JUNE At the Factory, Andy Warhol is shot by Valerie Solanas, a mentally unbalanced writer who appeared with Nico in I, A Man but is irate that has lost a script she submitted to him, Up Your Ass (and hasn’t paid for it, either). Warhol’s wounds are serious, and his life hangs in the balance as he’s operated on at Columbus Hospital.Warhol pulls through, but neither his health nor his demeanor will ever be the same, while the Factory will certainly never again be the same freewheeling way-station for all manner of misfits.
Andy Warhol might have stopped managing the Velvet Underground almost a year ago, but the band are deeply shocked and upset by the incident. As Steve Sesnick recalls, Lou Reed learns about the shooting from the newspaper headlines on the elevator at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where the Velvets are staying in Los Angeles. He calls Warhol at Columbus Hospital later that month, and after an uneasy start to the conversation – with Warhol upset that Reed hasn’t called or visited sooner – they back on good terms.
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