There is a new genre of break dance and music in Venezuela – it is called Tuki. One day Marianna drove us to Petare a huge barrio clustered on a hill in the Palo Verde district. Across the street at the bottom of Petare is the Tuki school. There’s a courtyard, guys playing basketball, people hanging out watching the game, dance studios, graffiti and  murals of Chavez painted on the walls.

‘Tuki’ is a music and dance style stemming from hard house and techno and it primarily came from the barrios of Venezuela.The music is a variation of “Changa”  a Venezuelan slang word from the 90s meaning “House music”. The sound developed into a music style called Raptor House, which gave birth to Tuki. A dancer tells me ‘There was a  perception that if you were Tuki you were a criminal but you’d rather see your son dancing than going out robbing’ . Tuki mixes Venezuelan street styles and pop culture – and just like hip hop came from people making ‘Something from nothing’

Respect to DJ Baba, His Majesty from the Raptor House Crew, DJ Yirvin, Elbert El Maestro, DJ Kike Abstractor, Branko J Wow, DJ De Ville, Parla Burgos, Joel Arritos, Andrews Guitiar-Locaotor, Anthony El Hiredero, Junior El Alucinante , Daniel Goillen Robots and many more.

Graffiti on wall in Red Hook – the ‘devil’ hurricane passed through our area leaving destruction in it’s wake, followed by a massive snowstorm.

It is almost 2 weeks since Hurricane Sandy hit the New York area devastating some parts like Red Hook, Rockaway and Staten Island and leaving others untouched. Some of us lost power for a week, other areas still dark after all this time have no heat or light, people have no food, elderly people are  stranded on high floors of apartment buildings, stores are shuttered, there is no phone service. Many people are left homeless, their houses destroyed by flooding.

Father and son outside a church today in Red Hook where food trucks are giving out much needed hot meals.

Alfred organizes volunteers at the grass roots community center run by GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side).  Volunteers from all over are helping out, distributing food, clothing and essentials at churches and community centers, making sandwiches, clearing debris, knocking on doors to see if people need help, donating supplies like warm blankets, batteries and flashlights, food and clothing.

There is a line to talk to the lady from FEMA trying to help Red Hook residents. People are amazingly patient.

A huge pile of soaking wet debris we helped load into a dumpster today in Red Hook. Furniture, clothes, children’s toys, books ..

Amongst the debris from a church is a basket of rosaries

Debris outside a flood damaged building in Red Hook – the windows still taped from the hurricane

My friend Finnish artist Riita Ikonen has a show of her special ‘postcards’in the grand tradition of mail art at the Christopher Henry Gallery in NYC until the 7th October.

I have been collecting postcards myself since I was 12 – everything from ‘Paris in the Flood’ circa 1908, to British seaside ‘dirty’ postcards to American 1950′s diners to 40′s  pin ups. My grad show at the London College of Printing was a collection of my work printed postcard size displayed on a revolving postcard rack on a small sandy beach with a deck chair.

Riita makes her own postcards out of anything that takes her fancy – from a rock, to a bunch of pencils, telephone chord, a broken record, some wood shavings – she sticks some stamps on it and mails it to Margaret Huber a lady in Brighton.  She has sent hundreds over a period of 9 years, she tells me: “whenever there is something exciting postcard sized around (usually when in strange new surroundings= traveling) and whenever there is a good moment to make one (= on holiday/ trip)….. Some got returned… because the stamps were under laminate, or the address was (intentionally) wrong, but mainly if the cards don’t make it to Margaret it is probably because they have broken into smithereens on the way. . The mailings need to be and go through the post as they are- no envelopes, sleeves etc.”

. I am sending all the time

Last night Nile Rogers and the Chic Organization played a free concert at the Lincoln Center Plaza in NYC- he told us that he had written many of those famous songs in apartment 28b right there across the street – “Everybody Dance” everybody did all night long.

Afterwards DJ KS’360′ played great disco classics – New Yorkers danced into the wee hours : “Music never lets you down Puts a smile on your face any time, anyplace”

This week photographed the string quartet Sweet Plantain up in Spanish Harlem on a hot afternoon. We wandered around the hood, they entertained the locals – yes they can play anything from classical, jazz and Latin music, to the ‘Mister Softee’ ice cream truck theme.

Coney Island on the 4th of July – reminds me of why I love New York. We live in a city on the ocean, take the subway to the beach, folks from all over the world out on a sweltering summer day, hot dogs, beer, cotton candy, roller coaster, music blasting from radios … ‘Hot Fun in the Summertime’ (Sly Stone)

As I photographed the very stylish Nick Wooster for the cover of Dutch magazine ‘Code,’ guys were coming up to him on the street saying ‘I love what you do’. Nick is a real gentleman with impeccable taste and countless blogs dedicated to his perfectly fitted suits, love of all things camouflage and style.

Having worked for a string of high end retailers like Neiman Marcus, Gilt and Barneys, he is taking on menswear for the masses at J.C. Penney.

“I’m a kid from Kansas, so J.C. Penney was where I got all my clothes from kindergarten to around 7th grade. In those days–the ’60s and ’70s–J.C. Penney served the same function as all the specialty stores we know today. In the same way there were three television stations everybody watched–ABC, CBS, or NBC–everybody shopped at Sears, Montgomery Ward, or Penney’s. And Penney’s was always the fashion store”

About his new JCP venture he says: “It’s going to be all those things you want. Here’s the thing: there’s no great gingham shirt, there’s no great Shetland blazer, there’s no perfect chino, at least for me, but there will be starting in September. ”

One of my own prize possessions is a vintage jean jacket from Sears Roebuck – perfectly styled with red tartan lining – I think Nick will bring back affordable style to the malls of America.