{"product_id":"elvis-in-vegas-how-the-king-reinvented-the-las-vegas-show-9781501151200","title":"Elvis in Vegas: How the King Reinvented the Las Vegas Show","description":"\u003cb\u003e*The inspiration for the CNN original series \u003ci\u003eVegas: The Story of Sin City*\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Outstanding pop-culture history.\" --\u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe \"smart and zippy account\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e) of how Las Vegas saved Elvis and Elvis saved Las Vegas in the greatest musical comeback of all time.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eElvis's 1969 opening night in Vegas was his first time back on a live stage in more than eight years. His career had gone sour--bad movies, mediocre pop songs that no longer made the charts--and he'd been dismissed by most critics as over-the-hill. But in Vegas he played the biggest showroom in the biggest hotel in the city, drawing more people for his four-week engagement than any other show in Vegas history. His performance got rave reviews; \"Suspicious Minds,\" the song he introduced there, gave him his first number-one hit in seven years; and Elvis became Vegas's biggest star. Over the next seven years, he performed more than 600 shows there, and sold out every one. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLas Vegas was changed, too. By the end of the '60s, Vegas' golden age--when the Rat Pack led a glittering array of stars who made it the nation's premier live-entertainment center--was losing its luster. Elvis created a new kind of Vegas show: an over-the-top, rock-concert extravaganza. He set a new bar for Vegas performers, with the biggest salary, the biggest musical production, and the biggest promotion campaign the city had ever seen. He opened the door to a new generation of pop\/rock artists and brought a new audience to Vegas--not the traditional well-heeled older gamblers, but a mass audience from Middle America that Vegas depends on for its success to this day. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt once \"a fascinating history of Vegas as gambling capital, celebrity playground, mob hangout, [and] entertainment Valhalla\" (\u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e) and the incredible \"tale of how the King got his groove back\" (Associated Press), \u003ci\u003eElvis in Vegas\u003c\/i\u003e is a classic feel-good story for the ages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eZoglin, Richard:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Richard Zoglin is a contributor to \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e magazine and the author of \u003ci\u003eHope\u003c\/i\u003e: \u003ci\u003eEntertainer of the Century\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eComedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eElvis in Vegas: How the King Reinvented the Las Vegas Show\u003c\/i\u003e. A native of Kansas City, Zoglin currently lives in New York City.","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50493570089234,"sku":"9781501151200","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_49ef32b2-7445-409f-9d10-23db754dce21.jpg?v=1730651594","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/elvis-in-vegas-how-the-king-reinvented-the-las-vegas-show-9781501151200","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}