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[Music] [Applause]
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[Music] welcome to the Going the Distance get in the ring
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get in the ring everybody climb on in it's time that everyone gets in this ring yeah you remember that uh guns and
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Rosa song great song ax Rose just mad at the world 26 27 just angry at all the
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journalists he was calling out journalist yeah just just to be clear yeah yeah interesting it was old like
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hip Prader CR go Jr at
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spin so for those who don't know Axel Rose is a is a singer yes for the band
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Guns and Roses and part-time Fillin for ACDC yes he has quite the electric
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career in his 20s he was angry just angry he forever the
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victim yes he sees much happier on stage now at the tender age of 54 but in his
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20s just an in 1990 when he wrote the usually illusion albums there was a song called get in the ring during that song
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he called out and named dropped for for millions of people to listen to yes he
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basically angry tweeted and this was like an ear early yeah calling out the names that all these people say of
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course we couldn't comment or like this tweet no but we got to sing along and I
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I remember kind of joining the hatred of these people saying yeah yeah who are these people telling lies and printing controversies you want to antagonize me
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antagonize me K of the Ring yes those are the edited versions H we should play
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a little C for that that goes for all you punks in the press that want to start by printing lies instead of the
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things we said that means you Andy said hit parer circus
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magazine speaking of journalist yes we have a pzer prize winning journalist and
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we're going to ask how to properly pronounce the name but right now and also how to properly pronounce pzer I'm
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sure I say it wrong I always want to say a pzer surprise it's a well maybe it is
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a surprise to win it's pzer wow I got surprise pzer yeah there there's a there's no reason why Michael Vitz or
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Michael Vitz we actually don't know his name oh I think we're getting a phone oh we're getting a phone call all right well stand by
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folks hey Michael this is Ruben and Brian hello Ruben and Ryan do we call
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you Mr you just call me Mike how's that that's really easy yeah we can do that
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Mike hey uh Mike I apologize we're just a couple Hamond Eggers we had two uh
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interviews today uh for the rocky podcast both East one we got the time
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zones all mixed up and so we called the wrong person the wrong person
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first and then while we're were talking to her we're like oh we made a mistake we got to call we got to call Michael
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and so anyway so here we are either one oh so it's okay so in other words you would called someone else at five o'clock and got all messed up and that
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and then did you cut that short or did you just finish up no they were very gracious we just started and and we just
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said hey can we call you back when we were supposed to yeah it was uh Robin Nichols uh she
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is the daughter of the sculpture for the Rocky statue all right yeah I so where
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are you guys we are in Victoria BC actually In This Moment all right I I have actually been there oh really I
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been there it's a little island am I correct and it's beautiful and it's looks uh and you're you're off of you're
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just off the mainland right am I right true yeah why I was there for a story why was I there and I was with the
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inquir I went there for a story I got to look it up but it was a beautiful little place I thought it was really fabulous
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we're we're very fortunate to live here it's a we were born and raised here we're one of the few that can say that at our age did I have to take a ferry to
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get there I can't remember how I got there yeah it be a ferry or a plane or a helicopter right or long long swim yeah
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all right I think I went from Vancouver does that sound right um yeah how many
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years ago is that I would say the late 90s okay you should have said hi we should have said hi probably met you you
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were probably there it's not that small but well we're uh we're really excited
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to talk to you Mike and as you we're Rocky podcast and we talk and deal with old things Rocky we're just constantly
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amazed about how much this movie has affected a variety of people in a variety of ways and you're one of those
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people I am you know I well we can get it can I ask you questions during the podcast about you guys and your interest
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in Rocky too or is this all no we're we're closed book we don't want to talk about ourselves okay good well we'll I
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can ask you questions while we're going and how long do you think the is your podcast how long are we talking it's usually about 30 minutes perfect it
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works out great one of the things I found fascinating since starting the podcast is that we get the analytics of
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who listens to the podcast I should say who but where they are and it's literally around the world many
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different languages everywhere from Melania I'm saying I'm sure I'm saying that wrong you are and to uh Iceland to
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Arabia to wherever Saudi Arabia you wrote the story Rocky stories or I did
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maybe more accurately you reported people I did both I did both so why
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don't we before we get to the book I'm actually just kind of curious as everyone that listens what if anything
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did Rocky mean to you so I guess why did you even do this and and was it just a was it just work or was it a bit of a
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pastor project or a bit of both now I'm going to start out by saying I get excited and I can run on to interrupt me
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at any time you know it's your show so I've been a journalist all my life I've been a writer I'm I'm barely a
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Storyteller masquerading as a journalist and I was at the Philadelphia Inquirer for 30 years I in fact just left so I'm
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not a native of Philadelphia I grew up in Virginia and I remember watching Rocky when it came out and I Remember
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Loving the movie but when I moved Philadelphia in 1985 first thing you notice is people
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come every day to the art museum steps and run up the steps and celebrate like Rocky most people in Philadelphia don't
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really pay attention to it it's like part of the woodwork it's just so common and so normal that they take it for
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granted just they think you know it's what tourists do it's what people do and I love to tell stories I love Humanity I
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have a a curiosity and so I would often go over there art museum is in a beautiful area I don't know if you guys
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have ever been here and I've been I took my wife there in our honeymoon all right all right there you know it's along the
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river there and there's a River Drive on each side behind it you there's a Emile Loop actually if you want to go do the
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whole way around you can ride down or run down start at the steps and go down by the boat houses and it's a big rowing
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Haven and run and run or ride four miles four and a half miles down and there's a bridge over the river it's really easy
