Dinner With Andy Warhol

Sherry Shahan on Chelsea Girls.

Chelsea Hotel, 222 West 23rd Street, Manhattan (1936). Photo: Berenice Abbott for the Federal Art Project. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection.

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1.

Dinner Party, Hotel Chelsea, 1980.

Bottles of Bolla, Red Valpolicella

bought with silk on an absent mile.

Faeries slice French bread, crusts

of necessity; dead creatures baked in foil.

Warhol wears pale blonde, floppy, parted;

his cheeks polished in fond de teint.

Rounded crystal glass frames.

Walkman headphones.

Burroughs, off the junk,

varnished in pearl.

Nico—a skein of scars

in song, “Chelsea Girls”:

"Here's Room 506

It's enough to make you sick

Bridget's all wrapped up in foil

You wonder if she can uncoil . . ."

2.

An eight minute, thirteen-second section of “Chelsea Girls” plays in the background during a dinner party:

WARHOL (black suit, tie; headphone wires dangle): This is the first time I ever had *hair.

NICO (off-stage): Hair?

WARHOL: Um, yeah, I mean it’s really good.

GUEST (off-stage) What kind of hair is it?

GUESTS (simultaneous, off-stage): It’s a rabbit.

GUEST (off-stage): What is the official name of the meal?

NICO: Well it’s a hare.

WARHOL: Where did you find a rabbit?

NICO: . . . I had to order it.

GUEST (off-stage): Can you tell me exactly what chicken fried steak actually is made of?

BURROUGHS (sets down glass of wine): Well it’s just a thin slice of steak, uh, breaded, breaded and fried very quickly.

GUEST (off-stage): Why does it taste like mush?

BURROUGHS: Well, it depends on what they start with . . . . how it tastes. What I particularly like is the biscuits and gravy. (Picks up glass)

WARHOL: Gee, I never had chicken fried steak. It sounds like a good idea.

3.

*Hare, not hair.

Human, not fur.

4.

Mousy-brown in the 1950s,

then two-toned yellow-blond,

an underlay of cocoa. Uncombed,

ratted, sprayed with Sassoon.

Label:

An original by Paul Hairpiece,

147 W. 42 St., N.Y.

Handwritten receipt:

2 Hairpieces $850

Deposit $425

Balance $425

An artist is somebody who produces things people don’t need to have ~ Andy Warhol

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Sherry Shahan earned an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and taught a creative writing course for UCLA for 10 years.

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Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was an American visual artist best known for his contributions to the pop art movement. Chelsea Girls was Warhol’s first major commercial success.