There are basically four kinds of music gigs out there. First there are the ones that pay well, or at least reasonably well, and where you are expected to be where they want you to be, when they want you to be there, and doing what it is they hired you to do, preferably five times better than anticipated. These are the ones where you’re treated like the valuable hired-help that you are and occasionally even given a few nice ‘freebies’ along the way such as food and drinks or some other kind of special ‘gimme’ or swag that wasn’t part of the original deal. These are nice gigs to play and they don’t come nearly frequently enough for most of us!

The second and probably the most common type of gig is the kind where you’re paid crap, worked like a dog, and expected to graciously provide services above-and-beyond what was originally agreed upon, which was frequently never in writing to begin with. In addition to being expected to play longer and do other odd jobs at the whim of the client…things like greeting or ushering guests, hawking raffle tickets, MC-ing the evening’s event, or DJ-ing the canned music portion of the affair…you also typically wind up chasing your money for hours or even weeks after the event that you’re clearly supposed to feel that it was somehow your honor and privilege to have been “allowed” to play.
These gigs are more bearable if you either have the chutzpa to enforce your own rights and prior agreements, preferably those you managed to get in writing, or have the representation of a competent manager or agent. It’s worth the 20-40% they typically take off the top, and since it’s in their financial interest for you to make more money they can generally negotiate a better bottom line for them to take their cut from.
But then many gigs come by word of mouth with no managerial involvement, so whaddya do?! Whether you end up doing extra work at the gig is a matter of how clearly and upfront you make your expectations to both the client and to management, which is mostly a factor of how desperate you and/or your manager are for the gig.
Do NOT, however, take this to mean that doing little (or even big) extras in addition to what was agreed beforehand is not potentially a major point in your favor when it comes to getting an extra tip or free stuff AND something that could even be a possible investment in future work and future referrals…Just play this game carefully because both you as a contracted employee (which is what you are) and your work as a rented artistic commodity (which is what your performance is) stand the very real chance of being exploited and ultimately cheapened by your over-willingness to suck up too much…even if the price seems right at the time!

The next kind of gigs are those that pay little or no actual money but offer some kind of very special benefits like free access to some kind of paid attraction or maybe paid accommodations with an unlimited bar tab (one can always dream!) or some kind of personally priceless freebie or potential career advancement. While no typical agent in their right mind would ordinarily touch a gig like this for one of their clients, the smarter ones do and do so frequently, much to the chagrin of their cash-strapped clients. These gigs are good and important…just be sure you’re not paying out money you’re not getting for the honor of doing them.
Some of these gigs can be quite worthwhile and in some cases they can be worth more than the actual money you aren’t getting, particularly if a side-benefit is something like being able to meet someone you’d otherwise never have access to or sharing a bill with a bigger act than you actually warrant based on your actual popularity. It’s a trade-off, but even a sleazy manager can usually see its way toward steering you into this type of gig when it’s in his or her best interest.
Just be careful you’re not paying someone to get you gigs that aren’t paying anyone and aren’t generating anything for you. There’s and entire industry based on just this sort of scam and it’s called the Entry-Level Music Industry!

