CLOSE-UP : For Seth Marsh, There Isn’t a Business Without the Boss

When he was playing volleyball at Cal State Northridge a few years ago, Seth Marsh said that he was accused by Coach Walt Ker of having “serious psychological problems.”

That’s because, whenever he wasn’t playing, Marsh and his Walkman rarely parted. And whenever Marsh’s Walkman was playing, the music of Bruce Springsteen was ringing in his ears.

He was a fanatic.

Marsh, though, has been able to channel his fanaticism into what he and partner David Krask describe as a “very successful” business. They are the creators and operators of the Boss Club, a once-a-week devotional dedicated entirely to Springsteen’s music.

Every Tuesday night, about 250 to 400 fans descend upon the Imperial Gardens restaurant in West Hollywood and pay $5 each to swap Springsteen anecdotes and revel in his audio presence. Marsh, choosing from among the Boss’s seven studio albums and his own collection of more than 60 bootleg tapes, plays about an hour of slow songs beginning at 10 p.m.

Then, at 11, Marsh cues up the dance music and the place erupts. Marsh, 25, was a two-time conference MVP at CSUN, but he never elicited this kind of response on the court. The dance floor is packed for the next three hours, and the Boss fans sing along with the records. Marsh, the disc jockey, cuts the music during almost every song so the crowd can hear itself sing.

Marsh and Krask started the club, they said, just to get themselves “psyched up” for Springsteen’s shows at the Sports Arena in the fall of 1984. About 50 people showed up, and they haven’t stopped coming since. Springsteen himself has never shown up, but Marsh said that Springsteen’s mother and younger sister, Pam, have been to the Boss Club. “The mother danced to every single song the whole night,” Marsh said. About 40% of the audience, Marsh said, shows up week after week.

Marsh, who was dubbed “The Man Who Would Be Bruce” in an article in Tiger Beat magazine, sees no end in sight for the club.

“I always knew in the back of my mind that there had to be a huge market for this,” he said. “I didn’t think we were the only two crazy people that would love to do this. . . . We realized that with word of mouth and the right kind of publicity, it would just be a matter of time before it was a smash.”

Psychological problems, indeed.