Hard Rock International Delivers Unprecedented Access to Historic Collection Of Rock 'N' Roll Memorabilia On-Line

Hard Rock International Delivers Unprecedented Access to Historic Collection Of Rock 'N' Roll Memorabilia On-Line

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 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 www.hardrock.com.

Source: Hard Rock International

CONTACT: Brian Siemienas of Hard Rock International, +1-407-445-7625;
Julie Horn, or Marissa Mastellone, both of Dan Klores Communications,
+1-212-685-4300

Web site:

http://www.hardrock.com/
http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/

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