May 15 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the city of Las Vegas, a city so near and dear to my heart I just had to commerate this occasion with, what else, a lounge singer. It's said that Vegas casinos started offering free entertainment in their casino lounges in the '50s as a way to keep the wives and girlfriends of the gangsters who were running things in those days happy while the boys were gambling. Most lounge records were not sold in stores - you had to purchase these often self-produced records from the performers themselves (hey, if they had a record contract, would they be working lounges 6 nites a week, 3 shows a nite?). Years later, they turn up in thrift-stores, used record sales, garages sales, etc. From whence comes today's selection, taken from an album called "The Many Moods Of Mike Hudson" which, judging by the leisure suit he's wearing on the cover is probably from the dawn of the '70s. Can't find any biographical info on him, and the liner notes only mention he performs in Southern California.
Original compositions are rare on these records (covers of "Proud Mary," "You've Lost That Lovin Feeling" and "The Lady Is A Tramp" are featured on this album) but here's a Hudson original:
Mike Hudson "I'll Take Las Vegas"
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