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Ray Parker Jr. & Fran Strine Live On Game Changers With Vicki Abelson
50 years ago yesterday, Ray Parker Jr. and I were in the same room… well, it was Madison Square Garden, he was 18, playing with Little Stevie Wonder, who was opening for The Stones, and, it was Mick’s birthday. That’s some cool shared history… I, a mere speck in the story am claiming my seat. Today was not quite so historic, yet any time in Ray’s company is a huge treat. Add IIFC Award-Winning Filmmaker, Fran Strine to the mix, whose documentary, Who You Gonna Call, about Ray, just dropped, and well, it gets even more special.
We talked about how they met on Fran’s previous doc, Hired Gun, which also featured Ray, and where the idea for WYGC was borne. Ray’s story was just too big to not tell. Known internationally, cross-generation for Ghostbusters, there’s so much more to the story. Growing up in Detroit, police brutality firsthand, playing the clarinet and the sax, how he got his first guitar, and his 10,000 hours before he hit 13 when he had his first big gig with The Spinners. Crazy. Barry White, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Gladys Knight, and Bill Withers, followed, while he was still a kid. How Stevie changed his life, how his mother motivated him, moving to LA, doing his own thing, getting no credit for his Grammy-winning #1 You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, Raydio, his hit, Jack and Jill, to Ghostbusters––a last minute do or don’t get paid stroke of genius. This story is at the heart of Who You Gonna Call, but like Grammy-Winning Hollywood Walk of Famer Ray, there’s so much more to the story. I loved the doc and this time with these two exceedingly talented and charming men.
You can catch the film on Prime and Peacock
https://www.amazon.com/Who-You-Gonna-Call-Ultra/dp/B0B2Q4FCX7
Run! It’s that good.
Ray Parker Jr. & Fran Strine Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson
Wednesday, 7/27/22, 5 pm PT, 8 pm ET
Streamed Live on my Facebook
Replay here:
https://bit.ly/3OKtPRn
All BROADcasts, as podcasts, also available on
iTunes apple.co/2dj8ld3
Stitcher bit.ly/2h3R1fla
tunein bit.ly/2gGeItj
Also on iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, Voox, OwlTail, Backtracks, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Podchaser, and Listen Notes
Thanks to Rick Smolke of Quik Impressions, the best printers, printing, the best people people-ing. quikimpressions.com
Nicole Venables of Ruby Begonia Hair Studio Beauty and Products, for the best tressed. http://www.rubybegoniahairstudio.com/
And, Blue Microphones
View all episodes
By Vicki Abelson
4.7
1616 ratings
50 years ago yesterday, Ray Parker Jr. and I were in the same room… well, it was Madison Square Garden, he was 18, playing with Little Stevie Wonder, who was opening for The Stones, and, it was Mick’s birthday. That’s some cool shared history… I, a mere speck in the story am claiming my seat. Today was not quite so historic, yet any time in Ray’s company is a huge treat. Add IIFC Award-Winning Filmmaker, Fran Strine to the mix, whose documentary, Who You Gonna Call, about Ray, just dropped, and well, it gets even more special.
We talked about how they met on Fran’s previous doc, Hired Gun, which also featured Ray, and where the idea for WYGC was borne. Ray’s story was just too big to not tell. Known internationally, cross-generation for Ghostbusters, there’s so much more to the story. Growing up in Detroit, police brutality firsthand, playing the clarinet and the sax, how he got his first guitar, and his 10,000 hours before he hit 13 when he had his first big gig with The Spinners. Crazy. Barry White, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Gladys Knight, and Bill Withers, followed, while he was still a kid. How Stevie changed his life, how his mother motivated him, moving to LA, doing his own thing, getting no credit for his Grammy-winning #1 You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, Raydio, his hit, Jack and Jill, to Ghostbusters––a last minute do or don’t get paid stroke of genius. This story is at the heart of Who You Gonna Call, but like Grammy-Winning Hollywood Walk of Famer Ray, there’s so much more to the story. I loved the doc and this time with these two exceedingly talented and charming men.
You can catch the film on Prime and Peacock
https://www.amazon.com/Who-You-Gonna-Call-Ultra/dp/B0B2Q4FCX7
Run! It’s that good.
Ray Parker Jr. & Fran Strine Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson
Wednesday, 7/27/22, 5 pm PT, 8 pm ET
Streamed Live on my Facebook
Replay here:
https://bit.ly/3OKtPRn
All BROADcasts, as podcasts, also available on
iTunes apple.co/2dj8ld3
Stitcher bit.ly/2h3R1fla
tunein bit.ly/2gGeItj
Also on iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, Voox, OwlTail, Backtracks, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Podchaser, and Listen Notes
Thanks to Rick Smolke of Quik Impressions, the best printers, printing, the best people people-ing. quikimpressions.com
Nicole Venables of Ruby Begonia Hair Studio Beauty and Products, for the best tressed. http://www.rubybegoniahairstudio.com/
And, Blue Microphones