Las Vegas Lit
Book release for local lass is a sizzling soiree
Posted by: John Chandler on Oct 12, 2009 at 10:00AM
8 Comments
Magic Gardens is the name of Viva Las Vegas’s memoirs, and it refers to the infamous Old Town strip joint of the same name.
View Slideshow »Emcee Tres Shannon of Voodoo Doughnuts fame, and poet Walt Curtis, a collaborator of Gus Van Sant’s, were just two of the famous faces in this crowd.
View Slideshow »Hey ladies! Writer and rock fan Pennie Lane (left) shares the stage with the gal of the hour, Viva Las Vegas. Lane was the subject of the Cameron Crowe film Almost Famous where she was portrayed by Kate Hudson.
View Slideshow »The dancer’s name is Ruby and she can usually be found working the stages at Mary’s Club and Lucky Devil Lounge.
View Slideshow »Industrial tape artist and dancer Mona Superhero favored the crowd with some prose and poses.
View Slideshow »A veritable sea of fans clustered around the stage with bouquets for Ms. Las Vegas
View Slideshow »Burlesque legend Lucy Fur flew in from Los Angeles to make the scene and shimmy the night away.
View Slideshow »Tylor H. Neist from the Red Sneaker Chamber Players gathers cash for the dancers, as well as discarded underthings. It’s a thankless job, but someone’s got to do it.
View Slideshow »Nikita the fire dancer proved to be one of the hottest acts on the bill.
View Slideshow »Dancer Charlotte Treuse loses her legging during a provocative number.
View Slideshow »Singer, actress, playwright, and famous femme Storm Large shares a laugh with dancer Malice, who can be seen at Sassy’s, Devil’s Point, and in the James Westby film, The Auteur.
View Slideshow »Let’s rock! Time to put down the book and pick up the mike. Viva Las Vegas smolders on stage with her band Coco Cobra and the Killers.
Richard Meltzer (author, poet, Blue Oyster Cult songwriter): What are you doing here?
Me: I’m covering Viva’s party for the society pages.
Richard Meltzer: Hmmmph. Some society.
It was a very Portland cross-section of humanity—musicians, poets, strippers, and sundry riff-raff including myself—that crammed itself into Dante’s last Tuesday night. The occasion was the book release party for Magic Gardens, the spicy memoirs of stripper, writer, rocker, bartender, and cancer survivor Viva Las Vegas, a name that should be familiar to Portland Monthly readers for her recent entry in the pages of this very periodical. Most everyone present (except me, apparently) was dressed in old Hollywood-style finery, showing off in glittery gowns and crisply-pressed suits.
Like I said, the place was jammed and the wait for a drink tested my usual Job-like patience to the snapping point. But emcee Tres Shannon, the world’s most distinguished doughnut entrepreneur, kept up a lively stream of patter, introducing local notables like Storm Large, Pennie Lane, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, and Walt Curtis to the stage to read racy passages from Magic Gardens. There was also a performance by Viva’s ripping rock band Coco Cobra and the Killers, and a bevy of beauteous dancers, including the legendary Lucy Fur, tantalized us to distraction, which went a long way toward easing the pain from the eternal drink lines.
Take a gander at our web-exclusive slideshow of this auspicious event, shot by photographer Kerosene Rose.
Va-va-va-Viva! So so proud and thrilled.
who will play Viva in the movie? For that matter, who will play Bar Pilot?
Viva will be played by Viva. I will, as always, be portrayed by Ernest Borgnine.
If they don’t make a movie of Magic Gardens, it will be criminal. I say Gus Van Sant should direct. He’d do it proud.
Why is the Bar Pilot always mysteriously missing from all photos of every blog post? Surely a nice shot of you with Viva should have been the order of the evening—for posterity.
The Bar Pilot has been known to dissolve camera lenses.
Liar, liar, pants on fire. I’ve seen pictures of you, and no camera was harmed in the making of said photos. Go directly back to Viva Las Vegas, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Go forth and smile with the big punny grin your momma gave ya!
Bar Pilot, you really must do a better job of keeping me informed about such happenings.