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FACTORY_DAYS


                                             May 21, 2010

  Morrisey makes a few points when
  talking about the old Factory days:           On the commentary disk
                                                with Paul Morrisey's
  (1) Warhol hired Morrisey, and put his        Andy Warhol's "Flesh".
  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 where      My understanding was that
  they regularly scheduled and staged     the old Silver Factory      Funny
  photoshoots for anyone who called.      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 Morrisey
  Warhol's name, and sell       is exaggerating his own role
  screen prints at every        and downplaying others...
  increasing prices (and
  without paying gallery           You might get
  commissions).                    the impression      Really, Morrisey
                                   that Warhol was     joined The Factory
                                   a nobody until      in 1965, when
                                   Morrisey put him    Warhol's silver star
                                   over.               was already rising.
                                                       After the Soup can
                                                       paintings, after the
      Much of what                                     Marilyn silkscreens,
      Morrisey says                                    after the movies
      has a ring of                                    "Sleep" and "Beauty
      truth about it.                                  No. 2"...

      His portrait of Warhol as
      this weirdly hung-up
      character who did very          I've often thought he
      little artistically and yet     was an example of an       Though
      became famous...  that          idiot savant: he could     there's
      doesn't sound too far off.      do interesting things      another view
                                      despite not really being   that this was
        Morrisey is dismissive of     very bright.               schtick, a
        Warhol's self-conscious                                  defense
        schtick in some of the          But consider the         mechanism.
        photographs, e.g. meeting       portrait of Warhol
        a European photgrapher          by Reed and Cale on       If you refuse
        with a large dildo peeping      "Songs for Drella":       to defend
        out of his jacket pocket.       a more respectful         yourself, if
                                        view.                     you just
          But this schtick                                        admit to
          works much in the               Morrisey's              anything
          way Morrisey's                  story is a              you're
          movies work,                    little sketchy          accused of,
          because it's                    concerning              you undermine
          so deadpan, so                  people such as          the momentum
          unconcerned.                    Lou Reed.               of the
                              DRY_FLESH                                    attack.
                                          Did the Velvet
          In the land of the Cool,        Underground
          the autistic man is king.       break-up mostly
                                          because Reed was
                                          jealous of Nico?
                                          That one does not
                                          quite take the
                                          ring...

             WARHOL
                                              Morrisey organized the
                                              Exploding Plastic Inevitable
                                              and brought Nico into the VU.

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

                                                     PISTOL_WHIPPED


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