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Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: A Novel - Softcover

LeFlore, Lyah Beth Beth

 
9780767921183: Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: A Novel
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0767921186 ISBN 13: 9780767921183
Verlag: Crown, 2006

Inhaltsangabe

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life takes readers behind the velvet rope and inside A-list nightlife. At thirty-five, Destiny Day is at the top of her game. Having escaped her hardscrabble beginnings in the small Midwestern town she calls "East Boogie, Illinois" she is the savviest sister walking around in a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes. As New York's premiere party promoter, she has glitz, riches, and steers clear of any man who threatens to cramp her style. Her parties, held at the hippest clubs, are packed with hip-hop royalty; top celebs from the worlds of sports, film, and fashion; and New York's most successful power brokers. Destiny's personal life takes a backseat to her career, but she's got two best friends and a string of men to keep her satisfied. However, when she meets Taye Crawford, an independent financial advisor, at one of her own fantastic parties, Destiny finds herself moving in a direction she never anticipated.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

lyah beth leflore is the coauthor of Cosmopolitan Girls. Having been a television producer and entertainment executive for over a decade, she’s an insider’s insider. Sean Combs, Biggie, Gerald Levert, Toni Braxton, and Mary J. Blige are among the numerous entertainers with whom she has developed professional and personal ties. She was an associate producer of the hit FOX television series New York Undercover, and producer of UPN’s Grown Ups. She has worked at Uptown Entertainment and Alan Haymon Entertainment. Lyah lives in Los Angeles.

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C.R.E.A.M.
(Cash Rules Everything
Around Me)


"I'm gonna give it to you straight, 'cause ain't nobody gonna sugar-coat shit in this world for you, or give you a damn thing. Anything you want you gotta make it happen for yourself.

"A woman's approach to life should simply be: Get in, get yours, and get out! Life is too short and there's too much money out here to be makin' to be wastin' time with a Negro who ain't got nothin'!"

I was just six years old when my mother told me that. She didn't teach me much, but Juanita Day's specialty was making money and men--old ones, young ones, ugly ones, fine ones (like my daddy), but never lazy-no-money-havin'-cheap-watch-run-over-shoe-wearin' ones.

Juanita was one woman who didn't let anything or anybody get in her way, either. I never saw her pick up a Bible or set foot in a church, but she believed God created two types of people: those who want what you have, and are always scheming on you; and those who want to align themselves with you because it looks good on their social resume (in other words, the how-can-I-be-down-wannabes). Juanita said the best way to avoid both was not to trust anybody.

I've pretty much followed that philosophy my whole life. It works well in my line of work, where everybody's beautiful, fabulous, and paid. Some are genuinely decent people, but a lot of the others are trapped in that superficial lifestyle of "bling and bullshit."

They're quick to say things like, "Oh, Destiny? That's my girl!" or "Yeah, me and D are tight!" The whole time, those same people are hatin' and trying to snake me out. That's why I never get too personal. I'm a businesswoman. I play the game to make my money.

To me, honesty and loyalty are two of the most admirable qualities a person can have, and only a handful of people I know possess both--Ainee and Uncle Charlie; my two best friends, Izzy and Rico; and Josephine, who in my adult life has become something of a surrogate mother to me. And then there's Jenna. I guess you could call her my protégée, but that seems a bit too formal. She's really more like an extension of my extended family. For them, I'd give my life. Everybody else can kiss my ass.

I don't give a damn if you're on fire and I'm the last person on earth with a bucket of ice water. If you're not one of those six people I just named, then, like Flavor Flav said, "I can't do nuttin' for you man!" You probably think I'm some cold-blooded bitch. Cold-blooded, no. Bitch . . . sometimes. We all have our days.

Maybe some psychoanalyst would say, "Destiny Day's perception of life and relationships is such, because of her dark and painful childhood." I agree my childhood wasn't as innocent as most small-town girls. I mean how many girls are born in what my Granny referred to as "the den of sin"? That den of sin otherwise known as East St. Louis, Illinois. A small, predominantly black town that's a spit's distance across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri.

