Val and the Warholas

For the second year in a row, I ran the Idiotarod, which occurred this past Saturday from Brooklyn to Manhattan. I wasn't feeling up to do the entire race, so I donned my Andy wig and joined the revelry in Manhattan.

My team was Val and the Warholas, otherwise known as Valerie Solanas and the man she shot, Andy Warhol.

Solanas, as you may know, wrote the "S.C.U.M." Manifesto, which could stand for "Society for Cutting Up Men," but that's never been proven. What was proven was that Solanas shot Andy at the Factory in 1968, after he missplaced the 'only' copy of a screenplay that she had written entitled, "Up the Ass."

Said Val, "Andy had too much control over my life." Then she calmly took the elevator out of the Factory.

Andy should have died, since the bullet that entered him careened around his body and hit many major organs. He did not. Lucky Andy. Lucky world. Lucky Valerie, too. Andy refused to testify against her, though she did get three years in prison.

February 22 is the 19th anniversary of Warhol's death of a heart attack after a gallbladder operation in 1987. There may be sightings of Val and the Warholas around town.

We love you, Andy.
(And sure, we love you too, Val...)

Andys by Bitpuddle

More photos by Rich_Mansburden

Yours in pop-art,
Andy T/É