I was going to get it from her. Went to the gallery to do press and TV. We had a car of our own, twenty-four-hour service.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Monday, January 19, 1987--Paris

We went to the Beaubourg and Chris got us in free and we saw the Schnabel show there and it looked great, he looked like a talented artist, and then we went up to the Japanese show, it looked like they copied everything from the West, a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright. Lunch at this chic cafe ($35). I went down to pee and it was a wonderful bathroom, a big sheet of glass with water running behind it and you piss on the glass. So modern, so weird. If Chris hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known where to pee. It looks like a fountain.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Sunday, January 18, 1987--New York--Paris

The weather in New York was great and I hated to leave it. Got up at 6:00 and packed. I tried not to think. The bag was too heavy, don't know why. I never change clothes over there and never take a shower. I always wind up just sleeping in my clothes every night. Chris Makos picked me up at 10:00. Picked Fred up, he was on time. Got to the airport ($60). Wore layers, everything on my back.

Got to Paris. A driver named Freddy picked us up. Checked into Hotel Lenox. Chris had the better room, naturally, what else is new? My room was freezing but it was cute. Small but cute. All that nice old kind of French wood. We walked on the ice to the Cafe Flore. Had some sandwiches and that was it. We were the only ones there, we closed it ($35). Back at the hotel I fell asleep with all the lights on. Chris was smart, he had two heaters sent up to his room.