West Village actor recalls rock
tour days with David Bowie
BY BOB KRASNER
Tony Zanetta, an actor at heart in
the West Village, took a very long
detour from that profession, coming
full circle at age 74.
PHOTOS BY BOB KRASNER
Tony Zanetta, in the kitchen of his
West Village apartment. Zanetta
spent his formative years acting in
avant-garde theatre.
Starting out in Jamestown, NY — “the
same as Lucille Ball,” he recalled — Zanetta
eventually ended up at Buffalo State, as
his parents had said no to Pratt Institute.
Not easily deterred, he left school after two
years at the age of 20 and headed for the
city, fascinated with stories of beatniks and
clubs and artists.
It was 1966 when he rented his fi rst
apartment at Avenue C and 12th Street in
the East Village.
“It was nice then and things were cheap!”
he recalls. “My rent was $62 a month and
I made $60 a week. You could eat lunch at
Chock Full of Nuts for 35 cents!”
He worked with a friend at Creative
Playthings, a toy shop that specialized in
educationally motivating toys and had a
clientele that sported household names.
“It was a high falutin’ store! I waited
on Mrs. Onassis and Happy Rockefeller.
We spent the days playing with toys and
making beautiful sculptures out of blocks,”
Zanetta recalls. “And at night I was learning
how to be a gay boy in New York.”
“I wanted to be an actor, but I was too
timid,” he continues. “But it was a very
exciting time to be young – everything was
new ! Everything was being marketed to
our age group. Even the color schemes
were new.”
Eventually he found his way into theatre
through John Vaccaro and the original
Play-House of the Ridiculous (not to be
confused with Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous
Theatrical Company, an offshoot).
He ended up with a role in Andy Warhol’s
“Pork”, which went from off-Broadway to
London in 1971, and that is where Zanetta
met the man who would take him to a much
different stage: David Bowie.
“He wasn’t famous – he was long haired
and kind of scraggly,” he says.
One thing led to another and Zanetta
found himself on tour with the fl edgling
star, with no actual job or purpose.
“I had suggested to DeFries (Bowie’s
manager) that he get rid of Lindsay
Kemp’s mime troupe that had
performed with Bowie and that
turned out to be the beginning
of a fantastic rock and roll
show,” he recalls.
In fact, it became legendary,
as the Ziggy Stardust tour
went from small beginnings in
England to massive success in
the states.
Zanetta became an integral
part of the tour the day that he
started signing everyone in at
their hotel, since the band and
crew were just sitting around
the lobby waiting for something to happen.
DeFries took notice, looked at Zanetta and
said, “Right, you’ll be the road manager.”
“But what does a road manager do?”
asked Zanetta.
“Just make sure they fi nd Cleveland,”
snapped DeFries.
Cleveland turned out to be a turning
point for Bowie and a high point for Zanetta.
When they fi rst played there, the venue
was 3,000 seats. When they returned three
months later, Bowie was on the cover of
Rolling Stone and a new venue was full of
20,000 fans.
“It was an incredible thing to be a part
of,” Zanetta marveled.
Years of high points followed, including
celebrating his 27th birthday at DeFries’
estate in Connecticut.
Zanetta did two more tours with Bowie,
but they almost didn’t happen. Bowie had
announced his “retirement” onstage,
From Zanetta’s archive, the New York
Times review of the Andy Warhol
play “Pork”. Tony Zanetta is at the far
right, behind Warhol.
leaving MainMan, Bowie’s management
company – which had elevated Zanetta to
president – wondering how they were going
to get him back on the road.
Tony Zanetta, thinking about all the
things he didn’t tell us.
“I suggested presenting ‘Bowie on
Broadway’ but the idea was
turned down,” he says. Probably
an idea ahead of its time,
but it did spark the idea for the
‘Diamond Dogs’ tour, a much
more theatrical presentation
than the Ziggy show.
Other things changed as well.
Where previously no one was
allowed backstage, now there
was parade of stars: Diana
Ross, Mick Jagger, Liz Taylor
and many more. “After awhile
you just got used to it,” shrugs
Zanetta.
The bubble burst for real when Bowie
and DeFries split up, leaving Zanetta on
his own.
“I kinda fell apart,” he muses. “That was
my family – I lived and breathed it. None
of us made money, but I have no regrets.”
Finding his way again in NYC, he went
back to avant-garde theatre and then put
his vision to work staging events through
the 80’s in some legendary venues in Manhattan.
Working with some of the most
fabulous party people around, such as Dianne
Brill and Betsey Johnson, Zanetta set
the scene at Palladium, Limelight, Tunnel
and Danceteria, among others.
A 30-year career creating installation
designs for a large textile company, Westpoint
Stevens, followed. But the COVID-19
crisis recently put an end to that , leaving
Zanetta free to pursue his fi rst love once
again – acting.
“I did a play with Taboo! in drag – it
looked like one of his paintings! Also
did a reading at Torn Page with Everett
Quinton and Flotilla Debarge. I was very
disappointed that the Rumi Missabu (one
of the original Cockettes ) extravaganza
planned for October has been cancelled.”
Tony Zanetta, in his West Village apartment. Over his shoulder is a painting
of Dionne Warwick by Chuck McGlinn, an ex-roommate of Zanetta’s. It was
painted for consideration for an album cover around 1969 but not used.
Schneps Media Oct. 15, 2020 17