Tuesday, May 14, 1985
The day of the opening night of the Palladium…We were waiting for Kenny Scharf to call to say if he wanted to go to Stephen Sprouse’s to get an outfit, but then he went on his own. He got pink Stephen Sprouse low-riders and wore them with a blouse made by his wife, Teresa. But I don’t think it’s attractive, seeing the crack in the ass. On girls either. I don’t like it, really. Then we picked up PH and went down with Keith to the Palladium and went in the back door on 13th Street and the electricians and construction people were working fast. We went up to Steve Rubell’s office and the phones were ringing and he was saying, “There’s no door list, the invitations all were delivered yesterday and there is no list.” And in between people were coming in with the list. Then I left after taping some more for the Party book and taking some pictures. Dropped PH ($5). Went home and glued. Picked Cornelia up and she looked beautiful, she got this idea to wear a long braid and she looked like Britt Ekland or something (cab $6). And Halston came out for this, that was a big thing. So, anyway, we went in and stood in a couple of places. And Benjamin was there as Ming Vauze in a grape-colored strapless with a tulle skirt. And Beauregard who writes for Details was in drag, too. Boy George was there with Marilyn who’s always obnoxious, she had a camera. Eric and Shawn from Area were there looking glum. Chris in a striped outfit was there, he was complaining that the drinks weren’t free, but Cornelia was getting the Cristal from Dan, Steve’s driver from New Hampshire, who’s now the “general manager” there, but I don’t think that’s going to work out because he’s too nice, he’ll never be the type to manage a place. And Jean Michel was in a dark mood. He’d bought Jennifer a dress to wear to the opening and then he didn’t even bring her, he left her home. And I didn’t lecture him about the heroin he takes because I didn’t want to have a fight. And I’m worried about Ming turning into an alcoholic, because I saw what happened with Curley— it starts very happy and lots of fun but it doesn’t end up that way. And the Palladium, I don’t know, it was good for opening night but they’re going to have to have the bridge and tunnel people in there all the time to fill it up. And if it is a success, then we’ll know there’s no recession. And the funny thing about putting art in a disco is that in the end, when you pack all the people in, it doesn’t make a bit of difference. It really doesn’t. You don’t even see things. And like that Saturday Night Fever “discotheque room” they have— when it filled up you couldn’t even see what it was supposed to be, it’s just all bodies dancing and you don’t notice what anything is. So Steve Rubell really has a story now, jail and then the Big Comeback. “I never lost faith,” he says. But he lost hair. Left at 2:30.
Excerpt from The Andy Warhol Diaries © The Andy Warhol Foundation. Used with permission.