Category: Sly Fan

Earlier this week I received this photo and the following e-mail..

Hi CRAIG,

Happy New Year! I met up for lunch with Frank Stallone and Chuck Zito @ Cafe Roma- 1/14/2012!! Please FEEL FREE to post on STALLONE ZONE…. Have a great weekend,

Jonathon Becker

+++++

Regular SZoners will recognize Jonathon.  He’s met up with Sly and Frank repeatedly over the years! – Craig

Recently SZoner,  Mike Kunda co-hosted a celebration of the 35th Anniversary of Rocky in Philly.    Here’s his report and and photos!

Craig,

This past weekend, I co-sponsored the 35th anniversary celebration of Rocky in Philadelphia. We had an amazing weekend, complete with the first ever – ROCKY bus tour.  We promoted this event for six months, and in the end, forty five of this planets most hardcore ROCKY fans proved their weight in gold. They arrived from the United Kingdom, California, Kentucky, Florida, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and of course, Pennsylvania.

The event started in South Philly, at the Skyview Plaza, where the staff was sincere and blown away at all the ROCKY fans. The giant yellow school bus headed for our first destination, 12th and Cantrel street; the “screw you creppo” corner from ROCKY. Imagine forty five people piling out of a school bus as locals looked on in wonder, as a 1976 Rocky Balboa led the charge, repeating the lines from the movies with the group. (And they knew their Rocky trivia)

If smiles, laughter and friendship were the keystone to money, we were millionaires. We had an Adrian trivia contest on the bus for the ladies only, with awesome, but humble prizes.

Next, the church where Rocky and Adrian got Married. (the exterior, the interior was shot inside a second church down the road.) Guiding the tour around back to the famous “Yo, Father Carmine window”  the group gave their best lines from Rocky 2. As we took pictures, a familiar face joined the group – Rocky’s lawyer from Rocky 5,  Mr. Jimmy Binns, also known for his dual role in Rocky Balboa as the council member who discourages Rocky by asking him, “What rights do you think you have?”.

The next stop on the tour, The Italian Market, where Rocky was thrown an impromptu orange. Also, I’d like to thank Debbie and Frank. They were the bus drivers that kept us safe on those narrow Philly side streets. They also happen to be close friends with Frank Stallone. Frank was also standing on the corner with Frank Stallone as Rocky came by for a swig of wine. Fantastic back stories to be sure.

Heading over to The Museum of Art, or as the world refers to them as the Rocky Steps, The tour stopped by the Rocky Statue for a group picture as we were welcomed by a very graceful Cynthia Schomberg, the wife of Thomas Schomberg, the creator of  The Rocky Statue. We interviewed her at length for our documentary and she was thrilled to join us later that night for dinner at The Victors Cafe, home of Adrian’s in Rocky Balboa.

As the documentary crew set up shop at the Victors, Jimmy Binns joined us for dinner, but not before explaining his role in the Rocky series and discussing his beloved charity; putting children of fallen police and firefighters through college. The host of the Victors, Greg and Alexa DiStefano were thrilled to have us. Though they were busy, they did take time to talk to the many fans at dinner. The oprea themed resturant is like no other as the waiters and waitress break out into classic opera singing that melts the heart. Here, amoungst the fans that traveled to be on the tour new and everlasting friendships with others were forged, like Rambo’s knife, sharing laughs and Rocky related stories. I stood back in my maroon-Rocky Balboa sports coat and just watched. Amazed.

After dinner, several parties were continuing in the hotel rooms as others went out to see the Philly nightlife

9:00 A.M. came early with the second part of the Rocky Bus tour as we headed to Kensington: the Graceland of Rocky sites.

First up – Gurney street, or as Rocky fans call it. the “Gazzo Street”. The brick cobblestone road is still there, though much has changed. We all recited “I should’a broke your thumbs” a thousand times. we then headed over to 1818 Tusculmn street; Rocky first apartment, the “Take You Back” corner where Frank Stallone sang, then down to the gym and pet shop. We interviewed several locals as they recalled filming and Stallone.

As time grew short, we headed back to the stairs for our Rocky look-alike contest that took place along side the Rocky Statue with another visit from Jimmy Binns. Then, the crowd was treated to Miss Angie Boyd, who played bar trash/Angie in Balboa, as she and I brought to life the scene where she yells at Rocky, “YOU AIN’T NO BETTER THAN ME! YOU’RE THE FOOL!” The contest judges- Robin Schomberg, myself and Joy Cooper asked the contestents triva questions such as – In Rocky 3, what did Apollo help Rocky get back? Name an opponent Rocky faced. Where did Paulie work and how much did Rocky get paid for fighting Spider Rico?

Ending the event was a “Going the Distance Run” up the steps for an amazing prize donated by the Schombergs – a 20 inch signed Rocky statue!

