Chapter 63
Monday, February 16, 1987 I'm reading Dancing on My Grave Dancing on My Grave, the Gelsey Kirkland book, and I'm disappointed, I thought it would be more trashy.
I'm watching Yankee Doodle Dandy Yankee Doodle Dandy right now and you see these big statues of like Abraham Lincoln and you wonder if these movie sets are the things that right now and you see these big statues of like Abraham Lincoln and you wonder if these movie sets are the things that (laughs) (laughs) wind up in the antique stores-the things that you don't know wind up in the antique stores-the things that you don't know what what they are-and then some day somebody finally figures it out and they turn out to be worth fifty cents, not $2 million, and I mean, that's the art game. When I think of all those French "antiques" I've looked at that were probably just props from store windows.... they are-and then some day somebody finally figures it out and they turn out to be worth fifty cents, not $2 million, and I mean, that's the art game. When I think of all those French "antiques" I've looked at that were probably just props from store windows....
Ken arrived. I can tell what the temperature is outside by the temperature in my kitchen-it's so cold down there that they're always the same. Went to the West Side to see Dr. Linda Li (cab $4).
Then went down to the office and Julian Schnabel was there, he was being really charming to Fred, I can't figure out what he wants out of him. He was nice to Fred once before and I forget what it was he wanted then. He's being reeeally charming. His book is coming out. Who does he think he is? He's just pushy and energetic. Well, but that's all life is, being pushy and energetic. And he was just down in Miami and he met Gael there and he hated her. He came right out and said we should fire Gael and hire his wife to be editor, that Gael was stupid and pretentious and fat.
He took Fred down to his studio. I really wonder what he wants out of Fred.
And Brigid has disappeared for a week week. On Friday she ate a whole cake in one second and then she announced she wasn't coming in the next week because she was going to London to a fat farm. Would she really go all the way to London for that? Well, I mean, she sure ought to be able to afford it-she charges $2,000 for each sweater she knits at the reception desk while she's supposed to be answering the phones, and she's selling so many of them-Paige even bought one.
Tuesday, February 17, 1987 In the morning I was preparing myself for my appearance in the fas.h.i.+on show Benjamin coordinated at the Tunnel. They'd sent the clothes over and I look like Liberace in them. Should I just go all the way and be be the new Liberace? Snakeskin and rabbit fur. Julian Schnabel the new Liberace? Snakeskin and rabbit fur. Julian Schnabel (laughs) (laughs) would be so impressed with these clothes he would start wearing them. would be so impressed with these clothes he would start wearing them.
Oh, and Brigid is is at the English fat farm and she's going to be fired when she gets back. I'll give her
Vincent was going to tape the fas.h.i.+on show and he called to say a car would pick me up at the office at 2:00. Ken came and we went downtown (cab $6). Worked hard at the office.
Then went over to the Tunnel and they gave us the best dressing room, but still it was absolutely freezing. I had all my makeup with me. Miles Davis was there and he has such delicate fingers. They're the same length as mine but half the width. I'd gone with Jean Michel last year to see his show at the Beacon, and I'd met him in the sixties at that store on Christopher Street, Hernando's, where we used to go get leather pants. I reminded him that I'd met him there and he said he remembered. Miles is a clotheshorse. And we made a deal that we'd trade ten minutes of him playing music for me, for me doing his portrait. He gave me his address and a drawing- he draws while he gets his hair done. His hairdresser does the hair weaving, the extensions.
They did a $5,000 custom outfit for Miles with gold musical notes on it and everything everything, and they didn't do a thing thing for me, they were so mean. They could've made me a gold for me, they were so mean. They could've made me a gold palette palette or something. So I looked like the poor stepchild, and in the end they even or something. So I looked like the poor stepchild, and in the end they even (laughs) (laughs) told me I walked too slow. told me I walked too slow.
And the clothes in the show really stank. Alligator, fur, and lace. And I really worked my a.s.s off. The j.a.panese crew was more interested in me than in Miles. They were doing the show again at 10:00 but I didn't have to do the second one, I was only in the one that was for the press. And then afterwards Vincent had a taxi come.
When I got home I called Fred and explained that I was just too exhausted to go to the Fendi dinner, so when he called them to say I wouldn't be coming with him and that he'd bring a girl instead, they said don't bother, that they didn't want him without me.
Got into bed and Wilfredo called and then Sam called and then I fell asleep. But I woke up at 6:30 and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I took some Valium and a Seconal and two aspirin, and I was sleeping so heavily that I didn't wake up when PH called at nine o'clock. And when I didn't answer she got scared because that had never happened before, so she called on the other line and Aurora answered in the kitchen, and PH made her come up to my bedroom to shake me but I wish she'd just let me sleep.
[Andy did not tell the Diary, but on Sat.u.r.day, February 14, he went to Dr. Karen Burke's for a collagen treatment; during the visit he complained of pains in his gallbladder. On Sunday, Andy stayed in bed all day and the pain subsided. On Monday he kept his appointment with Dr. Linda M. Li at the Li Chiropractic Healing Arts Center. That night Dr. Burke called Andy to see how he was and when he admitted that he was again feeling the sharp pains, she urged him to see his regular doctor, Dr. Denton c.o.x. Although on Tuesday he made his "celebrity appearance" in the j.a.panese fas.h.i.+on show, he was in pain for the rest of the night. Finally at 6:30 A.M A.M. he took a painkiller and sleeping pill which made him sleep through the Wednesday 9 A.M A.M. Diary phone call. On Thursday, when Andy answered the phone at 9 A.M A.M. he was breathing heavily. He told me hehad seen Dr. c.o.x and that he was going to "the place" to have "it" done (Andy's fear of hospitals and operations was so great that he couldn't bring himself to say those specific words) because "they told me I'll die if I don't." He said he would resume doing the Diary after "it" was over, that he would call me from "the place."
On Friday, February 20, Andy was admitted to New York Hospital as an "ambulatory emergency patient." On Sat.u.r.day his gallbladder was removed, and he appeared to be recovering well from the surgery-he watched television, and made phone calls to friends. But early Sunday morning, for reasons that are in litigation, he died.
A few weeks later, the woman who had admitted him to the hospital told me that Andy was the only person in her experience who had ever remembered his Blue Cross and health insurance identification-card numbers by heart.]
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