Last night Nona Hendryx sang “Strange Fruit’ as part of the Harlem Stage Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf Tribute. It was a stunning bone chilling performance with intense vocal backup by the the singer Kiki Hawkins.. Other great performances by Women of the World and Joey Arias.

Thankful and relieved to hear that 6 officers have been charged in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

Spring like weather today in NYC – I just found these photos I shot at Coney Island last July. It’s one of those timeless spots in this ‘city on the beach’ where you can see all sorts of people.

RIP Steve Strange – Steve was a fixture on the streets of Covent Garden in the punk /New Romantic years – I first met him at  the store ‘PX’ which was the premier New Romantic boutique, Steve worked there for 2 or 3 years, he helped me buy a pair of black leather trousers which I wore when I went to shoot the Clash in Milan.  He started the New Romantic movement with Rusty Egan at the Blitz Club – new styles, new dance, new music. A visionary  of his time.

Diggin’ in those crates again with Sean Corcoran from Museum of City of New York, preparing for the ‘HipHop Revolution’ exhibition.  I came across these old polaroids amongst the HipHop photos.

New Kids on the Block are touring again – I took this photo of them for 17 Magazine in the mid eighties when they were the pin up idols of their teen generation. Discovered by Maurice Starr they sold over 80 million records worldwide. Donny Wahlberg ( the older brother of Mark Wahlberg) became an actor/ producer currently in the TV series ‘Blue Blood’. Check the message on the photo ” Betcha didn’t know that we rap”

And talking about the NEW- I shot this photo of New Edition in Boston for the cover for the single ‘Candy Girl’ in 1983. Maurice Starr had discovered them too, he loved the ‘Michael Jackson’ like high voice of Ralph Tresvant. British journalist PaoloHewitt interviewed them during the shoot and said “Some people say you sound like Michael Jackson..”  The band replied ” That’s OK cos we know we aint” . The young Bobby Brown was a lead singer in the group.

In September the Heavy Rotation Bike Club invited me to their annual BBQ party in a park in ‘North O’. Black biker clubs from neighboring cities gathered in the park to party, talk  and enjoy the day. It was a very chill out event, the DJ played soul, ladies served great food, the guys gathered to tell road stories and admire each other’s bikes.

Takuya Kuroda’s new album “Rising Son’ came out this week on Blue Note. Brought up in Kobe Japan and now a native of Brooklyn, Takuya played trumpet in Jose James’ band on last year’s ‘No Beginning No End’ tour. Jose produced ‘Rising Son’ and sings on the Roy Ayers classic track “Everybody Loves the Sunshine’. “No one sounds like Takuya,” says James. “.His writing is soulful, modern, and effortlessly bridges the gap between jazz and soul, and between history and tomorrow.” I was at the sold out Rockwood release party  – Takuya blew the roof off – buy the album.