Songs in THE RAW!! August 31, 2007

Man oh man....life has taken a turn and I am on the fast track! My wife and I just had twins 10 days ago. Sleep come in 2-3 hour incriments. For some reason babies like to sleep all day and scream all night. How can they know that there are monsters in the closet and under the bed. They don't ebenm know what monsters are. What do they dream about? Their last 10 days? Time in the uterus? Past lives? My son has a frown and a blood curtaling scream that could wake up Rumple Stilstin. My daughter smiles a lot and looks around the room like she's missing something. Both of them prefer to go to the bathroom after the diaper has been removed. Maybe there's something about the cool air. I know that I enjoy the feeling of a good "nature" pee.

I had to take last week off of the "Songs in the Raw". I tried to make it, but between the hospital and grandmom and granddad, my time was limited. I will say this. If you have a child, stay in the hospital as long as you can. I would have been scared out of my mind if they had sen us home after a day or so. Before I left the hospital I was proficient in swaddling, feeding and changing diapers. If I was sent home before that time my children would have grown up very hungry and covered in poop and piss.

So, that leads me, very indirectly to this week's song. I fell on a cool little music theme some time last weekend and got enought time to work it out through the week as my mom helped with feeding and changing. The kids got to hear me work out the little pieces. They will either love my music or frieking hate it!

I started thinking about the course my life has laid out before me. I thought about my friends and family that died along the way and will never have the chance to meet my children and have a family of their own. I thought about how wonderful my life is and how lucky I am to be where I am. It made me incredibly sad for those who have not made it. I thought about the joy of becoming a father and the sorrow of knowing that some of my friends died before graduating from college or having sex in the back seat of their dad's car. I thought about the times that I sat up and watched the sun rise after a long night of partying and realised that a lot of people don't make it out of those kinds of nights. I realised that with every ounce of joy there must be an ounce of pain.

As a matter of fact, I might re-write the lyrics to this song one day. As I'm writing this I feel a few more ideas popping up. But, that's the idea behind the "Songs in the Raw". I write as it comes to me and leave it in it's bare form. Not too much rethinking and editing.

Anyway, this week's song is called "There is a Hurt". As usual you can find it in it's entirity on Songs in the Raw Myspace Page. If you want to buy the song and listen to it over and over again you can go to my SNOCAP store;


Also, let me know where you are and I will work on making my tour head through your way;




Here's all the places you can find me;
Songs in the Raw Myspace
Jon Roniger Myspace
Jon Roniger Myspace 2
Jon Roniger Website
Jon Roniger A&R Select Artist Store

There are many more, but you get the point. I'd love to hear from you. Send me a note. Tell me you love me. Tell me you hate me. Tell me you really don't care.

Peace,
Jon

Songs in THE RAW!! August 22, 2007

Well, this week is going to be a tough one to get something out there. I have two songs forming, but very little time to devote to them. My wife and I just had TWINS on Monday night. They are happy and healthy and learning how to eat and cry. We've getting sort of sleep deprived as the little ones eat every three hours or so. I brought my guitar into the hospital and played a little for them yesterday which is where I came up with the second song idea. Sorry, but it's probably working its' way into a lullaby. The first song idea is one that developed over last weekend and has a far more somber feel to it, which I like.
I am going to try and get one of these ideas into a song before the end of this weekend and get it out by Sunday night. I cannot guarantee anything. I have NO IDEA what to expect. I do know that I have like 3 new grey hairs and don't foresee any massive blocks of sleep in my near future.
I have heard that artists, writers, poets, songwriters really find a new openness to their craft after they have children. I guess it has to do with a change in perspective. From my own minimal experience, I can see that focus shifts from ME, ME, ME (and my wife) to my children. I now have a REAL reason to live to be really old. Not for myself and a long life, but to see my children grow up and become adults, have relationships, fall in and out of love, travel and learn about themselves and the world. I have no idea where this will take my writing. I do know that I don't want to become a guy who writes songs about his babies. It's just not who I am. I will keep my writing open to my experiences with them and I look forward watching them make their way through the world. I'm sure that the things they say and do will make their way into my songs. But if I ever get too deep into songs like "Peas and Carrots", "My First Poo" and "Daddy Loves ME" please fell free to kick my ass!
Actually "Daddy Loves Me" might be something cool since I can work it into my relationship with my father and his relationship to his father and so on...and so on.....and so on. If I were writing a Rap song it could be "Diddy Loves Me".
SO, stay tuned for something this week.....and definitely next week. I hope you are all doing well!
As always, check out;
Songs in the Raw - Myspace

