(Apologies if you're a professorial type who is disappointed we didn't footnote or index the book -- those little numbers that interrupt the copy always seemed sort of annoying to me. I hope the scholarships that went into the book speaks for itself. The names and dates are as accurate as my mainstream journalism training and experience can make them.)

Currently, my stories and reviews run in the Friday Neon section of the Review-Journal, and my entertainment columns run on Tuesays and Sundays.

I don't think it's a cliché to say it takes a whole lifetime to write your first book. As a kid, my primary fascination and curiosity about Las Vegas came from two movies: "Diamonds Are Forever" and "The Night Stalker." The former was the first James Bond movie I saw in a theater. The latter was the talk of our sixth-grade class the morning after it aired on ABC's "Monday Night Movie." Even the teacher had been scared.

At various points in my Las Vegas tenure, it seemed as though I was the right person in the right place to write either an "Elvis in Vegas" book or the first comprehensive history of the Vegas lounge scene. Both ideas had their merits. But the former seemed too repetitive of all those other Elvis books out there, and the latter seemed too daunting for a journalist with a day job, and perhaps even too restrictive in its commercial potential.

Finally, I decided to combine these and others into a concept that's really only defined by my interests and those of other cocktail music and cult movie buffs. It all seemed to fall in place from there. I'm the kind of person who doesn't mind scrolling through microfilm for hours, but only if it's something I'm interested in.

I don't even know where to begin to describe the number of lucky breaks that made it seem as though this book was meant to be. For example: I knew cult director Ted V. Mikels ("Astro-Zombies," "The Corpse Grinders") lived here in Las Vegas, but never had the opportunity to look him up. Lo and behold, Eric Caidin of Hollywood Book & Poster decided to come to town and host a Mikels film retrospective at the Huntridge theater. Suddenly I had a good reason to interview Ted for the Review-Journal. He in turn put me in touch with Tura Satana -- who was working as a casino security guard in Reno(!), and told me about her past as a Las Vegas burlesque dancer. What "Faster Pussycat" fan wouldn't be amazed to know that? A lot of the book seemed to fall together in just that charmed manner.

In keeping with the spirit of the book, what you see on the cover of "Cult Vegas" is a real photo that used no computer manipulation (other than to overlay the subtitle). Graphic artist Pat Tierney sculpted the "Cult Vegas" sign out of balsa wood, and he built a tabletop diorama, which he and photographer Brian J. Smith then lighted and photographed to dramatic effect.

I knew Pat had to do the cover of the book for a couple of reasons: First and foremost was the time when Tony Orlando held the microphone in front of his face at the Golden Nugget and had him sing an entire verse of "When You Wish Upon A Star." Talk about pressure -- the man didn't crack.

Second, I had seen Pat's work for the fanzine Lounge and his amazing album/single artwork for the covers of the Dionysus label's Les Baxter "Lost Episode," as well as Korla Pandit's "Exotica 2000" and my favorite: the "Blast Off!" single by The Wonderful World of Joey with Korla Pandit.

Pat is also co-creator of the underground video hit "Don From Lakewood." He and Joe Sehee were kingpins in Los Angeles' lounge revival movement of the '90s. If you ever caught Joe's at Kelbo's "Kel Bowl," with Pat giving voice and soul to the Topo Fromagio puppet, consider yourself privileged indeed.