Stoc Marcut: West Baltimore Fadeaway

“Stoc Marcut, rest in peace. There will always be Fear of God. Goddamn the war on drugs.”

- Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D., P.A.

I had a friend named Scott Marcus, and he called himself Stoc Marcut. He od’ed himself in 1995; rumor had it that he did this after stabbing this other guy I knew to death. Stoc had been crashing on this guy’s couch at the time. I don’t know if it was ever actually proven that he killed the guy, but most people I knew who knew anything about it seemed to think he did. Or it could have been done by someone Stock owed money to for dope, who knows. When I heard that he died, I was in belief. It was only a week before when I saw him for the last time nodding out on someone’s (an ex-girlfriend’s) couch one night near where I lived and worked, down in Hollins Market. I lived around the corner, situated only two doors away from work (washing dishes at Gypsy’s Cafe, which has since crumbled to the ground due to a hapless error in renovation) I spent some time hanging out with Stoc for those last couple of months, beginning with that bitter-cold February day when he shouted my name from up the street….