An incredible professor of mine named Paige Cubbison had invited him to speak about anti-censorship in the old PMRC days and I went up to him and asked him to sign a copy of a bunch of his books

I think I had almost every single one. The ones I didn’t have like the Rock Book of Lists and Fortunate Son I had borrowed from the Main Library downtown and read cover to cover many times. He made me long to be a rock writer and critic and he gave me the ability to think about everyday things in a very serious way. (it was that kind of thinking along with reading Gustavo Pérez Firmat‘s Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban American Way that inspired generation ñ. They helped me look twice at the value of writing seriously and thinking seriously about everyday things that I might have taken for granted.

After the lecture, Professor Cubbison invited some students to join him for a quick lunch and to talk music a bit. I must’ve made a good impression because he asked if I’d write something for his newsletter Rock and Rap Confidential (at that time called Rock ‘n’ Roll confidential). For a variety of reasons I didn’t have a lot of faith in myself. So this was an immeasurable gift of belief.

I wrote about Uncle Luke and 2LIVE Crew (actually the first time Bass Music was written about a national publication) and I wrote about Pilar, a Cuban American artist and singer who used to play beautiful art pop sets at Club Nu.

Lee Ballinger,  the amazing editor who worked with Dave,  published my piece as one of the key pieces of that issue and they sent me a check – and just like that, I was a published writer, an incredible gift of self-esteem – it gave me a whole idea about myself. I can’t thank Mr. Marsh enough for changing the course of my life with that small act of encouragement and kindness.

My girlfriend Liz couldn’t attend so he dedicated our shared copy of The Making Sun City book to her – it’s where I learned more about apartheid, and the efforts of Stevie Van Zandt and Arthur Baker, and an amazing crew of musicians.

Dave musta known i wanted a different life for myself, in my copy of Glory Days, about Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s he scribbled the title of an Elvis song that Bruce had been performing in those days… “To Bill, Follow That Dream”

Thank you for helping me facilitate this life i’ve tried to create. Sometimes an encouraging word from a hero or a role model is all a young person needs to hear, to give them them hope to hold onto something better.

All of us who love rock n roll music and great writing are gonna miss Mr. Marsh. We are grateful for your powerful and persuasive words, you make listening to music and experiencing music even more fun by writing about it so brilliantly and so beautifully.