Cult
Vegas
Mike Weatherford
If
you want to really experience the soul and spirit of classic Vegas,
you can either mix a martini, throw on a Dean Martin LP, or pick
up a copy of Cult Vegas (Huntington Press) by Mike Weatherford.
The book is a celebratory swing through the glitzy glory years
of the city that personifies Lounge in the popular imagination.
(At least it used to, before the clueless corporate coin-counters
ordered the demolition of all the classic hipster hangouts, like
The Sands and The Dunes, forever banishing The Mecca of Cool to
the intangible imagination of The Cocktail Nation.)
Cult
Vegas
spotlights a stunning assortment of sizzling, often sleazy, always
absorbing true-life stories, complete with snazzy snapshots of
marquee mainstays, like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Louis Prima,
Keely Smith, Shecky Green, Sammy Davis, Jr., Tom Jones, Johnny
Carson, Ann-Margaret, Wayne Newton, and many more. Readers also
get the skinny on the down-and-dirty, dusk-till-dawn lounge lizards
and burlesque B-girls, including The Treniers, Lili St. Cyr, Mamie
Van Doren, Tura Satana, Regina Carrol, Don Rickles, Joe E. Lewis,
Redd Foxx, and even Bela Lugosi! And forget Siegfried and Roythe
magical match-up of Liberace and Vampira has got to be the weirdest
combo in the town's hyped-up history. Interviews with many of
the actual participants in this perpetual party are like tonic
for gin: they make it all go down that much smoother, and you
still get a beautiful buzz.
Weatherford's
mad mob of memories economically encompasses all aspects of the
classic Vegas cult, which ironically has grown more passionate
and pervasive in the wake of its own untimely suicide. The book
is like a literary drive-in: just sit back, relax, and vicariously
enjoy the racy reveries unfolding like elaborate stripteases before
your enchanted eyes. This would be the perfect bedside companion
while in Vegas to witness the impending implosion of The Desert
Inn.
-Will
"The Thrill" Viharo
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