He was just some guy off the street as far as Andy Warhol was concerned. Remember, David Bowie was not a big star. Warhol didn’t say anything but absolutely hated it. So they were circling each other and then David gave him a copy of Hunky Dory on which was his ode to Andy Warhol, the song Andy Warhol. Nobody was really taking this conversation and running with it.

The meeting was kind of tense because Warhol was not a great talker, you had to talk and entertain Andy, and David really wasn’t a great talker either. I hung out with them the whole week they were there, showed them around New York, got them to The Factory to introduce David to Andy Warhol. I came back to New York and the manager and David and Angie and Mick Ronson came to New York that September to sign with RCA Records. This is the summer of 1971 and during that summer his manager Tony DeFries was also working on getting him a new record deal. He and I and his wife Angie became fast friends. So he really wanted to meet Andy but he met me instead. The play was pretty much a sensation in London that summer and David was a big Warhol fan. We were in London for the whole summer at the Roundhouse Theater. Pork was done at La MaMa in New York and then a producer picked it up and brought it to London. Pork was based on tape-recorded conversations between Andy and the Superstars. I was working in downtown theater and I got involved in Andy Warhol’s play called Pork. Below, Zanetta recalls the exciting time when Bowie arrived in New York an unknown who would soon become a superstar. He soon became part of Bowie’s inner circle as tour manager of the Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs tours and helped run Bowie’s MainMan management organization. Zanetta had not seen Bowie in over 40 years when he learned of his death this week. When Bowie visited New York in 1971, Zanetta guided him through the town’s nightlife. His portrayal of Warhol in the play “Pork” would have him meet David Bowie in London.

In the early 1970s, New York actor Tony Zanetta performed in underground theater in plays by Andy Warhol, Jackie Curtis and Wayne/Jayne County. Tony Zanetta and David Bowie, Augat Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, during the Young American sessions.

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