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FACTORY_DAYS


                                             May 21, 2010

  Paul Morrisey makes a few points when
  talking about the old Factory days:           On the commentary disk
                                                with Paul Morrisey's
  (1) Warhol hired Paul Morrisey, and           Andy Warhol's "Flesh".
  put his own name on things, but wasn't
  really doing all that much.

  (2) The Factory wasn't actually
  a hang-out, but rather a place          My understanding was that
  where they staged photoshoots           the old Silver Factory      Funny Paul
  for scheduled visitors.                 was more of an authentic    Morrisey
                                          gathering place.            doesn't
  (3) The entire goal of the                                          dis-
  game was to do what they                                            tinguish.
  actually achieved: promote    We might guess that Paul
  Warhol's name, and sell       Morrisey is exaggerating
  screen prints at ever         his own role and
  increasing prices (and        downplaying others...
  without paying gallery
  commissions).                    You might get
                                   the impression      Really, Paul
                                   that Warhol was     Morrisey joined The
                                   a nobody until      Factory in 1965,
                                   Paul Morrisey       when Warhol's silver
                                   put him over.       star was already
                                                       rising.  After the
                                                       Soup can paintings,
                                                       after the Marilyn
                                                       silkscreens, after
      Much of what Paul                                the movies "Sleep"
      Morrisey says has                                and "Beauty
      a ring of truth                                  No. 2"...
      about it.

      His portrait of         (In later days, Warhol didn't bother
      Warhol as this          to do his own silk-screening... he
      weirdly hung-up         phoned in orders and signed the results.)
      character who did
      very little
      artistically and yet            I've often thought he
      became famous...                was an example of an       Though
      that doesn't sound              idiot savant: he could     there's
      too far off.                    do interesting things      another view
                                      despite not really being   that this was
        Paul Morrisey is              very bright.               schtick, a
        dismissive of Warhol's                                   defense
        self-conscious schtick in       But consider the         mechanism.
        some of the photographs,        portrait of Warhol
        e.g. meeting a European         by Reed and Cale on       If you refuse
        photgrapher with a large        "Songs for Drella":       to defend
        dildo peeping out of his        a more respectful         yourself, if
        jacket pocket.                  view of a driving         you just
                                        force that insisted       admit to
          But this schtick              on discipline.            anything
          works much in the                                       you're
          way Paul Morrisey's                                     accused of,
          movies work, because            Paul Morrisey's         you undermine
          it's so deadpan, so             story is a              the momentum
          unconcerned.                    little sketchy          of the
                                          concerning              attack.
          In the land of the Cool,        people such as
          the autistic man is king.       Lou Reed.

               DRY_FLESH
                                          Did the Velvet
                                          Underground
                                          break-up mostly
                                          because Reed was
                                          jealous of Nico?
                                          That one does not
                                          quite take the
                                          ring...

             WARHOL

                                              Paul Morrisey did organize the
                                              Exploding Plastic Inevitable,
                                              and he brought Nico into the
                                              Velvet Underground.

                                                  He was involved with
                                                  the founding of the
                                                  proto-punk band...

                                                     PISTOL_WHIPPED


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