As I sit her in my peach coloured room, back in Glenrothes, the only thing I can think of is that it has been on hell of a 7 months since I last “blogged” shall we say. From make ups to break ups to gigs to course work to more make ups and the same break ups its no wonder I am on my 4th glass of wine this glorious April evening.

Rmevents (www.faceboocom/rmmevents) has really hit off. Every Tuesday night I host acoustic shows at the southern *sneezes* bar in Edinburgh and I have had some really great interested.

We had a man from York Jonny Gill, also known as Open Invitation (http://www.facebook.com/openinvitationmusic)

He put on an amazing show!! We have also had interest from the amazing Echo Arcadia (http://www.facebook.com/echoarcadia) who are some of the most talented and nicest people I have ever made. Good luck to Leigh and Siobhan on their knew arrival when the lovely addition arrives.

They were so nice about the whole problems with the sound ect that instead of a bass guitar they brought a double bass. We also had the lovely Monsters on Movie Posters play for us many times and Douglas Rennick playing his magical songs without the band. (http://www.facebook.com/monstersonmovieposters)

 And to round off we had the Amazingly talented Alex Cornish join us for one night. He is such a nice guy and his songs are just amazing!! Please listen to this man, and hopefully you can come see him play at the next busking for cancer in Edinburgh (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Cornish/23979798812)

Not only that he said that I had lovely meaningful songs and need to keep going at it and that I had a lovely voice. Its always nice to hear that from someone who has as much experience as him and has played with the amazing Amy MacDonald and met KT Tunstall (my two loves)

This is use lovely lot! Best night!

So what have I been doing musically? Well on the 16th of December I played at the Electric Circus which was excellent (see photos below), I played along Douglas Rennick, Mike Nisbet and Findaly Napier who are all lovely people. Then I had some promo photos taken by Thomas Rodger (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thomas-M-Rodger-Photography/106130776098764). I wil l put some up, but these are the main photos for my advertisement and EP Cover. I also played at the Bongo Club with Echo Arcadia on the 5th March with a lovely review from Edinburgh Spot Light… It Reads:

“Things open in a laid back gentle mood with a short acoustic set from young singer-songwriter Rachel Morrison. With a mellow yet powerful voice and some pleasant accompaniment from her guitar, her self-penned tunes are easy on the ear and pleasingly mature for one so young.”

I also performed at the Voodoo Rooms with My Tiny Robots and more, which was all for a great cause. My Friend is going to Africa for the summer to help build schools ect. How lovely is that?

So whats new? Well I have two new songs recorded which can be found at http://www.soundcloud.com/oneandonlyrach. New Songs are called “Waiting” and “Spark”, the recordings also come with another recording of On the Moon. But also to look forward to is a VIDEO! Thats right, a good friend of mine is currently planing a video for some of my songs! Which I am rather excited about. ALSO My flat mate (who studies film and media at uni) has asked to film an interview about my music ect so watch out for that in the next few weeks.

So whats next for Rachel? Well dear friends I have two gigs at the wee red bar. One on the 20th of April and one on the 27th of April. Both £5 to get in, email me at rachelmmorrison@hotmail.co.uk if you would like details. My good pals Monsters on Movie Posters are having an album launch at Sneaky Petes on Saturday the 23rd of April. I am also organising a band night at Styx in Kirkcaldy to raise money for people running the Edinburgh Marathon, Which will be a good night. Currently we have After Glow (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Afterglow/149580041767117), Myself (http://www.facebook.com/RachelMorrisonMusic), Monsters on Movie Posters (http://www.facebook.com/monstersonmovieposters) and hopefully the very sexy Underclass (http://www.facebook.com/underclassedinburgh). This will be on the 27th of May . Also! In the pipeline is Busking for Cancer in Edinburgh. Currently Alex Cornish are interested in playing.

So down below will be some promo shots and live photos from the past few months. Will try keep updated and a tour is being planned. Night xxx

Busking For Cancer:

What an AMAZING! Day.

The crowd at Eddy’s bar was amazing.

So many great acts played.

I would like to thank everyone who came to the event and support Cancer Research. We managed to raise £1200. Even my Granddad made it to the show ! Which was lovely.

Set list:

.Small Stretch Of Land (cover)

.On The Moon

.Bad Romance (cover)

.Warning (NEW SONG)… me and my brother wrote it the night before.

After a lovely day of listening to amazing people I went back to Douglas Rennicks house and had “Joes Chicken” cheers bud!

I have also moved back to Edinburgh! which has led me to play at the FRINGE!!

Edinburgh Fringe:

I have just finished an 8 date busking at the Edinburgh Fringe.

It was AMAZING!! Thanks Rennick!

