How “Gonna Fly Now” Made It Into “Rocky”

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Rocky’s theme, Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti, Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins is arguably one of the greatest movie songs of all-time.  Over 40 years later, Gonna Fly Now is still instantly recognizable by folks of all ages, is used at sporting events of all kinds and remains a popular (and inspirational) workout song.

Surprisingly, another song was set to be Rocky’s Theme!  (One of the lyrics: “He has a Sunday punch that will knock you in to Monday!”)

Check out the short video below to learn how Gonna Fly Now made into into Rocky and film/music history.

Stallone “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” Pin by Matt Ryan Tobin

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Hero Complex Gallery decided to recognize director John McTiernan with their last showing of the year.  Click over and you will find some very cool Die Hard, Predator, Last Action Hero, Hunt for Red October original art, prints, pins and more.

What I thought fans here would dig most is the Stallone Terminator 2: Judgment Day pin by Matt Ryan Tobin.

Source: /Film.

Merry Christmas from George McManus!

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I came across this Christmas art by George McManus this morning at The Bristol Board (where you can see a larger version of it).  The art which features McManus’ character Jiggs from his beloved comic strip Bringing Up Father sure brought back a lot of good memories.

I loved reading Bringing Up Father when I was a kid. And I wasn’t alone.  Bringing Up Father was published in newspapers for 87 years, from January 12, 1913, to May 28, 2000!  It spawned plays, (on and off Broadway), a radio series, 9 animated silent shorts, three live-action two reel shorts, several live-action feature films, three different comic book series as well as books collecting and reprinting the newspaper strips.

While the strips were funny, McManus’ art was a joy and the combination of the two were impossible (at least for this guy) not to love.  I had a chance to purchase a strip or two (even a Sunday page) back in my college days when I hung out at Jim Ivey’s Cartoon Museum.  Sadly, they were out of my price range, but I did enjoy the chance to hold the originals.

“The Monster Mash” Guy’s “Monster Holiday” Song!

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Bobby “Boris” Pickett is best known for his cult classic hit, The Monster Mash.  Later than same year Pickett tried to catch lightning in a bottle for a second time with Monster’s Holiday.  Check it out below and I’ll see you after the video.

Obviously Halloween is a better fit for monsters than Christmas, but I was surprised that Pickett’s Christmas song isn’t better known.  If you’d like to learn more about Pickett and his songs check out The Monster Mash Guy… at PaleoFuture.