In this unforgettable episode of Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley, funk visionary RonKat Spearman—multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and driving force behind Katdelic—shares his wild, soulful journey through the world of funk and beyond. From his early days to becoming a core member of George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, RonKat reveals how one fateful encounter with the P-Funk mastermind changed the course of his life.

With vivid storytelling and powerful memories, Spearman reflects on deep connections with funk legends like Garry Shider, Bernie Worrell, and Rick James, and dives into rare behind-the-scenes moments with icons like Prince, Jesse Johnson, Eddie Murphy, and Ike Turner.

Now leading his own high-energy band Katdelic, he talks about the group's creative mission, the spirit of innovation, and what it means to carry the funk torch in today's music world.

A must-listen for fans of funk, R&B, and Prince-associated artists, this episode captures the essence of a man who lives and breathes music—with groove, grit, and pure soul.

🎙️ Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley is a podcast spotlighting legendary and emerging funk, R&B, and Prince-associated artists. On air since 1982 and personally recognized by Prince in 2004, this show brings you in-depth conversations with the icons who move the music world.

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I jumped at any chance to.

To be a part of anything musical with that guy.

Like, he's.

He was.

He's like my guitar hero.

All right, Ron Cat, I gotta move on to your.

Your big movement into the George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic Organization.

Where did all that start?

And just how'd you get in with GC and company?

We met in.

Through a mutual friend out in Los Angeles.

I was living out there at the time, and he was working on a movie called the Breaks.

Okay.

That was the first.

That was the first time that we actually did some things musically together and my home studio.

And he came and we just became.

We just came fast.

Family.

Like, I mean, it was just.

It was just a great interaction.

And then Starchild would always tease me.

Like, he would be like, hey, we got your luggage on the bus.

And I'm going like, I don't.

I don't remember putting my luggage on the bus.

What are you talking about?

He said, your luggage is on the bus, bro, so you might as well come on, just jump on.

And I'm like, nah.

And.

And so every time they would come through town, he would say that same thing.

And then one time they.

They came and I.

My.

My luggage actually did end up being on the bus because I actually ended up putting it on the bus and jumped on the road with them.

And I was having so much fun.

When I first met them, I was like, I don't never want to get off this.

You know, it was just.

It was just a great.

It was one of a great period of time for me.

Right.

And it was just like anything else.

It was like.

It was like.

It was a big organization of people.

Yeah.

And a lot of personalities, you know, and you have to be able to, you know, get in where you fit in.

Right?

And I learned a lot.

Like, I learned a lot from, like.

I mean, it definitely was show business one on one.

Like, everything from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, you know, to the medium to the.

You know, we toured all over the world.

George was just like.

I think too, like, when I met George, I was like, kind of in, like, a little bit of a funk.

Just, just.

I was kind of.

I kind of got kind of fed up with the music industry and just.

Just certain people I was dealing with at the time.

And he saw all of that.

Like, he.

He somehow he knew, like, he could feel it, he could sense it.

Because it's just a thing that happens in show business.

People don't think that there's no real Insurance policy with it.

You know what I mean?

It's just like, you know, you might be hot one, you know, year, and then now you.

Now.

Now, you know you're not.

Or he just saw all of those things just from all his history, and he was like, man, come on out here and get on the road.

And it just.

I learned that it kept us relative as far as I was concerned, because we were constantly working, you know, being on the road, because we were.

We were in Europe in the south of France with, like, Kanye, and we would be doing shows with 50 in Europe, 50 Cent, and we.

We would be on the same bill as, like, some of the, you know, more relevant.

Right.

You know, at that time.

But it just put us in that same.

It kept us relevant to just keep working, you know, as far as I was concerned.

And.

And it was a good motivational.

It was a good motivation.

It was some highs and some lows.

It was some crazy stuff, you know, that went on, you know, just, like, in anything.

Yeah, but I. I learned so much from.

From.

From Bootsy, from George Bernie.

I've had one on ones with just, like, everybody and just conversations and just.

Just stories, just funny things that happened, you know?

You know, because being on the road is like going on a camping trip, you know, it's like a funky camping.

Trip, you know, it's like three.

