Game Changers With Vicki Abelson

CJ Vanston Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson I could have laughed all night and still have laughed some more! What fun! Composer, producer, songwriter, keyboardist, CJ Vanston––great bit on his name to start, had me laughing to tears story upon story. Oh boy, I needed the eggs. From his musical beginnings, locked in and listening to his dad’s cool jazz band through the floorboards, burning...

Cheri Oteri Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson Fun, fun, fun, and more fun. A long-time huge fan of Cheri Oteri’s work - I’m now a huge fan of the human. I loved every second in this Emmy nominees’ great company. As animated as Cheri is on screen, she’s all that and a truck full of fun in conversation. From early days in Philly imitating soap actors, her nana, and Laura Ingall’s, aspiring to...

AJ Benza Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson We couldn’t sit further apart on the political spectrum, or how we approach and present what we do, and yet columnist, TV correspondent, talk show host, actor, author, award-winning producer, and podcaster, AJ Benza, is a cherished friend. What we do share is a quest to tell the truth, a platform to do it, a passion for writing, and a great appreci...

Felix Angel Solis Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson If a good man is hard to find, a great one’s murder. Felix Solis, currently killing it in The Rookie: Feds, and who killed, literally, as Omar Navarro in Ozark, the role which broke him out of actors actor/working actor to famous actor. Deserved. All over the place. Felix’s stunning performance in the Pulitzer-winning, The Cost of Living,...

Korel Tunador Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson It was such a treat to sit down again with treasured friend, Korel Tunador. I’ve sure missed him. Crazy talented and oh, so fun, quintuple threat––guitar, keyboards, sax, accordion, and vocals, Korel, who’s been playing with Rob Thomas the last many years, spent a dozen + with the Goo Goo Dolls, toured with Katy Perry, and Jada Pinkett Smith’s...

Friends who used to be 30 Something, Wingnuts, and Field of Dreamers, lend me your ear (s), and your eyeballs. Emmy-winner Timothy Busfield is a scream! His Burt Lancaster alone is worth the watch. Hysterical, and right on point. Tim’s amazing bride, Melissa Gilbert joined us for a sec, she’ll be back! But she was a big part of the conversation––how they met, and where––great story. I love how he...

Michael Ruff Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson In his first ever interweb interview, perhaps interview period, 3rd Zoom of his lifetime, and that includes 2 with his family, multiple Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter, BMI Award and Cable Ace Award winner, Michael Ruff, tried to be a little ruff, deflecting and avoiding answering questions about his past but ultimately, answering my q...

Like fine wine gaining depth, strength, and taste with age, so is Grammy-winning comedian, actor, writer, director, cannabis activist, Tommy Chong. After a lifetime of adoring this man and his art, having spent countless hours laughing over and over and over again at his funny, I’ve been struck by his warmth, generosity, intelligence, centeredness, spirituality, self-awareness, business acumen, an...

Snuffy Walden Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson There are no accidents. House stand-in as he so aptly named hisslef, Emmy-Winning Composer, Snuffy Walden, was just what the doctor ordered. Live from the dining room, with Rufus for the most part chillin’ between us, Snuffy got down, got real, letting us in as he seamlessly weaved through music, alcoholism, geographics, hitting big, breaking...

What a smile! What a sweetheart! Oh yeah, Walfredo Reyes Jr. is also a spectacular drummer/percussionist. Seeing Wally in action last month killing it with Chicago, and then meeting him afterward clinched that he’s the trifecta. This time with him on Game Changers makes clear all three, even if he didn’t lift a stick or slap a cajón. Wally brought his A+ game, treating us to stories about his musi...

Barbara Feldon Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson The best? Certainly none better. I’m not sure anyone has ever exceeded my very high expectations greater than Barbara Feldon did this day. As much as I admired and adored Get Smart’s Agent 99 for her sophistication, intelligence, knowingness, sly, perfectly delivered humor, demure yet smoldering sexiness, and downright gorgeousness… Barbara i...

Happy Happy Joy Joy. Well, Happy Happy Paula Paula. That’s how it feels whenever Paula Poundstone’s around. It was another grey rainy day in SoCal, but the sun was sure shining on the interweb. I laughed pretty much non-stop, my cheeks hurt, in the good way, and a drop of water or two squirted out mine eyes, again, in the best possible way. We talked Paula’s care back out in the world and on the r...

