Esteemed Bob Marley biographer (as well as MC, DJ and musician, among other things) Roger Steffens will pack the Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union tonight for two shows at 7 and 10 p.m. Here, Weekend staff writer Kate Simony sits down with Steffen to discuss the music -- and man behind it -- that motivates his life's work.
KS: You are living in L.A. now, correct?\nRS: I live in L.A., yes, since 1975.
KS: Where else have you lived for an extended period of time?\nRS: I lived in Berkeley. I lived in Vietnam working with refugees reading poetry. The show was called "Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry." I was a one man show for 11 years.
KS: I read that you lived out of your car from September to May each year so you could "really relate to the life of a traveling musician"…is that true?\nRS: (laughs) Yeah, no fixed address. You know, I was young and adventurous and I wanted to see as much of the country as I could.
KS: Do you think that you really related to the life of a traveling musician?\nRS: (I) absolutely related to a musician.
KS: Was reggae popular in areas of Jersey where you grew up?\nRS: No, reggae came in '73 in Berkeley. I grew up loving rock and roll -- I got to see my favorite disc jockey, Alan Freed, when he threw the first rock and roll dance and I got to meet Buddy Holly… but I wanted to be Alan Freed when I grew up.
KS: What kind of music did your parents listen to?\nRS: Crap. Elevator music.
KS: What was your first experience with reggae? \nRS: I read an article in Rolling Stone by a gonzo journalist from Australia named Michael Thomas who wrote, "Reggae music crawls into your bloodstream like some vampire amoeba from the psychic rapids of Upper Niger consciousness." I went out right away to hear the sound he had described, bought a copy of the Wailers' "Catch A Fire," and didn't take it off the turntable for the next three weeks. I also saw "The Harder They Come," the definitive Jamaican music feature film, and bought its extraordinary soundtrack. From that point forward I wanted to find out everything I could about the music, the culture that produced it, the Rastafarian faith, Haile Selassie, African history, Jamaican politics and all the other things that reggae leads to. It's been an ongoing 30-year education.
KS: Have you ever created music or poetry of your own?\nRS: I have no musical talent, but I love it and I've written a little bit of poetry, but not too much.
KS: Does any of the poetry that you've written carry any of the same ambitions for changing the world as Bob Marley's music did?\nRS: No, I would never be that \npresumptuous.
KS: Marley's music carries such a large impact politically in Jamaica. What do you think Jamaica's political stance would be like without him?\nRS: There were a lot of other musicians in Jamaica but no other musician had the same effect. Marley is synonymous with Jamaica. He stands in the same field in Jamaica as Elvis Presley does in rock and roll.
KS: What was Marley like when you toured with him in '79? Funny? Serious? Mellow?\nRS: Disciplined. Humble. Open. Quiet. He was a watcher, keenly aware of everything going on around him. He was ready to laugh if something amused him, but (also) a very serious person. I got to see him in all manners of situations, public and private.
KS: Did that make him difficult to be around?\nRS: No, he wasn't difficult to be around.
KS: How did you get the opportunity to go on tour with him?\nRS: I had just started a radio show in L.A. called The Reggae Beat and we were on the show for seven weeks when Island Records asked me and my partner if we would mind going on the road with Marley for two weeks.
KS: And did you mind going on tour with Marley?\nRS: (laughs) Yeah, twist my bleeding arm. I was awestruck. I was blown away to be so close to someone whom I admired so enormously.
KS: How did that experience affect you and your career?\nRS: I think it has helped give credibility to my later work in reggae.
KS: Did your viewpoint change about anything due to Marley's influence?\nRS: (chuckle) That's a difficult question. It could branch out in a lot of different directions. I would say not directly, no. I am a very different person due to the experience of reggae and rasta and what it has done to my life in the last 30 years. So in that sense, yes.
KS: I understand your house resembles a shrine full of Marley memorabilia.\nRS: My archives fill my rooms, floor to ceiling. They are all moving soon permanently to Jamaica, though, into the National Museum of Jamaican Music.
KS: You are incredibly accomplished -- you are a producer, promoter, MC, DJ, writer, editor, critic, lecturer, narrator, TV host … did I leave anything out?\nRS: I think dilettante is the word. Well, a long life with two kids in college -- I needed to support them.
KS: What is your favorite area of communication?\nRS: Narrating really classy documentaries ... and I recently did a 27-episode series called Secrets of Archeology.
KS: What movies have you been in?\nRS: I am the announcer in the White House (in Forrest Gump) when he (Gump) goes to meet President Kennedy and I am the announcer at the bicentennial celebrations.
KS: I'll have to go back and look for you\nRS: Oh, you'll hear me. (laughs). In Wag the Dog I'm the guy who says "The United States exists in a state of war with the Republic of Albania." And I am the love jockey in Can't Hardly Wait.
KS: If working with Marley meant you would not get to experience all these other accomplishments, would you give them up?\nRS: If he had lived and I was able to work with him I probably would spend very little time on the other things. He was on a crusade to literally change the world.
KS: Do you really believe that he was psychic?\nRS: Absolutely. I mean he predicted his own death at age 36 and I have talked to two guys who were there when he said it.
KS: How do admirers of Marley (and reggae in general) receive what you do?\nRS: Well, after 30 years I don't have to prove myself to anyone anymore. All the activities I have done recently have been volunteer and unpaid. When I finally did the "Marley Show" in Jamaica two years ago with the hometown crowd, they gave me a standing ovation, which blew me away.
KS: Is or will reggae undergo a revival in your opinion?\nRS: Reggae is a mature form that I think has seen its best days. It has gone through a metamorphosis into a kind of hip-hop dance hall sound.
KS: Do your kids like reggae?\nRS: They think it's old people's music. My daughter Kate is 24 and very eclectic. Devon Marley (my son) who is 20 is too, and he's into jazz and he plays the guitar and is a composer.
KS: What will you be lecturing on when you come here?\nRS: I am doing two shows on Thursday, one at 7 p.m. and one at 10 p.m. The first show is the basic chronological telling of Marley's life. The second show is some of the most interesting clips that I've come across recently that will be totally different than the first show. The 10 p.m. show has Bob in Milan and when he outdrew the Pope in Italy.
KS: What sort of things should we expect from the video that you've created?\nRS: It is a series of clips and I talk in between them. I've got 16 different two-hour shows that I have assembled. It's not a single video -- it's a pastiche of different clips. I play it in New York City every year on his birthday. The producer said he would hire me if I come every year with a brand new show, so that is my new challenge. \n \nKS: Have you ever been to IU?\nRS: No, I haven't, but I am looking forward to it. I am coming Wednesday night and the plane back home is on Friday night, so I will be able to hang around Friday.
KS: Do you think there will be time after the show when students can meet with you and maybe go out for a drink later?\nRS: I hope so. I'd love to.
KS: You said that on your epitaph a possible quote would be: "Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one's watching." Why does this relate to your life and experiences?\nRS: Because I'm still an old hippie.
KS: You close your letters with "One Heart, Roger." What does this mean?\nRS: Well, we all have one heart. We are all one manifestation of the same spirit and that was what Bob wanted to get across in his music.