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to ride or walk over and then come down the other her side and then finish it start or finish at the steps so when I'm
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working at the newspaper all these years I would often go for a run at lunchtime
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and run right by the steps and go down along the river or I would ride my bike and do the whole loop I always was
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struck by people doing this and what really struck me was they were always so happy at the top they would run and they
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would just know y Adrian they just be so happy and they would Rocky and I was out
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with my wife one day on a Saturday we were out for a bike ride we were it was hot summer day we had just finished the
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ride at the steps and there were these two young guys it was a hot July day one
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guy was really fat one guy was really skinny and they were um young and they
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had their shirts off and you know they just they ran we pulled up as they ran up the steps side by side they get to
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the top and they're and they yell yo Adrian and they Rocky and they dance and they jump and then they hug and they're
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just euphoric and they come right back down to the bottom of the steps and they turn around and they do the same thing
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again right up again and and dance at the top and I said to my wife you know I got to go talk to these guys she goes I
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know I know I know and so they were from Finland you know and this was their
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they'd been saving and they were 24 and this was their big trip to America and they were going had been to New York and
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they're on their way to Vegas and the only reason they came to Philadelphia was to run the Rocky Steps because they
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love the movie Rocky and this was a day they were never going to forget and I you know Tom greish the photographer who
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did this book with me he's a fabulous photographer he wanted to pullit for his photography oh wow himself he and I
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often talked about doing a book together and I said to him we should hang out for a year at the steps and just tell the
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stories of the people who come we did we started on New Year's Day and so we didn't know what we'd find or what it
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would be or how it would work or anything we just knew in our gut that we would find Fabulous stories there so it
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was a great journey for us and we just hung out you know can go on from there but that's sort of how it came about I
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I'm a feature writer human interest writer I I tell stories would you say your your love of Rocky increased after
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hearing these stories like did you become even maybe more of a fan than you totally people in Philadelphia yeah what
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I have so many things I want to say you know in Philadelphia he's sort of like a real he's not like a fictional character
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he's like a real character but I guess I would say that what I love most about Rocky is the I love the impact that the
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story The Character the movie has had on people the good it's done the joy it's
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brought people the you know look at all the joy brought me so what I I love the movie is a great story but what I really
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love about Rocky is just the impact the power a story can have you know and for
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to for good and there's just a lot of aspects to it I love and I love Americana and it's certainly that just
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the so many Rocky related wonderful stories you know in the book just the things to people who they are and what
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they've done and what Rocky inspired them to do what the story meant to them it's just really wonderful stuff you
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being a Storyteller and enjoying the story of Rocky what's your kind of H how is it where's my words Ryan I don't know
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where they are Ruben okay I'll look them again why do you think it's such a great story like your Storyteller obviously
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Stallone is why does it resonate so well well I'll tell you what I think why I
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think people come in run if that's a better question why why does it why has it inspired people to come and run I
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think that it's the power of it is he was a loser he's down and out he's going
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nowhere you know all this you know the story and it's a journey and he goes
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well I'm gonna I'm gonna back up and say two things I don't want I word my words go uh Reuben or or or you know where are
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they go I I lost mine too and um Ryan where'd they go tell me back up I think
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that people come the the reason the steps are this iconic place and the reason that hundreds and hundreds you
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know every day and thousands and thousands and thousands for the last 40 years have come is because it's a
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physical way to bring the message of the movie to life you know what we learned in our year at the steps I guess I would
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say is that what we learned is that the movie and the actor bring people to the
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Rocky Steps but when they run they're really celebrating their own triumphs in life
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but things they've overcome or they're celebrating their friendships or their their love with their partner and or
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they're celebrating or they're coming from motivation because they got big challenges ahead but running those steps
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is a very physical way to bring that message of the movie to life and so it's their own stories
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they're really celebrating when they run and that's what we learned there and that is really cool and really
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interesting I think the reason the movie was so powerful and the story was so successful it's a transformational story
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he runs those steps and that's the defining moment of the movie that's the lasting moment you know where he runs
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and celebrates at the top yeah before he ever fights Apollo Creed you know he's already celebrating Victory because he's
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already achieved what's really important in life he's regained his self-respect he's found this wonderful friendship
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with Mick he's found this incredible love with Adrien he's proven to himself that he's not just another bum really
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from the neighborhood so he's already gained everything that's really important in life he's also discovered
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that winning the fight none of it would have any meaning if he didn't have Adrien and Mick and people to share it
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with that's why that scene is so incredible you know and it certainly surprised toone and the writers and the
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director John Aon they had no idea the scene would be so powerful but that's why that movie is so successful because
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you know he trans he he redeems himself he transforms and we can all relate so it really isn't I mean it's a boxing
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movie but it's almost like you know most people think he won it doesn't even matter that he didn't win the fight
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right yeah it's funny funny that you bring that up I remember watching the movies as a kid and I course as a young
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kid I watched Rocky three and four many times when I got a little bit older I went back and watched Rocky one and two
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not really knowing oh yeah there's other ones I guess to watch and when I saw Rock one for the first time remembering seeing it for the first time and seeing
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that he had lost the fight it it kind of blew me away I'm like wait Rocky can't lose a fight but now as I gotten older I
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realized that that's yeah it's not a loss but uh just the idea that yeah he won in life he had everything in his
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life and yeah it's not a boxing movie like you said it's actually not a boxing movie and I find a lot of a lot of