Three buses, right?

Two or three.

Yeah, it's like three.

It was like three.

And, yeah, I saw.

I saw you at Toad's Place in New Haven.

We were hanging backstage with Bolita and Gary.

Oh, okay.

You had to be there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But the dressing room's so small.

Probably everybody's popping in and out.

And also the Mohegan Son, the Wolf Den.

I saw you there.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's the casino, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Nice casino.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was telling Danny Bedrosian, it's always kind of a joke, because I think the last time I saw you guys there, one of the keyboardists.

I don't.

It wasn't Danny.

I don't even know if he was in a group.

Was taking a nap under the keyboard in the middle of the show.

That's possible.

Yeah, I know, because me and my wife are looking.

I think we were with some friends who were like, whoa, what's going on there?

And we still can't find out who it was.

I wonder if it was Razor.

Was it Razor Sharp?

It.

Then you probably had a couple keyboardists, right?

Well, I mean, there was only Razor.

There's Bernie and Then there was.

Yeah, it wasn't.

Bernie's.

Good friend of ours.

Jerome.

Jerome.

Okay.

But I can't imagine any of them sleeping under the keyboard.

But it's possible.

Yeah, it was a short nap.

It was a short nap.

Yeah.

I don't want to make it look like they were.

Yeah, right.

Sleeping on the job.

Yeah, sleeping on the job.

It was funny.

Maybe it was just.

Maybe it's part of the act.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I gotta ask you a question, because you.

You play guitar.

Drums, bass.

How did.

How did Starchild decide to put.

And he wanted to put your bags on the tour bus that you were going to play which instrument?

Well, I started out just singing, like, doing the backup singing.

That's how it started.

All right.

And.

And then when we would go to Europe, sometimes certain people couldn't go for whatever reason, and I would have to fill in for them.

Like, certain times we would have to cross over to Canada or something, and certain mugs couldn't, you know, get across.

And so we still had to go right over and perform.

Yep.

And, you know, for whatever reason, they couldn't get through customs or whatever.

And so I would get told that, like, you're playing bass tonight.

I'm like, what?

I. I don't.

I. I don't even know.

I don't know the songs, man.

Right, right.

If you know the songs.

Said, once you hear them.

Once you hear them, you.

It'll come to you.

And so I would have to stay up, like, the night before the show, and then I would realize that, you know, I knew certain things.

But then once we get back over.

Back into the States, right.

I had a new job, which would, in turn, sometimes make some of the.

The guys that had that job pissed off.

Like, hey, man, what are you doing?

I'd be like, yo, talk to.

Talk to the boss.

Right?

He wants me to play this song.

You can still play your songs.

But I.

He wants me to play these.

And to avoid controversy, I would be like, man, nah, that's cool.

All right.

And then Starchild will come up and be.

Leave him alone.

Don't.

Don't bother him.

Leave him alone.

You weren't.

You didn't make the.

You didn't make the show.

So.

So he's got.

He's doing this song this time.

And he would always.

Starchild would always.

Gary Shot would always do that.

He would pop up for me, and, like, he was like my funky little angel, you know?

Wow.

Just, like, right when I was getting ready to get into some trouble or something.

Being somewhere I had no business being, might be lit or something, right.

He would pop up out of.

I mean, of the crevices of who knows where and grab me and be like, hey, where you going?

What are you doing?

I'm like, where'd you come from?

Come on, let's go.

We're going to the studio, you know, and we would go to the studio or he would, you know, pull me in his room and we play guitars and, you know, I would sit up with Michael Hampton.

I remember one time I sat up with Michael.

We sat up till the sun came up learning all the songs.

And some of them I didn't.

We didn't.

I didn't have time to learn, but I had just enough time to learn certain ones.

And he would sit up with me and he would.

He would drill certain things with me.

Because some guys are like.

They're about no matter what.

I mean, they're like some world class musicians.

So, yeah, they don't.

They don't f around when it comes to their plan, you know, unless, you know, they might be a little lit or something or they having too much fun, you know, but like lies.

And all of them guys, man, they be.

They don't play when it comes to, like, just studying and just, you know, practicing and.

