Spectacle: True Crime

Host Brent Holmes brings S1 host Mariah Smith on to talk true crime. In this episode, the two dish on three outrageous true crime stories to come out of Las Vegas. They'll dig into Heather Tallchief’s $3.1 million dollar casino heist, the problematic valorizing of LV casino legend and alleged murderer Benny Binion, and the serial killer you probably have never heard of: Samuel Little. Plus, we get a sneak peak of what’s to come in season three.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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The Las Vegas residency hasn’t always had the best reputation. Cher, a resident singer herself, once told a journalist that Las Vegas was an “elephant graveyard, where talent goes to die.” But Cher and others have proven that’s not the case. Celine Dion went to Vegas when her career wasn’t exactly peaking and she broke records as the highest grossing resident artist of all time. And then in 2013, pop star Britney Spears took the residency to a whole new level. That's what this episode is about: the revival of the Las Vegas residency.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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In Vegas, during a fight weekend, everyone in town knows why you’re there. There’s a camaraderie. It's like no other city in the world. But how did Las Vegas become a boxing mecca to rival New York or Chicago? In this episode, host Brent Holmes talks to Fight Town author Tim Dahlberg and GQ contributor Alex Pappademas on the evolution of Vegas as the boxing epicenter of the country, and the larger than life personas that put it on the map.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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Films like Ocean’s 11 fulfill this fantasy of beating the house. But in reality, it’s a lot more complex. Because casinos are well-oiled machines. They’re watching everything. Not only that, they’re designed to subconsciously guide you where they want you to go – from the carpet design to the shape of a chair to the decibel level of the slot machine. It’s all carefully curated to keep you there and keep you spending money. Before you know it, you’ve been sitting in the casino all day, feeding it your money without really even thinking about it. Nobody really beats the house. Host Brent Holmes is joined by film critic Christopher Lawrence, and anthropologist and media professor Natasha Dow Schull.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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“What Happens Here, Stays Here” became the motto of Las Vegas in 2003. But for many, the 2009 movie The Hangover solidified that slogan. The guys in the film have a bachelor party replete with trashed hotel rooms, tigers in bathrooms and blackout nuptials. There’s a lot of toxic bro tropes – homophobic slurs, objectifying women. In this episode, media scholar Patricia Ventura and journalist and ex-cocktail server Brittany Bronson tell us how both the film and the city itself are really catered to the male gaze. And what happens there, does stay there for the people who live and work there.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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Las Vegas, for many, is a place where you can play by your own rules and get away with it too. And for Hollywood Madame, Heidi Fleiss, Nevada was the place where her dreams of creating an all-male brothel could come true, but it wasn’t that easy. Even though brothels are legal in parts of the state, its relationship with sex is still fraught. Las Vegas, "Sin City," thrives on selling a certain type of sex but criminalizes others. In this episode, Host Brent Holmes speaks to podcaster Molly Lambert, sex workers Quinn Rain and Alice Little and sex educator Amanda Morgan on Nevada's nuanced relationship with sex.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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Director Paul Verhoeven was considered kind of an auteur in the ‘90s.  Basic Instinct got critical acclaim. So by 1995, when he announced his new film Showgirls, people were excited.  It was intended to be a gritty expose on the legendary Vegas performers. But it wasn’t. At all. In this episode, Host Brent Holmes talks to former showgirls, learning that the life of the showgirl was more nuanced, that they had to fight for equity and respect on the stage. And, he’s joined by drag performer Peaches Christ, who helped solidify the film as a cult classic.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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By the late 60s, that Vegas “anything goes” philosphy was fully solidified. And look no further than Hunter S. Thompson’s drug-fueled literary romp, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, to see this on full display. In making his surreal, snide and colorful portrait of Las Vegas – Thompson would later be accused of erasing the identity of the man who helped tell the tale. And that’s what this episode is about, how Thompson capitalized on a fantastical version of Vegas, and his friend – Chicano journalist Oscar Acosta – to promote the enduring representation of Las Vegas as “Sin City.” So what did he leave out? And what do people continue to leave out to espouse this fever dream fantasy of Vegas as a vice vacation? Host Brent Holmes digs into it with filmmaker Phillip Rodriguez and writers Zach Baron, Abby Aguirre and Scott Dickensheets.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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Las Vegas has a way of forgetting its history. Like many cities across America, Vegas was segregated. From the ‘40s through integration, The Strip welcomed whites only, forcing Black people to live on the other side of the tracks. On the Westside. But they made it home, with hotels, restaurants and bars of their own. This week, Brent dives into the brief yet brilliant history of the first integrated casino, the Moulin Rouge, exploring what integration actually looked like for Black performers. And now, how the residents of the Historic Westside have recently taken its future into their own hands, breeding hope for a second renaissance, maybe one even better than the last.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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Las Vegas, through the eyes of Martin Scorsese, is where you went to be legit. It's where a criminal could operate out in the open. Dark alleys and dimly lit rooms were traded for c-suite offices. In Vegas, you could make real money. Casino was the perfect vehicle to show how the mobster went mainstream – in Vegas – and in our culture. In this episode, we’ll dive into the tropes of the film. And how, to this day, the problematic backstory of Vegas is celebrated – even though, you know, it came through stealing tax dollars and, you know, murder. Host Brent Holmes will explore what our romance with mobsters says about us.

A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production.

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