7. Kevin Jenkins

7. Kevin Jenkins

Like I said, it’s personal. It’s always personal. But especially this one. The best kind of mentor never gives you any advice. The best kind of inspiration doesn’t come and go. The true superheroes never change costume.

Kevin was in charge of the best party in San Francisco, the Bulletproof Boat Party. The parties were a huge success, except when they were a total disaster. They guaranteed total musical nirvana under the Golden Gate Bridge and excruciating hour-long waits for the toilet. The wharf before launch was the most beautiful gathering of beautiful people your beautiful imagination can imagine, and at docking time (4 hours later? 4 years later?) we emerged as horrifying make-up-streaked zombies from the planet Afterpartysomeoneplease. Often one of my 20 favourite DJs was playing each of three decks. I still dream about the Bulletproof Boat Parties, and when I say dream, I don’t mean daydream, I mean I have regular, recurring, weird-as-shit dreams centered on one of the most important things in my subconscious universe: drifting out on the bay with Kevin at the helm.

And make no mistake: though it was founded by his partners Gail and Eddie, by 1998 Kevin Jenkins *was* Bulletproof, and even after he left to go back to England, whatever magic remained in those parties was his magic. He always played the third deck, outside under the sunset and the stars, boogie and indie and hip hop and 150% anthems you never thought they’d play at a club. I once told my dear friend and DJ partner Pete that if I got to play outside on the boat, I’d close my set by throwing my record bag into the Bay. Kevin called my bluff.

In the midst of all the chaos that consumed those parties, Kevin never blanched. Forged tickets making the rounds. GHB overdoses at sea. Having to hire a totally different boat at the last minute. Kevin steered a steady course through it all, and then he played ‘Step On’ and ‘Return of the Mack’ and The Zombies and Bill Withers while they did a laser show on the side of Alcatraz and you thought, hey, this guy’s got this shit *under control.*

Of course Kevin invited me to play the outside deck. And of course there were 40mph winds and of course I insisted on trying to beatmatch my whole set with the tone arm hopping like the lid on a boiling pot. No problem. Kevin duct-taped a baffle of 12” record sleeves around the turntables so I could do my thing. Not that he would have bothered with beat matching himself, but hey, it was my party, too. We could do that.

Running a massive party attended by capricious lawbreakers is a living for an expat of questionable immigration status, but it wasn’t an easy one. Everybody wanted a favour from Kevin, and he took them all in stride. But nobody told him what to play on the outside deck. Out there he was Bombadil, The Master, and no windstorm or bad vibe had caught him yet.

He had to go back to England in the end, and he’s in demand there, too, doing groovy edits of soulful 70s obscurities under the name Ole Smokey and previously helping to anchor the Big Chill, Lattitude and Garden Festivals. He’s not bothered about Dance Music with capital letters anymore, not that he ever really was. Kevin didn’t blow in the wind: he held the rudder, and that was the lesson.

http://www.mixcloud.com/Ole_Smokey/all-back-to-mine-mix-for-sean-rowleys-joy-of-music-radio-show-on-bbc-kent/

https://soundcloud.com/ole-smokey