Yeah, Elijah, he's as steady as they come.

He just, he's back there keeping it locked down, right?

He.

Yeah, man.

He used to tell me, he said, man, keep your eye on him.

Pay attention to him.

And him was George.

He's like, pay attention to him.

He might, he might turn.

He might do a move or something and you got to be on it, you know.

And he said, study.

She said, study.

Ish.

You know, and they, you know, they didn't play with that.

You know, you couldn't come up there.

Like, a lot of cats will come up there and that are guests and stirring stuff and try to be, you know, disrespecting the funk a little bit.

And they, they get a whole new.

Brand new lesson coming up there.

Wow.

I mean, you definitely have a book in you to, to relate all your experiences.

Oh, yeah, I got, I got volumes.

I got.

Yeah.

So many stories and just.

Just hilarious stuff with other celebs we've done stuff with and just, I mean, it's, it's.

It was truly like a.

It was a blessing.

It was like going to Harvard or some.

Like a funky Harvard or a funky Yale or.

Right.

You know, like a.

Like you couldn't get no.

You know, you couldn't get no Funkier, you know?

Yeah, it was.

I remember because Bernie Worrell was a good friend of ours and he came to our studios when we used to be in Connecticut, the radio studios, and he had his keyboards all set up and he played with Christina, Chris and Tina from the Tom Tom Club came in and surprised him.

So Bernie, this is.

Bernie was on the show like six or seven times, but that was the one time he did in person.

He had all his keys.

I'm looking at all his keys.

And he had his keyboard tech, Breck Rao there.

So we got to talking about leading his own band and he.

He was talking about like personalities.

He didn't necessarily look forward to being the.

The chief of his own band.

That.

That was a tough job.

Multiply it by like 3 and P. Funk.

That's.

Yeah, it's gotta be something.

Yeah, yeah, we did some.

I.

Cat Delic did some shows with Bernie, a couple of shows where we backed him.

Oh, yeah, okay.

Yeah, like up in Humboldt.

We did a couple shows up there.

Who, who was singing?

Jen Durkin.

That's cool.

I learned a lot of things from him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Really aside.

He used to pull me aside and give me an earful of you.

Just, just, you know, just wisdom about just music and just playing and different stuff like that.

He was.

He was badass.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Rest in peace, that guy.

Yeah.

So.

So anyways, 10 years plus years.

You also did some studio work with George too, right?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I have so much music.

So much.

I have masters with stuff that I cut with a lot of members that are.

Some of them have passed away, but I have a musical that I was working on and I think one day I'm gonna.

Well, at some point I'm gonna put the music out, but I definitely want to do the musical.

It's called Lust in Space.

But it's got everybody on it, from Elder Bards to Blackbird.

Michael Scotty, who passed away, who played the soprano sax.

Kendra Foster, Kim Manning, Paul Hill, Steve Boyd, the.

The.

All the horn players.

Bernie, I mean, Benny Cohen and Colin and Greg.

Greg Thomas.

Greg Thomas.

How about Greg boyer?

Like a 15 minute piece.

It just goes and moves and it.

And George is on it.

I think I said that already, but.

Right.

Belita, Linda Schneider, all of.

A lot of.

A lot of them.

We're not going to let you forget to put that out.

Lost in Space.

Yeah, we play it sometimes in.

In my set.

Okay.

It's.

It's, it's.

It's really a fun piece to play.

Hey, let's Talk about Cat Delic, your own band, which has been doing really well.

I mean, of course, you're a live performer.

You know, you're a veteran.

How to put it together?

How did you choose your current band?

We've been through a few different phases of the band, but I would still consider the.

Even the ones that are not with me still Cat, you know, Cat Delic.

Right.

But a lot of them I met through.

A lot of them live in the Bay and I met them through.

Shoot this just through mutual.

People just seeing them out playing different places.

And my current band now is the new Cat Dalek, who.

Who.

Who are now Genesis Valentine plays drums for me when she's available.

And Lisa.

Lisa, who sings with me.

I can't think of Lisa's.

I'm having a little dementia.

Lisa's last name, Jaden Peterson.

Ray John Cotto, who plays guitar with me.

