Sunday afternoon the Greenville Chorale Chamber Ensemble presented its annual concert at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The concert was entitled “Sacred Music for a Sacred Space” and featured sacred music by contemporary composers. The pairing of music with venue was well-planned, and somewhat modeled the liturgy that might be followed in a traditional service.

Saturday morning we had our dress rehearsal in the cathedral, and I brought along my camera to get a few shots of the interior. I started with exterior shots…

…then moved to the interior to photograph the stunning mosaics above the altar.

It’s impossible to capture all of this in one photo, but I gave it a shot. The following photo is a composite of about 16 images, showing the altar and on up to the dome.

As for the music, we started in the choir loft at the back of the church with William Matthias’s stirring “Let All the People Praise Thee, O Lord” with organ accompaniment. That was followed by a Kyrie by Vytautas Mishinis.

As we moved from the choir loft to the central platform, Father Tom Pistolis described the architecture of the church and the meaning of the mosaics. Christ is pictured on the dome, in the heavens, as it were, and the other images represent transitions from our earthly domain to heaven and Christ.

The next set included the Magnificat by Estonian composer Arvo Part, Ave Maria by Franz Biebl, O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen, Sanctus by Jan Sanstrom, and Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre.

For the final set we did “Through the Waters” by Furman professor Mark Kilstofte, and two selects from “Words of Paradise” by Bob Jones composer Dan Forrest. The Hosanna section of the Forrest work involves lots of intricate rhythms and foot stomping.

We ended with two classics by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw – “What Wondrous Love Is This?” and “Saints Bound for Heaven.”

As usual for one of our winter concerts, the weather was rainy and cold. It has even sleeted on our concert date in the past. Despite the weather, we had a packed house. Turnout was excellent.

The concert went well. From the start of rehearsals we had the mechanics down pat – notes, rhythms, etc. The difficulty was in turning very long, often dissonant lines into melodies, and we struggled with that up until the very concert. I think everything came together nicely, though. Any lapses on our part musically were probably not noticed by the audience unless they knew the music as intimately as we do.

Paul Hyde of the Greenville News gave us a glowing review, stating that “the Greenville Chorale’s Chamber Ensemble provided some of the most exquisite music-making we’re likely to hear this year in the Upstate.” He went on to say that “The entire program lasted a mere 70 minutes, but felt full and complete, musically and emotionally.”

What I felt afterwards was completely, musically, and emotionally drained. I was exhausted. We were treated to a wonderful reception at the home of Steve Trakas, a member at St. George, and also a member of the Chorale Board and member of the tenor section. Laura and I had a delightful conversation with former Lt. Governor Nick Theodore, also a member at St. George, who came by to congratulate us.

It was a great day, and now we have a month off before we begin rehearsals for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. That should be fun.

I made recordings of the rehearsals with my new field recorder. Here are a couple of excerpts from those rehearsals at St. George. First up as the Magnificat by Arvo Part…

Check this out on Chirbit

…and here is a bit of “Saints Bound for Heaven”…

Check this out on Chirbit

UPDATE: I just realized Paul Hyde’s review is locked behind The Greenville News’s paywall. Here’s the text of the review…

In a Sunday afternoon program of sacred music, the Greenville Chorale’s Chamber Ensemble provided some of the most exquisite music-making we’re likely to hear this year in the Upstate.

The St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral proved an ideally resonant space for a dozen lyrical and refined 20th century pieces, all rendered with consummate polish and artistry by the ensemble under the direction of Bingham Vick.

In this “live” venue, the group’s 20 singers produced a full-bodied sound, the richness of the men’s voices balanced by the bright, crystalline tone of the women.

A work like American composer Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium” was musically radiant against the appealing visual backdrop of the cathedral’s colorful icons and mosaics.

The choir offered a shimmering and fluidly phrased account of Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria,” with Vick reducing the ensemble’s volume to the softest of pianissimos on the third iteration of “Ave Maria.”

The effect was marvelous.

