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SZoner, Mike Kunda
[aka adnuk68] recently had the meeting of a life time. Here's
how Mike described it:
I got a call from my friends at the
Victor Cafe. They asked if I could get there Tuesday
by 6:30 and that if I could they would sit me next to Sly.
Well I did just that, and what follows is as exact with no exaggeration
as I can be .My wife can support all claims to this story.
OK, so we get there, say, "Hi" to our friends and catch
up. We sit at our table and my friend tells me that Sly will
be there shortly with his wife and children.
At bout 6:45 they get there. Jen's family was with them as
well. They were all so nice. The kids sat at the far end of the
table next to 6 or 7 of Philly's police officers. They had
dinner as well, but were there for protection, but never interfered.
Sly and Jen sat elbow to elbow with me and my wife.
The tables are small and close together. I was able to watch Sly
for 2 hours... talking about his hair (it's at the half way point
now for Rambo and when he gets up in the morning its all
over the place). He was very animated, as you can imagine. We got
to watch him parenting his kids, who by the way are very well behaved
and adorable. He got up several times to escort them to the bathroom.
All eyes were on him at any given point. Of all the times I met
him and spending time on the set I never got that shoulder to shoulder
pic of me and him that I wanted.
Well, at this point, Sly goes outside with his daughter,
Sistine, and my friend, the hostess who has become very good
friends with Sly and has several scenes in the movie with
him. My wife said to get out there... now is the shot. As I walk
out the door I feel what can only be described as sheer fear/hopefulness,
praying that I can get the pic. As I walk out my friend says to
Sly, "Sly, you remember my good friend Mike?
He was here during filming." Sly says, "Yeah, Hey
Mike how ya doin?" I asked, "Who is this young
lady?" and he said "This is my daughter Sistine."
I asked if she enjoyed her dinner and she said, "Yes."
She left and I said, "She's gonna be tall, like her mom."
Sly says, "Yeah, a leaf eater (giraffe)."
I then told Sly I had seen the "Balboa"
trailer and that it was great. I told him that when he rubs his
chest and says I still got something in the basement the entire
audience started to get fired up. He then got so passionate about
this that we started going back and forth about plot points and
Sly said, "the only reason Rocky fights is to
purge the depression of Adrian dying." We talked about
the guilt of Paulie and how central to the movie this all
is.
At this point he and I were alone
out front on the sidewalk. My wife was watching from inside the
bar. She came out and I introduced her to Sly. He was very
gracious and shook her hand, at which point she asked if we could
get a pic. He said, "Absolutely." So he put his arm around
me and did a punching fist. I asked, "Do you remember my painting
that you signed, before I finished it?" He said, "Yeah
, the black and white one? that was you? I loved that painting.
I told my wife about that."
Then some people started to come around and Sly still had
his hands on my shoulder. They start saying, "Hey, Sly
that guy looks like you!" So Sly steps back and says,
"Ya know, you do look like me 25 years ago!" and he punches
me (playfully twice in the chest). We shake hands again and I tell
him he would never see my painting on ebay. He said, "You
hold onto that because it's heart and soul." We also talked
about the SZoners and how impressed he is with Craig
and his words were "I thought I'd give Craig a shot.
He's done such a great job."
I thanked him again and he did the same. So we go back in and we
have desert. As Sly leaves he stands and turns to me and
says, "Thanks Mike, take care of yourself!"
UN-REAL!!
- Not only does Mike look
something like Sly, but he even has a Mastiff
named Butkus!
Mike, I have to agree that
your meeting with Sly was UN-REAL. Talk about the encounter
of a lifetime! It' s so cool that Sly remembered you and
your painting! I also appreciate the kind words about SZoners
and the job that I've been doing with the SZ.
If you'd like to see some more of
Mike's art then click HERE
or HERE
or visit Mike's
website! Thanks to Mike for sharing his great
story and art! - Craig
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