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people that haven't seen the movie are dissuaded from the fact they think it's just a fight movie no it's a love story
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it's it's a it feels like an old black and white Frank kapper movie now you know it's kind of it feels it holds up
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really well but it feels like a really old Slow Love Story you know now when you started this project uh your path
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ever crossed with Sylvester stallon yeah so you know you might need five hours for this podcast so we might need to
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come back you know I tell the whole story sometime at 7 in the morning on January 1 in the middle of the winter we
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just went to the steps and our wives from that moment thought Tom and I were crazy but there we go you know even the
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first story with uh this couple actors from Hollywood and she was and they were coming to Philadelphia to meet his
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parents and they took the red eyee flight and before they went to the from the airport to his house to meet his
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parents she said we're stopping by the Rocky Steps I want to run for inspiration I want to have a breakout
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year and you know we're hanging out of the top and this car parked at the bottom illegally and out she comes and
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leaves him in the dust and there are already lots of other tourist there at 8:00 in the morning running and you know
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it's this great incredible triumphant thing and when the rocky moment is over we introduce ourselves to her to ask her
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the story you know it's just we realized fabulous and on and on you know the stories one after the other just so
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great and anyway so I knew early on I needed Stallone I knew that this is going to be a great book and I'm going
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to need to get theone you know he wrote the movie starred in the movie and I wanted to know what he remembered about
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the filming of it and I wanted to know what he thought of the fact that all these years later people are still doing this after about three months of
15:48
collecting great great stories I taught at the University of Pennsylvania feature writing class and one of the
15:54
kids was working and had graduated and gone on to work for variety so I called him up and I said him how do I get a
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hold of Sylvester Stallone you know you work at variety he said well he's going to have an agent he's going to have a a
16:04
publicist probably had to start with a publicist uh he looked her up she works for this agency in La so I actually
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wrote her sent her some of my finished stories that I'd written I sent her some of Tom's photos I sent her my resume you
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know I want to pull it surprise I'm not a crazy person and I said I wanted to interview St alone for for this book I'm
16:24
writing and you know I didn't hear back and I didn't hear back and I finally I called I called and I called and I
16:30
called the voicemail finally on the sixth call I got her and this is in the springtime and she says yeah I got your
16:35
message uh I showed him your letter he's not interested I go you read him my letter and she goes yeah I read him your
16:40
letter he's not interested and I was like crushed and I said but you know I'm not going to give up when I get a book
16:46
contract when this is when I'm you know we had no agent no contract ourselves we were just two journalists out there
16:51
working on this book and I said it's such great material we're going to get a book and when I get a agent my agent
16:57
will talk to his agent and you know they'll make it happen I just got to stay with it worked all year we get the book long story short send it to back to
17:05
the publicist again I got nowhere I sent it to the agent it got lost and I sent
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and I sent it to the agent again and the agent called me back and this is great stuff but you know we don't really deal
17:17
with this he has his own sort of manager and we'll forward the material to his his manager and if they're interested
17:24
they'll get a hold of you like sir I said you know [ __ ] all I got is voicemail gu's got all these handlers
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all these people and so the next day my phone rings and it's this guy named Kevin King who was a fellow producer on
17:37
some of the later Rocky movies and and helped with the Broadway Rocky and has been still in his right-hand man for a
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long time he's got a British accent and calls me up and he goes Michael this is Kevin King you know I'm the manager for
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uh Sylvester Stallone and you know he loves your book and your book idea we'd love to talk to you I'm like it's been a
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year I I couldn't believe it and I gave him myself cell phone I said well here's my cell phone um he added my desk phone
18:03
to I said you know let's set up a time to call and so he didn't want to set up a time he said we'll just have them call
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you so I carried my cell phone around everywhere I went told my kids if the phone rings and I'm in the shower jump
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on it it could be Sylvester salon so for two weeks night and day I kept that phone right with me and it never rang
18:20
and I went out for a bike ride for an hour and came back and there was a voicemail from Kevin King saying Mike I
18:26
got still in right here where are you I want to talk to you I call him right back and he says he's already gone we'll
18:32
try again so I am three weeks go by no call from stillone I'm like this is book's done really I need him you know I
18:39
want to include him and always i' sent them a bunch of questions so I take my kids on spring break to Magic Kingdom
18:45
the Disney World in Florida and I'm sitting on a bench and suddenly I look up my phone in the Magic Kingdom and
18:51
there's a voicemail never rang five billion people go to Disney World and there's no self service it's terrible
18:57
and I oh [ __ ] and I play the voicemail and it's Kevin King again saying this is got slide right here where are you and
19:04
I'm I'm about weeping cuz I another two weeks go by I called him right back no
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answer another two weeks go by and I said uh you know finally he calls and
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I'm at work and Fridays are a big day in the newspaper you're working on your stories for Sunday you I'm still working
19:21
as a newspaper journalist through all this and Kevin King calls me at 1:00 Philadelphia time he's in La he says m
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where are you going to be at 4 o'clock your time 7 o'clock I mean four o'clock my time 7 o'clock your time in
19:34
Philadelphia don't don't mess it up like we messed it up and I said no don't mess it up like you guys just did and I said
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I'll be at my desk okay and he said we'll call so around 6:30 the editor
19:46
calls me over to her desk and says you know I need we need to talk about your story I said yeah yeah but I'm going to get an important call at seven on my
19:52
cell phone Kevin King and I had always corresponded on the cell phone every conversation on the cell phone and I
19:57
said my phone's going to at 7: and I got an important call and I got to take it yeah I didn't want to tell him still in this call and anyway it's 7:00 7:01 7:02
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7:03 7:04 705 the cellone never rings I'm like son of a [ __ ] I I go oh my God
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could he have called on my desk phone and I go back over to my own desk and the voicemail's lit up and I swear to
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you I still have the tape I should play it for you it says Mike is Sylvester stillone you know you're a hard guy to
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reach you know I I I been waiting a year for him you know and and uh I got
20:28
questions I'll fill I'll try answering them so he fills up my voicemail and then he he calls back and fills it up
20:34
again you know it has like a three minute limit and then he he leaves me six minutes of uninterrupted answers to
20:40
my questions and you know he was incredibly articulate it was really fabulous and I just after I sort of wept
20:47
I thought this is really B I would have been interrupting him and asking him questions if I have this great material I'm just going to sort of slightly
20:53
edited it turn it into the forward for the book so the forward is by him liter Lally dictated by him into my voicemail
21:00
it's really great stuff and and that's a long answer to your question but I did
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he did come to Philadelphia subsequently and met him a couple times came when they dedicated the statue and they moved
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it back to the bottom of the steps and he so loved our story and what we did in that book that in Rocky 6 you know the
21:19
movie called Rocky baloa he he sort of stole our idea which was stealing his idea the end of the movie was the
21:26