A Luke Sailor who plays keyboards.

Who else is with me?

Kirk Peterson from.

He used to be a Brown Fellini.

He's still a Brown Fellini.

And he plays with.

He plays bass with me.

And that's the current line band that I have now.

Yeah, this, this.

I wanted to encourage our viewers and listeners to go to YouTube and look up Cat Delic.

Ron Cat Spearman, the performance at Berkeley, the radio station out there, you did in.

In there.

Man, that's a great performance.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, yeah.

And.

And you actually.

You're fixing guitar strings in the middle of the set, right?

What happened there?

I have no idea.

I, you know, I have no idea what happens on some of.

It's just.

I just go.

I go with it.

Like, whatever.

Yeah.

You know.

You know, I just have no idea what goes on.

Like sometimes it might be heat, you know, and I don't think I had a guitar tech at the time, so I had to do it myself.

I was just hoping the DJ played a record to give you time to maybe a couple songs to set up.

That's all.

That's.

That's some P Funk classic kind of stuff.

Just.

Just roll with four strings.

Just four strings.

I mean, I grew up playing one string and I was taught on one string there was only one string on the guitar.

And then I eventually, you know, got three and started doing that and then four and then finally a whole set.

It's going to stay that way, hopefully.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, whatever.

Whatever happens, I'm gonna make it do what it do.

And then we, we left there to close, basically being in house of the studio.

So we moved upstate New York and we do it out of the home, but I can't bring bands in because we're, it's, it's a community.

We got neighbors, you know, below and everything.

So anyways, back when we had Vof Foley, he drove eight hours from Columbus, Ohio to come to the studio.

He had a drummer and played on a wooden chair and he had a female singer.

And for four hours he just performed with a 12 string acoustic guitar.

And we spun like Miles Davis concert recordings and some of his own stuff and he drove back the same night.

So, yeah, that was the Foley story.

So, yeah.

And, and when the last time I talked to me, he says, I got something ready for you.

We're going to do it again.

I'm going to come down and play.

And I said, well, things changed a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, he's a good guy.

Yeah, yeah.

He's something that man can arrange, right?

Yeah, he's a great arranger too.

Like, he's awesome.

I, I definitely need to get in touch with him.

Yeah, you guys gotta hook up record.

Yeah, yeah.

Another thing I want to ask him are Mr. Minneapolis fans, because, you know, Prince featured our show on it on his website and we're big fans.

You work with a legendary guy from the Minneapolis scene, Jesse Johnson, A few.

I think you did like eight shows with him or something.

Well, not eight, but like, was it eight?

No, I think it was like three or four.

Three or four shows?

Yeah.

So.

So how did, how did that come about?

And you're playing bass?

Yeah, I was playing bass.

He wanted me to play guitar.

But I think when he found out I played bass, he was like, cat, you didn't.

And you didn't tell me you played bass, man.

All right.

But I jumped at any chance to be a part of anything musical with that guy.

Like, he's, he was, he's like my guitar hero.

So I, you know, I mean, to be like, I, I would, I, I would literally talk to him on the phone.

Actually, I wouldn't talk.

I would just listen to him.

Oh, yeah, he, he's not short of words.

No, he's not.

And he, he, he played, he plays through our conversation.

Like, he'll play the guitar through the whole conversation.

Yep.

And I don't say a word.

I'm just like, I'm like a kid in the candy store.

Like, you Know.

Yeah.

And then we did.

We did.

We were doing some collab things too.

Like, I collabed with him.

I sent him some stuff that he liked.

Just some.

It's some.

It's a couple things or.

Or one thing that he really dug a lot.

I can't wait.

That he said, the next time you hear this cat, you.

You really.

He's gonna like it.

You're gonna really dig it.

And he.

He just was just, like, always, like, a big inspiration for me, you know, Just.

Just at that time and then just.

He's just so funky and just so bad.

You know, how the rehearsals go.

Did he change it up the night of the show or how'd that work?

He.

He basically just, you know, he just did his thing.

As far as the.

As far as I can remember, he just.

He just does him, you know, and, you know, it seems to work.

He.

He's.

He's just.

He's just so badass.

It just.

