Mark: That’s a great comment. If you could turn the clock backwards, what time would you feel most comfortable in?
Ron: I guess as a musician, if I could turn the clock back, I would probably say, I would’ve liked to have turned 21, in 1968, because then you would’ve been of an age to make music, which at that time you are at the peak of when your creativity reaches its zenith in popular music, and also being in your twenties through the 70’s when all so much great music was being created, so I think if I could pick a different time, that’s what I would pick. But, as an artist I’m really happy with right now, it’s an incredible time for someone like me, because I’ve been able to, with the help of social media, and digital access create a global, worldwide fan base, and an honest to goodness, grass roots movement that’s truly global, and that’s something that if I was making music in the sixties, or even in the nineties, it wouldn’t have been possible. So, I am lucky I exist in these days, I guess!
Mark: It is incredible what you have managed to achieve. Do you have a piece of music that you’ve created that you think most defines you?
Ron: No, I can’t say that there will be one piece of music that I believe really is the one, because my catalogue is so expansive, and there’s so many things, there’s electronic things, acoustic things, I think all of them are pieces of my puzzle, so I don’t think there’s any one that’s more significant than the others.
Mark: Taking it right back, what was it that made you first decide you wanted to be a musician? Was there a moment that triggered everything?
Ron: I always loved music, I think the moment when I realised I would definitely continue chasing music in a serious way, and never surrender was when I was playing music in the subway after college. One day, I had run out of money, and I’d been writing all day, and I realised I was hungry and I didn’t have any food or money, so I went down to the subway to play, I used to play down there to make a living, and it was freezing, it was the dead of winter. It was really cold and the spot where I usually went to, there was someone else there, so I was travelling around and it was getting later and later and I was trying to find a place to play, and I finally end up somewhere where it’s really, really cold. I was playing and no one was coming by, I was really bummed, so I sat there and became really downhearted, and I started to cry. I was like, you are a grown man, and you are sitting on a subway platform crying holding an acoustic guitar, it was like a scene from a movie! I said to myself if you don’t give up now and quit, and go home and call your parents and say you’re done, you’re never going to give up! So, I kept playing and eventually money came by and I got three dollars and I bought some hot dogs, and here I am!
Mark: That is a fantastic image and a great story!
Ron: That was a big turning point in my life.
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