Finally there are the gigs that pay absolutely nothing, offer no immediate or tangible rewards of any kind and that seem to require a good deal of effort and time commitment, not to mention the inevitable outlay in gas, gear, and guts that goes with any performance.
If you don’t need the practice in front of an audience and you’re not auditioning for someone who could be important to you then it’s best to approach these types of gigs quite warily. Granted, any performance is good practice when you’re new to performing and any chance to perform for an audience even for a seasoned player is a chance to make new contacts and build on a fan base.
BUT these gigs are easy enough to set up for yourself whenever you want. Coffee houses, open mics, parties at your friends’ houses, even your local hole-in-the-wall watering hole can be a fine place to hone some skills, make some friends, and win some fans…if you have anything somebody wants to hear or can be convinced that they want to hear more of!
It’s just essential that you remember that as long as nobody’s paying you then you’d better stay in control of what you do and how you do it. If you play a gig for free with all sorts of strings attached such as ‘NO CD sales’, or ‘NO tips collected’, or some kind of rigid schedule for your appearances or conduct AND there’s not any real potential for you to make contacts or reap any kind of reward down the road then you need to seriously evaluate what you’re there for.
Selling CD’s and accepting tips is an accepted practice in most venues of the smaller sort unless it conflicts with the proceedings of the event, as in being hired to play a wedding…DEFINITE faux pas there! Don’t even try!
But selling and making tips is a basic part of connecting with a fan base largely made up of music consumers who are quite willing and ready to pay for what they appreciate, and who largely expect to do so. If you can create this sort of exchange on the spot it not only alleviates the conscientious fan’s guilt over being a deadbeat in a place that’s obviously not paying you anything…and beware of the non-paying gigs at spots where they pretend everyone’s a superstar but don’t actually pay those supposed superstars…but it also forges an immediate and lasting sense of personal relationship between the performer and the fan that no amount of waiting in line at your local TicketMaster outlet could equal. They’ve experienced a direct hand-to-hand exchange of something valuable to you both…money for live entertainment or even a recorded document of their experience. That’s valuable and the more artists appreciate this then perhaps the more we can convince venues to appreciate it with us.
There’s nothing wrong with a little friendly commerce, and even the dinkiest little coffee-house stage can be a perfectly fine way to connect to an audience as an artist and as a professional with what I like to call an ‘eating habit’! Granted, everyone hates a hard-sell huckster but in general most people tend to assume that any good performer is getting paid, whether it’s actually the case or not. Very few in the general public understand how artists make a living and so it’s important that we as artists educate our fans and assert our rights as performers to the companies and individuals who hire us. Of course we should do so with as much creativity, class, and style as suits our individual personalities and performance persona, but it is our right to be paid a reasonable fee established by a reasonable assessment of a free market for the use of our talents for the enjoyment of the public and the value-addition that talent brings to other people’s private or business dealings.
As artists we walk a fine line between an abject willingness to sell ourselves short at every turn and vastly over-valuing our creative worth, both to our own detriment. The public rarely has this conflict. Look into yourself as an artist and seek the truth in light of what the public has told you and you will never mis-value yourself again, nor will you accept it from anyone else.

Know yourself, know your fans...and go out and PLAY!

Uncle Buddha’s Chili Paste

This paste is a perfect solution to the problem of trying to make your curry
(or chili, or whatever) just hot enough or just mild enough for everyone
while not disappointing (or injuring!) anyone in the process. It is
intended for use as a food additive only, to be used by experienced cooks,
though! The process of adding hot oil to powdered dry chilies induces a
mild extraction process thus bringing out the capsaicin (the stuff that
makes hot chilies hot) in what already is a very hot variety of chili
pepper. This allows the chili pepper to assimilate much more evenly and
thoroughly through the dish as it is being prepared than would be the case
with simply adding powdered chilies. It is not a table condiment, and
anyone who uses it as such does so at his or her own risk!

Ingredients
1 cup of whole dried hot red chilies (Thai or Korean)
1/2 cup of olive or peanut oil

Preparation
Remove all stems from chilies discarding any chilies that are blotched,
brown or brittle.
Chop chilies with scissors, retaining all seeds.
In small batches, grind chilies coarsely using a spice mill or a
metal-bladed, electric coffee grinder dedicated to this purpose.

Grind chilies again until they are reduced to a fine powder.
Heat oil in a skillet or sauce pan until a drop of water just begins to
sizzle and remove from heat.
Slowly combine powdered chilies with oil, stirring well and avoiding any fumes
until the mixture forms a smooth paste.
Let paste stand for a few minutes.
A thin layer of oil may settle at the top of the container, which should be
stirred in before adding to food.

Since this paste can keep for several months if stored properly it may be
made in large batches, though smaller quantities used right away will be at
their maximum potency.

