“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 (via sarahspy)