Matthew O'Brien

Last updated
Matthew O'Brien
Born (1970-09-04) September 4, 1970 (age 53)
Washington, D.C.
OccupationAuthor, editor, journalist, teacher
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUS
Education University of West Georgia (BA)
University of Nevada Las Vegas (MFA)
Genre Creative nonfiction
Fiction
Poetry
Subject Las Vegas
Homelessness
Drug abuse
Mental illness
Popular culture
Notable worksBeneath the Neon
My Week at the Blue Angel
Dark Days, Bright Nights
Website
beneaththeneon.com

Matthew O'Brien (born in 1970) is an American author, journalist, editor and teacher who writes about the seedier side of Las Vegas. His most well-known work is the nonfiction book Beneath the Neon , which documents the homeless population living in the underground flood channels of the Las Vegas Valley. He lived in Las Vegas from 1997 to 2017. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and education

O'Brien, who grew up in the Atlanta, Georgia, area, graduated in 1988 from Decatur High School, where he was a shooting guard on the basketball team. He attended Georgia State University and was a member of the team that advanced to the 1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. [3] He was also a member of the University of West Georgia's 1993-'94 team, which qualified for the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament. O'Brien graduated from West Georgia with a Bachelor's degree in history. [4] He taught English and in the Honors College at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he earned a MFA in creative writing. [5]

Career

He worked as a staff writer, news editor and managing editor of the alternative weekly Las Vegas CityLife from 2000 to 2008. While at the paper, he co-wrote two cover stories about exploring the underground flood channels of Las Vegas after reading about Timmy "TJ" Weber, who was suspected (and later convicted) of murdering his girlfriend and her son, raping her daughter and attempting to kill another son. Weber used the drains to evade the police. [6] O'Brien discovered hundreds of homeless people living in the storm drains.

His research about and interviews from inside the underground flood channels are detailed in his book Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas, released in June 2007. [7] This book has been reviewed or written about by several media outlets, including Publishers Weekly , [8] Kirkus Reviews , [9] Wired , [10] Der Spiegel , [11] Le Monde , and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Nightline , The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric , Al Jazeera, [12] CNN, NPR, the BBC, [13] the Associated Press and other national and international media outlets have done stories about the tunnels and the tunnel-dwellers. [14] [15] [16] [17]

CNN's Michael Cary went into the tunnels with O'Brien and described him as "an expert on the more than 300 miles of underground flood channels and its tunnel dwellers." [18]

O'Brien's second book, My Week at the Blue Angel: And Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas, released November 15, 2010, is a collection of creative-nonfiction stories set in off-the-beaten-path Vegas, including the Blue Angel Motel on East Fremont Street that was known for prostitution, drug dealing and violence, and the case of Jessie Foster, an international endangered missing Canadian woman lured to Las Vegas who disappeared 10 months later. [19] Jessie is thought to be the victim of human trafficking. Earlier versions of many of the stories in the collection were originally cover stories in Las Vegas CityLife.

O'Brien is the founder of Shine a Light, a nonprofit organization that provides housing, drug counseling and other services to the homeless people living in the drains. In a January 2011 article, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution described how O'Brien's work in the tunnels "turned into a 4½-year obsession for O'Brien, where he wound up documenting a population he suspects no one except a handful of police officers knew existed." [20] CBS News correspondent Seth Doane, who went underneath the Las Vegas Strip with O'Brien in the summer of 2010, wrote that "O'Brien's interest has turned into advocacy" in his efforts to help the homeless. [21]

American Public Media's "The Story" segment covered O'Brien's efforts to help homeless people when they interviewed O'Brien and featured a homeless man in April 2011. [22]

On September 3 and 4, 2013, O'Brien appeared on the Dr. Phil Show in a two-part series after O'Brien escorted professional locator Troy Dunn into the underground flood channels of Las Vegas. There, they found a homeless mother, Cyndi, who'd been separated from her four daughters for several years. [23] In the second episode of the show, Cyndi appeared with Dr. Phil and reunited with her daughters in the studio. At the end of the show, Dr. Phil offered Cyndi and her husband, Rick, rehab and family-counseling services, which they accepted. Dr. Phil discussed O'Brien's book Beneath the Neon. [24]

