Game Changers With Vicki Abelson

James Morrison Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson How fortuitous that my first show back after an 8-week hiatus was with the stunningly soulful James Morrison––actor, writer, filmmaker, musician, husband, father, fellow, and stellar human. James was Chicken soup for my post-COVID soul. Discovering just before we went on the air that my treasured friend, Christinna Guzman had passed from canc...

Vincent Curatola of The Sopranos Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson I’m not sure how it’s possible to meet a person once on Zoom and feel like they’re a treasured friend that I’ve known forever, but that’s exactly how it is with Vincent Curatola, aka Johnny Sack of The Sopranos, whom before meeting I feared would whack. Me. On this our second sitdown we talked how a businessman who’d nary gr...

Lori Lieberman Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson Being with Lori Lieberman, the very first musical guest at Women Who Write, and the only artist to perform at every WWW location over the past decade-plus is like going home. Five years since our last midday soiree, it was so wonderful to reconnect and catch up. We got the unabridged Killing Me Softly scoop, from its inception with Lori’s pen...

Steve Lukather Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson Hold the Line! Steve Lukather may be a bonafide rock star, but he’s also down-to-earth, self-effacing, self-aware, open-minded, hearted, reflective, enthusiastic, passionate, thoughtful, generous, and perhaps sweetest of all, a fanboy like us of his heroes. From the 6-year-old boy blown away by The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, George’s guitar spec...

Marshall Herskovitz Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson Masterclass! I’ve had many stimulating, fascinating, brilliant, talented, fun guests. None more so than writer, director, and producer, Marshall Herskovitz. There’s a reason this human has won more Emmy, Golden Globe, Writers Guild, Directors Guild, Peabody, and Humanitas Awards than I can count… not to mention an Academy Award nominatio...

Today I got to hang with Ed Begley who makes me laugh and think and feel and want to do better and be better. 7x Emmy Award Nominee - St Elsewhere, Better Call Saul, Best In Show, Saturday Night Live, Spinal Tap, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, Going South, She Devil, My Three Sons, The Dating Game, oh yes he did… even winning a date to Australia… we talked them all and then some… Nicholson, Brando, St...

Steve Porcaro Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson I loved every second with 3x Grammy Winner, founding member of Toto, Steve Porcaro. A down-to-earth sweetheart of a guy who just happens to be one arm of the iconic legendary musical Porcaro family. These ain’t no lip-sinking, TV frontmen, the Porcaros define chops. World-renowned drummer, Joe, who left sticks and skins around, brother Jeff, w...

David Jackson Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson What a delight music legend David Jackson is. No surprise. I was warned by his legions of loyal fans, most of whom are his brilliantly talented contemporaries. This was fabulous fun, topped perhaps by pre-fed stories with lots of misinformation which paved the way for the truths, which proved to make it all even more fun. So what if David wasn...

Live from Los Angeles, it was Wednesday eve. Loved spending it with Television Academy Hall of Famer, Laraine Newman. I was a little down-and-out post-new Moderna vax, but thanks to Laraine, I swiftly forgot all about it. She took us through her early childhood, finding her place with the funny. From neighborhood street plays, and school theatre with classmate Paul Reubens, to becoming a founding...

Anthony Fedorov Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson I’m still smiling and I’m not sure I’m gonna stop any time soon. What a blast I had with American Idol finalist Anthony Fedorov. It’s been a minute since last we met and Anthony is even more spectacular than I remembered. He opened the show with That Someone, his new song from his new musical, Proud Marys. I loved it! Can’t wait till Sunday...

Steve Conte Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson What a great time, as always, when old pal Steve Conte sits down to chat and sing. That voice! Those songs! The stories! Steve played his latest Coolest Song in the World, Fourth of July, co-written with Andy Partridge of XTC, which was a dream come true for Steve and anyone fortunate enough to hear it. He opened the show with that tune, and the...

Max Gail Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson What a thrill it is when someone whose work I admire, adore, and respect exceeds all my expectations as a human. Max Gail, actor, director, advocate, songwriter, two-time Emmy Award Nominee, for Barney Miller, and two-time Emmy Winner for General Hospital did just that. Spending time in his most excellent company felt like a giant hug, like going h...

Tom Arnold Live On Game Changers With Vicki Abelson by Vicki Abelson

taken years to get Danny Kortchmar alone in the Game Changers guest seat, having paid us a couple of previous visits with his Immediate Family brothers. This Danny is kinder, gentler, and oh, so fun. He’s been leaning more and more in this direction to my view since falling in love with Lisa Roy, even after surviving the devastating loss of her life. She was the love of his, and it appears she did...

Percussionist Luis Conte- I love him! What a delightful sit down with this young man who escaped Castro’s Cuba to meet The Beatles and ended up playing with everybody else. Fabulous stories about his homeland, hitting Hollywood, Rockin The Boat, The Supremes, Doc Severinsen, hitting the big time with Madonna at the height of her day, Phil Collins at the height of his and the last 20 years with Jam...

Tony Braunagel Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson What a long great trip it’s been. Grammy and Blues Music Award Winner, Tony Braunagel, took us through his early days in Houston, playing nightclubs at 15 with soul bands, to connecting with a certain Snuffy Walden and Terry Wilson a few years later, playing together on and off over the next 50 + years, including next Wednesday at The Write O...

Singer/songwriter, Tony-nominated, film &, TV star, writer, director, producer, author, 1st Star Search Winner, Sam Harris, is a real person with real issues and we talked… real. About struggles with weight, Sam’s conquered his, losing upwards of 30 pounds in recent months, and he told us how he’s done it. Inspiring! We talked about life, as it is now, post pandemic, for him, Danny, and their son,...

Jason Scheff Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson Rock Star! Jason Scheff’s got the chops, the voice, the lineage, the career, and the hair! And I’m not sure he could be a more lovely, gracious, humble guy. As if thirty years with Chicago weren’t enough, Jason takes us through that experience from the rumors, the auditions, the close race, getting it, the faux pax, righting it big time, the gl...

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...