Hank Zevallos
captured May 14, 2003, by Rocky Burnette, copyright © All Rights Reserved.

Alternative Energy Activist,
Journalist, Music Promoter,
Satellite TV Pioneer,
Internet Solutions, and
Community Involvements
Tehachapi Home Office:
(661) 823-7676
hank@zevallos.net

Principles, dedication and love of life involvement are at the foundation of who Hank Zevallos is.

Currently known for his activities promoting clean, renewable wind energy, Hank Zevallos has led a colorful life in music, journalism, satellite TV, subscription TV and the Internet that has always been rooted in devotion for what he believes in.

"Only by realizing what really matters and being true to that," he says, "can you do your best and feel good about yourself and your place in life."

• Wind Energy Promotion.  In recent years, Hank Zevallos has been written about in numberous front page newspaper articles because of his successful drive to get a new ordinance which now allows the installation of small wind energy systems in rural Los Angeles County. This effort began with Zevallos speaking before area citizens at Rural Town Council Meetings from May to October, 2000, getting the majority to vote for a lifting of then-existing 35 foot height limits which made residential installations virtually impossible. When the issue was then brought up before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Zevallos testified before them and the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commissions. On April 23rd, 2002, the new ordinanced passed unanimously. The California Energy Commission has also had Zevallos testify in Sacramento in regards to their incentive programs for emerging renewable energies, and Zevallos was also contacted by CNN, which interviewed him at the Palm Springs area wind farms for a feature it aired on wind energy and its benefits. The Kern Wind Energy Association also had Zevallos represent it before the Kern County Board of Supervisors earlier this year. Zevallos, a committed environmentalist, has also wriiten about the wind industry for several publications.
• Music. With his mother being a singer/pianist who studied under Claudio Arrau, Hank Zevallos was learning piano at age 2 and has always had a great love for music. As a young school boy he was fortunate to meet Ritchie Valens, Johnny Burnette and Jan Davis. Later, as a teen, he met other musicians on the way up, like The Doors, and increasingly found himself writing about the music scene. After Jim Morrison lent him his film "HWY" for its only public showing, young Zevallos decided he wanted to start his own Beatles-like "Apple" and finance new age media by presenting the most inspiring music artists in concert, and, film makers in film festivals. With High Wind Productions, Hank soon found himself called a "boy wonder" concert promoter when he almost tripled attendances for Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention with his promotions in Vancouver, B.C., and Edmonton, Alberta - creating what the competing veteran Alberta concert promoter called "Zappa Fever." Later, when a partner did not want to take a chance on John Lee Hooker, who was only drawing half a 300-seat blues house in Vancouver, Hank Zevallos began Earth Breeze Productions to promote this deserving blues legend in 6 western Canadian cities - selling out 3,000 auditoriums and setting concert attendance records in Prince George and Lethbridge. Passing on contemporary hitmakers for alternative/legendary artists he wanted to share, others Zevallos promoted in concert included Willie Dixon, Miles Davis, The Everly Brothers, Captain Beefheart, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Incredible String Band, It's A Beautiful Day, The Velvet Underground, James Cotton Redbone, Big Walter "Shakey" Horton, Dr. John The Night Tripper, Lafayette Leake, Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen, John Hammond The Chamber Brothers, Love and countless other musical greats. At his peak, Hank Zevallos successfully promoted 3 separate Pacific NorthWest/cross-Canada tours which involved 21 one-nighters criss-crossing each other in a 19 day period. Giving up "living out of a suitcase" for love, Hank eventually returned to Los Angeles where he got involved in Artist Management and recording/video production - activities he remains involved in.
• Journalism. Hank Zevallos has been published internationally in various publications since his high school years, and was also involved in the publishing of two early ground-breaking "underground" music periodicals, as well as having been a featured contributor to two pioneering webzines, Our Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and the Entertainment Section of theglobe.com. He recently resumed his ONtheBEAT newspaper column, which will also be available at www.publiceye.info. As a rock music journalist, Zevallos was quoted on full page record company ads in consumer magazines as well as the industry's Billboard Magazine. Ringling Bros. & Barnum Circus even quoted Zevallos, with picture, on page 2 of Variety.