credits role he has all he put an ad in on the radio and in the paper saying anyone who wants to be at the end of the
21:32
movie come run the steps and so he had a producer and a camera crew and everything out at the steps and he had
21:37
hundreds of people responding to the ad and they came and they would run and they would dance in box and he had a
21:43
director telling people what to do and and Tom and I went and took to write about it for the paper and we we did it
21:49
also and we are in there so if you watch the end of Rocky Bella there are millions of people at the credits role
21:56
sort of rocking at the top of the steps and Tom and I are among them Tom is wearing this big Russian wool I mean
22:02
Russian fur hat Russian fur hat he has a camera and I have a pen and if you blink you'll miss us but we're there rocking
22:08
at the top and yeah well anyway it was fun and he has the book in his library and you know I think he loves and Bill
22:14
con's the same way you know they made all that money and got all that Fame to think that you know it's been 40 years
22:20
now guys that you created something that hundreds of people still do every day and they go and run that movie because
22:27
it's run those steps because it's so inspired them it's very you know you can't put a money price tag on that it's
22:33
just gratifying to them they love that well no you can't put a money price tag on it just like our podcast has no money
22:39
price tag on it so definitely preaching to the choir I mean your story is absolutely absolutely
22:46
amazing your connection how that story came to be how that forward came to be and we're actually just looking at on
22:51
YouTube right now the people running up the steps when I saw this movie for the first time in theaters I remember
22:56
thinking what a great way to end theie movie to see the real joy and these people coming up and dancing have a good
23:03
time and the music playing and you played a part in that that must feel pretty special I've learned so much
23:09
about Rocky and I I could tell you you know how many steps there are and how deep they are what they're made of and I
23:15
can I have all these incredible stories of people and why they run and just so
23:20
many Amazing Stories and I got so much joy out of it too you know I had so much fun writing those stories and meeting
23:26
those people and it's a beautiful place place to hang out the top of the steps there it just brought me a lot of joy
23:32
and it was really you I can't tell you how many people told Tom and told me especially colleagues cell journalists
23:39
you're gonna do a book on what you know who's gonna care and then once we had once we had done it and had this
23:44
beautiful book in our hands and it really you know these wonderful stories wonderful Hood us so many people came about this like they would slap their
23:51
head and say why didn't I think of that what a great idea I'm in touch with a lot of the people still that ran and and
23:57
the stories you know of of the people the heart transplant the just all the characters who who run I I still laugh
24:04
there's the guy who well you know we met so many people up there who said I was in you know in the end of Rocky 2 when
24:10
he runs and all those school children are following him I must admit 10 people that said I was in Rocky too I was one
24:16
of those school children and then there was the guy who actual whose actual story is in the book who it's a great
24:22
photo by Tom he brought his all his daughters to run and he had them follow
24:28
him up the steps this is a guy who loves Rocky so much he's going to have the Rocky music played at his funeral he
24:34
really believes that Rocky's such an important figure and you know really represented the underdog and really
24:40
represented the act the Common Man and just he had a common job and sort of felt like Rocky was his hero and he
24:46
wanted to Rocky music play it at his funeral and they come to Philadelphia really to make this trip to the Rocky Steps and he's telling his girls you
24:54
know Tom and I were watching and he would run up the steps and the girls would R you think you're going to find
24:59
follow me and his white would try to film it and the girls would keep passing him cuz they were you know 12 11 13 14
25:06
long legged teenage girls and and he called them all over and he said girls
25:11
girls girls listen nobody passes Rocky you gotta stay behind
25:16
him that's awesome that's the thing then there was the one guy and you talk about
25:21
the one guy there was a whole sort of subset of people who young young guys really who believe that Rocky for war
25:29
ended the Cold War yeah there's just a lot of really and so one guy came with his
25:35
girlfriend to Philadelphia for a wedding and he had brought the gray sweat suit and he had the music and he had
25:40
everything ready to go and he parked his car and he just so overcome with emotion of being there he couldn't even stop to
25:47
change he just bolted out of the car in his street clothes and ran the steps and his girlfriend is there behind him and
25:54
he's sort of a heavy set guy and at the top of the steps just sort of crumbles
26:00
on the top step you know and he's sitting there and I said are you okay he goes go man I'm just overcome with
26:05
emotion I can't believe I'm here you know this is the most amazing thing in the world that movie you know changed the world the movie brought the Berlin
26:12
wall down it it ended the Cold War and it had such an impact on my life and I can't believe I'm here at the Rocky
26:18
Steps in Philadelphia and his girlfriend his girlfriend looks at me and says you know I'm learning a lot about him and by
26:25
the time the book by the time the book came out that girl I was long gone it was prettyy funny but he was a character
26:32
yeah I mean when Stone won the Golden Globe I was holding my at the time 18-month-old son who his middle name is
26:40
Stallone and so I'm holding my uh his name is Grayson Stallone holding them
26:45
and uh I'm crying I'm crying watching my child hero and he's he's been a part of
26:51
my ethos and my thinking and my I I totally have loved this man Sylvester
26:57
Stone and everything that he does uh since I was a child when I was a child I he just was like a like a Zeus to me you
27:04
know what I mean like I know he's not real in the sense there's no real power that he possesses other than just
27:10
playing characters and creating characters but the emotion and the what
27:16
it does to your your way of thinking and how I I I mean I even quote stuff from
27:21
the movies in real life conversations as a real part of the conversation you know so you so you guys your regular listener
27:28
they may know this but how did Two Brothers growing up in Victoria British Columbia fall in love with Rocky uh i'
27:33
like to think it was probably well you know this was back in the 80s we only had one TV with 10 channels uh whatever
27:40
came on TV we would watch and I suspect uh I think a large part of it would have
27:45
to do with Rocky 3 because that was that was when Hulk Hogan was the the bad guy
27:52
in Rocky I remember being confused by that yeah we were confused because hul was playing a bad guy and he was good in
27:57
wrestling and of course wrestling is real and I thought I was real for many years and right so to see H Hulk Hogan play a bad
28:05
guy and hurt Rocky was very confusing as a child but nonetheless entertaining but that being said uh I think it was a
28:11
little bit of that generation of uh wrestling meets Rocky so the fan base of wrestling kind of crept into Rocky and I
28:18
just loved Rocky and then of course ramble all those things happened at the same time in the and being boys just you
28:24
know the idea of boxing and punching and wrestling and guns and and just bravado
28:29
and muscles and uh and as I got older of course I just understood the world a little bit better and I realized it was
28:35
more to the character than just you know the punches it was actually the person and yeah I just I just I've never looked
28:41
back that's you know they come from the world over it's not uncommon at all you
28:46
know there was no corner of the Earth where Story the movie didn't circulate
28:51
really and and the people who come and run are from everywhere well as I mentioned earlier for the analytics of
28:56
the podcast it's literally two pages of about 60 something
29:02
countries that the podcast is listened to has nothing to do with quite frankly the podcast because we're piggybacking
29:07
off the rocky they're really just listening to me and my brother that's what they're listening to they're
29:13
interested you know we're we're just common fans of of uh the rocky story and
29:18
and it does resonate around the world it does it truly it truly does you know they just it's fun to talk to you guys
29:25
because you know I get to relive all these Great Moments they once a year they show Rocky at the steps they truck
29:32
in a big screen at the bottom you know really it's this time of year part of the Fourth of July Festival they just
29:38
open it to the public and they they have a big screen and people come and they would sit on the steps and watch the
29:44
movie so I went the year I spent there doing the book I went and I hung out there that night and watched the movie
29:50
with all the crowds and I just hung around and the last three guys there the last three to leave it was after
29:55
midnight were these three young men from Bulgaria who had come you know they
30:01
didn't have much it was not much money poor country they had come to Philadelphia to work as lifeguards in
30:06
the city pools we apparently had hire lots of lvans lithuanians kids from all
30:12
these countries including you know Bulgaria and they had come and were and so they they were Rock huge Rocky fans
30:19
and they just were thrilled at the idea that they could come and watch Rocky at grounds you know the center of the rocky
30:25
World for free and they just didn't want to leave were so excited and so you know I I tell their story in the book they
30:31
were just three three young guys from Bulgaria who just loved Rocky that's funny because we actually have a
30:36
listener from Bulgaria and speaking of your book uh just literally while talking with you I got so jazzed by it I
