Blogging Ottinger (tim)

I mixed equal-ish parts Tien Tsin peppers and Ancho peppers, and have been adding it into my hot cocoa. The cocoa mix is Libby’s riff on Alton Browns recipe from Food Network.

I use a coffee stirrer, the ones that are like two skinny straws, and scoop the pepper blend out of a little cup. I put about three “dips” of chilis into a coffee cup of cocoa. It is really very nice.

Cayenne, eat your heart out. This is FAR better.

I just love to listen to Gov’t Mule, and it’s quite nice to hear them jam with Joe Bonamassa. Here is a little video sample.

My latest quest is to try different kinds of chili peppers in hot chocolate. The reasons are two. One is that I love hot chocolate season and it’s getting cold outside. The other? While I love chili peppers and chocolate, I think that cayenne is too harsh for smooth milky chocolate.

I think that people use cayenne because it’s readily available in huge quantities and it is the pepper they know. I don’t think it’s entirely suitable for hot chocolate though.

I want to come up with two basic varieties of hot chocolate. One will be warm, mellow, smooth and only slightly “bright” from the chilis. The other will have some real heat, but still be a good representative of the smooth hot chocolate experience.

I am starting with the generic “Swiss Miss” non-marshmallow hot chocolate powder mix until it runs out. It is good enough for my purposes. We’ve a very old 3lb can to finish off, and there’s only a few good cups left in it. I may continue with same to be more scientific, or may upgrade to a better drinking cocoa later.

Process is pure hackery. I add “a little” to the cocoa, taste it, then add “a little” more. Basically no measurements at all. I keep going until I can taste it, and then drink the whole cup even though the cocoa will hydrate and “bloom” progressively. Sometimes by the bottom of the cup the pepper sediment is a little unpleasant and the drink is a little on the spicy side. It’s all in the name of recipe development, so it’s all good.

I totally dig Ashley Cleveland, and my wife totally doesn’t. But I just found out that she has a Youtube channel. Awesomeness follows:

Neal Schon, Ross Valory, Ansley Dunbar, Greg Rolie… what a great start they had. They were originally more of a progressive jazz/fusion act, but apparently none of us heard of them until they picked up Steve Perry as a vocalist and turned to pop/rock. While I like Rolie’s voice better, and have to roll my eyes a little at the androgynous appearance of Perry at the time, I can’t deny that Steve Perry had a considerable gift and a very distinctive sound. That said, my favorite parts of most songs was always the guitar solo.

I think that somehow Steve Perry had the kind of effete look that girls in high school found totally appealing. It really seems confused to me, but there you go.

Schon and Rolie were both from Santana. Dunbar came from Zappa and later moved on to Jefferson Starship and Whitesnake. After Dunbar, the amazing Steve Smith took over (see some of his solo work and Vital Information for tasty, tasty jazz drumming!). This was the rockin pre-1980 period, and it they made good music. It wasn’t until Greg Rolie left the band and Jonathan Cain took over keyboards that they reached their peak in terms of albums sold… but during this period they transitioned into a prom band.

I was thinking about Journey for no good reason today, and thought I’d dredge up something old and different. Enjoy “Wheel In The Sky”, one of their earliest pop chart vehicles. I still think they had something here, though SP needed some pants that fit, a haircut, and some buttons on his shirt:

Tight harmonies and instrumentals were evident on “Feeling That Way”:

A little more energy is apparent on “Where Were You”, and Ross Valory decided to dress up as a banana. I don’t know why. Steve Perry once again could be mistaken as somebody’s girl singer from a distance, but sounded absolutely great wailing this song:

It’s a little bite of my childhood and leads me to remember my old friend Rick MacIntosh with his beater mustangs and his burning desire to *be* Ross Valory. Journey was the soundtrack of our friendship, and I guess I can’t be too harsh on their prom songs because of that.

Be aware that the primary reason some people hate the Church is because they’ve known Christians who have caused them pain or outrage. It may have been done in a selfish and premeditated way, or may have just been the act of a socially uncouth and unaware person. It may have been either uncaring or careless, unfeeling or unaware. Either way, every generation has real instances of roughshod Christians doing real harm.

