A lot of people found themselves working at the Factory and some even in his bed as a result of random occurrences like your call. Most famous artists have never been all that interested in meeting strangers. That was not the case with Andy Warhol at all.

What often seemed like meanness or coldness was really fear of emotions and intimacy.

His [Andy warhol] films were way ahead of the times…and I’m not suggesting this has all necessarily been a good thing for America, mind you. I kind of think we’re all in a really big mess, kind of like the end days of the Roman Empire.

Well that’s what Andy wore to bed. You know, the oxford button-down Brooks Brothers shirt that he‘s been wearing all day and his big long socks. He’d just take off his jeans and his boots and go to bed. Then he’d change into a fresh ensemble after he had breakfast the next morning.

Well, it wasn’t really a decision on my part although you always hope as an author that a book that goes out of print somehow winds up back in print. These days publishers like to put out-of-print books into e-book form, but I really wanted to do an update.

You can’t hang around geniuses forever because they end up taking everything you’ve got. That’s why they’re the genius and you’re not.

Envy is a surefire party killer.

I think because both of my parents were essentially salespeople, and Italian-Americans, I always seemed to get along with people; I had a knack of finding something to talk about.

I don’t think he’d [Andy Warhol] be that amazed because he was so driven to be the Picasso of the second half of the 20th century.

He [Andy Warhol] engaged people and I think all of that is what helped keep him keyed in to the times beyond all of the celebrity stuff that was going on around him. He was much more like a fan than a celebrity himself.

Andy [Warhol] put on his fey kind of act, but he wanted to be number one and he succeeded. But you never know. Fifty years from now he might not be seen as so important, but the way our whole culture has gone, and the way it continues to go, is his way – for better or for worse.

It’s been so long now and so much has happened that I am able now to look back with much less emotion and my take on Andy as an artist now comes down to a simple sentence: he made religious art for a secular society which is why it has so much appeal.