Serving Directions
Stir paste as necessary, then add directly to each individual 1 to 1-1/2 cup
serving of curry or whatever other dish you wish to heat up, observing the
following proportions:


0 to 1/4 tsp. per serving: mild
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. per serving: medium
1 to 1-1/2 tsp. per serving: hot
2+ tsp. per serving: hotter…hottest


Stir thoroughly into each serving and serve immediately.
For dishes not being served over rice or some other starch or vegetable base, the amount of paste used should be scaled back slightly.
When making a curry or similarly spicy dish for a wide range of tastes and/or chili-tolerances you may want
to consider leaving out all or most of the chili peppers called for in the original recipe, or replacing them with very mild chilies or bell peppers, then add Uncle Buddha’s Chili Paste just before serving according to the directions above.



Matt’s Scorching Yellow Sunshine Sauce

This is a good all-around, no-frills hot sauce suitable for adding zip to your favorite foods without overpowering the flavor.

Ingredients

1 large onion
4 carrots
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 entire heads of garlic, cleaned, chopped
20 large orange Habañero peppers, chopped whle
1 lime
1 tbsp salt
1 pt. cider vinegar

Preparation

Chop onion, carrots, garlic, and chilies fine. Note: always use gloves when handling any hot peppers and be damned careful what you handle afterwards!

In a large pan heat olive oil and sauté onion until it just begins to caramelize.
Add garlic and stir in.
When onion is almost entirely translucent begin stirring in chilies, being
careful not to breathe the fumes.
Remove from heat after about one minute and let mixture cool.
In a food processor, pure mixture in batches until it becomes a thick paste, adding vinegar a little at a time until mixture is about the consistency of ketchup. Be careful not to let mixture splatter into your face!
Once all is pured, combine in a bowl and stir in salt and lime.
Stir in vinegar as needed to thin down to a liquid. You may need to puree the mixture some more.
Transfer to quart jar and store in refrigerator overnight.

Serving
Store in half-pint canning jars or recycled hot-sauce bottles. Shake well before serving. Keep refrigerated.

Alternate preparations:
Following the same recipe as above, replace the carrots with a large bell pepper, and use Jalapeño peppers instead of habañeros for a somewhat milder green hot sauce that I like to call Matt’s Mean Green Hot Sauce, which I rank at about a 5 on the Matt Index.

Many factors come into play with hot sauces that affect how potent they seem, and much of this gives rise to the endless quibbling about what is and isn’t hot or too hot or not hot enough. For example, the same amount of sauce on a slice of pizza will not seem quite as hot as it would on a plain Saltine cracker because of the effect that dairy products have on your mouth’s reaction to capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers. Similarly, a few drops of a sauce with a rating of 10 on my scale stirred into a big bowl of chili won’t burn your face off if you’re accustomed to eating even moderately hot foods. The moral is don’t use hot sauces to make your food significantly hotter than the cook made it. You’ll wreck the dish and probably hurt the cook’s feelings—both very bad ideas.

The solution? Talk the cook into using chilies—or better yet, learn to cook with them yourself!

A good hot sauce is like salt, ketchup, or any other condiment: used judiciously it can enhance the appropriate dish. Used indiscriminately it smothers flavor, insults the chef, and displays poor table manners.

This is not to say that a dish necessarily loses the subtlety of its flavor by being hot from chilies. It can, of course, but the two traits of good flavor and chili-hotness are not mutually exclusive. Hot won’t make bland any better, nor will it diminish the flavor of a dish which is robust enough in itself to be complimented with chilis.

Remember, though, that chili-hotness is in the mouth of the beholder, and chilies are an acquired taste for most of us from Europe or the US. Curry that I would have considered ‘too hot to even taste’ when I was a teenager would have tasted fine to a 10-year-old from Bombay, and would probably taste fairly mild to my senses today. Yet the Indians eat many wonderful dishes that have no chilies in them at all!

We chili-heads sometimes take our obsessions a bit beyond an appreciation for good food with just the right amount of a kick, and occasionally lapse (did I say occasionally?!) into macho-fetish foolishness that makes us look like pain-junky thrill-seekers on some pseudo-reality TV show.

