Friends From New York

Legendary Damon has spent decades bringing New York together, one party, one room, one dance floor at a time. From his early days at Limelight to his legendary Sundays at Lotus and the parties he continues to throw today, Damon has helped shape New York nightlife across generations. In this episode of Friends From New York: In Conversation, Heidi Hartwig sits down with Damon to talk about the art...

Tony Touch came up as a B-boy, put 50 MCs on a mixtape, and helped connect New York and Puerto Rico as reggaeton took shape. In this conversation, Tony talks about the dance floor, the mixtapes, and the people and parties that shaped his life in music. He’s hosted Shade 45 for 21 years and still plays around the world. We sat down with him as he celebrated the 18th anniversary of one of his partie...

Michael “Kaves” McLeer has spent his life building for Brooklyn. From writing graffiti in Bay Ridge and forming Lordz of Brooklyn with his brother, to painting, tattooing, filmmaking, The Brooklyn Firefly and The Brooklyn Pop, Kaves moved between worlds and made each one his own. Heidi Hartwig sits down with Kaves to talk about Brooklyn, family, ambition, loss and the place carrying him through hi...

Clayton Patterson has spent decades documenting the people, streets, artists, activists, outsiders and underground communities of New York’s Lower East Side. In this conversation, we talk about the camera that gave him access to worlds most people never saw, the 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot, the Pyramid Club, tattoo culture, community, gentrification, and what it means to preserve the people beh...

Heidi Hartwig talks with G-Bo the Pro (Gil Vasquez) — a man living a double life as a New York mixtape legend and a fixture of the Keith Haring world, where the two rarely overlap. From East Harlem block jams and teen nights catching Little Louie Vega at Heartthrob to the art market's games and Haring's staggering output, G-Bo and Heidi get into duality, reinvention, and finding your tribe...

Ask DJ MOS how to save a stuffy, confused room and he doesn't hesitate: Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" to open it back up, Stevie Wonder's "All I Do" to send everyone home happy. In this episode, Heidi Hartwig sits down with the veteran New York DJ — born Masoud Obana Semple — to talk about the craft of reading a crowd and the thrill of dropping a record no one sa...

Heidi Hartwig talks with DJ Hesta Prynne (Julie Potash) — from her Hot 97 upbringing and feminist rap group Northern State to a Rolling Stone review that got Questlove to bring them on tour with The Roots. He later taught her to DJ, leading to Bonnaroo, Q-Tip, and eight years spinning for Spotify. Now a licensed therapist building Music Connection Therapy, she and Heidi get into why music heals, w...

DJ and producer Scram Jones sits down with Heidi Hartwig of Friends From New York to trace his journey from break-dancing at a Pepsi picnic as a six-year-old to becoming one of New York's most respected selectors and beatmakers. Scram breaks down how he went from a Fisher Price turntable to spinning vinyl at Lower East Side open mics every Sunday, building his craft one basement cipher at a ti...

DJ Evil Dee — founding member of Black Moon and one half of legendary production duo The Beatminerz — sits down with Heidi Hartwig to trace his journey from the block parties of Bushwick, Brooklyn to the airwaves of Hot 97 and beyond. Evil Dee breaks down how he learned to DJ by sneaking into his older brother Mr. Walt's room, how a neighborhood joke became his iconic "Evil Dee is on the...

Nightlife legend Christina Visca sits down with Heidi Hartwig to tell the full, unfiltered story of how a girl from White Plains became one of the most important figures in New York City club history. If you've ever wondered what it actually felt like to live through the golden age of NYC nightlife — from Studio 54 to the garage to Sound Factory — this is the episode. In this episode we cover:...

DJ Mighty Mi grew up carrying record crates between Philadelphia and Brooklyn at the exact moment hip-hop was becoming something that could change your life. Now a Las Vegas-based DJ, producer, and co-founder of the legendary rap duo High and Mighty and Eastern Conference Records, Mighty Mi sits down with Heidi Hartwig on Friends From New York for a wide-ranging conversation about culture, craft,...

Cipha Sounds joins FFNY for a real New York conversation on music, media, hustle, crowd energy, and the long game of staying relevant. Funny, sharp, and full of stories, this episode gets into what it takes to keep evolving while staying true to where you came from.

Maurice Bernstein is a New York music operator who helped shape the sound and scene around Giant Step—one of the most influential platforms in downtown and global club culture from the late 90s into the 2000s.

Statik Selektah and Termanology join Friends From New York for a conversation on music, New York culture, and the path from early grind to lasting influence. Real stories, real perspective, and a soundtrack-minded look at the city that shaped them.

DJ, broadcaster, and Fool’s Gold co-founder Nick Catchdubs joins Friends From New York to talk music discovery, nightlife, downtown energy, and the evolution of New York’s creative scene. A real conversation about what lasts, what changes, and how culture gets built in real time.

DJ, host, tastemaker, and downtown force Roxy Cottontail sits down with Friends From New York to talk New York nightlife, creative community, music, and the art of making a room move. A real conversation about presence, originality, and the culture that happens when the right people find each other.