In March 2015, Seeker (media company) profiled O'Brien on the air as he explored the tunnels and interacted with residents. [25]

In January 2016, O'Brien raised more than $13,000 in 24 hours through Crowdrise for his nonprofit Shine a Light to benefit homeless people living in tunnels beneath the Las Vegas Strip. [26]

After three tunnel dwellers died in June 2016 in a flash flood, O'Brien and a homeless man known as "Jazz" appeared on NPR's southern Nevada affiliate KNPR to talk about the flood, in which Jazz's longtime girlfriend Sharon drowned. [27] O'Brien's nonprofit, Shine a Light, helped one of the flood victim's families with expenses surrounding the death. [28]

In July 2017, O'Brien relocated to San Salvador in Central America to teach literature at an English-language preparatory school and to write a sequel to Beneath the Neon about the homeless people who made it out of the storm drains. [29] In an article about O'Brien, the Las Vegas Review-Journal described his move out of the country as the "man who shined light on Las Vegas' tunnel dwellers (is) moving on." [2]

Central Recovery Press released the sequel, titled Dark Days, Bright Nights: Surviving the Las Vegas Storm Drains, in November 2020. Kirkus Reviews noted that the book "chronicles how one group of homeless people were able to leave tunnel life behind," [30] while Coachella Valley Independent described it as "redemption stories" that "cast light on a rarely seen side of Las Vegas and offer a portrait of homelessness and recovery in America." [31] On November 17, on Dark Days, Bright Nights' release date, the Reno Gazette Journal published a related feature story profiling "Half Pint," one of the book’s interviewees, and detailed O’Brien’s background with the tunnels. [32] USA Today picked up the story and ran the article. [33]

His three books are creative nonfiction/literary journalism, but he has also published fiction and poetry. His fiction and poetry have appeared in books, journals, and exhibits, including Interim, [34] Winged Penny Review, [35] Twenty-two Twenty-eight, [36] The Argyle [37] and New Critique. [38] As of March 2024, according to J David Osborne and Kris Saknussemm's Lost Xplorers podcast, Matt was working on a collection of short stories set on the streets of Vegas. [39]

Awards

O'Brien received two Artists Fellowship grants awarded by the Nevada Arts Council in 2007 and 2010 for his nonfiction book projects. [40] [41]

He has won several first-place awards in the Nevada Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest, including Journalist of Merit (given to journalists with less than five years of experience to encourage them to stay in the business) in 2002 [42] and Outstanding Journalist (a top individual award) in 2006. [43]

In November 2011, O'Brien was given the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Silver Pen Award, sponsored by the Friends of the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries. Established in 1996, the Silver Pen recognizes writers who are in mid-career but have already shown substantial achievement. [44] [45] After the announcement of the award, The Nevada Review featured O'Brien in a Q&A article. [46]

Books

Reviews

About O'Brien's book Beneath the Neon, Publishers Weekly wrote, “Continually contrasting the sparkling casinos above with the dank, cobwebbed catacombs below, the observant O’Brien writes with a noirish flair, but his compassion is also evident as he illuminates the lives of these shadowy subterranean dwellers.” [47]

The Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote, “Beneath the Neon accomplishes something most books about Las Vegas do not: It tells us something we didn’t know.” [48]

Reviewer Tod Goldberg wrote in Las Vegas CityLife , "My Week at the Blue Angel finds O'Brien once again searching underneath things for proof that not all is as it first appears. ... But it's when O'Brien talks to people who've seen the edge and blown right past it that his attention to detail as a writer serves him best." [49]

Midwest Book Review wrote, “With plenty of black-and-white photos, My Week at the Blue Angel is a fun and intriguing read that will prove very hard to put down.” [50]