30:43
went on Amazon and I purchased it so all right yeah yeah I'm look looking forward to to opening it up and checking it out
30:50
that is awesome I'm glad well you know can I say something I have a other brand new book it's came out this week I can't
30:57
I have to I left I just be quick I left the Inquirer after 30 years of writing
31:03
stories like this these wonderful human in stories that are all uplifting and inspiring and just colorful and fun and
31:10
and I the paper let me do a book of my 30 favorite 30 of my favorite stories
31:16
and I did and it just came out and so there it's like some of my best work ever these are just wonderful Rocky like
31:21
stories it's I called it great Americans because these are everyday people but they are uh have great story so we'll
31:29
definitely that out there as well anyway I'm just saying because I could I couldn't resist I'll buy that yeah you
31:34
you'd enjoy it if you have time they're short a lot of them are short some are longer but they're they're uh good and
31:39
I'm great that you purchased Rocky stories on Amazon it is it still sells
31:45
it is a sweet it's a wonderful it it was a success you know you it was our the
31:50
first book I ever did it started with just an a dream and an idea and we had no idea what we'd find and if we'd ever
31:56
do it and we had setbacks like trying to reach toone and lots of others and when you hold it in your hand and and you
32:02
realize how good it is and people you the best customers are people who buy it they want to buy more to give them as
32:08
gifts to friends and and uh you know it's very satisfying you know it's it's sort of um you know like your podcast
32:14
you know you do it because you love it but it's very satisfying to people all over the world enjoy it too that's a real you bring joy to a lot of people
32:21
and that's a wonderful thing well I appreciate you sharing your I guess maybe enthusiasm I don't know the Jo the
32:27
joy of it cuz while you were telling it I was literally grinning from ear to ear good and I I suspect that the our
32:35
listeners will will also be I hope well I tried to put that same enthusiasm in the stories and you know I I do think
32:42
that that's what it is you bring a sense of wonder to it so you guys get back to Philly to run the steps look me up and
32:49
if I get out to Victoria BC I'll I I'll I'll give you a heads up well thank you
32:54
Mike it's been an absolute pleasure speaking to the story of getting Stone to get your Ford is absolute gold
33:02
absolute gold yeah can I can I give you I know we have to go but I want to give you so I ran into the publicist later
33:09
and you know when she came with him to Philadelphia and you know I said to her she had obviously never read in the
33:15
letter she just told me that she did but he had no idea I was ask no idea she just crashed it and said you know just
33:21
assumed he he must get a million requests and she just assumed and ditched it but of course he speaks the
33:26
truth in Hollywood now sure so a year later or two whatever it was she's out here and I and she said oh I remember
33:33
you I hooked you up completely I took care of you guys I'm like yeah you did a great job so in her mind she had thought
33:40
that she had made this happen and I'm like okay you know I had a good thing
33:45
going I was in and I wasn't going to screw it up yeah absolutely but it it's
33:50
pretty funny yeah so you know I'm sure she probably had no recollection that I'd send her the original one because she gets so many but sure all right guys
33:58
I should go let you guys go right and let your re let your listeners go it's been a long podcast but it's been fun to
34:04
do it's been very very good Mike thank you so much Mike thank you thank you guys all right okay cheers bye bye bye
34:19
[Music]
34:27
oh [Applause]
34:42
[Applause]
Watched
[Music] [Applause]
0:24
[Music] welcome to the Going the Distance get in the ring
0:30
get in the ring everybody climb on in it's time that everyone gets in this ring yeah you remember that uh guns and
0:37
Rosa song great song ax Rose just mad at the world 26 27 just angry at all the
0:44
journalists he was calling out journalist yeah just just to be clear yeah yeah interesting it was old like
0:50
hip Prader CR go Jr at
0:55
spin so for those who don't know Axel Rose is a is a singer yes for the band
1:03
Guns and Roses and part-time Fillin for ACDC yes he has quite the electric
1:08
career in his 20s he was angry just angry he forever the
1:14
victim yes he sees much happier on stage now at the tender age of 54 but in his
1:19
20s just an in 1990 when he wrote the usually illusion albums there was a song called get in the ring during that song
1:26
he called out and named dropped for for millions of people to listen to yes he
1:32
basically angry tweeted and this was like an ear early yeah calling out the names that all these people say of
1:38
course we couldn't comment or like this tweet no but we got to sing along and I
1:44
I remember kind of joining the hatred of these people saying yeah yeah who are these people telling lies and printing controversies you want to antagonize me
1:51
antagonize me K of the Ring yes those are the edited versions H we should play
1:57
a little C for that that goes for all you punks in the press that want to start by printing lies instead of the
2:03
things we said that means you Andy said hit parer circus
2:09
magazine speaking of journalist yes we have a pzer prize winning journalist and
2:17
we're going to ask how to properly pronounce the name but right now and also how to properly pronounce pzer I'm
2:22
sure I say it wrong I always want to say a pzer surprise it's a well maybe it is
2:27
a surprise to win it's pzer wow I got surprise pzer yeah there there's a there's no reason why Michael Vitz or
2:35
Michael Vitz we actually don't know his name oh I think we're getting a phone oh we're getting a phone call all right well stand by
2:41
folks hey Michael this is Ruben and Brian hello Ruben and Ryan do we call
2:48
you Mr you just call me Mike how's that that's really easy yeah we can do that
2:53
Mike hey uh Mike I apologize we're just a couple Hamond Eggers we had two uh
3:00
interviews today uh for the rocky podcast both East one we got the time
3:05
zones all mixed up and so we called the wrong person the wrong person
3:10
first and then while we're were talking to her we're like oh we made a mistake we got to call we got to call Michael
3:16
and so anyway so here we are either one oh so it's okay so in other words you would called someone else at five o'clock and got all messed up and that
3:23
and then did you cut that short or did you just finish up no they were very gracious we just started and and we just
3:30
said hey can we call you back when we were supposed to yeah it was uh Robin Nichols uh she
3:37
is the daughter of the sculpture for the Rocky statue all right yeah I so where
3:43
are you guys we are in Victoria BC actually In This Moment all right I I have actually been there oh really I
3:50
been there it's a little island am I correct and it's beautiful and it's looks uh and you're you're off of you're
3:57
just off the mainland right am I right true yeah why I was there for a story why was I there and I was with the
4:04
inquir I went there for a story I got to look it up but it was a beautiful little place I thought it was really fabulous
4:10
we're we're very fortunate to live here it's a we were born and raised here we're one of the few that can say that at our age did I have to take a ferry to
4:17
get there I can't remember how I got there yeah it be a ferry or a plane or a helicopter right or long long swim yeah
4:24
all right I think I went from Vancouver does that sound right um yeah how many
4:30
years ago is that I would say the late 90s okay you should have said hi we should have said hi probably met you you
4:36
were probably there it's not that small but well we're uh we're really excited
4:43
to talk to you Mike and as you we're Rocky podcast and we talk and deal with old things Rocky we're just constantly
4:50
amazed about how much this movie has affected a variety of people in a variety of ways and you're one of those
4:56
people I am you know I well we can get it can I ask you questions during the podcast about you guys and your interest
5:02
in Rocky too or is this all no we're we're closed book we don't want to talk about ourselves okay good well we'll I
5:07
can ask you questions while we're going and how long do you think the is your podcast how long are we talking it's usually about 30 minutes perfect it
5:14
works out great one of the things I found fascinating since starting the podcast is that we get the analytics of
5:21
who listens to the podcast I should say who but where they are and it's literally around the world many
5:28
different languages everywhere from Melania I'm saying I'm sure I'm saying that wrong you are and to uh Iceland to
5:38
Arabia to wherever Saudi Arabia you wrote the story Rocky stories or I did
5:44
maybe more accurately you reported people I did both I did both so why
5:49
don't we before we get to the book I'm actually just kind of curious as everyone that listens what if anything
5:55
did Rocky mean to you so I guess why did you even do this and and was it just a was it just work or was it a bit of a
6:03
pastor project or a bit of both now I'm going to start out by saying I get excited and I can run on to interrupt me
6:09
at any time you know it's your show so I've been a journalist all my life I've been a writer I'm I'm barely a
6:14
Storyteller masquerading as a journalist and I was at the Philadelphia Inquirer for 30 years I in fact just left so I'm
6:22
not a native of Philadelphia I grew up in Virginia and I remember watching Rocky when it came out and I Remember
6:28
Loving the movie but when I moved Philadelphia in 1985 first thing you notice is people
6:35
come every day to the art museum steps and run up the steps and celebrate like Rocky most people in Philadelphia don't
6:43
really pay attention to it it's like part of the woodwork it's just so common and so normal that they take it for
6:48
granted just they think you know it's what tourists do it's what people do and I love to tell stories I love Humanity I