In singing this style of music, the women favored a highly focused, almost vibrato-less sonority, putting a listener in mind of such fine British chamber choirs as the Tallis Scholars and The Sixteen.
Upstate originals

Also on the program were works by two Upstate composers.

Vick and the ensemble performed a warmly expressive “Through the Waters” by Furman University’s Mark Kilstofte.

The choir ardently embraced the complex rhythms — and exuberant foot-stamping — of the celebratory “Hosanna” by Bob Jones University’s Dan Forrest.

The ensemble’s members are accomplished vocal musicians, able to negotiate the considerable rhythmic challenges of Forrest’s “Hosanna” as well as the harmonic demands of Estonian composer Arvo Part’s haunting “Magnificat.”

Several members were featured as soloists, most impressively soprano Lisa Barksdale who in Kilstofte’s piece was called upon to sing with the choir in an entirely different key.

Toward the end of the concert, the ensemble performed the traditional folk song “Saints Bound for Heaven” with satisfying gusto.

The entire program lasted a mere 70 minutes but felt full and complete, musically and emotionally.

I had tried Pixlr a long time ago, but had completely forgotten about it until my friend and fellow instructional tech geek Tony Thompson posted something about it on his blog last month. With Picnic being assimilated by Google and with Aviary acting a bit weird, I was hoping another option for online photo editing would come along, and Pixlr seems to be the best option right now.

Pixlr comes in several flavors.  There is the full-fledge photo editor, but there are also several quick tools for adding preset effects.  There is Pixlr Express for quick touch-ups and Pixlr-o-Matic for effects such as vintage photos, etc.  Android and iOS apps are available for these last two services.  There is also Pixlr imm.io, an image sharing service and Pixlr Grabber, a screen capture plugin for Firefox and Chrome.

First let’s take a look at the full photo editor.

You can begin by creating an image from scratch, uploading an image from your desktop, importing an image via URL, or connecting to to a current online account.  You don’t have to create an account or log in to use the editor, but doing so really adds some nice features. This includes integration with current online accounts at Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa.

One word about Flickr, though – per Flickr’s API restrictions, Pixlr will only load the last 50 images from any given set. If you’re like me and have thousands of photos, this may be limiting. In this case you can use the URL import and give it the download URL for the original size. It’s a pain, but it works.

If you choose to connect an online account, your image folders or albums will be shown on the left, and the image thumbnails on the right. Simply select an image to load it into the editor.

The image will load into an editor that looks VERY much like Photoshop. The drawing tools are on the left and editing panes are on right, including Navigation, History, and Layers.

Speaking of layers, all the nice things you come to expect in Photoshop are here, including layer styles (emboss, drop shadow, etc.), blend modes, and masking. The drop-down menus are also laid out similarly to Photoshop. You can make the typical adjustments to each layer, including hue and saturation, exposure, etc. However, there is also cross-processing and “old photo” effects.

In addition to adjustments, there is a wide range of filters. These include the typical blurs, noise, and distortions. However, Pixlr also includes some popular effects such as fake tilt-shift, mimic HDR, Orten effects through “glamour glow.”

While the Pixlr photo editor may not have all the bells and whistles of Photoshop, but it has enough to cover probably 80% of your editing needs for the causal photographer. I don’t think it handles RAW images, and there are not the sophisticated Pantone settings and so forth that you would find in Photoshop. Still, for quick edits it’s hard to beat.

Once you have finished editing your photo you can save it in several formats and quality settings. Again, the options aren’t as extensive as Photoshop, but are OK for most things. Where Pixlr shines is in its ability to write back to online services such as Flickr and Picasa.

Unfortunately, Pixlr creates a new image each time it is saved. There doesn’t seem to be a way to replace a photo on Flickr with the edited version, as you could with Picnic.

The Pixlr Express editor is a bit more limited, but it has some nice presets. First of all, there is no integration with existing online services. You can only upload or import images.

Once you have the image in the editor you can do several types of adjustments for exposure, color, and other quick fixes.

You can also add several types of effects, and there is an extensive collection of overlays.

There are also borders, some with “torn” edges to complete the vintage photo effect, and others that are more elaborate.