Believe me, I like much, if not all of my food very VERY hot. I’ve discovered that plain oatmeal is sometimes better with diced chilis or a moderate and not heavily flavored hot sauce…as are bacon and eggs!

Yet in my early quest for hotness I’ve been known to use extract-based sauces, some of which are excellent, though some of them are vastly overpriced garbage. What I would consider perfect in a curry would be completely inedible to a person who doesn’t eat spicy foods.

Yet food prepared as hot as I like it is not much hotter than what I get when I order a dish ‘Thai hot’ IF and only IF I explain to the waiter at aThai or Indian restaurant that I want it as hot or a little hotter than he would order it. In this age of frivolous lawsuits and bitchy, milquetoast, unadventurous yuppy consumers we increasingly encounter restaurants that won’t prepare food with a truly ethnically traditional flavor and that’s to be regretted. Increasingly I bring my own chilis to restaurants which have abused my trust in this way.

Thais are a good choice if you can get them or grow them.

Believe me, since I know so few people who enjoy hot foods to the degree that I do I’ve worked hard to find out if I’m normal, or if I’ve just burned out my taste buds!

Some non-chili-heads may argue that extremely hot dishes in themselves are uncouth and devoid of any flavor other than chili-pepper heat. I disagree with this position in general, though I’ve met too many people and eaten their foul Hormel-canned-chili spiked with ultra-concentrated-weapons-grade-chili-extract to dismiss it entirely. Of course, while most Thai and Indian restaurants can serve up a pretty nice mild dish to cater to the folks who like it that way, notoriously bland traditional English cuisine does not offer this option in reverse however, yet British people are among the largest consumers of Indian curries outside India.

Go figure!

The use of potent chilies in food is far more the rule than the exception in most parts of the world, particularly if we don’t forget, as we frequently do, about the foods of Africa, and the Near and Middle East, in addition to the Latin American, Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines to which we’re more often exposed.

The Matt Index of Chili Heat

As anybody who’s done any searching for information on chili peppers knows, everybody and their brother has there own idea of what’s hot, what’s not, and how to rate how hot (or not) it is (or isn’t)!

Well, here’s another one, and while it claims no parallel to any other existing scale, at least I make no claims to any degree of scientific validity! My scale is quite simple, really. I rank various widely encountered peppers on a scale from one to ten, then use these numbers to describe the relative heat if you were to eat a spoon full of the given sauce directly.

1 Bell Pepper, Cubanellas, most store-bought paprika (tasty, but basically inert)
2 Gourmet imported paprika, Poblanos
3 Store-bought Jalapeños
4 Cayennes
5 Serranos
6 Thais/Koreans
7 Habañeros/Scotch Bonnets
8 Commercially available XXX hot sauces (non-extract)
9 Home-grown Thais/Koreans, Habañeros/Scotch Bonnets
10+ X-Treme extract sauces

Matt’s Basic Curry Recipe

Ingredients:
Rice: 2 cups jasmine, pearl, or basmati rice, rinsed thoroughly, 3 cups water, 2 tsp butter or oil, 2 tsp ground cardamom. Plain white rice may be substituted, but short-grained rice such as basmati is more aromatic and is more traditional for Indian cooking.

Curry:
1/2 lb. diced red meat of choice or you may substitute fish of choice, eggplant, wild mushrooms, or firm tofu.
2 medium white onions, sliced in thin rings
2 medium belle peppers, 1 green and 1 red, chopped coarsely
2 medium tomatoes, squeezed and diced fine
1 cup broccoli florettes
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1 cup frozen peas
1 small jar of sliced mushrooms, drained
flour
butter or vegetable oil for frying
1st spice mixture: 1 tsp each of ground cayenne, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, and cumin. Freshly ground ingredients are better but not essential.
2nd spice mixture: 2 cloves of garlic crushed, 1 tsp each of ground cayenne (omit for a milder curry), black pepper, ginger, and cumin. See previous note on freshly ground ingredients.
3rd spice mixture: heat a small sauce pan with 1/4 cup of butter over medium heat until fully melted. Spoon out any solidified fats. Increase heat to high and wait until butter nearly browns. Add 1/4 cup of finely diced or pureed fresh chilies of a very hot variety such as Thai, Korean, Scotch Bonnet or Habañero. I prefer using all of the chilie’s seeds and membranes. Sautee everything stirring constantly without breathing or opening your eyes for about a minute and remove from heat. Let simmer on low heat until ready to use. When adding to a serving make sure to mix butter/chilie mixture thoroughly and then mix the curry well before putting over rice.

