For the second consecutive Thursday evening, the Living Room at the Chelsea in Atlantic City has been packed with people in attendance to check out live jazz and spoken word artists. Since the series, presented by the Chicken Bone Beach Historical Foundation (CBBHF) and Malkio Entertainment Group (founded by the inspiring 25-year-old New York transplant Malik Rollins), kicked off Jan. 21 with local jazz great Hassan Abdullah and his band playing a tribute to Sonny Rollins, the newbie jazz series in the region — and the only one of its kind in Atlantic City at the moment — has been packing them in.

Henrietta Shelton, who heads up the CBBHF, invited me to do some spoken word last night between Tony Day and his band Across the Globe’s sets. First, let me tell you the drummer Day’s band was grooving (with very impressive Wilmington, Del., saxman Larry Unthink sounding like Ike Quebec) and the room was diggin’ the tunes. A little Horace Silver, a standard or two.

Great guitar playing from Matt Chertoff and Hammond work by Kyle Kohler. Nice vibe and atmosphere. Great crowd. Exceptional music and a series that promises to deliver live jazz through the winter if it can continue at this rate. As of now the series is slated to run through mid-February, but that may get extended, according to series organizers.

Come out next Thursday (Feb. 4) to the Chelsea and you’ll hear Latin jazz musician Suzette Ortiz; on Feb. 11 it’s the band Zamar featuring Keith Hollis. A late-night jam session follows each night’s main events and musicians are welcome to come and sit in.

I may even return to do perform — either with me blues band, The Ocean Ryders, or with Words + Music, the spoken word group I performed with last night featuring Michael Hoebler on percussion and Daniel Peterson on horns (below).

Above are a few pics, courtesy of show organizer Malkio. (Photos by malkio.com.) See more here.

According to the Web site CasinoGamingStock, MGM Mirgage, which owns 50 percent of Atlantic City’s Borgata, “has decided to cash out of Atlantic City.” Acording to the site, this is due to New Jersey’s Casino Control Commision investigating MGM’s operations in the new gambling mecca of the world — Macau.

The site adds: “MGM Mirage’s decision to leave Atlantic City is an indication of how the broader gambling business has shifted to Asia. Gambling revenues in Atlantic City are at their lowest point in more than a decade, while Macau is expanding rapidly. Macau has now surpassed Las Vegas in gambling revenue and showed 48% year-over-year growth in December.”

Boyd Gaming  co-owns the Borgata, which opened in July 2003.

All the stories recently about Atlantic City and gambling revenues have been doom and gloom scenarios about the Philly and Delaware casinos cutting into AC’s profits, and therefore into state revenue from gambling taxes. Just this week, comes the news that Delaware casinos are adding table games to their slot parlors.

Legislation was introduced a week ago that would allow Internet wagering at Atlantic City casinos. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, would allow New Jersey residents to place wagers on casino games via the Internet.

This is quite a move considering that currently Internet gambling is illegal in the United States; most of the on-line gambling sites that Americans can access are based in the Caribbean. According to a story on onlinecasinoreports.com, “There are currently 500,000 online poker players in the state of New Jersey.”

The idea is that the Atlantic City casinos would set up the sites, which could either be at the casinos themselves or at a secure site in Atlantic County. All games, including poker, would be offered. The casinos would give 20 percent of the gross revenue to the state.

The bill also provides for the creation of a Division of Internet Wagering under the direction of the state Casino Control Commission. Not only could New Jersey residents gamble at these locally generated Internet sites from their home computers and at the casinos themselves, but the bill would allow the operation of terminals at racetracks.

Is this bill a sign of desperation or a smart business move in tough economic times? If it passes, we will get the answer to that $100,000,000 question (that is how much the state projects it will earn from the online gambling).

Fun at the Trop!