And the store is always open for your shopping pleasure;

Songs in THE RAW!! August 18, 2007

My wife and I are reaching the end of her pregnancy and we're getting ready for children. Needless to say, it's been a lot easier on me than it has been on her. She's carrying twins and has been on bed rest for four months. As we reach the end of this long journey she is becoming more and more uncomfortable and it's harder to move around. Even simple tasks like walking down the hall to the kitchen are a chore for her. I feel really bad about it, but at the same time, there is nothing that I can do about it.

Anyway, over the past few months we've spent a lot of time together and it has been nice just hanging out with nowhere to go and getting the house ready for the kids. I am amazed at all the crap that you can buy for children. It's sort of a racket. Burp cloths, bibs, disposable and re-usable diapers, onezies, changing tables, car seats, strollers, carriers, baby shoes, baby hats, baby socks and a holy host of stuffed animals and various distraction devices. I think that the people in the wedding industry call the people in the baby industry and get together for a planning session every year and talk about how bad they can screw the consumer. Why do we need 50 baby outfits when three months later, they will have outgrown them and half of them will never have been worn.

Well, that's not the point of this week's song, but it's been on my mind so I figured I'd write about it. What I have been thinking about, this week, is how to get a song out quickly. I Needed to have this one done before the weekend since the "Baby Festival" begins on Saturday with the arrival of my parents. Plus I was so late getting last week's song done that it left me with little down time before this week.

I started writing this song yesterday (Wednesday) and finished and recorded it today. I am going to put it up tomorrow (Friday) so its there for the weekend. The song is called "Just a Simple Love Song". It's for my wife. It's not the deepest song I ever wrote. It's a little diddy. It's about the things that drive my wife a little crazy or piss her off. I actually asked her for a list. Then I threw a few extra on there that I've noticed over the last few years.

Let me know what you think. I am now working on reorganising my website to accommodate song files and setting up a store that can be accessed directly from my "music" page. In the mean time, the SNOCAP store and the Myspace page are the only options for listening and buying the songs. As always, you listen to past songs and purchase past songs. I've also included all the material from my new CD "Charmed Life" which is due out in early 2008. So, be the first one on your block to own that material.

Here it is;
Jon Roniger -Songs in the Raw- MySpace

SNOCAP Store;


I'd love to hear from you. Please send me a not and let me know that you're out there. Also, If you'd like to have me come and play a show in your neck of the woods, hit me up through my Eventful! Demand! Link;

Songs in THE RAW!! August 12, 2007

For some reason, I've been doing a lot of reading. I think that it kicked in about 3 months ago. Seriously, I used to read one or two books a year, usually around vacations. Now I'm kicking out a new one every few weeks. For me, that's huge. I have to admit that I don't feel any smarter. Maybe even a little more confused. When I get MORE confused, you know it's getting bad!

I just finished "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Before that I read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. Basically, I've read a lot about Muslims and their traditions and culture. I realise that the second two books are fiction, but I feel like they are still based heavily in reality. I'm on the verge of re-reading the Bible and picking up a copy of the Quran to do a little diligence. I'm not a "religious" man. I AM a spiritual man. It's my personal belief that Organised Religion is the cause of more brutality and death on this planet than anything else. Whether it's in-fighting or between apposing fanatics, whenever you bring god into the mix, it gets ugly.

