Time Has Come Today
Rock and Roll Diaries 1967 – 2007
Harold Bronson
Trouser Press
Love minutia? Have I got a treat for you. This 400-page-plus digital collection is a day-by-day diary of Harold Bronson and his life-long love (and job) of rock and roll.
Beginning with high school, Bronson lists bands that play at schools and other venues in 1969, including the likes of The Seeds and Strawberry Alarm Clock. If he couldn’t see them live, he still had them on vinyl. This, of course, was the era when vinyl was your ONLY option. I’m fully in sync with Bronson’s quest to get cool tunes for his collection, and most of the names he loved were on my hit list as well. By 1972 he was interviewing bands for his school newspaper, and names like Ozzy Osbourne and George Carlin appear — they were professional contacts if not close friends. These were business contacts that knew the value of publicity, even if it’s just in a school newspaper. The takeaway here: get out, get known, and press the flesh. These startup bands need your voice, and most will grant interviews and talk to you at length.
This book is quite a read, illuminated with occasional photos Bronson took along with those taken by his professional friends. By page 200, Bronson has launched Rhino Records and is jetting around the world. While the hours are long and who knows what he was paid, he lived the rock and roll lifestyle, light. There aren’t many bands that he didn’t talk to, and that’s another takeaway: everyone can be your friend if you are nice to them. Arthur Lee and Richard Elfman’s Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo were close, and the list is extensive.
The text is a joy to read, and you stumble across historical gems like Paul Rappaport’s comment, “The first time I met Bob Dylan, I was struck by how small his head was. I thought, ‘How could all that creativity come out of such a small head?’” That’s a mythic question if there ever was one. This book takes us up to 2007, and the music mostly covers the “classic eras” of pop, rock, and New Wave. But it’s a vibrant story, and you can dip in and out of chapters and ask yourself the age-old question: “Why didn’t I get a job like that?” I’m not sure, but I’m still trying.
