Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, the Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives – A Behind-the-Scenes Portrait of Friendship and the Rise of a Pop Icon

by Brendan Jay Sullivan

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 DJ in New York City 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. Filled with stories of love and heartbreak among Gaga and Sullivan and their circle of aspiring musicians and performers, and set against the vibrant backdrop of the downtown bars and parties of the mid-aughts, Rivington Was Ours is both a love letter to New York and a glimpse behind the veil of one of the biggest musical icons of her generation.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Music, Pop Culture

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2013

About the author

Brendan Sullivan, also known as DJ VH1, is a writer, producer, and DJ best known for his work with Lady Gaga. His work appears in Esquire, Vice, and Interview in the States and L'Optimum and L'Officiel Hommes in France. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Reviews

[Pandora · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, quick read, and Brendan Jay (friend of and former DJ for Lady Gaga) can really write. He sums up a gorgeous time in his life, as Stefani begins to make her transformation into Gaga, and it made me feel a little nostalgic for my twenties when everything was clubs and drugs and bands, and things could, you know, REALLY HAPPEN. You don't have to be a huge Gaga fan to enjoy the memoir but you'll get more out of it if you are.

[Lucy Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book after becoming a late blooming Gaga Stan after Mayhem. I’d always been a fan of her, ever since Bad Romance, but I’ve definitely now taken it up a notch. The opportunity to read about her early years in the New York club scene seemed like a bit of fun.

In the end I had to skim read from 30% of the way through. The fact that the writer has lofty goals of becoming an author, whilst having a writing style similar to your mate’s Tumblr blog doesn’t help. But honestly, I wasn’t here to read about his girlfriends and DJing/bar work. He knows this but I guess he feels he has to flesh out the rest of the book to make it a less obvious cash in. I’d just skim for any mentions of Gaga (and also Luc AKA “Guy”, her ridiculously villainous twat of a boyfriend - if he was even 10% as awful as this book makes him out to be, the fact that he inspired many of Gaga’s most beautiful songs is baffling).

There were a lot of conversations in the book where you can’t help but roll your eyes as the author lays claim to things such as the coining lyrics to Just Dance, thinks he’s a great guy for promising to tell her if she looks fat, and the fact that the only reason they are no longer in touch is because he gave her his “permission” to leave him behind when she got famous. He makes sure to tell us this twice, just to make sure we get it. He also makes sure to tell us he’s “a real DJ” about ten times.

Basically, an unbearably cringe high school essay by a guy who thinks he’s way more interesting than he is, but scattered through with some genuinely interesting info about Gaga’s career beginnings. Worth the skim read.

[Stephen Didier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good book about the early after hours bar scene in Lower East Side New York. Its the NYC romantic memoir of a young man when a go-go dancer/stage performer named Gaga collides with his musical nightlife. I came for an insight into Lady Gaga imprint on the LES New York. I came out with a very well written love letter to New York bar/music happenings. If you are or aren't a fan of Gaga this book is worth reading for the journey of life in New York's lower east side in the 'aughties' or mid-late 2000s.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay account of the early years of Lady Gaga and DJ VH1

Started off strong, but descended into minutiae filler at the end.

[Cheryl SG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

There will always be space in my heart for a badly written book ab a music scene!

[Angelica · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Very insightful. Loved hearing about the scene Gaga was immersed in and how it shaped the artist she is today

[laleliest · Rating 5 out of 5]

"And I'm going to come out on stage and sing the song for the first time in front of everyone. And I’m going to be in my underwear just to let everybody know that I don't give a fffuck what anybody else thinks." [Sullivan, p. 187]

Seit 2008 läuft auf meinen musikspielfähigen Geräten Lady Gaga. Es gibt für mich keine andere berühmte Person, die mich mehr inspiriert, berührt und beeindruckt als Gaga. Durch einen Vlog von @iminamaralea bin ich auf dieses grandiose Buch gestoßen und habe es mir direkt zugelegt und auf einer Zugfahrt durchgelesen. Sullivan arbeitet als DJ in einem Club und erzählt die Geschichte, wie er Stefani als Tänzerin kennenlernte und sie gemeinsam an ihrem Wunsch, berühmt zu werden, arbeiten. Daraus entsteht ein kurzes, intensives Bild einer aufregenden Zeit voller Ups und Downs, die private Einblicke von einer 20-jährigen Gaga liefern und die Liebe zu ihr nur noch größer werden lassen. Durch den erzählerischen, teilweise motivierenden Schreibstil mit vielen Gesprächen fliegt man nur so durch die Seiten und auch das Englisch ist sehr leicht verständlich. Für Fans von Gaga ein Muss, für alle anderen eine tolle, abwechslungsreiche Geschichte über das Verfolgen und Erreichen von Träumen.

„Everyone has hopes and goals. Most of us just dream, but Gaga had a way of holding onto her dreams until they became a reality. For her these goals never had an end. She planned a lifelong
career in music for herself and she saw this as a way of gaining street cred, of building up a resume for that day when she would be a producer and bring in new talent and become the grandmother of pop she had always talked about.“ [Sullivan, p. 330]

[Laura Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rivington Was Ours
By Brendan Jay Sullivan

Rivington Was Ours, written by Lady Gaga DJ Brendan J Sullivan AKA DJ VH-1, details their life together clubbing on the lower east side the year before Gaga becomes famous. As a former and much earlier denizen of LES, I could relate. Sullivan's stories of late night DJ sessions at St. Jerome’s, the Beauty Bar and other quasi-cool dives is wrapped in intimate details of both Sullivan and Gaga's lifestyle, loves, losses and pursuit of their art. I enjoyed reading the book though sometimes it felt like last call at the bar, my mind racing, eyes closing, wishing I could stop but not quite ready to put it down. I liked the storytelling style peppered with honesty that Sullivan layered deftly into his recounting of their late night escapades as they led up to Gaga's release of the smash hit Let's Dance, his abandonment as Gaga’s DJ, of his writing dreams and return to the LES, a place you can never go back to. If you like reality with a little grit you'll really enjoy this.

Review by Laura Hill Timpanaro

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a big Lady Gaga fan at all, but as a NYer who's spent her fair share of nights downtown, I was curious about Sullivan's story. It's a really well written look at the LES nightlife scene and the people in it, and Sullivan's vivid recollections make for a real page-turner. It's easy to get lost in the story and forget, for a minute, that you're not out at the club with Sullivan and his motley cast of friends. It will likely appeal more to Gaga fans than anyone else, but even if you're not into the pop diva, you'll be able to enjoy this entertaining read.

[Sidra Cutts-Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this in a giveaway and expected it to be a fun vacation read, but actually it was better than just a "vacation read". I liked the style of Sullivan's writing- his descriptions and honesty about how the business/lifestyle is.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came here for the Lady Gaga stories, stayed for the love letter to NYC

"The thing about the city is that it's constant and you don't watch the places disappear, you watch as they become something else. It is the same with people in your life."

[Jin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the part that bugged me the most about this book was how the author seemed to be sucking up to lady gaga through his writing. Also, several metaphors here and there bothered me as they didnt seem to serve any real purpose in describing whatever the author was trying to describe.

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a copy of this book before it was released and read it this honestly opened my eyes so much more to lady gaga and how she struggled to get a start in the music world

[Trine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really liked it

[Ocean · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was decently written but, man, this guy doesn't EVER miss a chance to let us know how hot his girlfriends are and how everyone around him thinks he's a genius. lady gaga is barely in here and when she is she just sounds kinda ditzy.