Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

Happy birthday

November 11

Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

Air Force Reserve Alex Del Zoppo

Alex Del Zoppo was one of the original members of Robert ‘Bob’ Barboza’s west coast reincarnation of his east cast band called Jay Walker and the Pedestrians. Del Zoppo was the band’s keyboardist.

It is easy to think that in the 1960s young people were simply divided into two groups: pro Vietnam War vs anti Vietnam War. It is also easy to think that anyone in a rock band was automatically anti Vietnam.

Those of us fortunate enough to get into a college and receive a deferment, which often meant a permanent deferment since by the time the student received his college diploma, he might be too old to be drafted.

Alex Del Zoppo was not in college and to avoid the draft joined the Air Force Reserves. When a person was in the Reserves, he received a 1-D – (Member of a Reserve component) classification.

The classification meant a longer obligation–8 years, monthly weekend meetings, and a two-week summer training.

Del Zoppo was able to balance his musician’s life with his Air Force–most of the time.

It was the Jay Walker and the Pedestrian’s Alex Del Zoppo who suggested to a few other Pedestrians that they form a new group with the recently discovered Nancy Nevins. Barboza had no problem with that and Alex became Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo.

Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

More gigs

The band gradually got more and more gigs, opening for concerts, and in 1969 doing many festivals (see Sweetwater Nancy Nevins piece for that list)

.

In September 1968 Reprise records released Sweetwater’s eponymous debut album, ‘Sweetwater‘.  Dave Hassinger produced it and Del Zoppo and Herrera arranged it. They had recorded it at Hassinger’s The Sound Factory recording studio located at 6357 Selma Avenue, West Hollywood.

Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

Woodstock

Bruce Blatman was Sweetwater’s manager. He suggested the band add another festival to their 1969 summer itinerary: “an intimate, no-pressure music and art fair in the countryside of upstate New York called Woodstock.”  (see Horror stories).

Del Zoppo told Blatman that his 2-week summer training started Sunday that weekend. Blatman said they’d be the opening act on Saturday afternoon, Del Zoppo could get to JFK Airport in plenty of time to fly to California and his base on time for Sunday.

We know that didn’t quite work out as planned. The word plan that Woodstock weekend had a very loose meaning.

Del Zoppo got in trouble but also eventually got out of the reserves without having to actively serve.

Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

Post Woodstock

From his site (seems dated)

Alex has also played and/or recorded with The Beach Boys, Eric Burdon, Gene Clark of the Byrds,  Donovan,  John Beland of the Flying Burrito Brothers, Chi Coltrane, Patrice (Candy) Zappa, Barry Goldberg,Johnny Tillotson and Severin Browne. 

Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

Google news

Del Zoppo is still active, at least he was when (from a google news search) I found something about Mark Newman: Having begun the new year on a high note playing two shows in sunny California with Fred Herrera and Alex Del Zoppo, founding members of Sweetwater. (source: broadwayworld)

He also has a web page.

Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

From the Sweetwater site

Alex provides advice for aspiring musicians:

1. Sing (or play your instruments) as often as possible in as many situations and different types of music (as long as it’s enjoyable to you) as possible, until what you want to accomplish becomes intuitive. In other words, almost done without having to concentrate on it. That includes your voice too, so that it leaps right to where you want it to every time, with the perfect strength, inflection, pitch and attitude. Keep trying, it’ll all fall into place at some point.

2. Love what you’re doing. Believe in yourself and your music. Even if you are doing covers (other peoples tunes), make them YOUR OWN. That is, PERSONALIZE them! Be unique, you already ARE! Don’t be afraid to be YOU. (it’s always much more interesting seeing an act which is “Different” than some clone band, no matter HOW good they are).

3. Imagine yourself right where you’d like to be: a local gig or Carnegie Hall . . . but be PRACTICAL. Visualize yourself singing (or playing) with a band (or by yourself, if you’d like to be a solo) doing EXACTLY what you’d want to be doing. Lock that vision in your mind. It can be altered from time to time, according to your new tastes (and your listening-publics tastes), but generally, KEEP that vision HANDY. Pull it out from your memory banks every so often to keep yourself on track (especially when you’re getting discouraged about how LONG it seems to be taking to learn that chord or to sing that particular line, etc.)

4. Make some practical goals. You’ll need to Be LOGICAL when it comes to your future. Be HONEST with yourself when it comes to WHERE YOU ARE TODAY in your overall plan. Then try to envision the steps you’ll need to take along the way to reach your ultimate goal (the vision of yourself exactly where you want to be).

5. Picture yourself part of the way up a mountain and your ultimate goal is to reach the top. If you look at this goal as ONE BIG, SWEATY, BACK-BREAKING CLIMB . . . you’ll NEVER START! Try to see “plateaus” or shelves, ledges or steps along the way. Even the worlds best mountain climbers stop to rest now and then! Set smaller or incremental goals for yourself (within REASON, you won’t be playin’ in your parents’ living room and go straight to Madison Square Gardens by the weekend)! As you achieve each intermediate goal, you can stop to congratulate yourself on a job well done, then envision your ultimate goal and plan your next logical step.

6. You’ll be surprised how easy it seems once you’ve made a few of those goals. Also how satisfying it feels to accomplish something constructive with your life.

7. Keep your ears open along the way for legitimate opportunities that can help you reach your mountaintop. And most importantly:……..

