Saturday, January 27, 2007

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Thursday, November 27, 1986

Thanksgiving. The phone rang and it was Wilfredo saying he couldn't come with us to feed the poor, that he was going home to New Jersey. Paige called and said she'd pick me up in ten minutes, but it was half an hour before she and Tama and Stephen Sprouse arrived.

Victor had called in the meantime and I invited him to feed the poor with us. I don't know if he's on drugs or if now he's just always paranoid.

So we went to the Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue and 90th, and the good-looking priest had moved to St. Thomas's, that big chic church. And it looked overstaffed--like they had one volunteer for every eater. Everybody had their own waiter. So we went upstairs and there was this big dykey Irish woman giving the helpers their assignments and she said, "Are you here for food?" And Victor got offended and that started him off insulting people in the line, saying, "just eat fast and fuck off and get out so we can clean up." This is a church! And finally I told him, "Victor, we're here because we want to be." And there were a lot of photographers, I don't know if they were from the newspapers or what. So this dykey lady says to me, "I'm putting you on security, to keep people in order." And I said, "No, I'm not." So I ignored her and we served the food, and it's such a great church, there was food for people to take home, too, and I was giving everybody a lot. If there's this many hungry people there's really something wrong. A lot of people looked like they just came for a meal so they wouldn't be lonely, though. Maybe they even lived on Park Avenue, you can't tell.

And at the end it was sick, the councilmen came in and waved their arms around to show they cared, in case there were people taking pictures.

We left there and Victor dropped me and said he hated Stephen and Paige and Tama, that they were phonies and balonies, and then later he called and was saying he knew I was taping him on the phone and so he was talking "to the people on the other side of the tape recorder," and I don't know if he's on drugs or if he's just hallucinating on his own. There's something wrong with him.

I saw our Cars video, "Hello Again," on MTV. They ran it again, and it still looks really good. I can't believe it came out of our place. And I can't believe nobody else had us to do their videos after that. Oh, and I bought some magazines. A lot of them ($25). I walked the dogs and Paige called but I was too cozy to go out to dinner. And then Jean Michel called and he's furious at Paige because he finally found out about his father playing the cannibal in Paige's pictorial spread for Tama's book, A Cannibal in Manhattan, he'd just seen the time on Page Six about it. He said, "What is she trying to do? Is she after my father?" And he said his father's writing a book, and he said (laughs), "He's not even a drug addict--how can he write a book?" About what? That's the first time I ever heard Jean Michel say something funny. I wonder if that's his sense of humor. And he didn't go to Germany for his big show.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Thursday, November 6, 1986

This was the night Larry Gagosian was supposed to be giving a pre-opening dinner for me, I thought, but then Fred sort of told me it was cancelled. Somehow he didn't want me at it, I'll get to that later. So when Paige called and said there was a business dinner at Chantilly's which is a good restaurant on Park and 57th, I said I'd go to that.

Paige picked me up and we got to the restaurant forty minutes late. Steven Greenberg and Margaux Hemingway were invited and Michael Gross from the Times and Barbara Hodes who he just got married to, she used to design for Parapernalia and she still looks the same as she did in the sixties. Sonia Rykiel was there, too.

Then Steven wanted to go to Nell's so we went down there, and we walk in and I saw Larry Gagosian and then I saw Fred sitting with Faye Dunaway and Jerry Hall! I'm not kidding! I don't know how that happened, if they were there and just coincidentally were sitting with him, but it seemed like this was the dinner that Larry was supposed to be giving for me. Fred was mumbling something like that he'd wanted to talk business with them alone or something. But I do think this dinner was supposed to be for me and that he'd told me it was cancelled just so I wouldn't go.

And Gagosian told me, "I got your Rorschach Test for my California show," and I said, "Where did you get it?" He said, "From Leo," and I said, "Oh , really? did you buy it?" and he said, "No, it's consigned." I said, "Well you can't have it." I got mad and tough. Because it's just one more show not to have. And Larry, I don't know, he's really weird, he got in trouble for obscene phone calls and everything. He's weird.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Tuesday, October 21, 1986

Diane Von Furstenberg was having a party for her boyfriend, Alain Elkann, who was married to the Agnelli daughter. He's French. He's written four books, and in France if you're an intellectual, you don't have to work, they just treat you like this big -- "intelletual." Like Loulou de la Falaise's husband who's supposed to be a novelist but I don't think he's ever finished anything. So Diane's going the Marilyn Monroe route of marrying one person for the name, and now she's going with this guy who'll write books about her.

Worked. Fred decided to come along. Closed up fast. Went to the Carlyle, ran into Sue Mengers in the elevator who'd been at the party, she was with her same husband and she's thin and I don't know what she's doing. She lives here now. The cake was in the shape of a book. Bob Colacello was there. I read his article on Bianca in the new Vanity Fair. She's back big again, the pictures of her walking with the Salvadorean Children in the fields.