6:55
have a a curiosity and so I would often go over there art museum is in a beautiful area I don't know if you guys
7:01
have ever been here and I've been I took my wife there in our honeymoon all right all right there you know it's along the
7:08
river there and there's a River Drive on each side behind it you there's a Emile Loop actually if you want to go do the
7:14
whole way around you can ride down or run down start at the steps and go down by the boat houses and it's a big rowing
7:21
Haven and run and run or ride four miles four and a half miles down and there's a bridge over the river it's really easy
7:27
to ride or walk over and then come down the other her side and then finish it start or finish at the steps so when I'm
7:32
working at the newspaper all these years I would often go for a run at lunchtime
7:37
and run right by the steps and go down along the river or I would ride my bike and do the whole loop I always was
7:44
struck by people doing this and what really struck me was they were always so happy at the top they would run and they
7:50
would just know y Adrian they just be so happy and they would Rocky and I was out
7:56
with my wife one day on a Saturday we were out for a bike ride we were it was hot summer day we had just finished the
8:02
ride at the steps and there were these two young guys it was a hot July day one
8:07
guy was really fat one guy was really skinny and they were um young and they
8:12
had their shirts off and you know they just they ran we pulled up as they ran up the steps side by side they get to
8:18
the top and they're and they yell yo Adrian and they Rocky and they dance and they jump and then they hug and they're
8:26
just euphoric and they come right back down to the bottom of the steps and they turn around and they do the same thing
8:31
again right up again and and dance at the top and I said to my wife you know I got to go talk to these guys she goes I
8:36
know I know I know and so they were from Finland you know and this was their
8:42
they'd been saving and they were 24 and this was their big trip to America and they were going had been to New York and
8:47
they're on their way to Vegas and the only reason they came to Philadelphia was to run the Rocky Steps because they
8:52
love the movie Rocky and this was a day they were never going to forget and I you know Tom greish the photographer who
8:58
did this book with me he's a fabulous photographer he wanted to pullit for his photography oh wow himself he and I
9:04
often talked about doing a book together and I said to him we should hang out for a year at the steps and just tell the
9:09
stories of the people who come we did we started on New Year's Day and so we didn't know what we'd find or what it
9:15
would be or how it would work or anything we just knew in our gut that we would find Fabulous stories there so it
9:22
was a great journey for us and we just hung out you know can go on from there but that's sort of how it came about I
9:27
I'm a feature writer human interest writer I I tell stories would you say your your love of Rocky increased after
9:34
hearing these stories like did you become even maybe more of a fan than you totally people in Philadelphia yeah what
9:40
I have so many things I want to say you know in Philadelphia he's sort of like a real he's not like a fictional character
9:45
he's like a real character but I guess I would say that what I love most about Rocky is the I love the impact that the
9:53
story The Character the movie has had on people the good it's done the joy it's
9:59
brought people the you know look at all the joy brought me so what I I love the movie is a great story but what I really
10:06
love about Rocky is just the impact the power a story can have you know and for
10:13
to for good and there's just a lot of aspects to it I love and I love Americana and it's certainly that just
10:19
the so many Rocky related wonderful stories you know in the book just the things to people who they are and what
10:26
they've done and what Rocky inspired them to do what the story meant to them it's just really wonderful stuff you
10:31
being a Storyteller and enjoying the story of Rocky what's your kind of H how is it where's my words Ryan I don't know
10:40
where they are Ruben okay I'll look them again why do you think it's such a great story like your Storyteller obviously
10:46
Stallone is why does it resonate so well well I'll tell you what I think why I
10:52
think people come in run if that's a better question why why does it why has it inspired people to come and run I
10:58
think that it's the power of it is he was a loser he's down and out he's going
11:03
nowhere you know all this you know the story and it's a journey and he goes
11:09
well I'm gonna I'm gonna back up and say two things I don't want I word my words go uh Reuben or or or you know where are
11:15
they go I I lost mine too and um Ryan where'd they go tell me back up I think
11:21
that people come the the reason the steps are this iconic place and the reason that hundreds and hundreds you
11:28
know every day and thousands and thousands and thousands for the last 40 years have come is because it's a
11:36
physical way to bring the message of the movie to life you know what we learned in our year at the steps I guess I would
11:44
say is that what we learned is that the movie and the actor bring people to the
11:50
Rocky Steps but when they run they're really celebrating their own triumphs in life
11:55
but things they've overcome or they're celebrating their friendships or their their love with their partner and or
12:03
they're celebrating or they're coming from motivation because they got big challenges ahead but running those steps
12:09
is a very physical way to bring that message of the movie to life and so it's their own stories
12:16
they're really celebrating when they run and that's what we learned there and that is really cool and really
12:22
interesting I think the reason the movie was so powerful and the story was so successful it's a transformational story
12:28
he runs those steps and that's the defining moment of the movie that's the lasting moment you know where he runs
12:34
and celebrates at the top yeah before he ever fights Apollo Creed you know he's already celebrating Victory because he's
12:41
already achieved what's really important in life he's regained his self-respect he's found this wonderful friendship
12:48
with Mick he's found this incredible love with Adrien he's proven to himself that he's not just another bum really
12:56
from the neighborhood so he's already gained everything that's really important in life he's also discovered
13:01
that winning the fight none of it would have any meaning if he didn't have Adrien and Mick and people to share it
13:07
with that's why that scene is so incredible you know and it certainly surprised toone and the writers and the
13:14
director John Aon they had no idea the scene would be so powerful but that's why that movie is so successful because
13:20
you know he trans he he redeems himself he transforms and we can all relate so it really isn't I mean it's a boxing
13:26
movie but it's almost like you know most people think he won it doesn't even matter that he didn't win the fight
13:32
right yeah it's funny funny that you bring that up I remember watching the movies as a kid and I course as a young
13:37
kid I watched Rocky three and four many times when I got a little bit older I went back and watched Rocky one and two
13:43
not really knowing oh yeah there's other ones I guess to watch and when I saw Rock one for the first time remembering seeing it for the first time and seeing
13:50
that he had lost the fight it it kind of blew me away I'm like wait Rocky can't lose a fight but now as I gotten older I
13:58
realized that that's yeah it's not a loss but uh just the idea that yeah he won in life he had everything in his
14:04
life and yeah it's not a boxing movie like you said it's actually not a boxing movie and I find a lot of a lot of
14:09
people that haven't seen the movie are dissuaded from the fact they think it's just a fight movie no it's a love story
14:15
it's it's a it feels like an old black and white Frank kapper movie now you know it's kind of it feels it holds up
14:22
really well but it feels like a really old Slow Love Story you know now when you started this project uh your path
14:30
ever crossed with Sylvester stallon yeah so you know you might need five hours for this podcast so we might need to
14:35
come back you know I tell the whole story sometime at 7 in the morning on January 1 in the middle of the winter we
14:41
just went to the steps and our wives from that moment thought Tom and I were crazy but there we go you know even the
14:47
first story with uh this couple actors from Hollywood and she was and they were coming to Philadelphia to meet his
14:53
parents and they took the red eyee flight and before they went to the from the airport to his house to meet his
14:59
parents she said we're stopping by the Rocky Steps I want to run for inspiration I want to have a breakout
15:04
year and you know we're hanging out of the top and this car parked at the bottom illegally and out she comes and
15:11
leaves him in the dust and there are already lots of other tourist there at 8:00 in the morning running and you know
15:17
it's this great incredible triumphant thing and when the rocky moment is over we introduce ourselves to her to ask her
15:23
the story you know it's just we realized fabulous and on and on you know the stories one after the other just so
15:29
great and anyway so I knew early on I needed Stallone I knew that this is going to be a great book and I'm going
15:36
to need to get theone you know he wrote the movie starred in the movie and I wanted to know what he remembered about
15:41
the filming of it and I wanted to know what he thought of the fact that all these years later people are still doing this after about three months of
15:48
collecting great great stories I taught at the University of Pennsylvania feature writing class and one of the
15:54
kids was working and had graduated and gone on to work for variety so I called him up and I said him how do I get a
15:59
