March 1, 2011
The Huffington Post interviews Huntington Press author Matt O’Brien and reviews his latest book, My Week at the Blue Angel and Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas.
Below the flashing neon, imagine an underground Las Vegas of winding flood channels, drippy and dark. The channels seem inhabitable if not for the threadbare mattresses and some out-of-place artwork on the walls. People actually live here.
And Las Vegas author Matt O’Brien writes about them — real, raw stories of the desert homeless who were drawn to the Strip’s intrigue but now live unseen, below the surface of the city.
O’Brien, a 14-year Las Vegas resident, is an advocate for the homeless and others who are systematically ignored in Las Vegas. He says he fights for the “losers” versus the “winners,” documenting their stories and running a nonprofit to help the homeless get out of the tunnels.
He recently released his second book, “My Week at the Blue Angel: And Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas”, a nonfiction novel describing his ethnographic experience living with those who make their home at the battered Blue Angel Motel.
Click here to read the full article.
