By Ray Negron
If you lived through the crazy yet wonderful years of the seventies and you were a movie buff then in 1976 you fell in love with Rocky. Me being semi crazy I listened to Billy Martin and entered the Golden Gloves and got my ass kicked. The following year, 1977 I went wild over Saturday Night Fever and that winter let my Afro hairdo down for a little wild and adopted the Tony Manero (John Travolta’s character in film) and got all my friends together and lived in the local discotheque in the neighborhood called the Mozambique.
We all wanted to be John Travolta however non of us were with the exception of my pals Ivan and Ozzie who were great dancers. By the time spring training rolled around I had grown my Afro back and the Travolta craze was over.
Yesterday The house of Steinbrenner got a visit from Mr Travolta. It’s always a pleasure when he visits the Bronx because he is always a very cool person.
I got to sit down with him and talk about my up coming play Batboy. He listened to the outline and has always loved where my story comes from. He gave me some great advice that I can’t wait to implement in the Batboy rehearsals. The one thing that John said that really hit home was that I’m way ahead of the game because I already have a great story that doesn’t need any work just keep the characters strong and the actors believing in themselves. He actually got together with Yankees legend Mickey Rivers and gave him some advice on the dance steps that Mickey will be performing in my play.
Mickey plays himself because he is one of the only players of the era that still looks pretty much the same. Travolta even took some time to give Charlie Santoro from the YES network some acting advice, don’t overact. Charlie plays Yankee great Yogi Berra.
To see John reach out to the wonderful Bucky Dent and treat him like a long lost brother was heartwarming. It was like going back in time to my favorite decade , the 70s. I want to thank Jason Feneque also of the Yes network for bringing John Travolta to Yankee stadium and making all of us feel so good in the company of a true film icon.
I must add that Travolta is in New York promoting his new film called Gotti. I hear that it’s terrific.
Also don’t forget to pick up your tickets for the play Batboy. At the Argyle theatre in Babylon.
June 24 at 2:30 pm.
RAY NEGRON IS A CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST FOR THE BRONX CHRONICLE HE ALSO WRITES A COLUMN FOR NEWSMAX AND NYSPORTSDAY.COM LISTEN TO RAY ON WEEKENDS ESPN 1050 DEPORTES IMPACT THE TOP RATED LATINO TALK PROGRAM ON THE NETWORK.
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