All in all,  an amazing weekend.

Zoners! Unite, next year it’s gonna be bigger and better!

Best, Mike “Adnuk” Kunda

Thanks to Mike for the co-hosting the event, plus the report and photos! – Craig

Guess who met up with Sly again this summer?  That’s right, SZoner, Jonathon Becker!  Congrats to Jonathon!

Recently, several SZoners met in Philly to celebrate the upcoming 35 anniversary of the release of Rocky.  SZoner, SlyStalloneFan has been kind enough to provide photos and commentary.

SlyStalloneFan is back again with an exclusive report on the 35th anniversary of the movie ROCKY.

Just a little over a year ago, I was sitting at my apartment. surrounded by four walls, sitting on my desk with my pen and legal pad and trying to put words on paper. Ever since I heard about Sly writing the script for Rocky, it just motivated me to do the same. So I was sitting at my desk trying to come up with something proactive. Something that will have a true meaning to me.

And I just couldn’t believe that it was almost 35 years since my favorite movie of all time was originally released in theaters. It just felt like Rocky’s birthday. And that truly means something to me and has a very big spot in my heart. Because this is a movie that i have been watching my whole life. So right away, I pictured the Rocky locations in the city of Philadelphia and how great it would be to be there for the 35th anniversary.

I was just hoping that there would be an actual event for this and not just me going there all by my self. And there was my answer. Just a few days after that, I started hearing about a Rocky 35th anniversary event that will take place in Philadelphia. It just absolutely made my day. I don’t know if I can describe the level of excitement that I had. Because I knew that I would be surrounded with other Sylvester Stallone and Rocky fans and more importantly, get to meet other members of the StalloneZone website. So I knew that this will be impossible to miss no matter what. Rocky has been my favorite movie my whole life and Sylvester Stallone has been my favorite actor and my biggest inspiration and so to be part of an event like this is just unbelievable. So as time went by and we got closer and closer to the event, my level of excitement just kept growing bigger and bigger.

I flew from Salt Lake city, UT all the way to Philadelphia. I arrived to Philadelphia about 11:30 at night and headed to the hotel. Next morning, we all met at the hotel lobby, got to know each other and say some “hello how are ya’s” I don’t think I ever talked as much in my life but getting to meet people who share a very big common interest which is Sylvester Stallone, is just truly amazing. I felt that I was meeting my own family and friends that I have known for so long. It just happened very natural. and then will all hopped on the bus and that is when the tour began. We stopped at several Rocky locations and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, the pictures I will post will speak for themselves.

Above you can see a picture of my self with Mike.

The picture above is where Rocky walks “lil Marie” home and she turns around and says “Screw you creepo”.

This picture is with Angie. She was in Rocky Balboa when Rocky goes to have a drink at the bar and she comes asking him to buy them a round of drinks.

The bar in Rocky 5 where Tommy comes to challenge Rocky for a fight and Rocky says “Hey Tommy what are you doin here you oughtta be out there celebratin right?”

This is an awesome picture taken right in front of the gym with all four of the Rocky look-a-like contestants.

This picture above is with James “Jimmy” Binns. He was the lawyer in Rocky V and also you can see him in the fantastic court room scene in Rocky Balboa where Rocky tries to get his boxing license back.

It really amazes me that 35 years since the original Rocky, and yet you can see that the spirit of Rocky lives on in people’s lives. and for that I just would like to thank every single person who had something to do with this successful event. I would like to thank them for making such event happen and for giving me the opportunity to be part of such an amazing group and to experience the Rocky locations in a totally different way. Thank you all.

Also I would like to thank you Craig Zablo. Seriously man you truly deserve every bit of appreciation there is because if it wasn’t for your wonderful website, I would probably not have known any of the people I met on this event. But being a member of your site and visiting it on a daily basis, allowed me to interact with other members and become friends in real life. So thanks Craig for all the hard work you have been doing and for creating a home on the world wide web for Stallone fans.

Last but not least, and this is going to be hard to find words that can describe my emotions, I would like to thank, my idol Sylvester Stallone. Sly, you have been and will continue to be, a huge part of my life. There is nobody else that can have the same impact that you had on me. And if it wasn’t for your creation of Rocky, this event, would have never happened. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating such character that truly inspires us all and that taught us real life lessons that I will Cherish for the rest of my life.

+++
Thanks to SlyStalloneFan for sharing the photos and the report! – Craig

That’s StalloneZoner, Mike Kunda on the set of the a documentary based on Mike’s excellent [and highly recommended] memoir Cue the Rocky Music.  The photo was taken by photographer/reporter Rich Howells for his article “Living the Dream” which details the path that Mike and  director Jim Toscano have taken to get the documentary made. 

The article is definitely worth a read.  Congrats to Mike for “Living the Dream!”