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New York goes through periods when, if you want to stalk the zeitgeist, it is the only place to go hunting. One such moment was the late 1970s and early '80s. The resonance of that period's underground arts scene still infiltrates the output of today's zeitgeisters.

, was at the centre of the action. Involved in the emerging graffiti, hip-hop and neo-expressionist movements, he was a main player in a city of main players that included Nan Goldin, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Jenny Holzer, Charlie Ahearn, Futura 2000 and Grandmaster Flash.

He stole the show in Charlie Ahearn's 1983 movie with , produced the stand-out track for the equally influential graf movie , was among a stellar line-up on partnering with .

The was part friend, part foe. But when they worked together, it was good. .

Basquiat succumbed to the spoils of being at the eye of the creative storm. Julian Schnabel - another prominent member of NYC's neo-expressionist movement, whose art wasn't as accomplished as Basquiat's - became a good movie director starting with a very watchable bio-pic of Basquiat.

Framing much of this scene was , known as Colab, a state-funded not-for-profit artists' collective. They put on exhibitions such as in disused spaces that had a raw energy and passion that is utterly absent in today's champagne and nibbles openings.

. Where now, though, is the happening place? I don't think London or New York. Mexico City, maybe?