To me, you know, and he's a perfectionist.

I mean, he.

He wants things a certain way, you know, and so, I mean, but he's just.

He just made so much great stuff and just like, even some of his newer stuff that people haven't heard yet, you know, I mean, it's.

It's just amazing, you know, he's just.

He's just.

He's an amazing artist, you know, he's badass.

Masterful guitar player.

And I learned so much just being in his presence, just playing with him, that it just.

It just.

I was done.

I was like, I don't give a shit.

I don't care if we don't play again.

Right.

Who is already.

I rubbed.

I rubbed up against another, you know, masterful person, you know, and it just inspired me just to just do things, even on a whole nother level, so.

Even more so for me in my own heart and spirit, you know, I just.

I just enjoyed that time period, you know, and that is.

That was it.

So, I mean, yeah, he.

He came by our show.

No, we did a, you know, phone interview around the time Bear My Naked Soul came out.

And I was laughing because he started the interview.

I. I gave the intro on.

He starts playing the electric guitar.

Like.

Like he came out of nowhere and he was.

He was doing.

I gotta listen back.

I'm gonna put it up online eventually.

But, yeah, I guess he loves to do that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, he'll play.

He'll play, he'll play.

And he doesn't, like.

Like I'm talking to him on the phone.

Like, he, he don't have no effects on it, and he'll just, he just kills, you know.

You know.

Well, how about, you know, speaking of.

I know you're a big Prince fan.

Did you guys ever perform or record?

Well, I, I, I've been on stage with Prince a few times with P. Funk.

And I was on stage with him and Alicia Keys at the same time.

We would have stuff like that because they would come and guess.

So I'm like, right there, you know.

What city was that?

This was in New York City.

And I don't know the name of this place, but it was like a. I would have to, I had to ask somebody what it was.

But, like, I mean, he's popped up on the stage with us a lot.

And I, I did, I met, I took.

George took me to meet Prince.

I met him on several occasions where he took me to meet him for my birthday.

Oh, wow.

In, in Ohio.

And we, I have to put this in the book, but we were.

And I think she, I'm almost certain Sheila, Eve was.

Was playing with him at the time, but they were all like, in this big Coliseum somewhere in Ohio.

And we had a.

Rent a car or something, me and George, and I had on this big giant faux blue fur coat.

And George was all.

We, we was all funked out.

And it was my birthday, so we was, we was feeling really, really, really, really good.

And so, so we walk up to the, to the door to try to get into the Coliseum because it was round, right?

And the people couldn't believe that it was us because they would think that we would have drove a limousine up there.

You know, you would have thought that we would just knock at the door.

So that kind of.

Right.

George was, he was really getting off on it, though.

He was like, knocking on the window and the people are in line trying to get in the Coliseum, and they're looking like, that ain't your.

That's right.

And so they didn't open the door.

So then we walked all the way around to the, to the.

Backstage where the buses were and everything.

And George knew the security guy and they radio Prince or whatever, and they walked us up and he told us to wait.

And it was so quiet backstage.

Like how some backstage is, you know, you got people, you know, trying to push their CDs and different stuff like that, man.

George said, George walked into the, I guess a little commissary or where, where the band was.

He said, man, why y' all so quiet, man?

He said, he don't you don't, you know, he don't like a lot of noise and stuff or something.

And George said, man, it's like the doctor's office back here, man.

What's going on, man?

And so then somebody came to get us.

And he walked us where Prince's dressing room was.

And at the time, I'm kind of stoned, so he knocked on the door.

And when Prince opened the door, I saw about it.

I saw about 20 princes going around in a row.

And I'm fanning out at the same time, right?

But I'm trying to be cool.

I'm cool, though.

I'm kind of like this, right?

But I'm really, like, tripping and so.

And Prince knew.

He was like.

He said in a deep voice, y', all right, Yo, y' all feeling all right, aren't you?

Or something like that.

And I said, come on.

You know, we walked inside and sat down, talked to him for a minute, and he introduced me to him and everything.

And he was.

He was just.

Man, he was the coolest.

He was the coolest.

He was really cool.

Chopped it up for a minute.

And I guess he was given some kind of summit about the music business at that time.