About Dark Days, Bright Nights, Kirkus Reviews wrote, “Powerful and relentlessly honest, the interviews explode myths surrounding homelessness while promoting compassionate views of the growing number of homeless Americans. Compelling reading about what is a depressingly evergreen societal ill.” [51]

About Dark Days, Bright Nights, the Las Vegas Weekly wrote, “With his 2007 book Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas, the journalist told the story of an oft-overlooked and unfortunate population. In his latest book, O’Brien tells the stories of 36 people who lived in the storm drains and attempted to build a better life for themselves. Though some don’t succeed, O’Brien offers many uplifting tales of recovery in this oral history.” [52]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Las Vegas</span> Largest city in Nevada, United States

Las Vegas, often known as Sin City or simply Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-largest in the Southwestern United States. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife, with most venues centered on downtown Las Vegas and more to the Las Vegas Strip just outside city limits. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had 641,903 residents in 2020, with a metropolitan population of 2,227,053, making it the 25th-most populous city in the United States.

The music in Nevada is often associated with the Rat Pack and lounge singers like Wayne Newton playing in Las Vegas, Reno, and Carson City. However, Nevada has launched many other notable artists and bands from a variety of genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luxor Las Vegas</span> Hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada

Luxor Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The resort is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. The Luxor features an ancient Egyptian theme, and includes a 65,214-square-foot (6,058.6 m2) casino and 4,407 hotel rooms. The resort's pyramid is 30 stories and contains the world's largest atrium by volume, measuring 29 million cu ft (0.82 million m3). The tip of the pyramid features a light beam, which shines into the night sky and is the most powerful man-made light in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mole people</span> People who live in tunnels underground

In the United States, the term mole people is sometimes used to describe homeless people living under large cities in abandoned subway, railroad, flood, sewage tunnels, and heating shafts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign</span> United States historic place

The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign is a Las Vegas landmark funded in May 1959 and erected soon after by Western Neon. The sign was designed by Betty Willis at the request of Ted Rogich, a local salesman, who sold it to Clark County, Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riviera (hotel and casino)</span> Former casino hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada

The Riviera was a hotel and casino on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It opened on April 20, 1955, and included a nine-story hotel featuring 291 rooms. The Riviera was the first skyscraper in the Las Vegas Valley, and was the area's tallest building until 1956. Various hotel additions would be made in later years, including a 12-story tower in 1966, a 17-story tower in 1975, and a 24-story tower in 1988. By the time of its closure in 2015, the resort included a 103,800 sq ft (9,640 m2) casino and 2,075 rooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flamingo Las Vegas</span> Casino hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, US

Flamingo Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The Flamingo includes a 72,299 sq ft (6,716.8 m2) casino and a 28-story hotel with 3,460 rooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fremont Street</span> Thoroughfare in Las Vegas, United States

Fremont Street is a street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada that is the second most famous street in the Las Vegas Valley – and Nevada – besides the Las Vegas Strip. Named in honor of explorer and politician, and coordinator of the Sacramento River massacre John C. Frémont and located in the heart of the downtown casino corridor, Fremont Street is today, or was, the address for many famous casinos such as Binion's Horseshoe, Eldorado Club, Fremont Hotel and Casino, Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, Golden Nugget, Four Queens, The Mint, and the Pioneer Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mint Las Vegas</span> Casino hotel in Nevada, United States

The Mint Las Vegas was a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.

<i>Las Vegas Review-Journal</i> Newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area.