Rice:
Start 2 cups of jasmine, pearl, or basmati rice cooking while you prepare the curries. Be sure to rinse the rice thoroughly before cooking. Heat 3 cups of water with the rinsed rice until it comes to a boil. Add 2 teaspoons of butter or vegetable oil and a pinch of salt to the cook water. Once the water has reduced nearly to the level of the rice, stir in a handful of frozen or canned baby peas, and 2 teaspoons of finely ground cardamom. Let the rice sit over low heat tightly covered for 20 minutes without stirring. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

Curry:
Over medium high heat in a large wok or frying pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil to the point that a drop of water sputters. Add 1st spice mixture and stir briskly for 30 seconds. Add meat (unless using fish or tofu) onions and belle peppers and stir thoroughly. Sauté until onions begin to become translucent, adding oil as necessary if the mixture begins to stick or get too dry. Once onions are completely soft lower to medium heat. Add 2nd spice mixture, all of the remaining vegetables (and fish or tofu if not using meat) and allow to sauté until the vegetables are crisply cooked and the mixture begins to give off the characteristic pungent curry aroma. Slowly feed flour into the mixture stirring well until it has a thick, almost gummy stickiness with means that the flour has absorbed as much of the liquid as it can hold. Slowly pour in cold water spoonful at a time, stirring constantly until mixture is the consistency of a thick, chunky gravy.

Before serving, find out if your guests want their curry mild, medium, hot, extra-hot, or Kamikaze. Mild curries may be served out of the pot as cooked. Medium requires that a teaspoon of the 3rd spice mixture be added to a serving and mixed it thoroughly. Similarly you may use 2tsp for ‘hot’ and 3+ for ‘extra hot’.
Serving
Serve the curry over rice with large amounts of naan bread. Whole wheat pita bread warmed and buttered and sprinkled with freshly crushed garlic can do in a pinch, but the real thing is better! You may also want to provide chutneys such as mango, tamarind, or cilantro, as well as toppings such as crushed peanuts or cashews, fresh chopped cilantro, whipped plain yogurt, or thinly sliced red onions.

Serves 4

This is an economized version of some classic French dishes that I prepared a while back for my wife and myself on our anniversary. Don't try to send Julia Child's ghost to poltergeist my kitchen if you don't agree with some of the shortcuts I took! Some of them were out of necessity...the mother of invention...considering that I put the dinner together over a couple or three work-nights.

Matt’s French Dinner

This meal will serve 4 to 6 more than adequately. I made it for two of us, so we took my pseudo-French concoctions to work with us for lunch most of that week!

The soups and some parts of the other recipes may be prepared a day beforehand. Canned ingredients are heavily used in this instance but any substitution of fresh ingredients will only serve to improve the dish. My suggestion is that you begin serving appetizers by 5 p.m. and allow ample time between courses to relax and enjoy the company. French custom would frown upon beginning dinner this early but most of us are not accustomed to finishing dinner at 10 o’clock at night!

Course 1: Appetizer
Provide your guests a good assortment of any combination of finger foods such as mixed nuts sliced meats, caviar (if you go in for the stuff!), pâté, light fruits, and mild pickled vegetables with various sliced breads, hard breads, crackers, and cheeses with whipped or softened butter.
Serve with dry white wine, champagne, or water. If your guests prefer beer or mixed drinks at this point in the meal this is fine but you may want to suggest that they try cocktails with a lighter flavor such as a martini as opposed to a bloody Mary! My rule of thumb in this is that if you can’t see through it you can’t taste through it!