And then with some other stuff that happened.

But it's in the book.

Like Morris.

Oh, yeah, no, that.

That.

That.

That's in the movie.

But it is in the book.

Yeah, that.

That's it.

That's in the movie.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah, it was.

It was truly, truly amazing.

I still haven't met Morris yet.

I want to stay.

Nah, I haven't met him yet.

Yeah, because we're all friends with the guys with the time, so.

Yeah, man, I haven't met him.

And I got some songs I'd like to just.

I would like to do a collab with him sometime.

Yeah, his last record, he.

He was working with all different kinds of musicians.

So, yeah, I gotta hit him up.

Gotta hit him up.

Do you know Tory Ruffin?

Another lefty?

I do know Tory.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Tori from, like.

We were like, session players for this group of cats in la.

We all knew each other at one point.

I do know him.

Yeah.

He's out in Tulsa now.

Ah, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, so many experiences with those guys hanging with him backstage.

And it's a different scene with the times.

Kind of like the Prince scene like that.

It's not like.

Maybe a little louder, but it's not like a.

It's not like the P Funk scene.

I'm sure I've seen a few backstages with The P. Funk scene, it's a little different.

It's.

It's way different.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think.

I think it's.

Well, it.

It's chilled out a lot more than what it used to be when I first was in the band.

Because when I was first in the band, it'd be so many people backstage and on the stage.

Right.

That they literally would have to just kick people off the stage, you know, off the side of the stage, because it'd be so many people, you know, And.

Yeah, that's a different.

That's a different beast.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But some.

Some great people in the.

In the band.

I mean, the.

The horn guys.

Benny retired, but, you know, Greg Boyer's out there.

Greg Thomas.

Yeah.

Greg is playing on some.

He's playing on a few of my records.

He's playing on my song Love Me for Today.

Greg Boyer.

And Annie's playing on Funk Insurance.

I don't know if you've heard that one.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Didn't you.

You played it at Berkeley, right?

Did you Function Beautification?

Yes, yes, yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so.

I. I don't know.

You may.

You may have played it.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm not sure if I played it there, but he definitely is playing the horns on that.

Him and Benny.

Him and Benny and.

Forgive me, I can't think of.

The other guy's name is Badass horn Player.

Forgive me, brother.

I can't.

I can't.

What does he play?

He plays sacks, I think.

So it was Benny and.

Oh, Greg Thomas.

Greg.

Greg wasn't on the record.

Oh, okay.

But I've got some other stuff that Greg played on too, though.

What was it the guy from.

Is he from Europe, the guy?

I think so.

I think so.

Eric Schriz, Rohner.

That might be him.

That might be a white guy, I think.

I think so.

I've never met him.

I just talked because he's good friends with Greg Boyer.

Okay, so it must have been him then, because it was the three of.

Them together, and he's a huge P Funk fan, so.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's got it.

He was on the show about six months ago.

Yeah, yeah.

He's pretty badass, too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So.

So what are the plans for Cat?

Delicate and, you know, you talked about.

You got the.

You got a.

In Lust in Space and all this music in the archives and.

But currently, what do you got going on this summer?

Right now I'm finishing up another body of work, and we have a few Shows and we're putting together a little tour.

We might be doing some shows in Vegas pretty soon.

Soon to be announced.

Yeah.

And couple little tribute things.

Like I just got an offer to do a tribute possible.

Possible Sly Stones tribute possibly and just doing some scoring.

I'm supposed to be doing a movie as well.

Like a little independent film.

Okay.

And I'm just, I'm just continue to make music.

I just want to funk everywhere I can.

I don't, I'm not even.

As long as I'm being inspired to play and people want me to play, I'll be there to play.

We'll be there to play.

We, you know, we play in the living room.

Right.

You know, we just love to play.

Hey, I didn't.

Before we.

We wrapped up thing.

I didn't want to make short shrift of all the great songwriting you've done for other artists.

I mean Tony Braxton, Jordan Knight, Rick James, all the P. Funk and, and Jade, you've worked.

You've given a lot of songs to a lot of people.

So I gotta ask you a question off the top of your head.