The Silver Slipper was a casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It opened on September 1, 1950. It was built just north of the Frontier hotel-casino, and they both shared the same ownership, although the Silver Slipper's gaming operations were later leased out. Businessman Howard Hughes leased the casino from 1968 until his death in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neon Museum</span> Art museum in Las Vegas, Nevada

The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on 2.62 acres (1.06 ha). The museum features a restored lobby shell from the defunct La Concha Motel as its visitors' center, which officially opened on October 27, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neonopolis</span> Entertainment complex in Las Vegas, Nevada

Neonopolis is a shopping center in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Located on Fremont Street at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard, the 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m2) complex features a mix of restaurants, entertainment venues, and shops. In keeping with the complex's name, it contains three miles of neon lights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cromwell Las Vegas</span> Casino hotel in Nevada, United States

The Cromwell Las Vegas is a luxury boutique casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It was originally opened by Michael Gaughan as the Barbary Coast on March 2, 1979. Several nearby resorts were opposed to its construction, partially due to concerns about increased traffic congestion. The property featured Victorian décor and later became part of Gaughan's company, Coast Casinos. The Barbary Coast would go on to add two popular restaurants, and a nightclub by Victor Drai.

Joe Schoenmann is an American journalist and nonfiction author who has lived in Las Vegas since 1997.

<i>The Manhattan Hunt Club</i> 2001 novel by John Saul

The Manhattan Hunt Club is a thriller horror novel by John Saul, published by Ballantine Books on July 31, 2001. The novel follows the story of Jeff Converse, who is falsely convicted of a brutal crime and finds himself trapped in a secret society called the Manhattan Hunt Club.

<i>Beneath the Neon</i> Non-fiction book by Matthew OBrien

Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas is a non-fiction account by author and journalist Matthew O'Brien, with photos by Danny Mollohan. It chronicles the author's time in subterranean Las Vegas. As he pursued a killer who hid in the tunnels, he discovered hundreds of people living underground and interviewed many of them for the book. It was released in June 2007 by Huntington Press.

<i>Tunnel People</i> Book by Teun Voeten

Tunnel People is an anthropological-journalistic account describing an underground homeless community in New York City. It is written by war photographer and anthropologist Teun Voeten and was initially published in his native Dutch in 1996, and a revised English version was published by the Oakland-based independent publishing house PM Press in 2010.

Charles Jon "Chip" Mosher was an educator, poet, author and newspaper columnist who wrote social commentary about education and history, as well as satirical fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Stanford</span> American artist and photographer

James Stanford is an American contemporary artist, photographer, and book publisher based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is best known for his contemporary work inspired by vintage and historical Las Vegas marquees and signage and also for his leadership in the development of the Las Vegas arts community. Stanford is a Buddhist and his practice draws heavily on the principles and philosophies of Zen Buddhism.