• Subscription Television. In late 1979, Zevallos took the advice of his friends managing Long John Baldry, and accepted a position with ONTV so he would not be depended only upon income from artist management and perhaps subject himself to bad artistic decisions. ONTV had less than 20,000 subscribers when Hank Zevallos joined. After being instrumental, as Los Angeles Regional Sales Manager, in setting up a Direct Sales department with 5 area field offices having up to 30 salespersons each, Zevallos had helped ONTV become the largest single subscription TV channel in any city in the world, with just under 400,000 subscribers. Hank was promoted to Promotions with over 1,200 Southland retail locations, and was also encouraged to develop an exercise program with celebrities and their fitness gurus. However, Zevallos gave notice shortly after Norman Lear's Chartwell Enterprises sold their managing 49% of ONTV to Oak Industries, which Hank quickly realized was only interested in the monthly billings of over $13 million.
• Satellite TV. While at ONTV, Hank Zevallos had become very interested in satellite TV reception for home users, especially after putting together a cheap primitive system of his own which he set up to manually track the arc. Turning down lucrative offers from cable companies, Zevallos revived his freelance photofeature name Public Eye to start up his own satellite TV sales and installation company in August, 1983. A pioneer in this field, Hank used his promotional ideas to soon become the largest installer of satellite TV systems in Los Angeles area restaurants and sports bars. Soon, Zevallos also negotiated a contract to sell and install these large "C" Band systems exclusively in Southern California stores for the Home Club chain. He duplicated this later by becoming the exclusive satellite dealer for Costco Stores from Santa Maria to San Diego County. Not wanting to be involved in selling and installing inferior equipment, Zevallos declined an offer to the same with Price Club stores, then later, not wanting to over-extend Public Eye, he also passed on an opportunity to do this with Sears. An early supporter of DirecTv, as well as also a dealer/installer for the cable-owned Primestar mini-dish systems, Hank Zevallos lost interest in this once revolutionary medium which helped bring down the Iron Curtain, when he saw it becoming little more than "cable on a platter."
• Internet Solutions. At a satellite TV convention in the late 1980s, Senator Al Gore inspired Hank Zevallos with his vision for an "information superhiway" which could do even more to bring the world closer together than satellite TV, so Hank Zevallos turned Public Eye into an Internet solution company, putting many individuals and companies on the Internet for the first time. However, not wanting to relocate back into a more metropolitan area, Hank chose to remain in Tehachapi and direct his love for wind energy into a new career with STS, one of his Internet clients..
• What Others Remember. "In a fit of nostalgia, talking , no, addressing some of my more (junior) interested staff on matters of rock and roll, the history of Hank and Ihor and Poppin emerged from the dark recesses of my brain. Touched by their interest, arriving at home I did a google search on Poppin. Bingo! Right to your door. Did the tour. The Morrison film fest, The walk. No wait , I was there. Or was I? Bergman, Zappa, the one thing you forget is that you and only you alone revitalized John Lee Hooker's career. He may be not your favorite artist but for some he works. (Hot Spot; Miles Davis&John Lee Hooker) The house on west 5th (the wall of records); the venues (Pender Auditorium, Manhatten, Daisy were some of the more obscure); the concerts, some etched into the brain; after parties; Flo&Eddie, the Miles Davis band (Herbie Hancock,John Mclaughlin, Jaco Pastorius. Wow!)" - Photographer Chandler Keeler, April 3, 2001 e-mail
• The Tehachapi News: "Two years ago, it's a good thing nobody told Hank Zevallos that a homeboy from Tehachapi didn't stand a chance of turning around the mighty Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Undeterred by such doubts, Zevallos and his colleagues from the local wind industry have achieved startling success in opening the door to non-commercial wind energy development in the Antelope Valley, one of the nation's most-promising areas for wind energy. - He took on an entrenched anti-wind bias in Los Angeles County and convinced the L.A. supervisors to amend their ordinances to permit homeowners and ranchers within their jurisdiction to tap wind energy. The liberalized rules will take effect in two to three months." - Bill Mead, lead news story, May 1, 2002
• Leisure Magazine, Vancouver Sun: "At this time of year, Leisure's writers search their memories to come up with some of the outstanding people and things and events that touched all of us during the year... (Music Editor) Peter Wilson decided on Hank Zevallos and Len MacMillan of High Wind, "for their consistently tasteful presentations of high quality rock and blues performers in Vancouver at reasonable prices. Their presentations of the Mothers of Invention and Beaytiful Day, John Lee Hooker and John Hammond showed that they not only knew good music when they heard it but also understood how to present in in the best atmosphere possible." - Year-end Leisure's 1970 Mentionables
• CKLG FM, Vancouver, B.C.: "Impressario Hank Zevallos is responsible for bringing poetic concert promotions to Canada." - Program Director Tim Burge