Any of those songs you gave to another artist that you wish you would have held to yourself and recorded that and put it out?

No.

No.

Okay.

I, I, I, because they were custom made for them.

And then I like, I like it when I'm able to give something to somebody and they appreciate it and we can reciprocate the fun from the, the audience, you know, or the people that you know that buy it or, or just come to hear it or just appreciate it or the songs help somebody become better person or make them happy or anything to help further humanity along.

Right, right.

You know, I'm all about that.

I mean I, I write so much, so many songs and I enjoy doing it so much that I don't.

Now I may get attached to something that I write for myself, but like those songs are.

I've written for those specific people.

So I wasn't, I wasn't really, I wasn't, I hadn't, I didn't have a problem with like lending it to them to, to get down.

There's some cool photo.

Why don't you.

We're gonna have it up in the description.

But the best place people can go to your website if you want to.

Give that out, it would be roncat.com okay yeah.

Roncatspearman.com and then Instagram.

You can hit me on Instagram and get you.

If you go to roncat.com roncatspearman.com.

you can.

You can get all my links, the bio, the whole thing.

Oh, yeah, you got it right up there.

Yeah, yeah, it's like right there, right?

Oh, and you got some cool pictures.

Rick James, man.

What was that like working with Rick?

Rick is a whole nother.

That's another chapter.

It's an episode.

I mean, it's a.

Just.

It's.

I mean, he loved me to death.

Like, he.

When we met, I mean, we just became like instant, you know?

And I did a song on one of his records called Funk with Me.

Okay.

And I was heavily inspired by just the Stone City Band, him, the whole thing, Tina Marie, you know, all of that, you know, and we.

We spent some.

Some time together talking.

He introduced me to Eddie Murphy.

I had a song that Eddie Murphy liked called Sugar Booty.

And I should probably re release that song.

But did he record it?

He never recorded it, but he.

I think.

I don't know if he wanted to or not, but he liked the song.

Okay.

And I think it was either that.

I think it was that song or Black Pearl.

I think it was Sugar Booty, though.

Okay.

And Rick never had a problem as far as with me, like introducing me to people or these cats.

Kind of always just kind of.

They were like.

They became like really serious mentors.

I remember one time I was hanging with Rick and Ike Turner at the same time.

Wow, that's.

That's gonna be in the book too.

How did that happen?

They was.

They was boys and they invited me out to this place to see this.

This bass player play.

Because I think Rick was looking for a bass player at the time.

Oh, okay.

And we went to this little place on Ventura.

It was like a little Brazilian restaurant, like a restaurant that used to be there.

I forget what street it was on.

It was on Chandler, and I can't think of the name of the street it was on, but it was on Ventura and some cross street.

It was down the street from.

I can't think of the name of the place.

But anyway, we were hanging out there and we were sitting.

It was.

It was Rick.

It was Rick sitting here and Ike right here and me in the middle.

I mean, I feel like.

I feel like I was on top of the world.

I mean, I hung.

I've hung out with Ike, you know, I hung out with these guys in their latter part of the years when they was, you know.

Yeah, they weren't as, you know.

Not in their prime.

They were.

They were seasoned, though, but they gave me a lot of game, you know, about different Things and how to, you know, do different things.

And Rick, Rick, Ike showed me a certain way how to tune your guitar.

And I wrote a song for Ike too.

Me and Martika Dawson.

I don't think her name is Martika Dawson.

It was Martika.

I don't know if you remember Martika.

Oh yeah.

Song Toy Soldiers.

Yeah, he.

Print.

She did a Prince song too.

Yeah, we.

Me and Martika used to redo that.

We used to do that song that they did at the Key Club.

Yeah.

And me and her wrote a lot of things together.

But anyway, recording or.

I don't.

I.

Man, I wish I could find her because she was like my writing.

Like me and her could get in the studio and just write for days, like.

Right.

She loves to write, you know, and we.

We had a really great chemistry.

I forgot what led me to that.

But anyway, yeah, she.

She was great.

She was a great, great writing partner and stuff.

But I can.

I wrote.

Oh, that was what I was saying is I wrote a song that me and Martika did together and Ike was going to do the song and it was a duet that we did together and he really liked the song.