The best part of East Boogie (that's what the folks from St. Louis called it), was that it had some of the most talked-about after-hours partyin' in the Midwest. People would say, "Watch your back and your pocketbook in East Boogie." But they'd bring themselves right on across the river and get their party on 'til the moon lost its fight with the sun.

I remember for the most part regularly hearing gunshots, walking on those dirt sidewalks in the blazing-hot summertime, and folks sounding off about crooked politicians. But it wasn't so bad. The good thing about small-town living, particularly in the black community, is that everybody knows each other and they look out for you.

As a kid, it seemed like everywhere I went--the neighborhood grocery store owned by Mr. Earl and Miss Bird, whose breasts were so big she always looked like she was on the verge of tipping over; one-eyed Winky down at the gas station, who used to sneak a peek up Juanita's skirt when he fixed our car (he always gave her a discount when my daddy wasn't around); and Miss Stella over at the beauty shop who had booty for days (her breath smelled like cigarettes and stale beer, and she talked real loud and liked to be all up in your face)--they all knew my name was Destiny and who my mama and daddy were.

I didn't spend much time in East Boogie, though. By the time I was ten years old my fairy tale had come to an end. Reason: drugs, the typical ghetto tragedy. That's the breaks, right? But don't shed tears for me. We've all seen this movie before. When you're livin' foul it catches up to you . . . eventually.

Juanita Hayes didn't have any family. One might say she was a wanderer who wandered right into Carlton Day's life. Lore has it that she came from the Southside of Chicago by way of Detroit. How she ended up in a lil hell-raising town like East St. Louis, I'll never know. A woman without a past, who gave a church boy hope for the future.

Carlton had a kind, innocent spirit that provided the right amount of security for what the whispering folk (you know, those same good people at the grocery store, the gas station, and the beauty shop) called a "loose woman." Juanita was too much for him, no matter how hard he tried to keep up with her. He just couldn't.

I never looked at Juanita and Carlton like a child does a "mommy" or "daddy." They were more like a big sister and brother. There's a whole lot more I could say about them, but I'll just sum it up like Rod Stewart did in his classic, "Young Hearts": Young hearts be free tonight. / Time is on your side.

But time wasn't, and I don't want to talk about it anymore. Would you?

Nah . . .

New York, and who I am now, are a long way from Miss Roxy's fried-chicken-and-tripe sandwiches and Juanita and Carlton getting high out of their minds. At thirty five years old I've got a lovely life. I'm at the top of my game as the premiere party promoter in New York City, smiling all the way to the bank, and free of male drama. I set the rules with the men in my life, and they either play by them or they've gotta go.

Juanita told me that when she first looked into my eyes she saw I was destined for greatness and that's why she gave me my name. Carlton, on the other hand, was just happy I had ten fingers and ten toes. Destiny Day . . . pretty cool name, right? It fits. I may be like Juanita when it comes to money and my insatiable thirst to fill my cup of life to the rim, and swallow it in one huge gulp, but let me be clear, I'm not like her. I'm never going to make the same mistakes she made.


Disk One
To the Beat Y'all


1 LADIES FIRST
2 LET'S GET IT STARTED
3 PUMP UP THE VOLUME
4 DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE
5 THE BREAKS
6 WHAT A MAN
7 YOU CAN'T PLAY WITH MY YO-YO


Ladies First


Josephine is a stickler for time and hates it when I'm late for tea. Maybe I should call? On second thought, I'd rather not hear her mouth twice. I stepped off the curb at 140th and St. Nicholas and scanned the Avenue. A few gypsy cabs race back and forth, but they're all occupied. Not even the occasional yellow taxi is in sight. I'm thirty minutes late and these Jimmy Choos were not made for walkin'.

I check my watch, zip up my mink-lined leather jacket, and slip on a pair of oversized Jackie O sunglasses. Although the sky's bright and clear, looks can be deceiving. Today's crisp fifty-degree temperature is a reminder that March is a lot closer to January than it is to July. Mother Nature can be extremely unpredictable this time of year in New York, and tomorrow she could blast us with a dose of snow and freezing rain.

I think she does it just to remind us that she's...

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Verlag
Crown
Erscheinungsdatum
2006
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0767921186
ISBN 13 
9780767921183
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
304
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

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