References

  1. ↑ "Biography". beneaththeneon.com. Matthew O'Brien. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Man who shined light on Las Vegas' tunnel dwellers moving on". reviewjournal.com. 28 July 2017.
  3. ↑ "Panther Insider Podcast Driven by Ford - Episode 52: Matt O'Brien". 4 February 2021.
  4. ↑ "The Light in the Darkness: UWG Alum Author Pens Illuminating Follow-Up to Best-Seller | UWG". www.westga.edu.
  5. ↑ "Faculty & Staff". unlv.edu.
  6. ↑ "Weber receives death sentence". Las Vegas Review-Journal . February 28, 2003. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  7. ↑ "Las Vegas CityLife Writer's Book Reveals Secret World Beneath the City". Tucson Weekly. May 7, 2007. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  8. ↑ "Beneath the Neon review". Publishers Weekly. April 9, 2007. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  9. ↑ "Review: Beneath the Neon". Kirkus Reviews. May 1, 2007. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  10. ↑ "Reviews: Screen, Music, Print, and Games". Wired. May 22, 2007. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  11. ↑ "Las Vegas: Beneath the Neon". Der Spiegel. August 11, 2009. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  12. ↑ "Today's News". Las Vegas Advisor. October 31, 2009. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  13. ↑ "The secret world beneath Sin City". BBC. October 3, 2009. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  14. ↑ "Under Las Vegas: Tunnels Stretch for Miles". ABC News. September 23, 2009. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  15. ↑ "Las Vegas Tunnels a Refuge for Homeless". CBS News. January 4, 2010. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  16. ↑ "Sucked Into The Tunnels Beneath Las Vegas". NPR. December 4, 2008. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  17. ↑ "Tunnels beneath Las Vegas a refuge for homeless people". The Associated Press (reprinted on SIGN ON San Diego). January 4, 2010. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  18. ↑ "Under Vegas glitz, a dark life in tunnels". CNN. October 24, 2009. Archived from the original on September 17, 2010. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  19. ↑ "The Battle for East Fremont". Las Vegas Weekly . May 13, 2004. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  20. ↑ "Decatur native helps underground homeless population in Las Vegas". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. January 8, 2011. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  21. ↑ "Homeless People Live in Tunnels Under Las Vegas". CBS News. August 10, 2010. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  22. ↑ "Living Underground". American Public Media Living Underground. April 14, 2011. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  23. ↑ "Dr. Phil.com - Shows - Below Rock Bottom". drphil.com.
  24. ↑ "Dr. Phil.com - Shows - Leaving Life in the Tunnels". drphil.com.
  25. ↑ "Living In The Hidden Tunnels Of Las Vegas". Seeker Network.
  26. ↑ "Here's how a Las Vegas writer is crowd funding new lives for homeless people living below the Strip". The Daily Dot. 22 January 2016.
  27. ↑ "Flood Spells Tragedy For Tunnel Dwellers".
  28. ↑ "Homeless Population Vulnerable During Storm". 13 July 2016.
  29. ↑ "Out Of The Darkness: Escaping The Las Vegas Tunnels". knpr.org.
  30. ↑ "DARK DAYS, BRIGHT NIGHTS". Kirkus Reviews.
  31. ↑ "Discovering the Drains: An Excerpt From Matthew O'Brien's 'Dark Days, Bright Nights'". Coachella Valley Independent. November 13, 2020.
  32. ↑ Komenda, Ed. "Leaving the Las Vegas Tunnels: Beth Brower escapes underground hell". Reno Gazette Journal.
  33. ↑ Komenda, Ed. "Leaving the Las Vegas tunnels: Beth Brower escapes underground hell". USA TODAY.
  34. ↑ "El Salvador". Interim. 13 June 2019.
  35. ↑ "Crack Ho". Winged Penny Review.
  36. ↑ "Fiction: The Arrival by Matthew O'Brien". 10 January 2024.
  37. ↑ "Coming to".
  38. ↑ "[Fiction] Bakersfield Breeds Outlaws — Matthew O'Brien". 7 July 2024.
  39. ↑ "189 - Beneath the Neon (W/ Matthew O'brien) | Lost Xplorers".
  40. ↑ "Awards Honor Nevada Artists". NevadaCulture.org. September 30, 2010.
  41. ↑ "Fellowship Recipients". Nevada Arts Council. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  42. ↑ "Nevada Press Association Awards". Las Vegas Review-Journal. September 21, 2003. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  43. ↑ "Sun garners 15 top awards in 2006 state press contest". Las Vegas Sun. September 17, 2006. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  44. ↑ "Nevada Writers Hall of Fame honors cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell". Nevada TODAY. October 26, 2011. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  45. ↑ "The Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Announce Winners". The Nevada Review. September 29, 2011. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  46. ↑ "An Interview with Matthew O'Brien, Winner of the Silver Pen Award". The Nevada Review. October 8, 2011. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  47. ↑ "Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas by Matthew O'Brien".
  48. ↑ "Searching Las Vegas tunnels for the truth". 23 July 2007.
  49. ↑ "Fair and balanced". Las Vegas CityLife archive.ph. November 4, 2010. Archived from the original on 2013-01-27.
  50. ↑ "MBR: Internet Bookwatch, January 2011".
  51. ↑ "DARK DAYS, BRIGHT NIGHTS | Kirkus Reviews".
  52. ↑ "These new Nevada books should keep you busy through the surge - Las Vegas Weekly". 19 November 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.