People Features

Bob Colacello misses the Seventies

By Stone Martindale Aug 26, 2007, 3:43 GMT

Andy Warhol\'s Lemon Marilyn REUTERS/Christie\'s/Handout

Once the “Interview” magazine editor and Andy Warhol sidekick, Bob Colacello doesn't like being labeled "gay."

In the latest W, a magazine so heavy and thick my postal carrier gave me dirty looks for a week, Colacello is interviewed about his upcoming release, "Bob Colacello's Out."

Colacello is also a proud member of the Republican Party. "It takes more courage to be openly Republican than to be openly gay in New York today," he said.
"I'm a bit of a contrarian," Colacello admitted.

Colacello has a book to sell, and he dishes about the golden age of “innocent decadence” – the Seventies in a big way.

“People were really approachable.  You’d go to Studio 54 and Elizabeth Taylor would be sitting with Liza Minnelli and Betty Ford.  And we thought cocaine was like Pot.”

Colacello grew up middle class in Bensonhurst, of Italian immigrant parents who just wanted to be Americanized as soon as possible.

Describing his childhood neighborhood, he noted the ticky-tacky houses where the only discernible differences were the paint choice for the shutters. “My parents were interested in assimilating,” said Colacello.

After college, a fateful encounter with Andy Warhol was instigated by a review written by Colacello of Warhol's move “Trash,” which Colacello hailed as “a Catholic Masterpiece.” 

The meeting led to a job at “Interview,” where Colacello climbed quickly.

In his interview with “W”, Colacello admits to beating the drug and alcohol beast, sober now for 15 years.  “I was lucky enough to have woken up one day and thought; I’m going to have a heart attack.”

Colacello misses a lot of his old friends, and blames political correctness and the erosion of ethnic and cultural markers within New York that have “homogenized” the Big Apple.

“People don’t even have regional accents anymore; things have become much more homogenized.”

Brushing aside remarks by peers annoyed with his refusal to be honest about this homosexuality, he counters, “I’m presumably gay. I believe in going out, not coming out.” 

Despite his allegiance to the GOP, he had some criticism for the social skill strapped Bushes. “They don’t have dinners.  They don’t do social outreach.  It’s easy to hate a name; it’s harder to hate a human being.  I’m a big believer in the power of entertaining.”

The full interview with Jacob Bernstein is in the September issue of "W".