Course 2: Cold Soup
Vichyssoise
Start 2 quarts of water on high boil. Wash and scrub 6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes. Parboil for 10 minutes then immediately immerse in ice water. Peel potatoes and dice coarsely. Dice one large red onion and put potatoes and onion in a stock pot over medium high burner with one tablespoon of salt, 1/2 stick of softened butter and 1 cup of dry white sherry. Stir well and sauté for 10 minutes. Stir in one tablespoon each of rosemary, thyme, dried parsley, sage, and 2 teaspoons of black pepper. Slowly feed in 6 cups of water. Leave on heat stirring occasionally and allow to reduce for 1 hour until potato chunks begin to dissolve. Strain off excess liquid into a reserve container and mash potatoes with a fork. Slowly feed stock back in until desired consistency is obtained. Add 1/4 cup of heavy cream, reduce to low heat and allow to simmer until a thick but still fully liquid creamy consistency is obtained. Remove from heat and allow to cool stirring occasionally. Refrigerate overnight and serve cold with a sprinkling of black pepper and parsley for garnish.

Serve with a somewhat sweet white wine.

Course 3: Salad
Prepare garden mix of bitter greens such as arugula and to this add diced Roma tomatoes with a raspberry & walnut balsamic vinaigrette. Recipes for vinaigrettes abound but I usually buy the stuff off the shelf.

Serve with mineral water, seltzer, or champagne.

Course 4: Entrée
Dill Chicken Crépes
Crépes: The crépes may be prepared in advance and refrigerated until needed. In a blender combine 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour, 3 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1/4-cup water, 1/2-teaspoon salt and 3 tablespoons of melted butter that has been allowed to cool. Blend until a uniform creamy consistency is attained. Though this is by no means essential, the batter works best if allowed to ‘rest’ in the refrigerator for an hour or so before cooking. To mix batter by hand mix flour and eggs first and then slowly feed in the water, milk, salt, and butter. Heat a smooth, well-seasoned skillet to medium high heat. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and combine with one tablespoon of olive oil in a small cup or bowl. When pan has reached full heat brush a thin layer of the butter-oil mixture onto the pan using a pastry brush and wait a few seconds until pan returns to full heat. Carefully ladle about 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter onto the pan. The batter is thin so it should spread to a circle about 7 or 8 inches in diameter. Within a minute the edges of the crépe will curl slightly from the pan and bubbles will cease to form on the uncooked side of the crépe. Flip and allow it to cook for another thirty seconds or so or until golden brown on both sides. Reapply butter-oil mix between each crépe. This recipe should yield between 6 and 10 crépes depending on the size you make them. Some recipes call for smaller crépes but I prefer crépes that go the full width of the casserole dish for this particular recipe.

Dill Chicken Stuffing: In a large skillet heat 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup olive oil on medium high heat until mixture is very hot and almost to the point of browning. Add 2 cups of sliced button mushrooms and sauté quickly. Blend in 1 cup of flour until mixture is a sticky mass. Open 1 10-ounce can of asparagus spears and slowly feed a few tablespoons of the juice into mix until a thick rue begins to form. Using the juice from the can adds potency to the overall asparagus flavor but water may be substituted, and indeed must if fresh asparagus is being used. Add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Either sauté 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken (preferably light and dark meat in equal proportions) or use the equivalent amount of drained canned chicken. Naturally, canned is quicker but not as good, as it will keep that ‘canned’ meat flavor. Slowly feed chicken into the mix and allow it to return to heat. Add 1 tablespoon of dried dill and 2 teaspoons of black pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a 12-inch casserole dish layer about 1 inch of filling onto bottom. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling in a thick line from edge to edge and just about an inch off center of each crépe. Roll the crépe up starting from the edge closest to the filling. Add a little filling into the ends if needed and arrange the crépes short ways across the dish. Fill in gaps between crépes and around edges with more filling. Bake for 15 or 20 minutes.

