Hard Rock's World-Famous Collection Of Music Artifacts Now Available With
The Click Of A Mouse Through Microsoft's Revolutionary Silverlight 2 With
Deep Zoom Technology
ORLANDO, Fla., May 5 -- With the launch of Hard Rock's
historic new memorabilia website, http://memorabilia.hardrock.com, the
greatest collection of music artifacts is now available to millions of fans
worldwide at the click of a mouse. Leveraging Microsoft's revolutionary new
Silverlight 2 with Deep Zoom technology, key pieces from Hard Rock's
collection of the world's most evocative and valuable music memorabilia --
displayed at its cafes, hotels, casinos and live venues worldwide -- are
now available for viewing online.
The new Hard Rock memorabilia site is the first live website in the
world to be powered by Microsoft Silverlight 2 with Deep Zoom. The
technology enables music fans and web users to experience iconic music
memorabilia in tremendous depth and quality, capturing a level of detail
unseen at even the real-life artifact display. Users can magnify John
Lennon's handwriting on the lyrics to "Imagine," the TV tuner knob that Bo
Diddley re-purposed for his first hand-built guitar and the script from The
Jonathan Winters Show -- where TV writers tried to censor the Lizard Kings'
famous line in "Light my Fire" -- all from the ease of web access. The site
also invites fans into the history behind each iconic piece, delivering the
story of where wardrobe pieces were worn, instruments played or notes
written in explicit detail. Users can view hundreds of pieces of legendary
music paraphernalia sorted by featured artist name, genre, type, decade and
location.
"Hard Rock is always looking for innovative ways to allow more fans to
experience the rock 'n' roll history it represents," says Sean Dee, Vice
President and Chief Marketing Officer, Hard Rock International. "Hard
Rock's memorabilia is extremely valuable and must be handled with extreme
care, so we wanted to find a more practical way to bring the collection to
a broader audience around the world. With Silverlight, we were able to
build an application that allows us to make our collection accessible and
highly interactive for millions of fans worldwide."
The Birth of Hard Rock Memorabilia
The birth of Hard Rock International's memorabilia collection is itself
a part of music history. The collection began when Eric Clapton, a regular
customer at the original Hard Rock Cafe London, asked the staff if he could
hang his guitar on the wall to mark his favorite bar stool as "his spot."
One week later a package from The Who's Pete Townshend arrived with a
guitar and a note bearing the message, "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete."
Since then, Hard Rock has procured more than 70,000 items, including
guitars and other instruments, clothing and costumes, platinum and gold
LPs, posters and album art and other rare artifacts displayed in Hard Rock
Cafe, Hotel and Casino locations worldwide. The collection spans from Elvis
Presley's 1976 Harley Davidson with custom blue and gold finish, a Jimi
Hendrix Gibson Flying V guitar used on Rainbow Bridge, the Beatles' Magical
Mystery Tour Bus to Jim Morrison's famous brown leather pants worn at The
Doors' 1968 show at the Hollywood Bowl and featured on the cover of the
Absolutely Live album.
The Future of Hard Rock Memorabilia Site
Hundreds of memorabilia items are currently available on the
interactive "shrine to rock 'n' roll" and will continue to grow and expand
in content. The site will also introduce new features, such as text and
photo commenting and the ability for visitors to create and share their own
collections of items. The new virtual memorabilia collection will also
allow users to share their favorite pieces of memorabilia or even their
collections in a portable, interactive widget, powered by Microsoft
Silverlight on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. This
new technology will help Hard Rock to bring music history into the future.
Users can access the site at memorabilia.hardrock.com or by logging on to
hardrock.com and clicking "Memorabilia."
About Hard Rock International
With 127 high-energy Hard Rock Cafes and nine Hotels/Casinos in 48
countries, Hard Rock International is one of the world's most globally
recognized brands. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns
the world's greatest collection of music memorabilia, which is displayed at
its locations around the globe. Hard Rock is also known for its collectible
fashion and music-related merchandise, Hard Rock Live performance venues
and an award-winning website. In addition to the two flagship Seminole Hard
Rock Hotels and Casinos in Tampa and Hollywood, Fla., Hard Rock
Hotels/Casinos are located in Las Vegas, Biloxi, Orlando, Chicago, San
Diego, Pattaya and Bali. Additional hotel and casino projects have been
announced in Macau and Penang, both scheduled to open in 2009; Palm
Springs, Atlanta and Panama, scheduled to open in 2010; and Dubai,
scheduled to open in 2011. Hard Rock Park, located in Myrtle Beach, is the
world's first rock 'n' roll theme park. Hard Rock International, Inc. is
owned by Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment, Inc. For more information on
Hard Rock, visit http://www.hardrock.com.
