The Possibility Machine : Music and Myth in Las Vegas / edited by Jake Johnson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Johnson, Jake, 1984- editor.

Series:

Music in American life.

Music in American Life Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Performing arts--Nevada--Las Vegas--History--20th century.

Performing arts.

Entertainers--Nevada--Las Vegas--History--20th century.

Entertainers.

Music trade--Nevada--Las Vegas.

Music trade.

Identity (Psychology)--Nevada--Las Vegas.

Identity (Psychology).

Las Vegas (Nev.)--History--20th century.

Las Vegas (Nev.).

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (373 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Urbana, Illinois : University of Illinois Press, [2023]

Summary:

"At once a Technicolor wonderland and the embodiment of American mythology, Las Vegas exists at the Ground Zero of a reverence for risk-taking and the transformative power of a winning hand. Jake Johnson edits a collection of short essays and flash ideas that probes how music-making and soundscapes shape the City of Second Chances. Treating topics ranging from Cher to Cirque de Soleil, the contributors delve into how music and musicians factored in the early development of Vegas's image; the role of local communities of musicians and Strip mainstays in sustaining tensions between belief and disbelief; the ways aging showroom stars provide a sense of timelessness that inoculates visitors against the outside world; the link connecting fantasies of sexual prowess and democracy with the musical values of Liberace and others; considerations of how musicians and establishments gambled with identity and opened the door for audience members to explore Sin City-only versions of themselves; and the echoes and energy generated by the idea of Las Vegas as it travels across the country"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

On the Edge of the Desert / Robert Fink

Reimagining the Popular on the Vegas Circuit: Helen Traubel, Diva Populism, and the Labor of Publicity / Michael M. Reinhard

It Was Better When the Mob Ran the Town / Janis McKay

Music as Misdirection / Jason Leddington

Presence, Absence, and Live Virtuality: Soundscapes in Cirque du Soleil on the Las Vegas Strip / Lynda Paul

Pura Alegría: Young Adult Musicians Learning Mariachi in Schools and Participating in the Las Vegas Mariachi Scene / Cassaundra Rodriguez and Celine Ayala

The Master and the Mob: Noël Coward's Musical Identity in the Golden Age of Las Vegas / Arianne Johnson Quinn

Elvis in Vegas: The King of Rock 'n' Roll and the City of Second Chances / Brian FWright

Celine Dion's and Cher's Vegas Residencies: The Envoiced and Embodied Spectacle of Feminine Aging on the Vegas Stage / Jessica A. Holmes and Michael Kinney

Viva Viagra: Vegas, Elvis, and a "Little Blue Pill" / James Deaville and Kirstin Bews

Shall We Go for It? The Viral Hermeneutics of Celine Dion's Las Vegas Show / Sam Murray

Liberace's Surfaces: Democratic Virtuosity, American Fantasies, and Vegas Pianism / Pheaross Graham

Comedy Tonight: Broadway Musicals on the Las Vegas Strip / Arreanna Rostosky

"Trouble Is, We Don't Make the Rules": The Las Vegas Years of Jazz and Classical Violinist / Ginger Smock Laura Risk

"For Adult Audiences Only": A History of LGBTQ Performers on the Las Vegas Stage / Louis Niebur

The Real Deal: Impersonation and the American Dream in Branson and Vegas / Joanna Dee Das and Maddie House-Tuck

Salaciously Family Friendly: The Unlikely Porousness of Sin City and the American Boob Tube / Kelly Kessler

Representation and Value in Michael Daugherty's Las Vegas Works / Laura Dallman

Specters of Mine: Musicological Research in the Desert of the Opera / Carlo Lanfossi

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-252-05501-2

OCLC:

1372289336