Word: neon
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...city of such overripe simulacra, whose most characteristic museum is dedicated to the memory of Liberace, what room is there for the clean, piercing, complex presence of real works of art? Not much, you'd think. Any public work of art is apt to pale to invisibility beside those neon signs and huge, crass, mock-Hellenistic sculptures. Nothing a mere environmental sculptor could make would have much luck in drawing the eye away from, say, the outside of the Mirage, with its foaming waterfalls and its artificial volcano that erupts on a regular schedule after dusk, except when (a sign...
This time Las Vegas is going upmarket, trading showgirl pasties for showy Picassos, $3.99 buffets for $20 entrees at Wolfgang Puck's and neon glitz for European glamour. Soon you will be able to ride a gondola through Venice, dine atop a 50-story Eiffel Tower and surf in the ocean. And you'll be happy to pay up for it, or there will be some very unhappy investors. "The driving feature of Vegas will always be gambling, but the days of giving away rooms to gamblers are over," says Stephen Bollenbach, CEO of Hilton, which is building...
...first floor, the glare of neon pink and orange storage lockers greets incoming patrons and the red glow of the video game room lures children into this den of underage gambling...
Looking quite determined, the coiffed white-haired players sit poised with their neon colored "dobbers," waiting for the next number to be called in this intense arena of competition. Suddenly a shrill cry of "BINGO" eminates from the audience and a unanimous disappointed sigh permeates the air. The numbers are read back to check for cheating, as everyone waits with baited breath, hoping that this string of luck is only a farce. Five crisp 20s are quickly distributed to the proud winner, and in true Bingo tradition, the money is laid out over the remaining cards in order to bring...
Quieter but even more arresting is "Electric Light," in which an electric organ at the lowest possible pitch substitutes for a flickering neon sign, illuminating and concealing the body of a female lover at regular intervals. The music never changes, and Harvey just watches, confessing that "she tears my heart out, every time." In the last verse, her voice lilts to a high, thin whisper as though all oxygen had run out of the room; the counterpoint to the neon drone bewitches, and Harvey, ever economical, stops the track early before the moment could be lost...