The Neon Gutter Podcast features Host Burt Cohen, and raconteurs Dan and Matt recalling a forgotten Las Vegas, the dives and dumps, the thick haze of smoke, the pungent smells, hustlers, anglers, and watered-down cocktails served in paper cups by waitresses older (and possibly more dead) than your grandmothers. And the smells that never wash out. This is a podcast you can really smell.
The Neon Gutter recounts the “Forlorn Decades,” a time after the Rat Pack, when the mob was in decline and the corporate bean counters hadn’t yet set their sights on Las Vegas. Casinos were still owned by families who enticed a dwindling crowd to take a seat at their nickel slots with two-dollar steaks, topless showgirls, and free decks of cards.
While the Neon Gutter is a time and a feeling, it’s also a place. Specifically, the title refers to the rough edges of Downtown, where intrepid seekers of adventure wandered off the beaten path to find cheap and unsavory thrills in casinos and bars not listed in travel guides and not welcoming of tourists. It’s a Vegas in in the shadows of the giants, where the neon flickered, the carpet was worn through, and blood occasionally spilled.
Dan, Matt, and their friends wandered down every alley, into every smoke-hazed den and uninviting bar, and danced in every lounge that posted a “No Dancing” sign. They ate 15-cent hot dogs, pumped rolls of pennies into decrepit slots, climbed through windows and went through closed doors to find the backside of Las Vegas. Theirs are the stories of hustles, pranks, shrimp cocktail eating contests, condemned hotels, shady strip joints, impromptu accordion concerts, and decades-long friendships. And the smells. Oh, lord, the smells.
Burt hosts the Neon Gutter. He is a documentarian who hails from Chicago. He joined the Neon Gutter after reading the group’s early adventures online and refusing to believe any of it. He finally got the courage to join the crew on one of its weekends. After a long night drinking Sambuca with semi-conscious octogenarian burlesque stars at the Western’s dollar blackjack tables, a secret ritual involving blood and a Casio synthesizer, he was welcomed into the crew. He is the holder of three Solar System Series of Poker bracelets and the director of the film “Presto, P.I.”
Dan lives in the Bay Area. The poet laureate of the group, he coined the term “Neon Gutter” and was one of its first habitants. He was a pioneer of the crew’s Cheapo aesthetic, and the inventor of the alphabet drinking game (though he has never made it all the way to Z in a single weekend, always getting stuck at X). He is still prone to flights of sudden insight into what all the novelty cigars, fluorescent cocktails, and hours of craps add up to. Dan was featured as the criminal genius Mr. Slick in “Presto, P.I.”
Matt calls Colorado home. He introduced his friends to Las Vegas and led the first chaotic trips into the desert. He’ll try anything, or at least convince others to try it. Matt founded BigEmpire.com where the Neon Gutter crew documented their follies. He was the first to try Four Loko, and encourages his friends to keep drinking it. His preferences tend toward ladies’ cigarettes and what professional drunkards call “girl drinks.” He played flamboyant magician-turned-detective Sigmund in “Presto, P.I.” His friends keep saying he annoys easily, and that really pisses him off.
The Neon Gutter Podcast’s wonderful theme music is courtesy of Rosin Coven.
Special thank you to our guests and frequent partners in crime, including: Amy (Shovey), Ghizal (DJ Juice G), Jeff (Ffej), Jerry (String Cheese), Lucky Ned, Mike (Mad Geek), Phil (Bagels), Robert (Shakes), Stevie (Fine Print).
The Neon Gutter is a Big Empire Production, Randy Shandis, Executive Producer. All audio and written content is ©Big Empire Industries.