Mark (on the phone this morning): "Do you know what time it is?!!"
Angel: "8:30 am."
Mark: "I was asleep!" (Angel to self, “Well, THAT’s a surprise.” Mark is an early riser, I burn the midnight oil.)
Angel: "Sorry! I know, I know, if YOU had called ME at 8:30 am I’d be saying, WHY did you WAKE me UP!!!?? Sorry." (I had sent him texts of my new Royal Caribbean cruise room. We’re going March 16-21 to Jamaica & Grand Cayman with the Dreamers group.) I LOVE my room. It has a bathtub AND a balcony. I had sent him a video of it and said I may not leave my room the entire trip because I’d be happily reading books and enjoying my beautiful room.
Mark: "You need to invite Gigi!" (I already had.) Mark is a Stunt Coordinator. He coordinates stunts. For all of us. "Call Sammy and invite him. He can bunk with me. Bring Laileigh." I love how Mark simply organizes everything around him. He truly is a world-class Stuntman and Stunt-Coordinator, in every moment of his life. I'm used to it.
Mark DeAlessandro was Sylvester Stallone's body double and stunt double for 23 years, in 30 Stallone movies.
Jackie Chan, Mark DeAlessandro, Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone with a hand-written thank you note to Mark.
I interviewed Mark for my television series, "Texas Tales from a Lone Star," in 2018 just after my granddaughter, Laileigh, was born. I had her with me and was holding her as I interviewed Mark at our home, "The Island on Lake Travis." I had met Gigi because we both lived here in 2012. That day Mark taught Laileigh one of her first words, "Hallelujah!" and he taught her her first stunt, "Leaning out over the waterfall." From then on I began taking Laileigh to his stunt workshops and events.
Mark holding Laileigh at one of his Stunt Workshops, this one is in Austin. I'm the blonde on the end in the black shirt.
Gigi took me with her to a Dinner with Dreamers dinner in Austin, Texas in 2017 and I met Mark DeAlessandro there.
Mark has the "I love Jesus" t-shirt on, 2nd from left, Gigi is peeking over his shoulder, I'm the blonde standing in between Kyle Saylors and Brenda Golden, former wife of the Oak Ridge Boys, William Lee Golden.
Mark DeAlessandro and Gigi Erneta outside of the Austin restaurant in 2017 where we all attended the "Dinner with Dreamers" dinner. They have noticed a bright cross star formation in the sky.
I just found out recently that Gigi already knew Mark before that dinner. As a matter of fact, I had sent her a phone message a couple of weeks ago and that's when it dawned on me that I hadn't quite grasped her inviting me that night. I had learned to love our group and we had made some close friends and connections as a result. I had texted Gigi, "Kyle is getting married!" I had just scrolled his page for the first time in several months. Kyle Saylors had founded "Dinner with Dreamers," with his brother, Kenny. I had met Kyle that night in Austin, the same night I had met Mark with Gigi.
Kyle was overwhelmingly active in amazing feats, constantly, the perfect leader for what was now a huge group of people who were ALL overwhelming active in amazing feats. He called us the Dreamers, because of it. There's an article about him HERE
Sometimes it overwhelmed me to the point where I just didn't read Kyle's posts or look at his page except occasionally. But I had just scanned it to see what I'd missed over the past three months and had seen his engagement to a beautiful lady from Brazil. I knew Mark and Gigi hadn't seen it yet and we all stayed in constant contact, true and close friends. Scrolling his page I then saw that way back in October he had posted photos of himself climbing the stairs made famous by Sylvester Stallone, in Philadelphia, in Rocky II.
I excitedly co-texted Mark and Gigi about it. "Hey! Kyle posted photos of himself climbing the Rocky stairs back in October!" Mark had texted back that he not only already knew but that he had been on the phone with Kyle AS Kyle was climbing the stairs. Kyle had commented on his page that that particular scene from Rocky had helped inspire him to create Dinner with Dreamers and in his own life philosophy. So, of course, Mark had been on the phone with Kyle when Kyle climbed them.
Kyle Saylors and Mark DeAlessandro at a "Dinner with Dreamers" dinner in Dallas, Texas, 2023.
Mark and I went to eat at my favorite restaurant, Pappadeaux, in Dallas the day after the Dinner with Dreamers dinner. Here he is on the phone with, guess...
Mark and I eating at Pappadeaux in Dallas 2023 after the Dinner with Dreamers event we attended.
Gigi had texted back, "Sammy and I were there with Mark." That confused me. So I called her and asked her what she meant. She had meant when MARK had climbed the stairs in 2010. I had met Gigi in 2012 and Mark in 2017. She said that in 2010 she was there in Philadelphia with both Sammy Maloof AND Mark on an occasion where MARK had climbed the stairs. Well, that was a surprise. I had thought Gigi met Mark in 2017, at the Austin Dinner with Dreamers she took me to. Nope. She had already known him.
