Warhol was paid to attend elite social venues as celebrity bait

Evidence

By some accounts, Warhol (who would soon take out an ad in the Village Voice, offering to endorse “clothing, AC-DC, cigarettes, sound equipment, ROCK N ROLL RECORDS, anything, film and film equipment, Food, Helium, Whips, MONEY!!”) was tendered $40,000 to hang out. True or not, the Factory recognized an opportunity to realize a long-standing interest in the music business. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 831

Categorization

• XREF: Illustrates the celebrity-as-magnet economy; connects to later analysis of how artists become value-creation infrastructure for capital.
• CANDY: The $40k-to-hang-out anecdote plus the absurd endorsement ad listing helium and whips is fun elevator material.