Las Vegas Weekly

December 8, 2008 · 2 PM

The $100 million man is set to unveil the $25 million Mirage volcano

By Robin Leach

An artist's rendering of The Mirage volcano.

Photo: MGM Mirage

In just a few hours, the newly redesigned $25 million volcano at The Mirage will debut with major eruptions and explosions shooting 900-degree, 60-foot fireballs into the air. About 5 p.m. today after a 10-month shutdown, the earth on the Strip should rumble and then all hell will break loose -- lava will pour down the new mountain, and the flames will be so intense, spectators will feel the heat some 30 feet away!

New Mirage headliner Terry Fator, who won the first season of America’s Got Talent and signed a five-year, $100 million contract to start his shows in February, will emcee the event. On hand will be Mayor Oscar Goodman with a special presentation for Scott Sibella, the resort casino’s president. Also attending the premiere will be Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart, who scored the new and original seven-movement composition that will accompany the flaming spectacle. He partnered with Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain for the unique soundtrack.

Click HERE and HERE for our previous coverage of the new volcano attraction.

Mirage officials are expecting huge crowds on the Strip to witness the first eruption. It will then blaze away every hour for about 8 minutes. Tonight’s premiere will be followed by a one-time-only fireworks display.

Afterwards all the VIPs will trek to the Beatles Revolution Lounge to celebrate, and I will emcee that party because it also will serve as the first sneak preview of what we can all expect when singing ventriloquist Terry unveils his all-new act and cast of talking dolls on Valentine’s Day -- just eight weeks time! Tonight’s preview will run about 12 to 15 minutes.

I’ll also introduce Scott Sibella, who will present commemorative bottles of champagne with the help of the gorgeous Revolution servers. I’ll make the toast to all the heads of the design and engineering companies who worked on the new volcano, including Jim Doyle, the director of special technologies for WET.

After that, I’ll introduce amazing spin wizards DJ Poet Name Life and DJ Taboo, who joined the Black Eyed Peas in 1995 with apl.de.ap and will.i.am. Taboo is a practitioner of Jeet Kune Do and incorporates this into the dance moves he’ll show off tonight. Poet, who is on tour for his new album Cry Babies, also was the remix specialist for Fergie on her song Glamorous featured in her Mac cosmetics ad campaign.

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