I saw this last night and am obsessed with the screen tests at the moment. 13 was definitely not enough - i would be easy to sit for hours and watch them and hear all the history behind them. I don't think its cool to be fascinated by Warhol and co. now that Factory Girl's been and gone but oh well.
My favourites were Susan Bottomly, Dennis Hopper and especially Freddy Herko.
Dean (of Dean and Britta) told the story of Freddy's death before they played it - so sad. Freddy was a dancer who took too much speed - got kicked out of his house and then -
"Johnny Dodd had also come across Freddy on the 27th. Dodd had seen him at Joe's Dinette on Jones Street in Greenwich Village. According to Dodd, "Freddy was covered with filth, and he was dancing on the counter... He said he hadn't had any drugs for three days, but he was whacked out and his body was quivering."
Dodd took Freddy back to Dodd's apartment on Cornelia Street and Herko poured a bottle of Johnny's perfume into the bath and took a long bubble bath. Dodd knew that Freddy was a Mozart freak so he put the Coronation Mass on the phonograph. Finished with his bath, Freddy danced naked around the living room, occasionally making a run toward the windows. At the time Dodd wondered whether this was going to be the "suicide performance" that Herko had been promising his friends during the weeks prior - "it was obvious that Freddy had to do it now: the time and the place were right, the decor was right, the music was right."
Herko made another long run and leaped out the window. Dodd later told Diane di Prima that he saw Freddy miraculously flying up through the air before his descent to the pavement. At the time of his death Herko was twenty nine years old. He had broken both ankles, his hip, both sides of his pelvis and both of his wrists.
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