The Real World

Observe the innocent boy magician from suburban southern California transforming into a punk junkie in ’70s San Francisco, an ecstatic club-goer in ’80s New York, a hard-drinking rock publicist in gay London in the ’90s, and a computer hermit tirelessly chronicling the colorful, iconic Warhol superstars. Gary Comenas, best known for his much-cited website warholstars.org, nearly died in 2013 from multiple heart attacks. During a month of induced coma followed by three months in hospitals, visitors from his past and present kept him wanting to live, reminding him of that magical time in New York when he frequented the club of the moment, the Palladium, with a glittering coterie of English friends from the fashion world. Moving to London, he fell into a press office job at Island Records, promoting and touring with bands. Heroin kept its lure until he crashed into the age of HIV and had to clean up or die. A new world of friendships opened out of the Warhol circle—but mortality was never far away. Death is part of the real world in this buoyant, revelatory book by a clear-eyed survivor. Illustrated with photos.