Time Has Come Today

Book excerpt: People who take up a life of rock and roll either make music, collect it, write about it, sell it or get into the record business. Harold Bronson has done all of those things. In Time Has Come Today: Rock and Roll Diaries 1967 – 2007, he recounts the fascinating adventure of his musical life. Before he co-founded Rhino Records – America’s leading reissue label -- and put decades of rock and roll history back into musical circulation, Bronson was just another devoted fan growing up in Southern California in the 1960s. But with boundless enthusiasm, a discerning ear and a near-photographic memory, he channeled his passion into writing for the UCLA Daily Bruin and then Rolling Stone and other magazines. After meeting and interviewing many of the era’s greats, he launched the Rhino label from the back room of the Los Angeles record store he managed. His new role put him behind the scenes with many of those same artists, working to bring their old – and sometimes new -- music to the public. Completing a trilogy that began with The Rhino Records Story (2013) and My British Invasion (2017), Time Has Come Today is a 40-year memoir in diary form that documents Bronson’s progress from student musician and journalist to label executive, where his fandom, wit and creative imagination augmented and altered the course of many great careers. Time Has Come Today contains concert accounts, historical events and meetings with many noted hitmakers with fascinating details that have never before been made public. This unique, behind-the-scenes document is packed with dates and details and loaded with many boldface names. · Lunches with Peter Noone, Terri Nunn, Wally Amos and Henny Youngman · A limo ride and platinum-record award ceremony with all four Monkees · In the studio with Black Sabbath · Home visits with George Carlin, Howard Kaylan of the Turtles, Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, Stephen Bishop and others · Bail Arthur Lee of Love out of jail · Parties with Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper and many other celebs · Conversations with the Bee Gees, the Doors, the Knack, George Clinton, ELO, Mickie Most, Hunter S. Thompson, John Sebastian, Rod Argent, Bon Scott of AC/DC, Janis Ian, Edgar Winter, the Chambers Brothers, Suzi Quatro, Sha Na Na, Nicky Hopkins, Badfinger, Rodney Bingenheimer and members of Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, Left Banke, Procol Harum and Focus · Business meetings with Ben & Jerry and the editors of Mad magazine · A wild in-store appearance by Kim Fowley