Needing to get away from the Perón‘s (there is one more segment to follow with another startling discovery from Richard Juckes), I decided to do something quick and dirty. Somewhere I saw a photo of Sylvester Stallone playing polo. That’s not a big deal, as the man is very athletic. But it is incongruent. Stallone is said to be from Hell’s Kitchen and a broken home one who did odd jobs like cleaing animal cages to make his living as a youth. Polo is a difficult sport that takes years of practice to be good. Stallone has described it as like playing golf during an earthquake.
It is also a rich man’s sport. We are told that Stallone’s father, Frank Stallone, Sr. (Fransicso Staglione), was a professional polo player in Italy before he came to the United States to serve in the cavalry and to be poor. His mother, Jackie Stallone, was the daughter of a Washington Lawyer and had her own TV show there, something to do with weightlifting. Her parents were Ukrainian Jews. Both genealogies are scrubbed on Geni, though the parents are named on Wikipedia.
There’s the matter of Rocky, the movie script that propelled Sylvester to international fame. Written at age 30, he bargained with Hollywood moguls and won, insisting on playing the lead even as they wanted to give it to either Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds. Where have we heard that story before … oh yeah, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck also wrote a Hollywood blockbuster and Academy-Award-winning script, Goodwill Hunting. It just doesn’t sound right.
I am just going to cut to the chase here, as I am very worn down by the Evita work. Nah, none of it happened like that. Stallone grew up in wealth, learned horseback riding and polo as a child, was handed the script for Rocky, written by anonymous people who do that sort of thing for pay. Those are real writers doing the real work of busting out movie scripts that both sell tickets and promote star vehicles, like Stallone, Damon and Affleck.
I am calling bullshit on Stallone’s biography.
Piece of Mindful 
If you look at photos of young Stallone he had those droopy “McCartney eyes.” I suspect a familial connection there hidden by false bio information. MM showed us that McCartney’s line harks back to upper peerage.
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They don’t call him Sly for nothing 😋
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There’s no telling who he really is. (He has joked in the past about the McCartney resemblance, an intriguing possibility)
What to make of the soft core debut, The Italian Stallion, nee: The Party at Kitty and Studs. It sure looks like Stallone in that grind house offal. (Stallone= Stallion in I-ty so we are likely dealing with a nom de guerre/Intel alias)
His bio includes coaching girl’s soccer in Switzerland during the Vietnam hoo ha. Sounds arranged to get this budding asset some training in intelligence work. All spooks seem to have that year or two of exile at college age.
He doesn’t look like his brother or father, Franks Jr. and Sr., Senior being a beautician and SS’s Mom running a gym. Sounds like a Smith’s Brothers marriage of convenience.
Off the top of my head, SS looks like another sponsored bastard (of the MacCartney branch?) groomed for “greatness” while raised by a loaner “family”. Another Denver/Morrison/Madonna addition?
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Great article! Affirms why I grew so tired of Hollywood and its habit of churning out mediocre material, including but not limited to the ubiquitous boxing genre. Hollywood would put out one nauseating boxing movie after another. So I am calling B.S. on Daniel Day Lewis, Jake Gyllenhal, Russell Crowe, Robert De Niro, Russell Crowe, Mark Walberg, Hilary Swank – all who have appeared in boxing movies. Boring, boring, boring, but someone’s buying the box office tickets, but not me.
Incredible how Stallone’s eyes match up with Sir McCartney! 🙂
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Oops, listed Russell Crowe twice. but gives me chance to add Denzel Washington. Any others I’m missing?
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This post reminded me of another celebrity polo player: Stewart Copeland, drummer for The Police. From wikipedia:
Stewart Armstrong Copeland was born in Alexandria, Virginia on July 16, 1952,[6][7] the youngest of four children of CIA officer Miles Copeland, Jr. and Scottish archaeologist Lorraine Adie. The family moved to Cairo, Egypt, a few months after his birth, and Copeland spent his formative years in the Middle East. In 1957, his family moved to Beirut, Lebanon,[8] and Copeland attended the American Community School there. He started taking drum lessons at age 12 and was playing drums for school dances within a year. Later he moved to England and attended Millfield[8] from 1967 to 1969. Copeland went to college in California, attending United States International University and University of California, Berkeley. Returning to England, he worked as road manager for the progressive rock band Curved Air’s 1974 reunion tour, and then as drummer for the band during 1975 and 1976.
His father, Miles Copeland, Jr., was a founding member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to his 1989 biography[29] and files released by the CIA in 2008.[30]
In 2007, the French government appointed Copeland (along with Police bandmates Summers and Sting) a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.[32]
Copeland’s hobbies include rollerskating, cycling along the beach in Santa Monica, filmmaking and playing polo.[25]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Copeland#Early_life
Copeland is an excellent drummer and The Police have created some wonderful songs, in my opinion. I remembered he mentioned playing polo in an interview he gave on his drumming style. I had no idea about his father and the CIA connection though!
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The Police is an average band and Copeland is an average drummer. Come on. I’m from the AC/DC generation and know a good drummer when I see one. Alex van Halen for instance. As for Stallone, the same thing here as with Madonna. Invented background story. But still a dedicated actor and very hard working person. Some of them obviously have to work hard. Others not so, Take Russel Crowe or Bruce Willis. Stallone demonstrated his riding skills in Rambo 3 where he rides with his Mujahedin friends. Rambo is not his invention by the way. There is a real book, which goes a bit different than the first Rambo. Its not even that bad. I read it once a couple of years ago.
