when playing on pc, at some point about halfway through the Imperial Prison Sewers at the start of the game, i start getting quest starters (messages and items) for a large number of quests is this an issue someone else has had and is there a way to correct it?

That's the DLC quests; completely normal behavior for them.

If this annoys you, since you're on PC, install the mod http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11474.

awesome thanks very much