Most of these come with various parameter settings so that you can control the desired effect.

It looks like Pixlr Express can open several file types, but will only save as a JPG file.

The Pixlr-o-Matic service has pretty much the same capabilities as Pixlr Express, but uses a different interface for the desired effects.

As with Express, it only works with JPG and PNG files. The interface looks more like a mobile app in the way it functions, and the apps for Android and iOS are based on the o-Matic application.

Conclusions:

Pixler does just about everything the casual user would need from Photoshop. It’s not as convenient for Flickr users as Picnic was for quick edits, but it has many so much more available. It’s easier to use than the Aviary suite of tools, and I think would be much better for younger students.

I knew it was going to be a rough day.  The coffee maker didn’t start on time, I cut myself shaving, and my watch stopped working.   Then, to top it off, I found that this website had been hit by a spam injection hack attack.  I was tempted to crawl back into bed.

I first noticed this a couple of days ago.  If you’ve ever looked at the sidebar to the site, you see that I use the Feedjit script to show who visits the site.  This past weekend I noticed a couple of weird links, something like this…

When I clicked on the link it took me to one of my own posts.  However, there was nothing on the site to indicate an errant link or an active spam comment.

Then, on my WordPress dashboard I started seeing the following incoming links:

Now I knew something was wrong.

A spam injection hack targets WordPress users.  Malicious code can be inserted either into the PHP files on the website, or into the content database itself.  The code generates links to spam websites.  However, these links are hidden from view unless you do a “view page source” on an infected page or post. The spammy keywords and links would like something like this in the post:

OK, so the stuff’s hidden, and there are no real active links on your site.  So, what harm is it doing?  Well, for one thing it will completely throw off your search engine rankings.  Folks searching for your site won’t be able to find the real content.  The malicious code may eventually cause problems with your website being able to load properly as more and more of this junk accumulates.

How can you tell if your site has been infected?  If you have incoming link checkers like the ones I described above, these will help.  Another way to check is to go to Google and type “site:yourdomain.com viagra” or “site:yourdomain.com cialis” and see what comes up (so to speak.)  I found that these pointed to an unsettling number of my posts.

Clicking on any of these links takes you to one of your normal posts, where you most likely won’t see any sign of the infection.

There are lots of great suggestions online for cleaning up an infected website. Unfortunately, this is not a trivial process.  In phpAdmin I ran several queries on the WordPress database tables to make sure that they didn’t contain any malicious code.  One thing the experts say to search for is instances of <iframe>.  Well, that’s a problem, because most embed codes, including YouTube and Google Maps, all use <iframe>.  Fortunately, my WP database seemed clean.

I then did a complete re-install and re-build of WordPress on my site.  That involved deleting all of the files off of my host, then installing a clean set of WordPress files.  I installed new versions of my themes and plugins, keeping nothing from the infected site.  I also made sure I changed my admin password for both the site and the database, just in case.

It looks like I was lucky, and caught the problem in time.  The Google page rank for the site is still high, and the last spam link from Feedjit was last night, before I started the cleaning process.  Google is still showing links to my site based on spam keywords, but those won’t go away until Google crawls those sites again.  I did a spot check on several of them, and the page source code doesn’t show any problems.

This has really been a pain, and to what end?  Do people really buy drugs from these types of links??  Are they that desperate or stupid?  I guess all it takes are a few idiots to make all this spamming worthwhile for the spammers.  In the meantime, legitimate sites like this one come to a crashing halt.  I’m about ready to switch completely over to my handwritten journal and have people come visit if they want to see what I’ve written.

UPDATE:

I checked my blog stats this morning, and I got the first evidence that all my cleaning paid off. There were several entries in my Feedjit stats similar to the one below:

While this may look like I’ve still got spam links, here’s why those stats are good news. Google still has some links to the site in cache, so if you do a search for a particular medicine, it would still return a link to RandomConnections. However, this stat shows the actual NAME of the post. Previously the post name would have been replaced by some other garbage. This lets me know that the infection is no longer present. I guess my own medicine worked.