hold of Sylvester Stallone you know you work at variety he said well he's going to have an agent he's going to have a a
16:04
publicist probably had to start with a publicist uh he looked her up she works for this agency in La so I actually
16:11
wrote her sent her some of my finished stories that I'd written I sent her some of Tom's photos I sent her my resume you
16:18
know I want to pull it surprise I'm not a crazy person and I said I wanted to interview St alone for for this book I'm
16:24
writing and you know I didn't hear back and I didn't hear back and I finally I called I called and I called and I
16:30
called the voicemail finally on the sixth call I got her and this is in the springtime and she says yeah I got your
16:35
message uh I showed him your letter he's not interested I go you read him my letter and she goes yeah I read him your
16:40
letter he's not interested and I was like crushed and I said but you know I'm not going to give up when I get a book
16:46
contract when this is when I'm you know we had no agent no contract ourselves we were just two journalists out there
16:51
working on this book and I said it's such great material we're going to get a book and when I get a agent my agent
16:57
will talk to his agent and you know they'll make it happen I just got to stay with it worked all year we get the book long story short send it to back to
17:05
the publicist again I got nowhere I sent it to the agent it got lost and I sent
17:11
and I sent it to the agent again and the agent called me back and this is great stuff but you know we don't really deal
17:17
with this he has his own sort of manager and we'll forward the material to his his manager and if they're interested
17:24
they'll get a hold of you like sir I said you know [ __ ] all I got is voicemail gu's got all these handlers
17:30
all these people and so the next day my phone rings and it's this guy named Kevin King who was a fellow producer on
17:37
some of the later Rocky movies and and helped with the Broadway Rocky and has been still in his right-hand man for a
17:43
long time he's got a British accent and calls me up and he goes Michael this is Kevin King you know I'm the manager for
17:50
uh Sylvester Stallone and you know he loves your book and your book idea we'd love to talk to you I'm like it's been a
17:55
year I I couldn't believe it and I gave him myself cell phone I said well here's my cell phone um he added my desk phone
18:03
to I said you know let's set up a time to call and so he didn't want to set up a time he said we'll just have them call
18:08
you so I carried my cell phone around everywhere I went told my kids if the phone rings and I'm in the shower jump
18:14
on it it could be Sylvester salon so for two weeks night and day I kept that phone right with me and it never rang
18:20
and I went out for a bike ride for an hour and came back and there was a voicemail from Kevin King saying Mike I
18:26
got still in right here where are you I want to talk to you I call him right back and he says he's already gone we'll
18:32
try again so I am three weeks go by no call from stillone I'm like this is book's done really I need him you know I
18:39
want to include him and always i' sent them a bunch of questions so I take my kids on spring break to Magic Kingdom
18:45
the Disney World in Florida and I'm sitting on a bench and suddenly I look up my phone in the Magic Kingdom and
18:51
there's a voicemail never rang five billion people go to Disney World and there's no self service it's terrible
18:57
and I oh [ __ ] and I play the voicemail and it's Kevin King again saying this is got slide right here where are you and
19:04
I'm I'm about weeping cuz I another two weeks go by I called him right back no
19:09
answer another two weeks go by and I said uh you know finally he calls and
19:15
I'm at work and Fridays are a big day in the newspaper you're working on your stories for Sunday you I'm still working
19:21
as a newspaper journalist through all this and Kevin King calls me at 1:00 Philadelphia time he's in La he says m
19:28
where are you going to be at 4 o'clock your time 7 o'clock I mean four o'clock my time 7 o'clock your time in
19:34
Philadelphia don't don't mess it up like we messed it up and I said no don't mess it up like you guys just did and I said
19:40
I'll be at my desk okay and he said we'll call so around 6:30 the editor
19:46
calls me over to her desk and says you know I need we need to talk about your story I said yeah yeah but I'm going to get an important call at seven on my
19:52
cell phone Kevin King and I had always corresponded on the cell phone every conversation on the cell phone and I
19:57
said my phone's going to at 7: and I got an important call and I got to take it yeah I didn't want to tell him still in this call and anyway it's 7:00 7:01 7:02
20:05
7:03 7:04 705 the cellone never rings I'm like son of a [ __ ] I I go oh my God
20:11
could he have called on my desk phone and I go back over to my own desk and the voicemail's lit up and I swear to
20:17
you I still have the tape I should play it for you it says Mike is Sylvester stillone you know you're a hard guy to
20:23
reach you know I I I been waiting a year for him you know and and uh I got
20:28
questions I'll fill I'll try answering them so he fills up my voicemail and then he he calls back and fills it up
20:34
again you know it has like a three minute limit and then he he leaves me six minutes of uninterrupted answers to
20:40
my questions and you know he was incredibly articulate it was really fabulous and I just after I sort of wept
20:47
I thought this is really B I would have been interrupting him and asking him questions if I have this great material I'm just going to sort of slightly
20:53
edited it turn it into the forward for the book so the forward is by him liter Lally dictated by him into my voicemail
21:00
it's really great stuff and and that's a long answer to your question but I did
21:06
he did come to Philadelphia subsequently and met him a couple times came when they dedicated the statue and they moved
21:12
it back to the bottom of the steps and he so loved our story and what we did in that book that in Rocky 6 you know the
21:19
movie called Rocky baloa he he sort of stole our idea which was stealing his idea the end of the movie was the
21:26
credits role he has all he put an ad in on the radio and in the paper saying anyone who wants to be at the end of the
21:32
movie come run the steps and so he had a producer and a camera crew and everything out at the steps and he had
21:37
hundreds of people responding to the ad and they came and they would run and they would dance in box and he had a
21:43
director telling people what to do and and Tom and I went and took to write about it for the paper and we we did it
21:49
also and we are in there so if you watch the end of Rocky Bella there are millions of people at the credits role
21:56
sort of rocking at the top of the steps and Tom and I are among them Tom is wearing this big Russian wool I mean
22:02
Russian fur hat Russian fur hat he has a camera and I have a pen and if you blink you'll miss us but we're there rocking
22:08
at the top and yeah well anyway it was fun and he has the book in his library and you know I think he loves and Bill
22:14
con's the same way you know they made all that money and got all that Fame to think that you know it's been 40 years
22:20
now guys that you created something that hundreds of people still do every day and they go and run that movie because
22:27
it's run those steps because it's so inspired them it's very you know you can't put a money price tag on that it's
22:33
just gratifying to them they love that well no you can't put a money price tag on it just like our podcast has no money
22:39
price tag on it so definitely preaching to the choir I mean your story is absolutely absolutely
22:46
amazing your connection how that story came to be how that forward came to be and we're actually just looking at on
22:51
YouTube right now the people running up the steps when I saw this movie for the first time in theaters I remember
22:56
thinking what a great way to end theie movie to see the real joy and these people coming up and dancing have a good
23:03
time and the music playing and you played a part in that that must feel pretty special I've learned so much
23:09
about Rocky and I I could tell you you know how many steps there are and how deep they are what they're made of and I
23:15
can I have all these incredible stories of people and why they run and just so
23:20
many Amazing Stories and I got so much joy out of it too you know I had so much fun writing those stories and meeting
23:26
those people and it's a beautiful place place to hang out the top of the steps there it just brought me a lot of joy
23:32
and it was really you I can't tell you how many people told Tom and told me especially colleagues cell journalists
23:39
you're gonna do a book on what you know who's gonna care and then once we had once we had done it and had this
23:44
beautiful book in our hands and it really you know these wonderful stories wonderful Hood us so many people came about this like they would slap their
23:51
head and say why didn't I think of that what a great idea I'm in touch with a lot of the people still that ran and and
23:57
the stories you know of of the people the heart transplant the just all the characters who who run I I still laugh
24:04
there's the guy who well you know we met so many people up there who said I was in you know in the end of Rocky 2 when
24:10
he runs and all those school children are following him I must admit 10 people that said I was in Rocky too I was one
24:16
of those school children and then there was the guy who actual whose actual story is in the book who it's a great
24:22
photo by Tom he brought his all his daughters to run and he had them follow
24:28
him up the steps this is a guy who loves Rocky so much he's going to have the Rocky music played at his funeral he
24:34
really believes that Rocky's such an important figure and you know really represented the underdog and really
24:40
represented the act the Common Man and just he had a common job and sort of felt like Rocky was his hero and he
24:46
wanted to Rocky music play it at his funeral and they come to Philadelphia really to make this trip to the Rocky Steps and he's telling his girls you