In celebration of its numerous enhancements to casino products, promotions, entertainment and much more, the Tropicana Casino & Resort is launching a contest inviting consumers to submit videos and photos that showcase the fun and new energy they’ve experienced.
The contest is accepting entries through Wednesday, Feb. 17, and invites consumers to send photos or video of themselves having fun. These can include experiencing the nightlife, seeing a show, dining and shopping.  All imagery must be shot at the property, excluding the casino floor.
“The start of 2010 brings a feeling of excitement and opportunity for a fresh beginning, and this year Tropicana promises a ‘whole new energy’ for guests and employees,” says Mark Giannantonio, president and C.O.O. of Tropicana Casino &  Resort, in a media release. “The contest is a fun way for us to capture and share our energy with our guests.”
The grand-prize winner and a runner-up will have their videos or photos featured on Tropicana’s Web site, and will also receive a complimentary overnight stay, $100 worth of comp room service and one $50 comp for Alto Vino wine bar and a 19-inch Sharp LCD flat-screen TV. The runner-up will receive a gourmet dinner for two at a either Wellingtons or Il Verdi restaurants and two show tickets to a Tropicana revue show.
To enter, go here, send an e-mail to NewEnergy@Tropicana.net and include full name, e-mail address, mailing address phone number, date of birth, Diamond Club number and/or IN Card number (if applicable) and the URL of the posted video or photo.  Entries will be judged based on: creativity of the video or photo’s concept, ability to create excitement through social media communication and overall potential to represent the Tropicana brand in a favorable manner.

Back in the 1970s television didn’t have the late night infomercials. What we did have were a few direct sales commercials for musical performers who either didn’t have a major label supporting them, or washed-up stars who no longer had a major label deal. These usually came on in the wee hours of the morning on cable channels like WOR, WPIX and WNEW out of New York because that was when the airtime was cheapest.

Peter Lemongello

Well, there was an unknown romantic balladeer named Peter Lemongello who couldn’t get a break in the music biz. Although he had made some TV appearances on The Tonight Show and was a popular opening act for Don Rickles, Bob Newhart and Buddy Hackett among others, his contract with Epic Records did not break him out as a star. Without an American Idol platform (he would have made it to Hollywood at the very least), Lemongello decided to make a record called Love ’76 and sell it directly on television. Check out the commercial here.

Because we’ve become so accustomed to seeing infomercials in the decades since, it’s hard to imagine what an amazing feat this record accomplished. After buying airtime for 70-100 commercials a week, his album became a sensation. He expanded his TV campaign to Las Vegas and Los Angeles and eventually he sold one million albums with his direct-TV campaign, the first time a record managed this direct marketing feat.

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Poker pro Phil Ivey may not live near Atlantic City these days, (Like The Miss America Pageant, he moved to Las Vegas), but the resort’s casinos are still where he cut his teeth and learned the game. So that now means A.C. has produced poker’s all-time leader on the tournament money list.
Ivey moved past pro Daniel Negraneu with a second place finish Monday at the $100,000 Challenge at the 2010 Aussie Millions in Melbourne. Ivey’s about $600,000 payday leaves him with about $12.8 million in tournament cashes.

Dan Shak

Ivey lost to Dan Shak of Bryn Mawr Pa., who took in $1.2 million. On the final hand, Shak pushed all in on the short-stacked Ivey with ace, seven of clubs. Ivey called with ace, 10 of diamonds. Shak then hit a seven of hearts on the flop and no help came to Ivey on the turn or river.
“This is something I’ve been working towards for such a long time and I may not show the excitement, but inside I’m extremely excited.” Shak told PokerListings.com after the tournament. “I’m not going to jump up and down, but inside I probably already am.”
The 24 player tournament carried a $100,000 buy-in.”

Beth Shak

And in a startling coincidence, Shak’s ex-wife is poker pro Beth Shak, who is scheduled to be in the main event of the Borgata Winter Open that starts Saturday. Beth Shak posted a “congratulations” on twitter after the tournament — “Congrats 2 Dan..not enough money in the world to change my marital status,” she joked.
Go here for more on the story.