We played on the Royal Mile and on the Mound. Two amazing spots! Met some random people and made around £24 all together. Not alot of money but was an amazing experience. Speically the day we played in the rain. Was AMAZING! singing “Living in colour” next thing you know the heavens have opened. The night then led to Beer and chips at the Newsroom and endless hours of watching Friends.

Douglas’s Fringe Songs (all covers):

. Sit down

. Breakfast at Tiffanies

. Day Dreamer

.Swim Till you cant see land

.Nothing like you

.Living in colour

(I am sure there are others but i cant remember)

My Fringe Songs:

.Dancing in The Dark

. Stuck in the Middle Of you

.Kiss the Grrrl

.Caladonia

.Other Side of the World

.Time is running out

.Girl with One Eye

So i now have three more gigs linned up so far

- Kick ass Fridays at the Southern Bar (20/08/10) http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119383584778461&index=1#!/event.php?eid=140334742673178&ref=ts

- Markinch Bowling Club (21/08/10) http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119383584778461&index=1#!/event.php?eid=134700279897945&ref=ts

- Unplugged at the Southern Bar (29/08/10) http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119383584778461&ref=ts

Hope I see you all there

MUCH LOVE!! xx

Federal prosecutors are again indicating they mean business in going after the online poker business. Their strategy is focused on the industry’s payment processors, the folks who move the money among players, banks and poker companies.

The U.S. Attorney in Manhattan struck a big blow on Tuesday by getting Douglas Rennick, 35, a Canadian payment processor, to show up in New York and plead guilty to violating the Wire Act by processing more than $350 million in the U.S. for Internet poker companies and other online gaming firms.

The plea deal hits the biggest online poker companies offering U.S. play, <a href=”http://www.pokerstars.com/?source=10320760&#8243; title=”Poker Stars”>Poker Stars</a> and <a title=”Full Tilt Poker” href=”http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/?key=MDAwMEE0OTEwMDAyRDU4QTAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDA-”>Full Tilt Poker</a>

. Rennick agreed to forfeit $583 million, funds that partly belonged to players of those and other companies. <a href=”http://www.pokerstars.com/?source=10320760&#8243; title=”Poker Stars”>Poker Stars</a> and <a title=”Full Tilt Poker” href=”http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/?key=MDAwMEE0OTEwMDAyRDU4QTAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDA-”>Full Tilt Poker</a>

reimbursed the players after federal prosecutors froze funds handled by Rennick in June 2009.

Rennick faces 12 months in prison and is slated to be sentenced in September. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan declined to comment on whether Rennick is cooperating with any ongoing investigation. Rennick’s plea agreement only says it is conditional on “subsequent conduct prior to the imposition of sentence.” The question is whether Rennick’s plea deal is part of a prosecutorial strategy that is going after only payment processors, or the online poker companies as well.

As Forbes pointed out in February, the owners and operators of the biggest online poker firms are an open secret–and many of them can be found regularly playing poker in Las Vegas or promoting their companies at U.S. events shown on television.

The U.S. online poker industry services 2.5 million Americans who play and bet $30 billion annually. Since PartyGaming exited the U.S. online poker market, it has been dominated by <a href=”http://www.pokerstars.com/?source=10320760&#8243; title=”Poker Stars”>Poker Stars</a> and <a title=”Full Tilt Poker” href=”http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/?key=MDAwMEE0OTEwMDAyRDU4QTAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDA-”>Full Tilt Poker</a>

, a company associated with famous poker players like Howard Lederer and Christopher Ferguson.

The online poker firms take the position that online poker does not violate any U.S. laws, but the Justice Department has consistently said that facilitating for-money online poker is illegal. Speculation that the Obama administration’s Justice Department would not pursue online poker cases as aggressively as was the case during the Bush administration appears to be receding.

Still, U.S. law is vague enough on the issue of online poker that the Justice Department has appeared reluctant to confront online poker firms directly and in court. Federal prosecutors have been much more comfortable going after payment processors. In April Daniel Tzvetkoff, the Australian owner of another payment processor used by online gaming firms, was arrested in Las Vegas and charged by federal prosecutors of bank fraud and money laundering.

Rennick’s legal problems began last June when the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan froze $34 million owed to at least 14,000 players from companies that processed payments for poker games hosted by <a title=”Full Tilt Poker” href=”http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/?key=MDAwMEE0OTEwMDAyRDU4QTAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDA-”>Full Tilt Poker</a>

and PokerStars, which both reimbursed its players. The companies targeted in the seizures included Rennick’s Account Services Corporation, which had $16.3 million in an account at Wells Fargo ( WFC – news – people ) frozen. Rennick tried to contest the seizures in federal court in San Diego with the support of the Poker Players Alliance, a Washington, D.C., lobbying group whose chairman is Alfonse D’Amato, but Rennick was indicted by federal prosecutors shortly afterwards. Rennick is forfeiting the frozen funds as part of his plea deal.