Apparently they didn't watch the recent season ending efforts from South Park, which lampooned hologram performances and the current state of the music industry, or maybe they couldn't see past the dollar signs: Hologram USA is reportedly working hand in hand with the Liberace Foundation for The Performing and Creative Arts to create a hologram version of the pianist for a feature-length Las Vegas show, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The lengths that the promoters are going to to create a lifelike Liberace are impressing, even if the concept as a whole seems skeezy: They plan on working the performer's actual belongings (we imagine a piano would be the centerpiece) and create a show in which the performer could "interact" with the audience. What constitutes an "interaction" hans't been defined.
No date has been given at which to expect the launch of such a show, nor has there been a venue suggested to host the event. Hologram USA does suggest that a worldwide launch would follow the Vegas debut however.
The Liberace Foundation put a positive spin on things, probably realizing that writers such as your correspondent would have their doubts: "[Hologram USA] understands what Liberace was about and are vested in his legacy. Earnings will help us find and fund a new talent just waiting to be discovered."
We'll have to see how that plan pans out but we won't complain if a chunk of the change goes toward charitable efforts. Dubious nonetheless.
Although Hologram USA did not create the Tupac Shakur that appeared at Coachella, it claims to own the license for the system used to project the hologram.
