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cast, and the next night Warhol himself returned to catch the band’s set. After some cat-and-mouse between Reed and Morrissey—the Velvets, after all, had already accepted Aronowitz as their manager—a deal was struck, and Warhol and Morrissey became managers of the Velvet Underground, eventually forming a corporation called Warvel under which to operate.
    The band soon became part of the multi-media “happenings” that Warhol had been planning, but which had yet to materialize. The concept of showing films, adding live music and bathing it all in psychedelic light did not originate with Andy. Jonas Mekas had already featured the band playing behind a movie screen during shows at Cinemateque—but it was left to Warhol to develop the idea fully, incorporating confrontational theatre techniques as well. His concept evolved from afilm-plus-band appearance at a psychiatrist convention, into the successful
Andy Warhol, Uptight
show at Cinemateque (including an Edie Sedgwick film retrospective). It was then further refined into the
Exploding Plastic Inevitable (EPI)
, a format without precedent, which eventually included a dozen-plus members. Norman Dolph recalls:
    The final decision on a name came during a meeting in my living room. I believe it was Paul [Morrissey] who ultimately chose
“Exploding”
as more suitable than the name that nearly stuck—the
Erupting Plastic Inevitable. 16
    The
Exploding Plastic Inevitable
owed its existence to the public’s interest in Warhol. Andy was expected to appear at the shows, and with the level of interest in the pop artist at its peak, high fees could be sought and got. But with art and film projects putting constant demands on his time, Andy eventually (and inevitably) began to lose interest in the extravaganzas. The
EPI
strobe lights dimmed, and the first cracks appeared in the Velvets’ relationship with the Warhol/Morrissey team, leading to their break-up the next year.
MANAGEMENT AND THE ALBUM
    Much might be said regarding Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s performance as managers, but we’ll stick to aspects that affected this particular album. Their most significant capital outlay to the band—i.e. as a group and not as part of the
EPI
—went toward the recording process. The outlay was probably around $3,000, though John Cale has named the sum of $1,500 more than once. 17
    Warvel’s ability to put the group into the studio early on, capturing their still-fresh sound intact, was no doubt their most important and successful managerial act. Ironically, they paid their share of the studio bill with money from a triumph that ended as their managerial nadir: the Dom. The
EPI
shows at the Dom, a former Polish social club on St. Mark’s Place, were the hottest ticket in New York in the spring of ’66. In just a month the
EPI
brought in $18,000, and a permanent club was planned. However, before they secured the lease on the Dom space, the team decided to accept a month-long gig in Los Angeles.
    The West Coast tour was a bust. The logistics of traveling with the troupe’s dozen-plus members was formidable enough, but then the anticipated month-longbooking evaporated when the club closed after only three days. The trip simply magnified the Velvets’ already healthy disdain for the West Coast. The only highlight was that the band was able to record for two days with Tom Wilson. After a demoralizing month, the group returned to New York, itching to regain the invigorating momentum of the Dom shows. On their arrival they discovered that the lease had been finessed out from under them by Bob Dylan’s manager—an associate of the very person who booked them on the LA trip. The decision to go west, which Warhol was sure was a perfect place for the Velvets, had been an unmitigated disaster. “Their” club, renamed the Balloon Farm (later the Electric Circus), rapidly provided their rivals with industry clout which the Velvets would never possess. It also made scads of dough for the