Its regular patrons who dubbed themselves ‘foundation drinking partners,’ will tell you that their favourite after-work hang-out, The Deck, is responsible for the return of live music in the Corporate Area.

This popular entertainment spot located on Trafalgar Road in New Kingston, recently celebrated its 15th anniversary.

Giving an overview of how it all started one of its regulars, Michael Muirhead, stressed the role that music played in the establishment of the Deck.

“Music being the lifeblood of The Deck, it started with us just using cassette tapes,” enthused Muirhead at the celebration party. “We had four cassette tapes,” he explains, “A soul, new soul, a rockers, and soca tape… and it worked. Those tapes were done by Errol McGowan. Errol from The Rock. So he was our first real Deck selector. The first real DJ we had was Andrew Henry. Andrew was big into soca, but Andrew was so busy, he never had time for the Deck. So he had a little youngster… today he is known as the ‘Party Animal’ — Kirk Riley. So it goes to show where talent can start from. Kirk is one of the biggest DJs in Jamaica at this point,” Muirhead reminisced, also recalling other notable selectors such as Magic Fingers, Budu, Richie Clarke, Errol, Bobby T, Glady and Gerry.

Not to be left out though, is The Merritone. “The Merritone First Sundays came out of the whole development of the music on the Deck, that still goes on even today, right at the Deck here. Thanks to Merritone,” was how Muirhead acknowledged the legendary sound system.

Coming from the memory bank of founder/proprietor, Richard Spence, The Deck started to embrace live music from its first year. However, it went up a notch in August 2003, when The Deck in partnership with bandleaders Dwight Pinkney, Errol Lee and Mickey Hanson, daringly embarked upon a mission to revive live music in Kingston. At the time, the few live acts that were in Kingston were restricted to hotels and were not readily available or accessible.

“With little or no reward, these guys did two series over two years. Each and every Thursday, we were treated to the best of Jamaican music. We had hundreds of acts. But because of the lack of sponsorship, the series, unfortunately, came to an end.

“Shortly after the live music came to an end we were approached by a young lady who is a music teacher at the school of music, Cecile Cedric-Green who embarked upon a mission to expose young talent. We have had some very exciting shows put on by the School of Music. We have even hosted an exam here. You can get a taste of what is being started every last Thursday of the month,” Spence assured his audience.

“We started at 51 Hope Road 15 years ago. The genesis of it were a few friends who used to party together and decided, why not do a thing for ourselves. So we got together to look for somewhere and it was left to me to find the place I did… The original name was Friends on the Deck. And we were there, at Hope Road, for six and a half years then we had to move to a new location and we found this one in 2002.

“So we are here now at Trafalgar Road and in July it will be nine years, since we are here. Here more lends itself in putting on an event. What I do is to let people enjoy themselves and I’m happy doing that. I think The Deck will outlast me, but I’ll do what I can while I can,” Spence said about his celebrated brainchild.

— Basil Walters