Frauke is going on a tour, and then coming back home to see all your smiling faces. The band is excited to play the Mercury Lounge for the first time and would be pleased as punch if you joined them. Plus, they are playing with the Jones Street Boys (9pm) which is always an extra special treat.

Frauke @ The Mercury Lounge
217 E. Houston St. (corner of Ave. A & Houston)
8pm
$8

http://www.mercuryloungenyc.com/
http://www.fraukehatesyou.com/
http://www.thejonesstreetboys.com/

Heave away, haul away…

I’m not a fanatical follower of horoscopes but at the beginning of each month I read what is in store for me for that month. I promptly forget what days are my “love days” or on which day I should ask for that raise. My December horoscope hinted that 2008 was going to be a phenomenal year for me, the luckiest year for my sign. And that December 21st through the end of January would be the luckiest of the lucky. I decided that I would make all of December and all of 2008 lucky for me.

At the beginning of December I joined about 125 poker bloggers for some good times in Las Vegas. I played in the WPBT Winter Gathering Tournament and although I didn’t win, I got lucky and won some great bounties from players that I busted out of the tournament. The first bounty I received was from Garth. He had seen a photo of me from one of the Crackhouse games and seemed to be taken with the hat I was wearing. It became a bit of a running joke among some poker bloggers. I was very excited to meet Garth so he could see the hat in person, however, when I ended his tournament run, I was a bit sad but I got this great bounty from him:

a replacement hat, and oh so appropriate for my upcoming trip to Australia. Thanks Garth!

The second bounty I won was from storyteller Johnny Hughes. I had read several of Johnny’s wonderful Texas poker tales awhile ago on the 2+2 Forum. He is sending me a copy of his book, Texas Poker Wisdom and needless to say, I’m really looking forward to reading it.

As for 2008 being lucky for me, Al has offered me one of the seats on the FullTilt jet to Australia! I’ve always wanted to go and this is perfect timing for me with work. I’m joining Dawn, California April and her friend on this jaunt down under. I’m hoping we’ll get a chance to have a drink with Pauly and Change100 although I know they’ll be busy with work. And of course we’ll be rooting for jeciimd to represent the bloggers and take down the Aussie Millions!

Right now I’m feeling like the luckiest person in the world!

I cooked the inaugural package of bacon from the Bacon of the Month Club (thanks Al!) this weekend at the I Had Outs tourney. Because Dawn’s cash games are known as the Crackhouse games, I thought I’d call the games with bacon the Smokehouse games.

The first package was an applewood smoked bacon from Vande Rose Farms. This thick, meaty bacon was a good combination of sweet and salty. More chewy than I like it (due to these hearty slabs) but very tasty nonetheless.

Photo courtesy of Dawn Summers

Cooking it up in Dawn’s kitchen:

Photo courtesy of Dawn Summers

and, they’re playing right in our little ‘ol neighborhood along with the debut of Superdragon (featuring Molly of Lido fame).

Congratulations to the Rooster:

who won my bacon-y bounty:

when he busted me out of the WPBT Winter Gathering tournament in 12th place. He went on to win the tournament and maintain New York pride after the second-to-last New Yorker, Pauly, busted out in 11th place.

I had a ton of fun meeting so many new folks as well as hanging out with old friends. I look forward to the next gathering!

I’m heading to Las Vegas tomorrow and Matt from Ear Farm has kindly created a mix for me. I’m happy he chose The Dead Kennedys instead of Elvis!

photo courtesy of infohostels.com

Check out Ear Farm for even more mixes - the chemistry mix is fun!

Rick Miller does Bohemian Rhapsody in a variety of voices. My fav is Dennis DeYoung.

via Rich

Several months ago I entered AlCanthang’s essay contest to win a subscription to the Bacon of the Month club. Knowing that the competitors were talented writers, I thought I’d do a photo essay.

Although the competition was stiff (no double entendre intended) I won the grand prize.

So now I’m known in the poker blogger community as Bacon Bacini Mary. And for the big winter gathering of poker bloggers in Vegas I’ve been added to the list of prop bets for the event:

* Live re-enactment of the infamous Bacon Bikini
46. Yes +300
47. No -400

Hmmm…something tells me I might end up on next year’s list of surviving Vegas tips.

Does anybody else in the areas of 11231 and 11205 smell what I smell? Thank god our windows are open. In the last 20 minutes we drove through Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope and smelled it all over! Although the epicenter seems to be Carroll Gardens. YAY? If only the mystery smell was maple syrup again.

So I thought I’d look for some cat pictures today so I did a search on flickr for “cat, belly”. I got a few pictures of strippers and such but for the most part cats on their backs waiting for a scritch or taking a nap in the sun. Many were sweet but this guy really caught my eye.

New video by Frauke out today for the song “Atom Smasher.” Directed and animated by Ana Monroe and Teresa and Pepin, the video explores the darker side of one of our favorite inanimate (or are they?) objects. Enjoy!

Project runway kicks off tonight - and I haven’t done any sleuthing beyond reading a few bios on bravo’s website. Anyway, lack of info didnt stop me from picking my fantasy team for this week. Go team! Sew your little butts off!

Check out the story on Sgt. Podge (best cat name ever). He waits for his owner every morning at a designated spot for his ride home.

NYC based horror/fantasy writer Michael Cisco (who also happens to be a pal of ours) has written a surreal and suspenseful book called “The Traitor.” Listed in Amazon’s “Best Books of 2007” under the Editors Picks for horror / fantasy, it’s bound to make a great gift for those who will enjoy a work of dark fantasy, situated in a nightmare world crafted from dreamy prose and located somewhere on the map between the bleak horror of Thomas Ligotti and the literary labyrinths of Thomas Bernhard.