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A side comment to the subject. As an amateur musician I think you’re seriously diminishing Copeland’s musicality and talent as a drummer. If you’ve ever listened to Police rhythm section, you can hear it’s rather difficult to cope with Sting playing it. Police’s music is an advanced material to play and perform. Besides, in live performances, Copeland was usually singing back vocals, which is extremely difficult task to perform when backing Sting’s vocal line, especially while drumming along. When compared to John Bonham – Bonzo of Led Zepp, who is in my opinion the absolute best of rock drummers, Copeland shows huge talent as well. Alex is an excellent drummer in the same league, just like many others. But Phil Rudd of AC/DC definitely doesn’t have the talent of all above mentioned drummers, I can’t even imagine him playing Roxanne or anything alike. Don’t get me wrong here though, I highly appreciate AC/DC’s music.
I’m assuming you have never tried playing drums for real. If you did, you’d know how hard it is to really master them.
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I’d have to search for his name, but the (late?) drummer of an obscure rock band (to me, anyway) mentioned that he was surprised to learn that while growing up his ten favorite drummers were all Hal Blaine. He was of Wrecking Crew fame and surreptitiously provided the beat for most of the hit music in the US in th 60s and early 70s. Interesting phenomenon, when people attend live concerts where the music would lack the high production values of studio-produced movies, in the back of their minds they were hearing the albums, and not the stage performances.
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I’m fairly familiar with the drum technique. My favorite player of all times is Jeff Pocaro and one of my favorite songs of all times is Toto’s Mushanga. I play some guitar myself, classical not rock, yet still I am very fond of players like Eddie van Halen or Steve Lukather (or Jimmy Page from LZ) although I’d prefer Al di Meola or Paco de Lucia. I was always wondering about the cult around John Bonham. Almost everybody refers to him as kind of The Drummer God. I don’t. If I had to name a drummer icon, Ginger Baker would firstly to come to my mind. I also like Rush a lot, Neil Peart is an excellent drummer. Steward Copeland plays only very simple techniques in comparison to the the named above. The entire Police group looks more like a project to me. Stings voice never impressed me much and he plays bass. You know, bass is for those who cannot really play guitar.
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The names you listed are masters of their instrument. All of them. Still, Copeland appeals as a highly developed drummer. That’s my opinion. We disagree about Bonham for sure but it’s not a tragedy to disagree, right? I encourage you to try and take the sticks into your hand and see how hard it is. Not to mention that playing in the band, surrounded with noisy distraction, requires new skills that go beyond being able to drum perfectly. So, in music, as in many other aspects, it all boils down to ‘Are you experienced?’.
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Vexman, what makes you think I never tried to play drum? One of my sons has a basic set. Of course I tried that already. I play guitar and also piano a little bit. If you can play one instrument it is not that difficult to try another. Same thing with languages by the way. If you don’t play any instrument at all, everybody who plays some accords will impress you. Only if you play yourself will you be able to recognize a real master. That is by the way my definition of belonging to an elite. It means to recognize an accomplishment, to appreciate it and to try to improve it. It has nothing to do with belonging to some chosen people.
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Your dismissal of Copeland as a non impressive drummer makes me think that. It really isn’t difficult to try playing an instrument, but that is far from mastering it. If your son has a basic set at home, put on Roxanne and go try drumming along. You’ll immediately notice it’s challenging hard to do so. Comparing it to Rudd’s most basic beat, it is much more advanced. That is the essence of our little debate. You said Copeland is no special drummer and I think you’re wrong about that. And I do think so because I had a hunch you’re no drummer yourself. My hunch proved to be true in the end.
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I take issue with the old “failed guitar player” cliché regarding bass players. I’ll give one example, “Bernadette” by The Four Tops with James Jamerson on bass. I know few guitarists who would’ve even come up with his lines, let alone play them with their right hands. And while we are on “The Wrecking Crew”, we have to mention Carole Kaye.
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How about Jaco Pastorius? Another early death, which I hope was faked, as the guy was an unbelievably talented player.
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oh, and I mentioned AC/DC previously because that was the teen group of my times not because they are my favorites. We are a rock family so to speak and my kids all like rock music.
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Bon Scott, of AC/DC, ‘died’ aged 33, his ‘death’ seems fishy then Feb 19, 1980.
Aren’t you forgetting Keith Moon in your list of drummers?
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I never liked The Who. No real instrumentalists there either IMO. I’ve seen a video where Van Halen plays “Won’t get fooled again” in a studio and there you can see the difference between wannabe musicians and real ones. VH being the last.
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Bon “Belford” Scott. Highly doubt he died. Would like to see a few more rock musician articles. I don’t think GG Allin died, and hindsight his act seemed to be a project. Steve Clark of Def Leppard had an article on here about morphing into Anderson Cooper. Axl “Lintner” Rose is rumored to have been replaced. Robin Crosby of Ratt seems like a fake death. Frank Ferrano aka Nikki Sixx of Motely Crue was rumored to be a replacement. Bon Jovi comes across as a no talent hat act like Madonna, probably related to someone high up. Obviously something fishy about the Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Chris Cornell, and Chester Bennington scenarios. They are all probably in Dubai with David Bowie, Michael Jackson and Robin Williams. I’m surprised they haven’t killed Brian Warner yet, aka Marilyn Manson.
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Sly is one of the chosenites who have a piece of land here.
[You may want to click that link]
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You don’t succeed in those tricks pushing posts down, Jackie Taylor.
Enjoy the read; Plan Patagonia.
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