8. Nancy says: “Never give up your dreams”. I have to go along with that. It worked for us, even with all of the crap we had to endure and all the years we had to wait… she believed in our band and told her story over & over until enough people listened. Thanks, Nancy! I’ll say it again, if you want to make something of your life and believe that you have real talent: Never give up your dreams! Go for it!

Reference (an excellent one!) > Bruno Ceriotti

Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

2019 Bethel Woods opening

When Bethel Woods Center for the Arts had its 2019 season’s grand opening, Alex was there to speak and feel the love so many expressed to him for his and the band’s presence 50 years earlier. Those at the opening found him to be a thankful and gracious speaker.

Thank you.

Sweetwater Alex Del Zoppo

Woodstock Guitarist Gilles Malkine

Gilles Malkone (pronounced jeel malkeen) was born in Paris on November 7, 1948 and played with Tim Hardin at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair on that famous festival’s opening day.  What is he up to nowadays?

According to Wade Lawrence’s WoodsTalk piece on Tim Hardin, “Gilles Malkine, guitarist, lives in Woodstock, New York, and is an actor, guitarist, artist, writer, disability advocate, illustrator, cartoonist, and composer.”

It’s always more valuable to have some first-hand observations from the performers themselves and according to some email exchanges from Gilles:

Tim [Hardin] was not scheduled to go on first, Sweetwater was, but they were held up in traffic.

Bert Sommer was queasy from the helicopter ride – he was not fond of heights. Tim was asked to start the show but declined, as many are likely to do. Richie, to his everlasting glory, accepted.

Tim did perform solo for the first six tunes, then brought the band on for the last four. 

Mikhail Horwitz

Gilles Malkine is often part of a duo with Mikhail Horwitz. According to their page, they “…have been confounding Hudson Valley and cross-country audiences since 1989. Their original, zany, and imaginative verbal acrobatics and updated parodies of classic folk tunes have left onlookers laughing until they’re gasping for breath. Their satirical takes on world currents consistently hit the mark, as do their rap versions of such literary classics as Moby-Dick, Homer’s Odyssey, and Waiting for Godot.”

And their version of “This Land Is Your Land.”

Woodstock Guitarist Gilles Malkine

Sounds like fun

The site goes on to say that, “Individually and as a duo, they have appeared onstage with John Sebastian, Tim Hardin, Natalie Merchant, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, Ed Sanders (The Fugs), Prof. Peter Schickele, and Allen Ginsberg, to name just a few unwitting collaborators.”

Woodstock Guitarist Gilles Malkine

Gilles Malkine

It is interesting to this Woodstock alum that Malkine does not mention the Woodstock Music and Art Fair performance to any great extent. That’s my own bias, of course.

According to his Facebook page, Gilles “…was raised in Woodstock and began acting (publicly) at the age of 11 in the 1960 summer stock season at the Woodstock Playhouse. He later studied the Sanford Meisner acting technique with Brad Dourif at the Woodstock Film and Actors Guild. His stage career has included many theater, film, and video productions, serving as actor, singer, musician, musical director, composing, arranging, performing, and recording songs, scores, and sound tracks for various projects—the list ranges from guitarist at the 1969 Woodstock Festival to co-starring on Off-Broadway. He has made many recordings including a brand new solo album, and has been performing comedy with his partner-in-crime, Mikhail Horowitz, for the past 22 years; it has been said they have been doing to performance poetry what freon has been doing to the ozone. He is currently starring with Melissa Leo in a soon-to-be-released film titled Persephone.

Woodstock Guitarist Gilles Malkine

Persephone

The movie Persephone was released on October 12, 2012.

IMDB does add that Gilles has also been in The Arsonist’s Affair, a short also in 2012.

Here is a great video showcasing Malkine’s guitar playing.

The description below the video says, “Gilles Malkine is a guitarist from Woodstock, NY, and a veteran of the 1969 Woodstock Festival as guitarist in Tim Hardin’s band. He loves writing feel-good music and is delighted to share this tune from his 2012 album TimeDog (available at CD Baby and other purveyors of fine music). On this cut, Martin Keith is on upright bass and Harvey Sorgen on drums and washboard.”

Woodstock Guitarist Gilles Malkine

Acoustic Folk

His own album description was: “Acoustic folk/blues style, with a little mellifluous classical and romantic South American thrown in; mostly original material on subjects as life, love, war, time, and dreams, with an occasional humorous and satirical twist.”

Activist

In closing, Gilles Malkine continued to entertain and teach us. One might say he’s continuing the spirit of Woodstock, but more likely he is one of the roots from which that spirit grew.

“Retired“

On December 1,  2021, hv1 reported that on “Friday, November 19 [2021] was the end of an era. The occasion was billed as the final performance ever — at that venue, at least — by “wordshpritzer” Mikhail Horowitz and guitarist Gilles Malkine. The satirical duo have been performing their verbal and musical gymnastics at Unison since 1989, soon after they first teamed up, and invariably sell out the venue. Now both in their 70s, they’ve decided that they’re not up to the demands of a full-length performance anymore.

“We’re not broken up,” Gilles insists. “We still will perform together.” 

• Gilles site

Woodstock Guitarist Gilles Malkine

Gilles revisiting the site:

Woodstock Guitarist Gilles Malkine