And I had like two NPC 60s at the time and I was selling one and he.

He bought one from me and we became.

We became cool friends and stuff.

I saw him.

We ran into each other in Europe and it was.

It was.

He was.

He was something.

He was not to be played with, though.

Yeah, that's his reputation.

Was.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Unfortunately.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So.

So yeah, you.

You got the book.

Who's gonna play in the movie?

Yeah, who's gonna play you in the movie?

I don't know.

Shoot.

I might have to play myself.

There you go.

I mean, you still look young, so you could.

I think you could pull it off.

As long as I can pull it off, you know, I might have to AI a few things, you know.

I'm just kidding.

Maybe.

But yeah, I mean, shoot, I was talking to some people.

That's the movie that they're talking about doing a movie of My.

My story.

And so that's the film.

But we're still talking, so we'll see what happens.

Well, you're still making the music for it, you know.

Oh, okay.

Yep.

Yeah.

So go to roncatspearman.com the Instagram page.

You can get the.

When he announces upcoming shows.

It'll be right up there.

Absolutely.

And gotta thank you for got off to a little technical stutter step there.

But we, We.

We put it together and man, it's an honor to have you on, man.

Thank you, man.

We're going to be at the at Pops Blue Moon in St. Louis open Funk Jam on the 4th of July.

So anybody in this area, you know, come on through and funk with us.

And we always.

We're always playing at.

At Boom Boom Room in San Francisco at least once a month.

And I don't know if I have anything.

Is there anything else?

What kind of guitar you got there?

This is my flying V. This is my baby.

Oh, yeah, yeah, that.

That's the one you were playing.

I see you play that a lot.

Yeah, yeah.

This is like multi purpose workhorse.

Hey, when you play ba.

When you play bass, are you lefty or righty?

I'm left on.

I'm left on everything.

I throw with my right.

Oh, okay.

I'm kind of a little ambidextrous.

And I see you got a drum kit behind you too.

Yes.

Electric.

Actually bought that.

I. I bought that for my daughter and I.

She wanted to play drums, and I was like, I don't know if we can do that at the house, but why don't you try these first?

And if you really are into it, then we'll get you, you know, the actual set.

And then she just kind of.

She's still very musical, but she.

She just kind of moved on from that.

Right.

And just.

I just kind of put it in the studio and I. I do overdubs with them sometimes.

It's like the Simmons electric.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, it's like an updated version.

So I kind of.

It's like your daughter wanted the dog and you got the dog and she didn't want to take it for a walk, and now you're stuck taking the dog for a walk.

Right, Exactly.

And I literally do have to take the dog for a walk, and his name is Spyro, and.

And.

And.

And he's probably waiting for me to take him.

Yeah, my dog.

My.

My dog's out.

I got the door closed and I'm hearing the scratching during the interview, so.

Oh, Spiral's named after what?

Well, he was a rescue.

Okay.

And he.

I think he.

He was named after.

I think they said they named him after video game Spiral, like the dragon or something.

Right.

And so my daughter actually picked them out and she was like, dad, can we get this dog?

And I was like, oh, no, dog.

We're not getting a dog, because I know I'm gonna end up taking care.

And you know, and that's exactly what happened.

Yeah, she kind of, you know, they still like them to come up and cuddle and all of that.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

But not eleven at night wanting to go out and do this.

Yeah, no, I'm alone in that one.

Yeah.

You know, so we got it.

We'll end it on that.

We.

We both have to take our dogs for walks.

Right.

Yeah.

So, hey, thanks, Ron Cat, man, it's an honor.

And hopefully you come back in the future.

Love to have you on again.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

My pleasure.

All right.

Thanks for.

Okay.

Hey, can I give one shout out to.

I want to give a shout out to Sandra Manning.

She's my keyboard player.

I forgot.

And she doesn't know that.

And Charles Spikes, guitar player as well.

Who's.

Who's been with me too.

Gina hall.

And Gina hall for putting this interview.

Yeah.

Putting it together and getting us all connected.

Appreciate it.

All right.

Thanks, Ron Cat.

Thanks, brother.

Thank you.

All right.