CooperTalk

Steve Cooper talks with comic Pat Godwin. Pat has blossomed into one of the most clever comedians and prolific, award-winning comedy songwriters in the business. He has appeared on every top morning show you can think of, worked for 6 years as a part of Philadelphia’s Morning Zoo, 3 years for The Bob & Tom Show, and was a frequent guest and contributor to both Howard Stern’s radio and TV shows. He also has been charming audiences as a national headliner in comedy clubs, cruise ships and colleges for years and has recorded 4 cd's and his song Gangsta Folk is the Number 1 most requested song on morning radio.

Steve Cooper talks with comedy producer/hypnotist Andy Scarpati. Andy began performing as a stand-up comedian in 1978 and by 1980 he left the teaching profession for a career as a comedy producer and performer. He created Comedy Cabaret, a company that specializes in setting up comedy clubs and at one time had over 15 different venues. He has acted in over a dozen commercials and in 1994 landed a part on the TV Show 'America’s Most Wanted' playing a police officer. In 1994, while studying acting, he enrolled in a self-hypnosis class. Always being curious about hypnosis, he discovered that Self-Hypnosis was a valuable tool for self-improvement. Then, through a series of unexpected events he  decided to shift his focus to helping people. His interest in subconscious programming led him to the prestigious Hypnosis Institute in Manhattan, where he earned his Basic and Advanced Degrees. He still has 3 comedy clubs and privately has hypnosis patients and also does live shows for the public.  

Steve Cooper talks with actor William Sanderson. William is best known for his roles on three notable shows HBO’s Deadwood and True Blood, and his eight year stint as a series-regular as “Larry” on Newhart. He is also recognizable for being the spokesman for A & W Root Beer. He has appeared in movies such as Blade Runner, The Client, Coal Miner’s Daughter, Lonesome Dove, Lone Wolf McQuade, Wallace, The Rocketeer, Andersonville, Last Man Standing, Pretty Ugly People, Stanley’s Gig, and Death Hunt and also been a guest star on TV series like Lost, X-Files, Walker Texas Ranger, Monk, and Mike & Molly.

Steve Cooper talks with former NHL hockey player Brian Propp. Brian played in the NHL from 1979 to 1994. A majority of them were with the Philadlephia Flyers where he is a member of their Hall of Fame. He scored over 1000 points in his career and is second in goals, seconds in assists and third in games played for the Flyers franchise. He played in 5 Stanley Cup Finals in his career and also has been a gold medalist in the Canada Cup and Spengler Cup.  

Steve Cooper talks with singer/songwriter Jeffrey Gaines. Jeffrey's self-titled 1992 debut drew critical praise from far and wide, and put him on the musical map as an introspective folk-rock artist. The hookier, more rock-oriented Somewhat Slightly Dazed followed in 1994 and marked the end of his tenure with Chrysalis. In 1998 he returned with Galore, this time via the Rykodisc label. Always Be, released in 2001, contained a stripped-down cover of Peter Gabriel's 1986 hit In Your Eyes, a longtime staple of his concerts and a song he'd become associated with by many fans. Later that same year he was invited by producer Nile Rodgers to sing on the album We Are Family, which benefited victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York. Still riding some of the success of the In Your Eyes single, He paired up with producer Mitchell Froom to record 2003's Toward the Sun, his second release for Artemis Records. Throughout the next decade, he focused largely on touring both in the U.S. and Europe, releasing the acoustic Jeffrey Gaines Live in 2004 followed in 2012 by Live in Europe, which was captured during a tour supporting Joe Jackson. In 2018, 15 years after his last studio effort, he returned with his sixth album, Alright.

Steve Cooper talks with boxer/advocate Mia St. John. Mia known as "The Knockout" is the former World Boxing Council champion in the super welterweight division. She is also the former IBA and IFBA lightweight champion. She was in the November 1999 issue of Playboy magazine and has made appearances on such shows as, Jay Leno, Conan O'brien, Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, Extra, TMZ, E, and countless others. She has also acted in commercials, played herself on TV shows and has her own Playstation game by EA sports. In November of 2008 she was awarded by the Governor of Zacatecas, Mexico an outstanding achievement award for her role in sports and humanitarianism. The WBC also presented her with the 2008 WBC Goodwill Ambassador Award and In November of 2010, Rep. Grace F. Napolitano joined her and former LA Laker Metta World Peace for an official mental health and suicide prevention training at Napolitano’s district office in Santa Fe Springs. As well as Congress, she speaks in schools and juvenile halls on the importance of education and overcoming hardship. She speaks of her own battles with mental illness, addiction, poverty and overcoming it all, to become a three time international boxing champion.

Steve Cooper talks with guitarist/singer/songwriter Nancy Wilson. Nancy rose to fame alongside her older sister, Ann Wilson, as guitarist and backing vocalist in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame inducted band Heart. She currently is touring and recording with the band Roadcase Royale.  

Steve Cooper talks with drummer Kelly Keagy. Kelly is best known for being in the band Night Ranger and singing and writing their smash hit Sister Christian. Night Ranger formed in 1979, broke up in 1989 and then reformed in 1991. They recently released their 12th album titled Don't Let Up. Besides playing with Night Ranger he has recorded two solo albums and was part of supergroup The Mob which also included Reb Beach, dUg Pinnick and Timothy Drury.