Version 6.2 makes some changes to the overall appearance of the map, with a “pretty Earth” effect. At wider zoom ranges, the surface of the map appears uniform, unlike older versions that showed rectangular swaths that mirrored imagery acquisition and satellite routes. As you zoom into the surface, more details emerge.

While this is all looks nice, the more functional improvement is the addition of enhanced sharing features in Google Earth. You can log directly into your Google Plus account, which opens lots of options for sharing GE data.  In the top right part of the screen you can now find a Share Button and a button to log into your G+ account.

From the drop-down menu you have five options:

1. Share a screenshot in Google Plus
2. E-mail an image
3. E-mail the current view
4. E-mail a placemark (one must be active to use this function)
5. Share with the Google Earth Community

You can still save screenshots as JPG files.  That’s what I had been doing, uploading the images to Flickr when I wanted to share on this blog.  Now I’ll just pop them into G+ and link from there.

Google has acquired the online image editor Picnic. That product is being phased out, but the service itself is being incorporated into other Google products. If you open your Google Earth screenshot (or any other image, for that matter) in the Lightbox view, you will see a link to the “Creative Kit”, which is what Picnic has become.

Unfortunately, not all of Picnic has been ported over to the Creative Kit. I couldn’t find any of the shapes, arrows, and lines that made image mark-up a breeze in Picnic, so I had to draw lines manually (and rather squiggly, I might add.)

Still, it’s a nice, quick way to share Google Earth data, and I’m looking forward to doing more with it.

I came upon Kingville quite by accident. I was looking for information on another ghost town in Google Earth when I spotted this name near the confluence of the Congaree and Wateree Rivers. When I zoomed in a bit further I saw that the the place indicated by the name was all wooded – there was no town there. Street View also showed just a wooded area, and not enough buildings to even justify keeping this as a place name. This intrigued me, so I did a bit of research, and it turned out to be an interesting ghost town location itself.

According to information on the Kingville Historical Foundation’s website, the town got it’s start in 1842 when a spur railroad line from Aiken was completed to Columbia. I checked Robert Mill’s 1825 atlas of the area, and the name Kingville does not appear. In 1850 a branch line was completed to Camden, and the town began to grow because it was now located at the juncture of two major railroad lines.

Research on the town was initially confusing. According to the historical marker for the site…

Kingville is thought to be named for its status as “king” of the railroad line between Charleston and Columbia and between Columbia and Camden.

However, the town was first called “Kingsville” with an “s”. For awhile I wasn’t sure if I was finding information on the same town. For example, this is an excerpt from an 1870 map of the Port Royal railroad in the southern states. It clearly shows the spelling with an “s”. The town’s name on this map makes it look almost as big as Columbia, but this is deceptive. Since this was a railroad map, the emphasis was on major junctions, rather than the actual towns.

The town really gained prominence during the Civil War as a supply stop for the Confederate Army. According to researcher Elizabeth Almie, ‘Many diaries, memoirs, and other records mention traveling through Kingville and the wayside hospital established there by the Young Ladies’ Hospital Association in order to “provide food and drink for all men in uniform and aid the sick and injured in transit.’”

Even though it was an important junction, many visitors, especially those from out of state, weren’t too keen on hanging out on the edge of a swamp. According to Almie, several visitors reported in their journals that “they seemed generally to dislike Kingville as a dismal outpost on the edge of a swamp, but knew its importance as a transportation facility, as a hospital and as a site of relief work that served the soldiers.” Almie goes on to say that even as late as 1907 a newspaper article “called Kingville ‘simply a ‘death hole’ during the summer and fall months.’ That article went on to state that the railroad employees were willing to forego their expenses as long as they did not have to spend the night at Kingville.”

At the end of the Civil War Sherman’s troops came through and really made a mess of things. According to a survey of the area for the National Register of Historical Places…

The county was particularly stricken by the Civil War, but precise property losses are difficult to calculate. Troops under the command of General Edward E. Potter destroyed a great deal of property from the Kingville vicinity to Coumbia, much of it owned by the railroad. On the Congaree River, the bridge and about one hundred feet of contiguous trestling were burned. At Kingville, flames consumed he hotel, depots, agent’s house, and about three-thousand feet of track. The depot at Gadsden, the water tank, three-hundred feet of track, and eight freight cars were wiped out.