Serve with a heartier white wine or pale ale.

Course 5: Hot Soup
Bouillabaisse
In a 4-quart pot heat 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup olive oil on medium high heat. Introduce 1/4 pound of sliced button mushrooms and sauté. Add 6 crushed and emptied Roma tomatoes and 1 6-ounce can of crabmeat or the equivalent fresh. Give the juice to the cat. Stir vigorously (the soup, not the cat). Add 1 6-ounce can of baby shrimp after you’ve drained the juice into the cat’s dish. Allow this mixture to return to heat then add 1 small can of smoked mussels…with the juice this time. Let this reduce and then stir in 1 to 2 cups of flour until pot is a sticky mass. Add 1 tablespoon of gumbo file, 2 teaspoons of crushed cayenne pepper, and 2 teaspoons of salt and slowly feed in cold water. Reduce heat and simmer with lid on adding water or dissolved flour as needed until it reaches the consistency of a thick beef stew. Add a shredded onion garnish with a sprig of parsley in the center before serving.

Serve with a hearty burgundy.

Course 6: Dessert
Raspberry Crème Shortcake
For this I recommend store bought canned pie filling. Put the can in the refrigerator to chill for several hours before starting. Bake or purchase 6 large buttermilk biscuits. If baking from scratch start the biscuits and topping at about the same time. Open 1 can of raspberry pie filling and drain syrup into a cup. Set aside in the refrigerator. Whip 1/2 cup of heavy cream with 1 tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar until a stiff whipped cream is rendered. Reserve about 1 cup of whipped cream and 1/4 of the berries for garnish. Blend remaining cream and berries until a thick puree is obtained. Set this aside in the freezer for a few minutes to chill before assembly. Cut the top 1/4 off of biscuits. Ladle several spoonfuls of puree onto biscuits allowing some to spill over. Put whole berries on top of this and top with whipped cream. Slice leftover biscuit tops into quarters and arrange in a compass design. Drizzle syrup over all.

Serve right away with coffee, brandy, or a preferred dessert wine.

Splendid to be here in every way!

I like life for the most part, even the parts they have to pay you to put up with!

All things considered, Life is Good!

I'm what I like to call an Über-dilettante. I play in a rock band called Lucky Burglar, a Ren-band with my buddy Jen (morrisman) called For Love or Money, and I write both songs and stories in addition to my actual hobbies.

I work with moderately-to-profoundly mentally retarded adults as my day job, teaching them all sorts of fun and useful things, which I think is a skill-set that equips me nicely for working as a semi-professional musician!

This is my first entry and I plan to talk about a lot of my interests from the art of growing chilies and cooking with them into terrific Indian and Tex-Mex food to how I came to discover that I'm a Rennie, despite coming from a good family and having a college education.

If you don't know what a 'Rennie' is that's quite OK. We entertain you at the Rennaisance Festival or Medieval Faire or the occasional Pirate Fair for little or no money, we really don't bite that much, and we guarantee that your wives/daughters/sisters are as safe around us as they want to be.

If that last qualifier frightens you then pay more attention to your wives/daughters/sisters!

Really most of us are nice guys...nicer than most of your average 'nice guys' as musicans go, and in fact as a group we tend to approach the status of 'Sensitive New-Age Guys'.

My music partner Jen and I refer to these as 'SNAGS'.

While many Rennies belong to the 'creative-interesting-sexy-dog' category, most of us fall somewhare in between SNAG and DOG!

Take your pick and take your chances! Most Rennies have more moral scruples than an entire band of rock musicians. Living in both worlds I can attest to this unreservedly! Still, while that ain't saying much it's a tad better than Carny folks, which is where we rennies get our cocky strut...we might be bohemian-semi-talented wierdo types, but at least we don't run the Tilt-O-Whirl!

I guess that's the typical artist's disdain for gainful employment!

Cheers for now,

Matt