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.

Contributors: Celine Ayala, Kirstin Bews, Laura Dallman, Joanna Dee Das, James Deaville, Robert Fink, Pheaross Graham, Jessica A. Holmes, Maddie House-Tuck, Jake Johnson, Kelly Kessler, Michael Kinney, Carlo Lanfossi, Jason Leddington, Janis McKay, Sam Murray, Louis Niebur, Lynda Paul, Arianne Johnson Quinn, Michael M. Reinhard, Laura Risk, Cassaundra Rodriguez, Arreanna Rostosky, and Brian F. Wright

Introduction: Flash!—Splash

Jake Johnson

Part One: The Road to Vegas

1 On the Edge of the Desert

Robert Fink

2 Reimagining the Popular on the Vegas Circuit: Helen Traubel, Diva Populism, and the Labor of Publicity

Michael M. Reinhard

3 It Was Better When the Mob Ran the Town

Janis McKay

Part Two: Overheard

4 Music as Misdirection

Jason Leddington

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

Lynda Paul

6 Pura Alegria: Young Adult Musicians Learning Mariachi in Schools and Participating in the Las Vegas Mariachi Scene

Cassaundra Rodriguez and Celine Ayala

Part Three: Second Chances

7 The Master and the Mob: Noël Coward's Musical Identity in the Golden Age of Las Vegas

Arianne Johnson Quinn

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

Brian F. Wright

9 Celine Dion and Cher's Vegas Residencies: The Envoiced and Embodied Spectacle of Feminine Aging on the Vegas Stage

Jessica A. Holmes and Michael Kinney

Part Four: Virtuoso Fantastique

10 Viva Viagra: Vegas, Elvis, and "A Little Blue Pill"

James Deaville and Kirstin Bews

11 Shall We Go for It? The Hermeneutics of Celine Dion's Las Vegas Show

Sam Murray

12 Liberace's Surfaces: Democratic Virtuosity, American Fantasies, and Vegas Pianism

Pheaross Graham

Part Five: Making Book

13 Comedy Tonight: Broadway Musicals on the Las Vegas Strip

Arreanna Rostosky

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

Laura Risk

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

Louis Niebur

Part Six: Leaving Vegas

16 The Real Deal: Impersonation and the American Dream in Branson and Vegas

Joanna Dee Das and Maddie House-Tuck

17 Salaciously Family Friendly: The Unlikely Porousness of Sin City and the American Boob...