#eltonjohn

If there’s anyone more entertaining than Adam Chester, please tell me so I can book them now! What a fabulous, fun, afternoon ride! Other than a tech glitch (lost internet for 5 min - which caused this to have a Part 1 and Part 2), this was as close to perfection as a sit-down could be. 

We got current events; he’s on vocal rest due to a minor health issue, so Adam performed an instrumental with full virtuoso gusto and talked for a good hour and a quarter, also with total fervor. Shhh, don’t tell his ENT. 

In Part 1, we got Adam’s backstory, which manifested into his life’s headlines. The author of S’Mother held up his mother (hysterical, dark sight gag), who started him on the keys at 3 and got him an upright at 5. Adam walked us into his son Truman’s room to share his first instrument, which he’s moved cross-country and from state to state. Nothing like a good show and tell. 

We got delicious juicy bits about Adam’s year or so with Barry White, a decision Adam still questions, his piano teacher, Jeff, his manager, Paul, and his life-changing friend and mentor, Davey Johnstone, who opened the door to Sir Elton, a gig still in action, more than 20 years later, post Elton’s retirement, filled with pinch moments and living the dream realities. Adam’s stories about it all are precious, humble, moving, and hysterical. 

We get the beginning of his Joni Mitchell connection in Part 1, picked up and furthered to greater heights in Part 2, along with a fabulous Miley Cyrus story, and my s’mother nag for Adam to start doing his thing at his regular Georgian Hotel gig in Santa Monica on Wednesdays, 6-9 pm, where historically he plays, sans vocals and his ridiculously entertaining banter. Vocal rest be damned! You can’t keep the unique genius that is Adam down. One shouldn’t!

I could not have had more fun, or loved this (both Parts) more! 

How dare my internet go down before we were through! Sorry, Adam, sorry, ya’ll! 

Adam Chester Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson

Wed, July 8, 3 pm PT, 6 pm ET

Streamed Live on my FB, YouTube & LinkedIn

FB Part 1 

YouTube Part 1 

FB Part 2 

YouTube Part 2

Today LIVE with Adam Chester, The Sir-O-Gate Elton John! **SPECIAL TIME 3PM PT**

Ridiculously talented in his own right, pianist, vocalist, composer, songwriter, and entertainer, Adam launched his career alongside Barry White. Still, his most celebrated role began nearly two decades ago: becoming Sir Elton John’s official band stand-in. Adam steps in for Elton during rehearsals and select live events, including Elton’s historic final U.S. Dodger Stadium concert in 2022 and the PBS Library of Congress Gershwin Prize ceremony in 2024. He also crafts and conducts the choir arrangements for Elton’s productions. He’s known as the Surrogate Elton John. So Sur Elton. 

Adam’s played alongside Joni Mitchell, Brandi Carlile, Garth Brooks, Miley Cyrus, and Paul Anka, and he’s a favorite performer at Kate Hudson’s annual Christmas celebrations.

Appearing at the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica every Wednesday from 6 PM to 9 PM, Adam plays piano in their speakeasy where Dick Van Dyke got his start back in 1947. 

Adam tore down my living room at one of the last Women Who Write Literary Salons, opening for a guy named Snuffy, and Loren Gold, keyboardist for Rush and The Who. Adam, a force onstage. is always a tough act to follow. He’s an audience and personal favorite. I look so forward to catching up! 

Adam Chester Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson

Wed, July 8, 3 pm PT, 6 pm ET

Streaming Live on my FB, YouTube & LinkedIn

facebook.com/vickiabelson

Daily by Toni Vincent

YouTube

There are more facets to Cidney Bullens than there are to the Hope Diamond… and they’re all fascinating!  The two-time Grammy nominee, who sang with Elton John and Bob Dylan, tells how and why he chose to tour with Elton and pass on Dylan. What a choice for a young rocker from Massachusetts to have to make. How he met Sir Elton, and how a momentary encounter led to the gig and friendship of a lifetime, and how youth, and addiction cost him said gig two plus years later. The friendship has endured all these decades. Sobering up in his early 20s, having already had extraordinary success, and then singing with Rod Stewart, long-time pal, Bonnie Raitt, and Don Everly, to name but a few, singing lead on three songs on the 8x platinum-selling Grease soundtrack, earning his first Grammy nod, and his second for Survivor off his first solo album, Desire Wire. He left the biz for a decade to raise a family, then returned with more solo work and formed The Reugees with Wendy Waldman and Deborah Holland. Soon after, Cindy became Cidny. That’s a story… woven throughout his whole story. 

Cid told the story in his one-man show, Somewhere Between: Not An Ordinary Life, and in his sensational memoir, Transelectric. Cid’s currently resurrecting Somewhere Between and will be touring with it, starting this summer. Has it ever been more relevant and important? 

Cid told us of always feeling male and how that translated to being a sister, daughter, wife, mother, grandfather, and husband. This is not a simple story, and a far more complex life, made more so by parental tragedy. Cid did not always live with grace, but lessons were learned, and the man who sat before us is wiser, stronger, and… softer. 

A friend for the last many years, I’ve had the good fortune to bear witness to Cid’s many talents, as an actor in the brilliant new musical, The Civility of Albert Cashier, where Cid portrayed a true-life character whose life in some ways mirrored his own, in concert with The Refugees, and I was honored to be asked to blurb his memoir, Transelectric. Cid is a treasured friend with a story that screams to be heard, especially today. 

For all things Cid… his show dates, signed copies of his book, and all of his music, visit  www.cidnybullens.com - what a life! 

Cidny Bullens Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson

Wed, June 10, 5 pm PT, 8 pm ET

Streamed Live on my FB, YouTube & LinkedIn

2x GRAMMY Nominee CIDNY BULLENS - NOT An Ordinary Life

Today LIVE! Two-time Grammy nominee Cidny Bullens is a good friend and a multi-talented performer, of whom I have borne witness, live, as a singer/songwriter and as an actor. Cid has performed with Bob Dylan, toured and recorded with Sir Elton John, sang three lead vocals on the iconic Grease movie soundtrack, and has had a string of acclaimed solo rock/Americana albums from 1978 to the present. He is also part of the long-time trio, The Refugees, with Wendy Waldman and Deborah Holland. In 2016, Cidny wrote his award-winning one-person show Somewhere Between: Not an Ordinary Life, which he performs nationally. Cid's memoir, TransElectric: My Life as a Cosmic Rock Star (with a foreword by Sir Elton John), was released in 2023 by Chicago Review Press to rave reviews and praise from me. Cid continues to write and tour both solo and with The Refugees, appear at book signings, and is bringing back his solo show Somewhere Between, in the fall. I have yet to see it, can't wait, but did see Cidney in the stellar premiere production of The Civility of Albert Cashier, in the title role. Magnificent! 

More than any of that, Cid is a treasured friend, with a story that screams to be heard, especially today. We'll be talking about transitions never before discussed on this show. It's about time. 

Cidny Bullens Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson

Wed, June 10, 5 pm PT, 8 pm ET

Streaming Live on my FB, YouTube & LinkedIn

facebook.com/vickiabelson

Reginald Kenneth Dwight, born March 25, 1947