Sherman’s troops took the destroyed track and made “Sherman’s neckties”, pieces of rail twisted around trees.

In Reconstruction days the depot was rebuilt, as was a sawmill and other businesses. Much of Lower Richland was sold to newly freed African Americans as part of a land redistribution program. The town rebounded and continued as an important railroad junction until 1908, when it was devastated by floods that hit the entire state. According to the Times and Democrat of Orangeburg, the Wateree and the Santee backed up into the swamp and flooded the area.

Every home abandoned – water surrounding the village on every side – no avenue of communication – shut off from the world – was the fate of Kingville….The water was up on an average of seven feet around the station at Kingville this extended at about the same average depth in every direction….The stateion at Kingville was half covered with water and not at any point as far as the eye could reach was [sic] the tracks of the Southern visible.

The Watchman and Southron of Sumter reported another flood in 1916, and again in 1929.  In addition to the floods, changing transportation routes and cotton boll weevil infestations helped send the town into further decline.  Then came the Great Depression.  By that time, most of the area was owned by the Holly Hill Lumber Company.  According to Joe Wilson, who was born in the town in 1926, Holly Hill bought out the remaining residents, who moved a couple of miles north of the town’s location.

So that’s the history of the town, and how it died out.  As for what remains now, we discovered that upon our visit yesterday.  There was the historical marker, and on the tracks a sign that reads “Kingville”.

We found several piles of debris, especially piles of shingles, as if a building had collapsed on that spot.  The shingles looked a bit too modern to fit the age of the town.

Mr. Wilson told us that Holly Hill had erected sheds and temporary housing for the lumber workers.  It would make sense that this debris is the remains of those later structures.

In the woods, however, we came upon several stone foundations and what were clearly streets for the area.

One real clue was the presence of clumps of daffodils.  Often these are found around old home places, and are an indication of previous habitation.  We used to look for these tale-tell signs when we were out exploring other areas.  We found several in this area.

Mr. Wilson said that the hotel ruins were on the other side of the street from where we were exploring.  However, we didn’t have time to explore that section.

The Kingville Historical Foundation sponsors a reunion every year in October.  This is a good time to learn more about the community and its history.  However, even though there is a community surrounding area, Kingville truly is now a ghost town.

Normally on a second Saturday I’d be off with the guys from Lowcountry Unfiltered. They had a great trip planned for today, but due to various reasons I wasn’t going to be able to join them. Instead, I teamed up with Dwight, his wife Sue, and son Adam to explore Congaree National Park and a bit of Lower Richland County.

Lower Richland County is located in a wedge formed by the Congaree and Wateree Rivers up to their confluence, where they become the Santee River. The area is also known as the “Cowasee” Basin, a name created by combining names of those rivers. Congaree National Park makes up most of the Cowasee Basin, but there are also lots of historical locations, including one interesting ghost town.

I headed down to Congaree on this clear, cool Saturday morning. I arrived at the park early to find an already packed parking lot. There were groups of Boy Scouts, as well as other tour groups gathering. I have to admit – I tend to be selfish with my wilderness experiences. I don’t mind others around, but lots of loud people make it hard to see wildlife. I was a bit worried.

Dwight, Sue, and Adam arrived, and soon we were off, headed down the high boardwalk. The plan was fairly simple. We would stick to the trails and boardwalks for the most part, but we wanted to do a little bushwhacking. We also wanted to find at least one champion tree.

The swamp was much drier than I’ve seen at other times. The first time I came through here with LCU things were wet, but got worse, with the boardwalks flooded by the time we were hiking out. This time it looked like there would be no such problem.

The only drawback was gathering clouds. Rain had not been in the forecast, and I didn’t have a poncho or other rain gear with me. The clouds kept us company most of the day, but nothing came of it.

