Sunday, September 21, 2008

Impressive Greeting

Two of the most famous man-marks of Las Vegas are the volcano in front of the Mirage and the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" neon sign that greets those driving north on Las Vegas Boulevard upon reaching the Strip. One is changing and the other, well, for now, it is staying put.

The Mirage is redoing its iconic volcano in front of the casino. The refreshed volcano was set for a fall opening with a press conference expected prior to announce the details. But that press conference did not take place until Wednesday. Now the opening is going to be scheduled for early December.

The big headline is that in addition to ramping up the explosion and adding a fire dance in the lagoon, part of the $25 million renovation will include a new soundtrack, lasting seven minutes, to the Volcano eruption written by former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and his co-composer, Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain. The press conference was held at the Love theater at Mirage because there Hart's music could be carefully and loudly presented with a custom Meyer speaker system, the same company working on the volcano's score sound presentation. Talk about great expectations ???

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