I know whereof I speak. I have had rough shoes in the past. I have tried to never run roughshod over non-believers, though, and that is a line that I think the Christ drew for us. I have been harder on believers than I should have been. But I digress.

The old argument “Christians are hypocrites” came up the other day. I suggested that the author extend the term “Christians” to “Humans”. After all, there are those who put on respectability, generosity, or formidably in many forms in order to put a good face on their actions. I suppose it is no less common in Christian circles. Because “respectability” has become associated with Christianity (which was originally disreputable and despised), it has a certain draw for those who are looking to enhance their appearance. Yet this is not such a common event.

The word “hypocrite” literally means “actor.” When Christ used it on religious leaders of the time, he was accusing them of pretending to be spiritual for the sake of special treatment, while simultaneously denying needy people spiritual aid. He had good reasons to say so.

I believe that the term “hypocrite” is usually misapplied. While the big-C Church is a united body of Christ, little-c churches are composed of human beings who are at various levels of spiritual formation. No little-C church contains any humans who are fully formed in the likeness of the Savior.

Let’s consider the little-C church as a place of spiritual training and formation, not as a congregation of moral beings. If we begin from this point of view, we can consider the label of “hypocrite” in the context of other places of training or occupation.

Is it fair to call a man a Purdue graduate if he has a Biochemistry degree but does not also have a degree in Botany, Civil Engineering, Agronomy, and Computer Science? If such a man, incomplete regarding the whole education Purdue offers, claims to be a Purdue graduate, is he being hypocritical? We should consider that church-going phave not absorbed all that the church has to teach them. They may still struggle with unaddressed or even unrecognized issues. Having changed in some important ways, they have not yet changed in other ways. Does that make them hypocrites? I consider the term to be entirely misapplied here.

What about the first year student at a college? He is associated with the college, wears the tee-shirts and jerseys, carries the books and goes to classes, but he doesn’t have 1/4th the knowledge of a graduate. Is he a hypocrite? It may be that many people we see at church are really “baby Christians.” We would not expect them to have attained an advanced state of personal holiness. Being called “hypocrite” may discourage those who might have otherwise grow in faith, making the application of the term both incorrect and harmful.

Some church congregants may have attend casually, being unsure that they want to become a part of the church, while also not deciding against. Should everyone who attends be held to some externally-visible standard as a “Christian” as if they were professing to be a Christian? In such a case, “hypocrite” is hurtfully misapplied.

What of the man who decided not to go to college and instead spent his youth selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door, who admonishes his children to study and get a degree? He did not achieve a degree, yet he insists that others do. Is this hypocrisy? Not at all. Having chosen an appealing path in his youth, he has learned that that path was a dead end and a mistake. He has sorrow and regrets for the time he wasted. He hasn’t turned hypocritical, but instead has learned from his experience. There are things I chose in youthful ignorance and self-importance that have diminished me as a human being, and I wish my children to have better lives than I have led. The difference between his example and his advice is that he has legitimately changed is mind. The inconsistency is not hypocrisy but but repentance.

“Face it”, one may say, “I am a drunk and a liar, but at least I am honest about it.” The difference between a saint and a sinner is primarily each having confronted his worthlessness, the sinner chooses to continue in it. The saint turns from it. When I quit smoking, I still smoked a couple of times when I couldn’t bear the temptation and craving. In those times, I hadn’t quit quitting, I just messed up. Ultimately I kicked that habit. Repentence (turning from sin) is often accompanied with setbacks. Admitting our faults is honesty, but turning from them (even in fits and starts) is not hypocrisy but continual sanctification.

What about the youth who is attending one school because his parents would not pay for his education somewhere else? Is he a hypocrite, pretending to be an IU student when he would rather be a Taylor grad? In the same way, there are reasons for choosing one church over another. Sometimes these reasons have to do with location, friends, family history, or programs offered (say, for children or teens) rather than a full agreement with every jot and tittle of the church’s rulings on various controversies. I would feel fairly comfortable in a number of churches outside of my denominational umbrella, even though my theological heritage is Wesleyan and somewhat Pietist. Would I be a hypocrite for attending a church without being 100% dedicated to the church’s theological statement? The authenticity of one’s Christian devotion is not less important than his intellectual grasp and agreement with by-laws and controversies, and so the term “hypocrite” is misapplied in this case.