The hike went fairly quickly, and I was surprise we I found out that we were already 1.2 miles from the visitor’s center. At Wise Lake we left the boardwalk and followed the River Trail. I had the coordinates for several champion trees in my GPS, and our favorite Cherrybark Oak was just off of this path. Eventually we left the trail in search of the large tree. Instead of geocaching, we were “tree”-ocaching.

We did about another mile of off-trail hiking, following my GPS coordinates. I knew this section was fairly safe because we would be keeping the trail mostly on our left and not straying too far afield.

My coordinates were fairly accurate, and at about lunch time we had found our tree. This particular Cherrybark Oak is a state champion, meaning that it’s the largest of its species, based on several parameters, in teh state of South Carolina.  We paused for photos, then started unpacking sandwiches.

The hike back to the visitors center was a bit more direct. The sun did come out, bathing the swamp with light. We also paused to let Adam try climbing a fallen tree, much to his mother’s dismay.

As the crow flies it’s about 1.75 miles from the visitors center to the cherrybark oak. All told, we probably walked about 4.5 miles on this trek. Normally on these treks I’m using my upper body and arms to paddle, so my legs were really starting to feel it this time.

However, we weren’t done with our explorations. Our next stop was about eight miles to the southeast. We were going to visit the ghost town of Kingville.

Kingville, also listed as Kingsville on some maps, was an important railroad junction during the Civil War. Many troops passed through the area, and a small town built up around the junction. Sherman’s army marched through here destroying the town and large portions of the railroad. The town was rebuilt, but eventually faded away. More details about Kingville will be included in another post.

We found the area fairly easy. A historical marker indicates the location of the town at the end of Kingville Road. No structures remain in the town, but we did find several foundations and the ruins of several structures. We also found indications of at least two streets.

The best was yet to come, though. As we were exploring the area an old Buick pulled up and the African American gentleman driver asked if we were interested in the history of the area. We answered that we certainly were. Mr. Joe Wilson turned out to be a wealth of information about the area.

Mr. Wilson pointed across the railroad tracks to where he grew up. His father owned a service station in the area at one time, and had delved into other commerce. Born in 1926, Mr. Wilson remembered many of the old buildings and described their locations to us. He also told us about his time in an all-black Army Air Corps battalion, and his travels to Europe during World War II.

While listening to Mr. Wilson’s stories I was mentally kicking myself for not having my audio recorder in my pocket. I did remember that I had my little Nikon S70 camera with me which would record video. I figured that would have to do, and pulled it out and started recording. Between the wind, my hand covering the microphone accidentally, and hitting the Stop button at the wrong time, I missed most of the conversation. However, I was about to pull a little bit of audio from the file. Here’s a small segment of that conversation…

Check this out on Chirbit

We could have listened to Mr. Wilson all day. He even invited us up to his house to look at some historical records. Unfortunately, it was getting later in the day. We were invited to come back to the Kingville Reunion held annually in October. Dwight and I said we would have to do that.

As we drove back we stopped at Mt. Olive Baptist Church. On the way to Kingville we had noticed a hand-lettered sign below the church sign pointing to the “Kingville Community Burial Park” and want to know what that was all about. At the church there was some activity going on, and we didn’t want to disturb them, so we continued on our way.

I had noticed one more point of interested that I wanted to go back and check, though. We had passed Congaree Baptist Church out on Highway 48. Since it was on our way back, we decided to stop.

Congaree Baptist had class Greek Revival architecture. However, what had caught my eye was the row of shuttered windows along an upper story, indicating the presence of an old slave gallery.

The adjoining cemetery had lots of historic grave stones. I looked at one slab stone and noticed that the stonemason’s name was carved into the headstone. The artist’s name looked familiar, so I checked when I got back home. Sure enough, the same W. T. White from Charleston that carved this headstone also carved several found in the Cedar Springs A. R. P. Church in Abbeville County.

There was one fenced area for the Scott family, obviously a prominent family in the church. The fence had some of the most unusual designs I’d seen anywhere.

First, the gate had an elaborate willow motif. The cast iron willow was flanked by two lambs.