Stanley Livingston Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson Considering we were kids together, so what if he didn’t know it… Stanley Livingston and I opened with the health report. Remarkably fit and boyish for his 72 years, where the hell did the time go? Stan’s used it well. Some fun revelations––from his mother’s pre-maternal career to his first wife’s like vocation, a great story about James E...

Eric McCormack Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson Will and Vicki. The virgin Walden/Abelson voyage. If you’re gonna break the almost 3 yrs to the day pandemic Zoom streak, and do a first Live in person from the new digs, how better than with handsome, charming, fabulous, Emmy, SAG, and GLAAD Award Winning, Eric McCormack? Couldn’t be done. If you’re gonna look into a set of eyeballs, share r...

What a glorious reunion with the brilliantly talented prolific songstress, Harriet Schock, who wrote the Grammy-nominated #1 hit, Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady, and her stunningly talented, vocal accomplice, Andrea Ross-Green. It was thrilling to hear them again in perfect harmony with new songs from Harriet’s upcoming album, Paintings (the title track she treated us to is an absolute killer), as w...

Teresa James & Terry Wilson Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson They may sing the blues but they sure make me happy. Grammy nominees Teresa James and Terry Wilson treated us to our first live mini-concert in Game Changers history. And it was spectacular! With their brand new album of reimagined Beatle songs, With a Little Help From Her Friends, which debuted at #9 on the Billboard Blues chart...

Larry Amoros Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson For a good time call Cheryl, or watch this. I literally laughed til I cried. Larry Amoros, head writer for Joan Rivers, Joy Behar, Rosie O'Donnell, and Barry Manilow, tore down my house, and boy, did I need the eggs. Is there anyone funnier? Larry’s story about Bea Arthur alone! Holy cow, HYSTERICAL! A genius standup, I’m tempted t say it’s all...

Dean Parks Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson Dean Parks has played with everyone on every album ever recorded. Close. His discography is so long I had to take rest breaks as I was scrolling. How many did we get to? Well, we polished some of the gemstones. A 5-year-old with a steel guitar, he was playing with the big boys at 6. Clarinet followed, and saxophone, which he still plays brilliant...

Paul Williams Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson It’s been 9 yrs since Grammy, Golden Globe, Oscar Winner, and Hall of Famer, Paul Williams, graced my living room. That’s almost as long as it’s been since I began campaigning to get him to do this. Worth the wait! And then some. Putting aside Paul’s decades of accomplishments, the dozens upon dozens of his songs that weave through the fabric...

Leland Sklar Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson It’s always a stupendous no BS joy to sit down with bassist, and humanitarian extraordinaire, Leland Sklar. Does absence make the heart grow fonda, does familiarity breed an easy intimacy that translates to free-flowing fun? I’m gonna say, “Yes.” This was a gas! In the best possible way. Lee filled us in on his festival fall. Well, the film fes...

Live with The Cowsill on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson There’s so much wonderfulness and fun packed into this 1:15 Live, I’m woe to break it down and give any spoilers. Suffice it to say we talked about their avid, loyal fans, me being one, since kneesocks, their group dynamic, how the 7 came and went, family auditions, oh yes they did, how the harmonies stack, how the songs on their new album,...

Today Live! Steve Ferrone, most prominently known as the drummer in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, is also a former member of the Average White Band and has recorded and performed with Duran Duran, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Slash, Chaka Khan, Eric Clapton, Bee Gees, Scritti Politti, and Johnny Cash. Steve’s also appeared on recordings by Brian May, Anita Baker, George Benson, Jonathan Butle...

We talked and walked through Kevin’s childhood, early days of steel drums, french horn, to guitar… architecture, bands, playing parties, selling flowers, Papa John Creach, sessions, his first deal and album as Kevin Moore at 41, to two years later being nominated for a Grammy as Keb’ Mo’… four more Grammy victories, currently awaiting his night at The Staples Center… do I hear six? We talked about...

How fun to sit down with a young old friend and catch up after a long pandemic pause. Olympian, Tai Babilonia, is as beautiful, luminescent, gracious, inspiring, perseverant, focused, and fun as she ever was. The World Figure Skating Champion, and 5x U.S. Figure Skating Champion, was as fearless in retelling milestones in her life as she was living them. From great triumphs to heartbreaks, big and...

Jason Alexander Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson Wow! Just wow! I’ve loved Jason Alexander since Pretty Woman, and in everything, I’ve seen him in since. He somehow managed to exceed my high hopes and great expectations as a human, a storyteller… a mensch! Such a huge fan, I was anxious that I’d muck it up being in awe. His smile as soon as he entered the Zoom room set me at ease, and his...