Mark DeAlessandro and Sammy Maloof, California
Mark DeAlessandro HERE and Sammy Maloof, HERE California. They are with the wife of the late Dennis Tinerino, Anita. Dennis Tinerino won Mr. America, Mr. Natural Universe and was a four-time Mr. Universe. HERE
Gigi Erneta interview on the 700 Club
Gigi had taken me with her a couple of times in 2012 to a church in Round Rock, Texas to meet her friend Sammy Maloof, who was speaking to the congregation and showing a film of his career as a Stunt Race Car Driver. He even had one of his stunt racing cars in the church parking lot and I had taken pictures of it.
Then Mark surprised me AGAIN. He said, "That was me in Rocky II climbing the stairs." WHAT??!!?? "Sylvester Stallone was getting tired of climbing them so many times for the film shots so I was climbing them for him, for the long distance shots."
OH...WOW...
Angel: "YOU call Sammy. He just knows ME a little. He knows YOU and Gigi more. YOU call him." (I had interjected this right before he rattled off Sammy’s phone number to me, stopping him.) I didn't want to call Sammy out of the blue, with him barely even knowing me. True, I'd gone to lunch with him and his entourage after his talk at the church, with Gigi, and true, I had spoken to him on the phone when Mark called him out of the blue in Dallas a few months before. I had reminded Sammy that Gigi told him the story about Leviticus (see my earlier stories for the full details) at his church dinner that day. Basically, Gigi had prayed to God to help her understand Leviticus moments before I knocked on her condo door, at the Island on Lake Travis where we both lived at the time, and had handed her my dad's new book on Leviticus that I had just edited and published.
The "Island on Lake Travis," in Lago Vista, Texas where I lived and where Gigi Erneta also lived in 2012. I also interviewed Mark DeAlessandro here in 2018 when I lived here with my daughter and newborn granddaughter.
Sammy is intimidating and I didn't want to be the one calling him. Mark’s a Stuntman. He coordinates stunts. He tries to involve ME in the stunts he pulls but I resist, that's not MY personality. I'm a loner, a thinker, a writer. I just want to lay on my comfy bed, study books, and write my stories, soon with the ocean flowing past my balcony. "I don't WANT to call Sammy! YOU call him! He KNOWS you!" (For the record, I wound up calling Sammy. Mark usually wins, lol. Thankfully, I just had to talk to his answering machine. I invited him on the cruise with us, like Mark asked.)
Gigi had assured me she’d be my roommate IF she wasn’t filming that week. She had spent 10 minutes telling me why I needed to take Laileigh. “Six is a VERY important age. I began my career when I was 6-8 years old. She’ll remember it forever.” I had told Gigi that Lai now had two huge dangerous looking swords for her Kung Fu class bigger than she was AND a spear that almost touched our living room ceiling. Gigi had taught Lai at Mark’s stunt workshop in Albuquerque last year. Gigi does her own stunts. Mark taught my granddaughter, Laileigh, her first stunt when she was 4 months old. I've taken Lai to many of Mark's training workshops and events for the past 6 years.
Mark DeAlessandro teaching my granddaughter, Laileigh, at his Comic-Con Stunt Workshop in Albuquerque, 2022.
Mark DeAlessandro teaching my granddaughter, Laileigh, at his Comic-Con Stunt Workshop in Albuquerque, 2022. Laileigh is standing next to Gigi Erneta, actress and stuntwoman, who came by to see us. I asked Gigi to help teach Laileigh and she is.
Mark DeAlessandro and Angel Isaacs at Comic-Con Albuquerque 2023, during Mark's Stunt Workshop.
Mark DeAlessandro doubling Sylvester Stallone in "Cliffhanger."
Mark holding my granddaughter, Laileigh, me, a black-belt friend of Mark's at my television studio filming for my show, "Texas Tales from a Lone Star, " 2023.
Austin Public Television where I am a Producer and created my series, "Texas Tales from a Lone Star."
Dallas Concert trip
Angel Isaacs filming Mark and Laileigh at Austin Public Television for "Texas Tales from a Lone Star."
Mark: "What’s Gigi working on?"
Angel: "Her latest is “The Curse” with Emma Stone. HERE Gigi said she’ll come if she can. I’m not leaving my beautiful room. I told Gigi you mentioned Sammy and she loves the idea. I told Gigi to push YOU to invite him." No way was I calling Sammy.
Mark: "I’ll call him today."
***
Later that day...
Mark: "I talked to Sammy. I'm not sure I believe all the Prophecy stuff but Sammy said that that was amazing, that someone had just told him he would go to Jamaica." We'll see.
Stay tuned for more stories…it’s just 2 months away!
Copyright 2024 Angel Isaacs All Rights Reserved
Written January 23, 2024 at 12:15 am