The fence had chains connecting to center points that almost looked like the symbol for the Eye of Ra, then these connected back to the corner posts. At the corner posts the chains appeared to be held in the beaks of some stylized bird. It was all quite intricate and fascinating.

By this time it really was getting late in the afternoon. Also, a cold wind was starting to pick up, and I didn’t think we would enjoy much more outside exploration. I said my goodbyes to Dwight and family, and we headed on back to our homes.

Here’s a slideshow of all of the photos I took…

…and here is a map showing those locations…

View 2-11-2012 Lower Richland County in a larger map

I love Eastern Mediterranean food. There’s nothing like pita and hummus for a snack, and kabobs, olives, rice, and falafel make a perfect meal, especially when rounded out with baklava. So, I was thrilled to see that a Lebanese restaurant had opened on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Greer, within striking distance for lunch.

The Rolled Pita is located in the corner of a small strip mall near the old Allen-Bennett Hospital. For a long time it went unnoticed, with only a small sign proclaiming “Lebanese Restaurant.” I didn’t even spot it until they renamed the place and put up a larger sign. That was last Friday, so Wednesday I decided to give it a try.

Atmosphere

If it were a Greek place, I probably would have described it as “spartan” just to be witty. This goes beyond spartan. There are just a few tables in a surprisingly large area. The restaurant actually takes up two spaces at the mall, with the second space serving as a fish market. Unfortunately, the place reeks of fish, and I almost turn around and walk out.

There is a counter and display case in the main room which I assume to be the actual restaurant. It’s covered with brightly colored hookahs, the only real splash in the place.

At this point I’m a bit confused. I know the sign says “restaurant” and there are tables and menus. However, the signs outside advertise fresh seafood, and two hookahs flank the other entrance. From the outside I wouldn’t know if this were a seafood store, smoking shop, or eatery.

One other couple is seated when I arrive. The owner is seated at another table talking strategy with some consultant. Apparently they are just getting started, so I shouldn’t be too hard on them until the place takes on its true form.

Menu

The menu is extensive, and has a nice selection of appetizers, salads, pies, platters, and sandwiches. There are kabobs, hummus, taboule, fattoush, and other traditional platters. The platters hover around the $10 mark for the dinner plates, and a couple of dollars less for the lunch plates. There is also a nice selection of vegan platters as well as a selection of fried seafood. For some reason, chicken fingers are listed under this heading.

For lighter meals there is a selection of rolled pitas, from which the restaurant takes its name. The description makes these sound like gyros with interesting ingredients besides lamb. These run from $4 – $6. An additional $2.50 will get you fries and a drink with the sandwich.

Food

I ordered the shishtawook. Basically, it’s the chicken version of a kabob. Small pieces of marinated grilled chicken were served over rice with a side of hummus. This was served with a flat bread and a small bit of garlic sauce for the chicken.

The flavors were excellent. The chicken was savory, especially with a light bit of the garlic sauce, and the rice and a sweet-savory flavor that blended well. The hummus had a bit too much olive oil, but was otherwise quite good.

As I was leaving, on impulse I bought a small piece of pistachio baklava to go. It was very tasty – not too sweet, and not as syrupy sticky as some of the Greek versions.

Service

Service was friendly, quick and efficient. The waitress was ready to answer questions I had about some of the dishes, especially about the garlic sauce that arrived with the meal.

Conclusions

The food was excellent, and quite reasonably priced for lunch or dinner. The biggest drawback is the overwhelming fish smell, which could ruin a meal. I even heard another customer mentioned it upon arrival. Until they get that resolved, they are in trouble. I guess the best thing to do would be to call ahead, get it to go, and take it somewhere else. Unfortunately, the Rolled Pita is at the extreme edge of my comfortable lunch range, so getting it to go isn’t an option.

Will I be back? Most likely. However, simple location and logistics means it’s not going to be on my regular rotation of lunch eateries.

For many years now Laura and I have had a saving strategy.  Any loose coins get dumped into a large jar.  Slowly, but surely the amount grows, and when we run out of space we deposit them.  The saving part was easy – we never really missed the money itself, and we don’t need coins for laundry or necessities like that.  Rolling the coins into denominations was a pain, until our credit union put in one of those automated coin sorters.  The coins would accumulate to ridiculous amounts because we hated rolling them.  Now, we tend to cash them in a bit more quickly.