What if I had a job working for the American Cancer Society and had a spouse or child that smoked? Would that prove me to be a hypocrite, because my family supports what I opposed? Or would that just underscore that my family needed the services and research that I was supporting in my work? If a couple attend a church, yet their children have moral issues, does it make the parents hypocrites? What if they love their children and support them even though they’ve done wrong? Is that being more Christian or less Christian? I think that hypocrite is horribly misapplied in this circumstance.

If one saw an alcoholic coming out of an AA meeting, would it be right consider him a hypocrite because he attends a non-drinking organization and yet obviously has a drinking problem? I think this is the most normal case in our churches. People go to church not because they epitomize the grandest state of holiness and closeness to God, but because they do not. I would dare to say that all of us go to church because it is part of the remedy for the deep issues that are alive in us. Paul wrote about this struggle, how even someone as progressed in spirituality as this apostle had not attained to a perfect spirituality. To be flawed and yet attend church is not hypocrisy, but consistency.

So those are misuses. What stones are left uncovered? Where is the term properly applied?

The first and worst kind of hypocrite is the one who attends church for the purpose of being seen as an ethically superior person. I would apply the term to the politician who joins a church as he starts his candidacy and quits the week after losing his election. I would apply this term to someone who declares his crooked business to be a “Christian business” in order to draw more naive customers. I would apply this term to anyone who comes to church for personal financial or social gain. This hypocrisy is built on a ridiculous myth, in that there is no ethical standard one must first reach before entering a church. A church is properly an outpost for people in need rather than a citadel for the superior. Membership should not be considered a seal of approval. Sincere Christians will strive to be ethical in all their treatment of others (even though there may still be controversies and accusations), but that does not mean that we should implicitly trust anyone who waves the Christian flag. In fact, we should be wary of those who say “Trust me! I’m a Christian!”

The second case is the one who has once been an authentic seeker but has become self-congratulatory over time. Rather than having greater compassion for those in need, they start to see the needy as inferior. They build higher barriers around themselves, more strict standards of behavior and association. They start to prefer the morally excellent as congregants, and will avoid or even “squeeze out” those who do not seem measure up. They like the membership of the church as it is, and don’t want to see new people come in an “ruin it” (in such a way they shut up the doors of heaven against men, and do not enter it themselves). They fall to appearance-mongering, prefering the “seeming” to the “becoming.” It was to these that the word was originally applied in Matthew chapter 23.

This is the reverb I want. I will probably pick one up on EBay. I have a digital reverb built into my solid-state Vox 15R (which is the practice amp I play it at church), but when I use it I pick up a lot of noise from the lighting in the church. I’ve tried just about everything, but it buzzes with ground lifted and with no input plugged in. I can control the buzz with the lights (certain lights off, nice and quiet) or with the effects (either tremolo or reverb causes buzz).

I know that reverb muddies the sound and keeps it from cutting through the mix. I know some people feel it is “dishonest” (but who cares what they think?). I personally love that echo-ey sound of depth, especially when there are other effects in the mix. I like a guitar to sound *big* without being loud.

I plan to buy a reverb pedal in the future. I like to do research for weeks or months before buying, so I’ve been listening to several online demos. The one that gives me the spacious hall sound I like is the EH Holy Grail Nano.

Check out 1:17-1:40 for the “hall” sound.

I am also looking at wah pedals, and am not sure which I want first. This little search may take some time. I’m glad I spent the time on my overdrive and delay pedals.

If a reader has of a reverb that they like better, I’d be happy to hear some comments.

John Paul Jones is the guy who knows what it means to be “heavy”. He put the “heavy” in “heavy metal” back in the Zeppelin days, and now he’s back to show the kids how it’s done.

With thick anthemic riffs, ponderously heavy drums,& soul-roasting bass, here are Them Crooked Vultures: