How to Tell a Story

My name is Brendan Jay Sullivan. I write stories and music and tour as a DJ For booking: [email protected] checkout my great book: RIVINGTON WAS OURS

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[hostilehospitalbeds]

I recently read a book about Lady Gaga and I just found out the guy who wrote it is apparently the DJ that inspired the Ting Tings’ “Great DJ” so that’s cool

[wordbookstores]

“Some of us just like to read.” – Lady Gaga

[ccmusicblog]

Music Book Review: Rivington Was Ours by Brendan Jay Sullivan

This book rocks. It tells the story of how Lady Gaga rose from a student at NYU to the star she is today. Brendan Jay Sullivan was Lady Gaga’s DJ and best friend throughout these tribulations, so one can take solace in knowing the book is a truthful one, and not hyped up with false drama. The passages Sullivan writes are not only ridden with fascinating information about Gaga’s path to success, but are also poetically and beautifully conducted, making it nearly impossible for one to put this damn book down. The use of Sullivan’s novelistic tone caused me to feel encapsulated in this world of live music, pissy bars, drugs and DJ booths, all the while feeling like it was I who was walking on the tight rope of success, with fame on one side and failure on the other. Of course, this world was in fact Gaga’s, but Sullivan allows you to feel so immersed in what was happening that you feel like you also belong there. There is information on Gaga’s career, but also the added bonus of being taken away to her exciting world in which she grew up in. The most beautiful thing about this book is Sullivan’s gentleness and obvious love for Gaga. The book’s dedication reads “This is for you.”, showing his adoration for her success and perhaps his desire to continue to play a part in her life. Overall, I adore this book and will read it again. I recommend buying whether or not you are a fan of Gaga, because either way, it will take you away to an awesome place.

[noturplasticdoll]

“And Gaga. Thanks for the adventure if a lifetime. What makes you great is not the quality of you voice or talent, but your soul. It has a density twice that of a diamond, and the way you share it with the world is inspiring. I want you to promise that you will always take care of it for me. It’s your third thing.”

— Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, The Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives by Brendan Jay Sullivan

[deystreetbooks]

Lady Gaga. The Lower East Side. 2006. In Rivington Was Ours, on sale now, Lady Gaga’s old friend and former DJ Brendan Jay Sullivan paints a vivid picture of the downtown scene from which she emerged. Brendan Jay Sullivan was an up-and-coming New York City DJ when he met Stefani Germanotta, then a struggling artist, in 2006. She was a go-go dancer who sewed her own outfits but had bigger ambitions—she wanted nothing less than to take over the music world. In this intimate portrait of the budding star who would soon catapult to fame and fortune, the author describes afternoons sitting with Gaga on the floor of her bare Lower East Side apartment, drinking wine from pint glasses and plotting out the pop stardom that awaited her. “Brendan Jay Sullivan has written his generation’s ode to youth, in the spirit of Patti Smith’s Just Kids.” — Emma Straub, author of Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures “A touching memoir.” — New York Post

[largeheartedboy]

“The rules for writing are the same for making a mixtape and the same for DJ'ing. Start with a banger, grab attention, kick it up a notch and then level it out, find your groove but keep it interesting. DJ'ing is just storytelling, you need peaks and valleys and texture, you need to have an unexpected twist and the person at the end shouldn’t be the person you thought they were at the beginning. The number one rule is use the time of a total stranger in a way that he or she will not feel that time was wasted. Music is very important to me and to my book and as such the chapters are titled with lyrics that speak to or were diegetic to the action of the chapter. So start with a bang! Or, like I did, describe the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen and then have her blow you a kiss.”

— Brendan Jay Sullivan, from his Book Notes music playlist essay for Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, the Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives.

[gq]

Back in time with Lady Gaga

(Photos courtesy of Brendan Jay Sullivan)

[mjinholland]

[mjinholland]

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[stream-of-brain]

BOOKSTORES: How to Read More Books in the Golden Age of Content Bookstores have always driven me crazy. So much to read and so little time! And now with our lives chock full of CONTENT--Netlflix, podcasts, social media, YouTube, and the 24 hour news cycle--when the hell are we supposed to find the time to get through a book? This has haunted me for awhile now. So I decided to make a film about it, hoping to find a way through my bookstore anxiety--a way to re-balance my content diet in order to read more books. This was originally released in chapters on Vero and you can find additional content and other goodies there: https://ift.tt/BSqDfcW Tim Urban’s blog Wait But Why: https://waitbutwhy.com/ Eric Barker’s blog: https://ift.tt/eVhgUXN Howard Berg (sign up for his class!): https://ift.tt/cowyPaX Music: "Read A Book" by Bomani Armah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlKL_EpnSp8 Jonathan Zalben: https://ift.tt/yNTocCl Javelin: https://ift.tt/bO0fpFA Vibe Mountain: https://ift.tt/FyUm79S Local Drone/Ronin Outfits: BirdsEye Portugal: https://ift.tt/9nOvD8p Hout Video (Maastricht/Brussels): https://houtvideo.nl Agustin Actis (Buenos Aires): https://ift.tt/eiAx7Ca Willie Leniek: https (Buenos Aires)://vimeo.com/willieleniek Brendan Jay Sullivan (Paris): https://ift.tt/Sc7gOmz Bookstores Featured: Elliot Bay Books (Seattle, WA) Bookhampton (Easthampton, NY) Cook & Book (Brussels, Belgium) Tropismes (Brussels, Belgium) Boekhandel Dominicanen (Maastricht, Netherlands) Ler Devagar (Lisbon, Portugal) Obidos Bookshops (Obidos, Portugal) The Literary Man Hotel (Obidos, Portugal) Lello (Porto, Portugal) Re-Read (Barcelona, Spain) Cultura (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Saraiva (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Livraria Da Vila (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Ateneo Gran Splendid (Buenos Aires, Argentina) via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIW5jBrrsS0

[mjinholland]