We're Number Three! We're Number Three!
Woo-Woo!
Yes, The Flaw entered into that local crucible of cut-throat bluegrass competition, Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest, and it's now official:
We are once again a third-rate bluegrass band.
But you knew that, right?
Given Sunday's heat we're amazed that the festival wasn't moved to an estuary off Oxnard, but tradition must be served, along with lots of water, snow-cones and kettle corn.
Also in keeping with tradition, we were "taken downtown" by the impossibly gifted teenagers (and one pre-teen) of the Muddy Buddies (First) and Murphy Family Band (no relation, Second)
Additionally, we're ashamed to report that Guitarist George Biner won Second Place in solo Flatpicking.
So what do you get with a second-rate flatpicker inside a third-rate bluegrass band? Ego problems, that's what.
But we'll get through this; we've had to cope with outbursts of talent before.
Nonetheless, through gritted teeth, we congratulate George.
At the other end of the bell curve, John Bryan (banjo) and Edie Murphy (fiddle) turned in such Flawed performances that they didn't even place. That's the kind of band solidarity we could use more of in these troubled times.
You can check out the Flaw, and other eventual Topanga highlights, here on the Flaw Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8T0lr0UJQ0
Yours for institutional inadequacy,
The Flaw