Thanksgiving Day Leftovers Recipe

During these last-minute, frenetic days of not practicing for the big gig Saturday at Vincenzo's Pizza in Chatsworth, we thought we'd take a breather and offer you some ways to get creative with all those Thanksgiving day leftovers.*

The Flaw is indebted to Chef Francois Alles-Zirconia of the prestigious nausées Académie de la cuisine in Paris who came up with this quick recipe for braised turkey almondine gumbo:

* salt
* 1 lb fresh lard, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
* 1 cup artificial sweetener
* 8 oz bacon, finely diced
* 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
* 2 tbsp chopped turkey skin
* 3 cups grenedine syrup
* 1 cup stuffing
* water to taste
* 3 lbs lemon zest
* 4 vanilla beans (or substitute with a large can of pork and beans)
* Artificial whipped topping -- just a dab'll do ya.

Combine ingredients in blender on high for three minutes. Pour into lightly floured plastic container and place in 375-degree oven for 12 hours.

Don't skimp on the time -- it's the slow cooking that brings together the flavors of the turkey skin, grenedine and plastic.

While all that's in the oven, you may as well take in the Flaw's performance at Vincenzo's Pizza in Chatsworth on Saturday night:

Where: Didn't we just tell you it's Vincenzo's Pizza in Chatsworth? Focus, people!
Address: 10364 Mason Ave, Chatsworth, CA 91311-3305
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009
Cost: Nothing up-front, but the tip jar is ever-present

See you then,

The Flaw





*As we mourn the senseless deaths of hundreds of thousands of young cucumbers, pulled from the vine while yet babies and mashed into jars to sate our insane desire for sweet gherkins. We will never forget.

Thick Crust

Dear Patrons of the Arts,

Many of you have asked* what Murphy's Flaw 2.0 has been up to for the past month since our international debut at October's Tierra del Sol Harvest Festival in Sunland.

"International?" we hear you exclaim, "Don't you mean 'irrational?'"

Indeed, no: guitarist Mike Gurzi found a link to this YouTube Clip on a site in Britain.

The great Flawed master plan is coming together nicely. Local exposure --> international exposure--> remastered box set of the entire Flaw recording catalog, available both in stereo and mono** just in time for Christmas at only $250.

The only detail yet to be worked out: No recordings. We're working on that. There's no limit to the length the Flaw will go to in order to provide you, the loyal fan base, with a CD -- Short of actually spending money to go into a recording studio and do it right. The flowchart looks like this:

No Talent -->No Gigs-->No Money-->No CD.

We should be a case study at Harvard Business School.

Despite that, sporadic attempts are being made. John came up with the idea of using last week's rehearsal tapes for a CD, because the rehearsal turned out really, really well.

This was shouted down by the band which pointed out that a) John wears hearing aids and plays banjo and wouldn't know sonic quality if it smacked him in the face and b) the recording came out really, really well. The rehearsal itself was, well, a rehearsal.

Point taken.

And still we gig. Just as a shark must keep moving to stay alive, so must the Flaw, moving silently through the water, smelling blood, breaking smaller fish in two with our sharp, powerful metaphors.

We will be appearing this Saturday night, Nov. 28, at BASC Bluegrass Night at Vincenzo's Pizza, 10364 Mason Ave, Chatsworth, CA. The music, so to speak, starts at 7 p.m. Prior to that we'll be spending an hour trying to figure out how to arrange seven musicians, with instruments, mic stands and cables, all into the tiny Performance Corner at Vincenzo's.

An artist's conceptual sketch is attached.

The first set will be the Flaw's Greatest (International!) Hits, and in the second set various members of the audience will take to the stage to show us how the first set would have sounded if we'd only rehearsed. Throughout, the tip jar will be passed by Andie "the enforcer" Bryan. Give freely; she can smell fear.

A map to Vincenzo's in Chatsworth is here. Go for the cheesy pizza, stay for the cheesy music.

-- The Flaw


*actually, no one has asked. This is a cheap writer's device.
**not monophonic, mononucleosis. Don't lick the cd.

"Murphy's Flaw -- better than you'd think"