Sheldon Taylor's Souls of Black Notes

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Cameo's platinum-selling Word Up! turns 35 this week. Casual fans and newcomers may consider them one-album wonders but longtime Cameo devotees recognize the record as the group's crowning achievement after over a decade of delivering hits.  In the 70s, Cameo was one of many funk bands on the horizon lodged between the twin pillars Parliament-Funkadelic and Earth, Wind and Fire.Featuring a fierce rhythm and horn section fronted by revolving lead vocalists from tenor Anthony Lockett, falsetto and the baritone growl of group leader Larry Blackmon, the band spun off initial hits between 1977-1978.  Hitting their stride with '79's Secret Omen, Cameo's first gold album saw them move away from the traditional sound of their contempo

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Six miles separates rough-and-tumble East Flatbush from gentrified Williamsburg. A short distance, yet many worlds apart. Through five mayoral administrations, a trifecta of crime, homicide and drugs swept through East Flatbush like a cyclone. At the center of it all were the Vanderveer Estates, one of the most notorious housing projects in NYC during the Eighties and Nineties crack era.   H ead north along Flatbush Avenue. A couple turns and some thirty minutes later, heavy traffic gives way to hip bars, trendy boutiques and pricey real estate. Peter Luger's Steak House, still in business after 134 years, anchors the area. Glassy apartment buildings sparkle like emerald-cut diamonds.  Behold the urban oasis that is Williamsburg. Michael K. Wi