All that being said, I have ZERO interest in writing about my personal beliefs. I try and stay away from politics and religion in my music. I don't even really like to tackle any "hot topics" with my music. Maybe I'm too chicken to stick my neck out for a cause that I believe in. Maybe I don't really believe in any causes. Really, as far as a lot of major issues, my personal jury is still out. There are, of course, some that I have firm beliefs about, but that don't make for good song topics. It's hard to write a song about abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research and global warming. Plus some topics have been run dry by previous writers. All the anti-war songs that are worth a damn were written in the late 60s and early 70s.

I have no idea why I brought all that up. This week's song "Don't Waste My Time" doesn't have anything to do with that stuff.....well maybe a little.

It all started as I was searching for something to write about this week. I remembered something that some one had said to me many years ago. First of all, she was crazy and she was sort of a stalker.....OK....she was a stalker. Anyway, she said, "You have no idea what I could do for you". She was talking about my music "career" and maybe referencing her rich father who could maybe take me under his wing and crush my individuality and drive to make something of myself. I don't know why that popped in my head, but it lead me to the idea of "selling out".

There are so many ways to sell out these days. You can sell your soul. You can sell your body. You can sell your ideas. You can sell your knowledge. You can even sell your faith. I don't claim to know about all that crap, but thinking about it lead to a song.

Well, I don't have much more to say about that. I think you should give it a listen. Go to Jon Roniger – Songs in the Raw – MySpace Pageto listen to the song. you can add it to your MySpace account and send it to your friends. If you really like what you hear, you can buy the song for 99cents from SNOCAP;


Let me know if you want me to come to play a gig in your town;




Send me a note. Let me know you love me, hate me, want me to stop!
I look forward to hearing from you.
I hope you enjoy the music!

SO...here are the links;
MySpace;
www.myspace.com/songsintheraw
www.myspace.com/jonronigermusic

Jon Roniger Website;
www.jonroniger.com
Peace,
Jon

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Songs in THE RAW!! August 3, 2007http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

I'm finding out that it's not as easy as one might think to create and record a new song every week. Plus, I'm only three weeks in to this thing. I sure hope I don't run out of ideas....that would be bad!!!
Anyway, I was thinking about life and how strange it is. I'm beginning to wonder why some one would bother planning their life out when you really have no freaking idea how things are going to work out. As a matter of fact, how boring would that be if things actually went as planned. Fortunately for me, I never had a plan. At least not a real plan. Sure, I had a few ideas about how I would LIKE things to be and how I would LIKE things to work out, but none of that has happened. I'm most likely better off anyway. I don't remember what I was thinking when I was 14 years old, but I'm sure it wasn't about anything all too earth shattering. Most likely I was thinking about a hamburger and how to unhook a bra without making a fool of myself (something I'm still working on perfecting).
I don't even think that I was thinking much in my 20s either. If I was thinking about the future, it came after-hours with a bottle of Southern Comfort, two packs of Marlboro's and a variety of mind altering substances.
So what has all this non-thought got me? Well, let me see.....I'm married, kids on the way, 20 years in the music business, great friends, world travelled, 5 years of sobriety, good physical and mental health (although there are those who would argue my mental health), a house, a car (van actually), guitars, basses, a home studio and a well full of hope.
I'm not sure what that all adds up to, but it's led me to this next song. Nothing earth shattering. Just a little diddy. I'm a big fan of the quick, non taxing, not too deep songs. Maybe one of the reasons that I like Mozart so much.....but that's not the point here.
Anyway, here it is....I hope you enjoy it.....I'll write some more this weekend. I'm feeling a little burnt right now.
If you want to hear the song in it's entirety, go to the "Songs in the Raw" Myspace page linked below. You can listen to the hole thing, add it to your Myspace profile and share it with your friends.
Oh yeah....this week's song is called "One Step Closer".
Enjoy!

SNOCAP;


Myspace;
Jon Roniger – Songs in the Raw – MySpace Page

Myspace again;
Jon Roniger MySpace Page

DEMAND ME!!!




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