Reggae Sumfest Boss, Josef Bogdanovich says that plans are still under way to acquire Roger Steffens’ extensive reggae archives, including rare Bob Marley images, concert materials, and memorabilia, which are currently domiciled in Steffens’ private basement in Los Angeles.
Bogdanovich who is heir to the StarKist tuna fortune, told World Music Views that plans are still afoot to integrate these archives into a larger plan to transform Montego Bay into a concert city, aiming to rival venues like Coachella in California.
“I think we are doing it, you will hear about that soon,” he said. While admitting the undertaking will cost a pretty penny. “it’s a big commitment to buy a building and build one for the archives, thats million of dollars,”
The collection includes a reported 12,000 vynil records and CDs, 10,000 posters and flyers and 12,000 hours of tapes, also tens of thousands of reggae photographs, 30,000 reggae fliers from all over the world, 2,000 reggae posters (many of them signed by the original artists), 140 cubic feet of alphabetized clippings, and an array of invaluable books and magazines.
Bogdanovich’s plans are to permanently house the memorabilia at Catherine Hall in Montego Bay, home of Reggae Sumfest which is being headlined by Baby Face and Beres Hammond this year.
Bogdanovich had first made the announcement to acquired the catalog on Winford Williams’ Onstage 2 years ago saying Steffens desire to have the archives in Jamaica.
“He wants it here, we have a good relationship, he thinks that maybe I know what I am doing and he is gonna be very much involved. It’s just unusual and it’s one of the ways we are planning on developing that Cathrine Hall site.”
Steffens has not commented on the latest negotiations with Bogdanovich to send his life’s work spanning over 50 years of reggae memorabilia to Jamaica, but he had previously attempted to sell the collection to business magnate Michael Lee-Chin’s foundation in 2004, but negotiations fell through due to disagreements over valuation.
Lee-Chin, with a net worth at the time of US$2.4 billion deemed the venture too risky, according to his brother Wayne Chen who had initiated the negotiations. “Mike, at my behest, tried to acquire Roger Steffen’s archive in the early 2000s and put quite a bit of money in, but no agreement was reached,” Chen told WMV.
According to Statista, museums worldwide generate approximately US$15 billion annually. At the time, Roger’s asking price was US$2 million. However, according to Chen, this figure was deemed too steep for the foundation to afford. Chen explained to the Jamaica Gleaner in 2008 that they had agreed for Steffens to bring in a valuator, who had previous experience with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