24:54
know Tom and I were watching and he would run up the steps and the girls would R you think you're going to find
24:59
follow me and his white would try to film it and the girls would keep passing him cuz they were you know 12 11 13 14
25:06
long legged teenage girls and and he called them all over and he said girls
25:11
girls girls listen nobody passes Rocky you gotta stay behind
25:16
him that's awesome that's the thing then there was the one guy and you talk about
25:21
the one guy there was a whole sort of subset of people who young young guys really who believe that Rocky for war
25:29
ended the Cold War yeah there's just a lot of really and so one guy came with his
25:35
girlfriend to Philadelphia for a wedding and he had brought the gray sweat suit and he had the music and he had
25:40
everything ready to go and he parked his car and he just so overcome with emotion of being there he couldn't even stop to
25:47
change he just bolted out of the car in his street clothes and ran the steps and his girlfriend is there behind him and
25:54
he's sort of a heavy set guy and at the top of the steps just sort of crumbles
26:00
on the top step you know and he's sitting there and I said are you okay he goes go man I'm just overcome with
26:05
emotion I can't believe I'm here you know this is the most amazing thing in the world that movie you know changed the world the movie brought the Berlin
26:12
wall down it it ended the Cold War and it had such an impact on my life and I can't believe I'm here at the Rocky
26:18
Steps in Philadelphia and his girlfriend his girlfriend looks at me and says you know I'm learning a lot about him and by
26:25
the time the book by the time the book came out that girl I was long gone it was prettyy funny but he was a character
26:32
yeah I mean when Stone won the Golden Globe I was holding my at the time 18-month-old son who his middle name is
26:40
Stallone and so I'm holding my uh his name is Grayson Stallone holding them
26:45
and uh I'm crying I'm crying watching my child hero and he's he's been a part of
26:51
my ethos and my thinking and my I I totally have loved this man Sylvester
26:57
Stone and everything that he does uh since I was a child when I was a child I he just was like a like a Zeus to me you
27:04
know what I mean like I know he's not real in the sense there's no real power that he possesses other than just
27:10
playing characters and creating characters but the emotion and the what
27:16
it does to your your way of thinking and how I I I mean I even quote stuff from
27:21
the movies in real life conversations as a real part of the conversation you know so you so you guys your regular listener
27:28
they may know this but how did Two Brothers growing up in Victoria British Columbia fall in love with Rocky uh i'
27:33
like to think it was probably well you know this was back in the 80s we only had one TV with 10 channels uh whatever
27:40
came on TV we would watch and I suspect uh I think a large part of it would have
27:45
to do with Rocky 3 because that was that was when Hulk Hogan was the the bad guy
27:52
in Rocky I remember being confused by that yeah we were confused because hul was playing a bad guy and he was good in
27:57
wrestling and of course wrestling is real and I thought I was real for many years and right so to see H Hulk Hogan play a bad
28:05
guy and hurt Rocky was very confusing as a child but nonetheless entertaining but that being said uh I think it was a
28:11
little bit of that generation of uh wrestling meets Rocky so the fan base of wrestling kind of crept into Rocky and I
28:18
just loved Rocky and then of course ramble all those things happened at the same time in the and being boys just you
28:24
know the idea of boxing and punching and wrestling and guns and and just bravado
28:29
and muscles and uh and as I got older of course I just understood the world a little bit better and I realized it was
28:35
more to the character than just you know the punches it was actually the person and yeah I just I just I've never looked
28:41
back that's you know they come from the world over it's not uncommon at all you
28:46
know there was no corner of the Earth where Story the movie didn't circulate
28:51
really and and the people who come and run are from everywhere well as I mentioned earlier for the analytics of
28:56
the podcast it's literally two pages of about 60 something
29:02
countries that the podcast is listened to has nothing to do with quite frankly the podcast because we're piggybacking
29:07
off the rocky they're really just listening to me and my brother that's what they're listening to they're
29:13
interested you know we're we're just common fans of of uh the rocky story and
29:18
and it does resonate around the world it does it truly it truly does you know they just it's fun to talk to you guys
29:25
because you know I get to relive all these Great Moments they once a year they show Rocky at the steps they truck
29:32
in a big screen at the bottom you know really it's this time of year part of the Fourth of July Festival they just
29:38
open it to the public and they they have a big screen and people come and they would sit on the steps and watch the
29:44
movie so I went the year I spent there doing the book I went and I hung out there that night and watched the movie
29:50
with all the crowds and I just hung around and the last three guys there the last three to leave it was after
29:55
midnight were these three young men from Bulgaria who had come you know they
30:01
didn't have much it was not much money poor country they had come to Philadelphia to work as lifeguards in
30:06
the city pools we apparently had hire lots of lvans lithuanians kids from all
30:12
these countries including you know Bulgaria and they had come and were and so they they were Rock huge Rocky fans
30:19
and they just were thrilled at the idea that they could come and watch Rocky at grounds you know the center of the rocky
30:25
World for free and they just didn't want to leave were so excited and so you know I I tell their story in the book they
30:31
were just three three young guys from Bulgaria who just loved Rocky that's funny because we actually have a
30:36
listener from Bulgaria and speaking of your book uh just literally while talking with you I got so jazzed by it I
30:43
went on Amazon and I purchased it so all right yeah yeah I'm look looking forward to to opening it up and checking it out
30:50
that is awesome I'm glad well you know can I say something I have a other brand new book it's came out this week I can't
30:57
I have to I left I just be quick I left the Inquirer after 30 years of writing
31:03
stories like this these wonderful human in stories that are all uplifting and inspiring and just colorful and fun and
31:10
and I the paper let me do a book of my 30 favorite 30 of my favorite stories
31:16
and I did and it just came out and so there it's like some of my best work ever these are just wonderful Rocky like
31:21
stories it's I called it great Americans because these are everyday people but they are uh have great story so we'll
31:29
definitely that out there as well anyway I'm just saying because I could I couldn't resist I'll buy that yeah you
31:34
you'd enjoy it if you have time they're short a lot of them are short some are longer but they're they're uh good and
31:39
I'm great that you purchased Rocky stories on Amazon it is it still sells
31:45
it is a sweet it's a wonderful it it was a success you know you it was our the
31:50
first book I ever did it started with just an a dream and an idea and we had no idea what we'd find and if we'd ever
31:56
do it and we had setbacks like trying to reach toone and lots of others and when you hold it in your hand and and you
32:02
realize how good it is and people you the best customers are people who buy it they want to buy more to give them as
32:08
gifts to friends and and uh you know it's very satisfying you know it's it's sort of um you know like your podcast
32:14
you know you do it because you love it but it's very satisfying to people all over the world enjoy it too that's a real you bring joy to a lot of people
32:21
and that's a wonderful thing well I appreciate you sharing your I guess maybe enthusiasm I don't know the Jo the
32:27
joy of it cuz while you were telling it I was literally grinning from ear to ear good and I I suspect that the our
32:35
listeners will will also be I hope well I tried to put that same enthusiasm in the stories and you know I I do think
32:42
that that's what it is you bring a sense of wonder to it so you guys get back to Philly to run the steps look me up and
32:49
if I get out to Victoria BC I'll I I'll I'll give you a heads up well thank you
32:54
Mike it's been an absolute pleasure speaking to the story of getting Stone to get your Ford is absolute gold
33:02
absolute gold yeah can I can I give you I know we have to go but I want to give you so I ran into the publicist later
33:09
and you know when she came with him to Philadelphia and you know I said to her she had obviously never read in the
33:15
letter she just told me that she did but he had no idea I was ask no idea she just crashed it and said you know just
33:21
assumed he he must get a million requests and she just assumed and ditched it but of course he speaks the
33:26
truth in Hollywood now sure so a year later or two whatever it was she's out here and I and she said oh I remember
33:33
you I hooked you up completely I took care of you guys I'm like yeah you did a great job so in her mind she had thought
33:40
that she had made this happen and I'm like okay you know I had a good thing
33:45
going I was in and I wasn't going to screw it up yeah absolutely but it it's
33:50
pretty funny yeah so you know I'm sure she probably had no recollection that I'd send her the original one because she gets so many but sure all right guys
33:58
I should go let you guys go right and let your re let your listeners go it's been a long podcast but it's been fun to
34:04
do it's been very very good Mike thank you so much Mike thank you thank you guys all right okay cheers bye bye bye
34:19
[Music]
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oh [Applause]
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[Applause]
Watched