Steve Cooper talks with director Fran Strine. Fran is an Award-winning documentary filmmaker. He has toured the world several times over with radio titans NickelBack, Staind, Seether, Dolly Parton and dozens of other artists and made the self-titled documentary for rock band Staind and the Gold Certified live DVD’s with the Iconic Dolly Parton, Dolly, Live in London. He is best known for the in-depth feature documentary Hired Gun, about the hardworking session and touring musicians who are rarely acknowledged for their contribution to popular artist’s work. Completed in early 2016, it’s world premiere was at SXSW, the UK premier was at the Glastonbury Festival and it has screened in over 320 theaters and is now on Netflix where it spent 3 weeks in the “actively trending” category. His new project is a documentary about Ray Parker Jr. titled Who You Gonna Call.

Steve Cooper talks with singer/musician/songwriter Ray Parker Jr. Ray is best known for writing and performing the number one on the charts and Academy Award nominated theme song to the 1984 movie Ghostbusters, for his solo music, and performing with his band Raydio and also with Barry White. He has also written songs and did session work for such acts as Stevie Wonder, The Carpenters, Boz Scaggs, New Edition, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, The Temptations and many more. He recently appeared in the documentary "Hired Gun" and will star in "Who You Gonna Call" which is in production and will be about his life and career.

Steve Cooper talks with stand-up comic/actor Marc Price. Marc is best known for his role of Skippy Handelman in the hughly popular sitcom Family Ties. He has been a working and touring stand-ip comic since his earlty teens and still headlines across the country. He has also appeared in various TV series, movies, hosted Teen Win, Lose or Draw and acted as a writer/producer for cable networks such as Disney Channel, Food Network, Animal Planet, GSN, Showtime and TBS.

Steve Cooper talks with singer/songwriter Katrina Leskanich. Katrina is best known for being the lead singer of Katrina & the Waves who had several international hits, including "Walking on Sunshine" (1985), which has become a summer anthem and "Sun Street" in 1986. They also received a Grammy Nomination for Best New Artist. The hits continued with "Do You Want Crying", "Que te Quiero", "Rock and Roll Girl" and "That's The Way" which reached No. 14 in the U.S.A. The band went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 for the United Kingdom with "Love Shine a Light," which went to No. 2 in the British charts and they performed an unprecedented four weeks running on the BBC 1 TV show Top of The Pops. After the Waves broke up in 1999, she launched a solo career, first as a DJ for BBC Radio 2 and then in 2001 she played the lead role in the musical Leader of the Pack. Since going solo she has released 7 albums and continues to tour around the world.

Steve Cooper talks with stand-up comic Eddie Brill. Eddie he worked as the audience warm-up on The Late Show with David Letterman for seventeen years and for eleven of those years he was the Stand Up Comedy Talent Coordinator and was the creative director of the Great American Comedy Festival which honors Johnny Carson. He has taped more than 100 TV shows in six different countries, including ten appearances on The Late Show.  His many acting roles include the FX hit series, Louie and the film 30 Years to Life with Tracy Morgan. He is also a 3-time MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs) Award Winner for Outstanding Male Stand-up Comic in NYC.  In 2008, he received the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award by the ECNY (The Emerging Comics of NY) and has been also honored with an Alumni Award of Distinction from Emerson College.

Steve Cooper talks with drummer/singer/songwriter Albert Bouchard. Albert is best known for being one of the founding members of the legendary rock band Blue Oyster Cult who he played drums for an occasionally sang songs. In 1981 he left Blue Öyster Cult and began work on the music that would become the Imaginos record. In the late 80s, he performed with The Mamas & The Papas, Peter Noone (Herman's Hermits) and the Spencer Davis Group (Joe Bouchard was also a part of this). He has also played on records for Mike Watt (fIREHOSE, Minutemen) and Ritchie Stotts (Plasmatics) and produced records for amongst others Gumball, Heads Up and David Roter. In the 90s, his main musical project was The Brain Surgeons, with whom he has released several CDs on his own Cellsum Records label. Cellsum has grown to host a number of other artists, including Les Vegas, The X Brothers, David Roter and Helen Wheels. Most recently, he has reunited with his brother Joe and old friend Dennis Dunaway to form Blue Coupe, a power trio that gigs frequently in and around the Northeast US and Canada.

Steve Cooper talks with singer/songwriter Graham Parker. Graham is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour who he recorded 5 albums with before their breakup and two after a reconciliation starting in 2012. He has recorded 14 solo albums and collaborated with such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Kate Pierson of the B-52s and Bill Janovitz on Buffalo Tom. In addition to his records, Parker published an illustrated science fiction novella, The Great Trouser Mystery in 1980. He published a set of short stories, Carp Fishing on Valium, in June 2000. His third book, the novel The Other Life of Brian, was realeased in September 2003. He also appeared in the Judd Apatow movie This is 40 and recently had a song appear on the HBO hit Crashing.