The Possibility Machine

Music and Myth in Las Vegas

Jake Johnson, Celine Ayala, Kirstin Bews , Laura Dallman

$68.99

Paperback

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English

University of Illinois Press
10 October 2023

Music reviews & criticism; Media, information & communication industries

Series: Music in American Life

Singular and star-studded writings on America’s neon-lit playground 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

Contributions by: Celine Ayala, Kirstin Bews, Laura Dallman, Joanna Dee Das
Edited by: Jake Johnson
Imprint: University of Illinois Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 25mm
ISBN: 9780252087530
ISBN 10: 0252087534
Series: Music in American Life
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 10 October 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jake Johnson is an associate professor of musicology at Oklahoma City University. He is the author of Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America and Lying in the Middle: Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America.