Viva Las Vegas has been a force in the arts for over a decade, performing on stage as a stripper and as a singer, appearing on several TV shows and in more than a dozen films, and writing and interviewing for publications both local and national. Born in the Midwest as Liv Østhus and educated at Williams College in Massachusetts, her unusual resume includes Paranoid Park and First Kiss (films by Gus Van Sant); The Auteur (a James Westby film); and articles in The New York Times, Village Voice, Portland Monthly, and Exotic Magazine. Her band, Coco Cobra and the Killers, has recorded two albums: Want You and The “I Need Sex” Sessions. She is frequently interviewed as a spokesperson for strippers and her first book, Magic Gardens (Dame Rocket Press, © 2009) has been called “as affecting as Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer” by poet and NPR regular Andrei Codrescu.