Alicia Keys

The Taj Mahal has announced that Alicia Keys will be performing at the casino with special guest Melanie Fiona on Saturday, March 20. Tickets go on sale Feb. 6.

In other casino concert updates, Caesars will host a performance by The Boys, singers from the cast of the hit Broadway musical Jersey Boys, on March 20. Chicago comes to Caesars May 29-30. Both shows go on sale this Saturday, Jan. 30, at noon. Over at the Borgata, Tiesto headlines on Saturday, March 27; tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10am.

Steve Buscemi

In a recent interview on Movieline.com Steve Buscemi was asked about working on the HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, set in 1920s Atlantic City. Here is what he had to say.

“It was great to work with Scorsese, and that was a great appeal. But even if he were not part of it, it was Terence Winter, who was one of my favorite writers from The Sopranos, and Tim Van Patten also worked on The Sopranos as a writer/producer/director. But I just love that whole time period of the ’20s. I didn’t know much about Atlantic City in the ’20s, and it’s been great reading about it. All the characters are really rich, and the cast is amazing. It’s just a period of time in the country when prohibition ruled, women still didn’t have the vote, and before there were a lot of media, corruption was a lot more prevalent and accepted. A lot of people knew what was going on but didn’t care as long as they were being taken care of. And so I play a guy who does take care of people, cares about the town, and cares less about what he has to do to make everybody happy.”

Rants and raves about burning topics that have caught my attention midweek, be it greedy corporate shenanigans, frustration or joy in regards to the Philly sports teams, a movie, show or DVD that has fired up my imagination, an intriguing personality, or my on-going battle to lose weight in our fast food world. — Lori Hoffman, Associate Editor, Atlantic City Weekly

By my calculation, I’ve lost six or seven hundred pounds over the years, usually in 50-pound blocks. This means, of course that I have also gained the weight back. Two years ago, I decided to have weight loss surgery and had a gastric lapband placed around my stomach. The idea of the band is to create a small pouch at the top of your stomach. When this egg-sized portion of your stomach is filled, the theory is that you are no longer hungry and therefore you lose weight. The band is tightened with a saline solution periodically, to maintain your weight loss.

That is the theory anyway. It never really worked for me. While it curbed my hunger somewhat, it never allowed me to be satisfied with a small amount of food, and I had complications that led to several emergency room visits.

So here I am two years later and I’ve regained all the weight, fueled by frustration, anger and a WTF-nothing-works mentality. Most morbidly obese dieters have been there, done that.

My knees are killing me and I’m back on diabetes medication (that I was able to stop taking after the surgery), but on a brighter note, I’m finally on the other side of my regain binge. So what’s next? Where do I go from here on my weight loss journey?

Well, for one thing I am going to listen to my doctor. He was happy with the modest 40-pound weight loss that I maintained for two years. Therefore, instead of dreaming of a Biggest Loser-sized 150 pound weight loss, I’m going to shoot for losing 40 or 50 pounds.

My current diet of choice is the F-Plan, a high fiber diet that was popular in the mid-1980s, based on the book by Audrey Eyton. I was on it before and lost weight.

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Rouhani

The biggest days at any poker open usually revolve around the opening tournaments and the closing main event when the big money is on the line. Still, there can be some interesting stories that pop up in the middle rounds. At the Borgata Winter Open poker tournament, which runs to Feb. 5, pro Farzad Rouhani of Germantown, Md., a 2008 WSOP bracelet winner, has made a splash in a mid-level Hold’em, six-handed tournament that started Tuesday (Jan. 26). After the first day of play he’s the chip leader with $463,000 in tournament chips. The thing is, Rouhani only entered the tournament, which will pay its winner about $23,000, because a cash game he was expecting fell through. Good luck for him, bad luck for his opponents. Play resumes today (Jan. 27) at 2pm. Go here for Borgata’s take on the story.