Jean Michel called, back from the Ivory Coast. He said they sell meat with four milion flies on it--they cut off a piece and just sell it with the flies. He sounded normal, like he was off drugs and missing old times, he wants to do prints together.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Monday, October 13, 1986

I got the Enquirer with Sean and Madonna on the cover and it was about Martin, how he was once Madonna's roommate and how he now has AIDS. And then Martin called me, and it must be so horrible to read this article about yourself where it says you're dying.

And then I read Steve Aronson's article in New York magazine on the Sid Bass and Mercedes Kellogg affair and it was riveting, he really got all the information. He even had about Mercedes returning Billy Norwich's call because she thought it was from Mick Jagger. It was day-by-day how the romance progressed. I have a funny feeling that Mercedes will never make it all the way to the altar. The divorce'll take two years and you can't spend all that time in bed. Should we all make bets?

The alarm went off and I'd like to know if they can trigger it off from where they are, the alarm company.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Thursday, October 2, 1986

Steve Rubell also told me while he was spraying spit all over me that Barry Diller was giving a big party for Calvin Klein's new marriage and where should he have it?

I took Sam to the Whitney Museum party for Keith and Kenny that I was hosting. Michel Roux of Absolut Vodka was giving it. Keith asked me what big movie stars I was bringing. He said Nick Rhodes was in town and I don't know why Nick hasn't called me. I know he's been here a while. He's being distant.

Got to the Whitney early, had to do some press. Some museum people were there but Tom Armstrong wasn't. Later he said he didn't come down because he was "upstairs hanging Sargents." Another distant person. and Cornelia was distant, too. And then we went upstairs because it was cooler there. Jane Holzer came around 8:30 and we walked to Mortimer's and the block was roped off for the party.

Peter Allen sang inside but I missed it and after when he asked me if I heard it and I said no, he turned away. Another distant person. If I run into Sylvia Miles and she's distant, I'll know I'm really in trouble. Then at 9:15 we left. Jane and I went to La Reserve at 4 West 49th for the dinner that Michel Roux was giving for Keith and Kenny, they've both done paintings of the absolut vodka bottle. Had fun there.

Jane walked me home. I watched Letterman and I liked the lady admiral he had on. Oh, and Quentin Crisp was at the Whitney and he looks younger than ever, just great. He told me that Letterman, when you're on his show, it's like being out with a gay guy--you know how they're always looking past you, looking around for somebody better. He said that's what Letterman's like on the air.

And I took my quarter-valium and went to bed. And I guess I have to confess to the Diary that I am a Valium addict. I'm addicted. Because I read in the paper the symptoms and I've got them. And starting in December you're going to need more signatures to get them, so I'll have to stock up now.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Sunday, September 21, 1986

Kenny Scharf called and said there was a party for his wife Teresa's birthday in the park near the rowing bridge you go over to get across the lake.

Met Stuart and went up there and finally found the party and not too many people were there, but in a few minutes sudenly everybody arrived and there were seven birthday cakes. Keith showed up and Alba Clemente was with her little girl and Maripol was there and she's going bankrupt, there's a sale of her stuff on Tuesday.

Ann Magnuson was there and I like her. Nobody's talking about her in the movies yet. I guess They're waiting to see reactions.

Susan Pile called and said she got a job at Twentieth Century Fox that starts in October, so she's leaving Paramount. And the Diary can write itself on the other news from L.A., which I don't want to talk about.

[NOTE: Jon Gould died on September 18 at age thirty-three after "an extended illness." He was down to seventy pounds and he was blind. He denied even to close friend that he had AIDS.]

Stephen Sprouse called with good news--he said that he signed a deal with Andrew Cogan and that I'm responsible because he met him through me and so he wanted me to be the first to know. Isn't that great? He'll have his own store and a collection.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Friday, September5, 1986

Picked up by Benjamin, forgot he was coming. We took Interviews.

Worked all afternoon. Steve Rubell called and said that at 7:45 he was having people backstage and for something to eat before the MTV awards which were at the Palladium. No cabs. I kept walking and I had bundles that filled up my hands. And in the pouring rain with my hands full people were stopping me for autographs! So stupid. Dropped my packages off and got a cab down to the Palladium. they had it all roped off and you needed a ticket (laughs) to get on the sidwalk (cab $8).

Our seats were in the balcony. Grace Jones was at my table, but of course she wasn't there yet. Her manager asked me would I accept her award for her if she wasn't there on time and I said, "No!" Grace finally appeared just seconds before she had to go up, she had a five-foot hat on, it hit people two feet in either direction.

Went home (cab $6) and read the Tony Zanetta book that said David Bowie got his ideas from copying Andy Warhol in the beginning, about getting the media's attention.