DJ Buck

Kuyumptiwa Kopavi Grok Tinkelman, known as DJ Buck, moved to San Francisco from New York as a child. In the early 1990s he threw the Church Sunday nights at DV8 with Corey Black, introducing many local dancers to funky house music, and became a founding member of the ToonTown crew, helping bring rave culture to the city by taking over the Fashion Center and other venues for all-night parties.

In 1994 he became one of the original members of Third Floor Productions, alongside the Leaf label, and in 1995 broke through on Strictly Rhythm with "The Bells of San Francisco / Northern Exposure EP," an acid-tinged track built from sampled foghorns and seagulls that became known for its distinctive "Buck sound." He relocated to Los Angeles in 2001, working with the Tango, Westbound, and Tweekin labels, and died in 2026 at age 54.