Many of us have bought an album or two, but as fans most of us will not have the opportunity to meet the artist, to interview and to tour with them, to have the privilege and honour of writing biographies, or to compile a shrine of a definitive collection of memorabilia.

But Bob Marley biographer and archivist Roger Steffens aka Ras Rojah has done just that.

Mr. Steffens' other achievements include being the founding editor of Beat Magazine, being the co-author of 'Bob Marley: Spirit Dancer', 'Old Fire Sticks: The Autobiography of Bunny Wailer', and 'Bob Marley and the Wailers Definitive Discography'.

Rhythm at Random is presenting the Bob Marley Multimedia Presentation, which will be narrated in person by Roger Steffens tonight and tomorrow afternoon and evening at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts.

Of his two-and-a-half hour presentation Bob Marley's mother, Cedella Booker, has gone on record to say: "Every time I see your show, I learn something new about my son."

Mr. Steffens spoke to The Royal Gazette from his Los Angeles home about the time he spent with the artist, his initial experiences, and how he came to become a collector, archivist and biographer of the iconic Bob Marley.

"I heard him in 1973 after reading about him in Rolling Stone and it was the first Reggae that I had ever heard and that was the Catch a Fire album," he remembered.

"It was everything I was looking for in popular music at the time. I grew up on the Do-Up harmonies of the 1950s and the conscious pop of the 1960s and by the early 1970s the American music had been taken over by the lawyers and the accountants.

"This was it, it was an amazing discovery. Then I saw the 'Harder they Come' and I bought the sound track on the way home from Berkeley and my life changed forever - I mean, my whole life took a different direction."

When asked when he began collecting Bob Marley memorabilia, he said: "It was that day, that was the first of the Reggae archives.

"I've always been a lecturer and a writer and you know when a subject interests you, you keep and eye on it and I thought, maybe one day I would do something with reggae.

"So I cut the article out of Rolling Stone and other articles and now it's six rooms, floor to ceiling in our home in Los Angeles. I mean, we've had to move twice just to house the collection.

"It was nothing I ever set out to do; it was just a gradual incretion of things. Meeting Bob in 1978 and 1979, starting the radio show on national public radio, then the following year starting the cable television show, and two years later starting the magazine The Beat, and in 1984 two former Reggae Grammy committee, which I was the chairman of."

During 1984 he was asked to show unreleased films of Bob Marley at the National Video Festival.

"I started getting requests from people all around the States to come to colleges and clubs to repeat the show," he explained.

"It's been all over the world and two years ago, we spoke at a Rasta Kibbutz in the middle of the Negev Desert with guys with geometers and dreadlocks in a Rasta pub.

"We did six shows in Israel, we did Guam last year, a dozen shows in Australia in last November, the Smithsonian, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we did a show there. It is amazing, there is such interest.

"In New Zealand he is like a national hero to the Maori people and in fact their national holiday is Bob's birthday, they don't care about the British treaty 200 hundred years ago, they call it Uncle Bob Day and have music on the radio all day long and they have festivals in his honour."He really has emerged as, I think, the most important figure of the 20th Century.

"The opportunity to tour with Bob Marley came out of the blue, explained the archivist. "I was really lucky because we had just started the radio show in October 1979 and we were on the air for about six weeks when Island Records asked if I would mind going on the road with Bob Marley," he said.

"To try to put 36 years into a couple of hours, with someone who was as remarkable it is very difficult, you try to concentrate on a lot of things that people don't know about. It has been a real joy for me, I feel so lucky to have had any time with him."

So, what was the iconic character really like to be around? "He was quiet, he was a watcher, I think that if I had to use one word, I would say disciplined," said Mr. Steffens.

"He was the most disciplined musician that I sat with, he was always the first one on the bus. On November 1979 on the Rock Seat on the Boulevard, he did a three hour sound check he played all of the instruments to make sure they were absolutely perfect, because all of the big mockers of the music business were all going to see him that night.

"And the first hour he kept singing something over and over again and it was 'Redemption Song'.

"He supported 6,000 people a month and I believe that is true because the man who told me had to sign the cheques. He was disciplined and selfless.

"He didn't even have a bed until later years; he would sleep on a cot or on the ground. And if you asked him what he was, more often than not, he would say that he was a farmer, because he grew up out in the bush on his grandfather's farm.

"He was incredibly humble, he t5was as unsuperstarish that you cold get. He was filling stadiums in Europe and 10,000 people in Milan, a stadium where the Pope was a week before and he outdrew the Pope.

"He transcended music in a way that Lennon nor Dillon or Michael Jackson never have, he was spiritual and moral.

"He was awarded the Medal of Peace and the head of Amnesty International said that everywhere he goes in the world today, Bob Marley is the symbol of freedom.

"And I love the fact that he was a black hero, even though he was half white, in much the way that Obama is.

"And what a great poet, he had this phenomenal gift of melody, his poetry was so succinct and eloquent."

When asked why did he give you your nickname Ras Rojah, he replied: "Well he would call me Rojah, rather than Roger, he was always turning things around. He would say, 'Hey Rojah'. So I said, 'I'll go with that, it's a great Reggae handle'.

"Mr. Steffens' collection is the largest in the world, and on how he came into possession of it all, he said: "I became friends with the band and some of the early co-workers at Island Records would share things with me and of course over the years a lot of other people as well.

"Now you know people ask, 'where did you get all this stuff?' But it was about 1,000 or more people in 35 years or so.

"First of all they are very proud of it and more often than not they just give it to me and say, this belongs in your collection - the definitive collection. It is some very valuable stuff and it is a tremendous responsibility."

So when the fateful day of Bob Marley's death came, how did he deal with it?

"It was rough, there were so many false alarms and rumours on two major occasions, so when he finally died, it was a terrible blow," he said.

'We put on a show in MacArthur Park, in Los Angeles, he died on Monday the 11th (1981), and on Saturday the 16th of May we had a tribute concert to Bob and over 4,000 people showed up.

"And that became the basis of our annual Bob Marley Day and now 25,000 people show up at the Long Beach Arena to pay tribute from all over the world. There are bands playing from all over the world and Bob Marley's children have played

"In between the acts I tell Bob Marley stories and pay homage to him in a proper way.

"Tonight's show is the straight telling of Bob Marley's life story chronologically, Saturday is the intimate Bob Marley with a lot of interview material, and then we have a show for the kids, which has the best of the two adult shows and other material, which I am not sharing with you."

Doors open at 6 p.m. and show time is at 7.30 p.m..

Saturday Children's Matinee wil see the roors open at 1 p.m. and show time is at 2 p.m.

Saturday evening doors open at 6 p.m. and show time is at 7.30 p.m.

Tickets, $25 in advance, or $30 at the door, are available from Sound Stage and Double W Home Entertainment.

There is a special students rate of $12 and this will apply for the Saturday matinee showing only.