We still save coins, but I’ve recently read about another semi-painless saving strategy.  I can’t remember where I read it, whether on Lifehacker.com or some similar site, but the strategy goes like this…before you go to bed check your wallet.  Take any five dollar bill and put it away somewhere.  If you don’t feel comfortable robbing all of your fives, set a limit, say, up to $10 or two fives.  Sit back and watch it accumulate.

…or so it would seem.  The first day I started with a bang, tucking away $25.  However, as it turns out, I rarely wind up with fives in my wallet at the end of the day.  A week later and all I’ve had are tens and ones.  I’ve even tried breaking twenties unnecessarily to get a five, but for whatever reason they don’t survive until evening.  What I DO wind up with is a wallet full of ones and a couple of tens.  Maybe I need to change my strategy.

So far we’ve looked at iOS devices as digital audio workstations, notation readers and scorers, and as musical synthesizers. This time we’re going to take a look at the devices as effects processors.

The phrase “effects processor” is a catch-all term that refers to just about any way that sound is manipulated before its amplified, recorded, etc.  This could be as basic as adding reverberation to make it sound like your in a large auditorium instead of a small recording studio, or as complex as auto-tuning, looping, or otherwise radically altering the sound.

Effects devices typically took two forms.  There were rack-mounted devices that controlled EQ, compression, reverb, delay, etc.  Then there were performance devices.  These were usually geared toward guitarists, and included the Fuzz, WahWah, Flanger, and distortion peddles.  Now a whole range of effects peddles can be found.  Rack-mounted effects are still important in studio work, but most of those effects can now be found on performance devices themselves, such as keyboards, etc.

Effects apps for iOS seem to look more like performance level devices, and this makes sense.  The portability of the device makes it a great alternative if you needs some quick effects and don’t want to lug all your gear with you.  If you’re doing a jam session or just practicing, these are great.  I’m not sure how it would work in a studio setting, though.

Before we get started we need to look at ways of getting sound INTO the iOS device.  There is the built-in mike on both the iPad and iPhone, and that works well if you’re just goofing around.  However, if you want to input from another sound source, or have a higher quality of sound, you’re going to need a different input device.

iK Multimedia makes two products designed specifically for the iOS environment.  First, there is the iRig microphone.  As a mic there is nothing particularly special about it.  However, it’s plug does have a headphone out port so that you can patch sounds out of the iPad into a recorder or other device.

The iRig adapter is similar. Instead of a microphone, you can plug in a 1/4 inch stereo plug from a keyboard or guitar. As with the mic, there is a way to plug in headphones or line out. Street price for the mic is about $60, and $40 for the adapter, so you’re looking at about $100 for ways to get sound into your device. Of these two, the adapter is probably the most versatile, since you can plug other microphones or just about any other type of signal into it.

Once you’ve got a way to get decent sounds into the device, you’re ready to start adding effects. We’ll start with some of the apps that mimic the performance peddles guitarists use, then move on from there.  Since I’m not a guitarist, I can’t really offer sound clips by way of demonstration, but will just have a few screen caps, starting with our old friend…

Garage Band

One of the performance modules in Garage Band is a guitar amp. You would have to use an input device such as the iRig adapter, but once you’re connected you can select from a wide range of amp styles.

You can also add up to four effects peddles, with everything from reverb to distortion effects.

In addition to Garage Band, iK Multimedia makes its own amp app called Amplitube. You can purchase various effects modules, similar to the foot peddles in Garage Band. Again, since I’m not a guitarist I haven’t purchased this app, will just have to refer you to their website.  Two other contenders are JamUp Pro from Positive Grid and StompBox from 4Pockets.  I’m sure there are plenty of others out there.

Since I can’t demonstrate these apps, we’ll move on to voice, and since we’re already talking about ik Multimedia, let’s take a look at…

VocaLive

VocaLive is designed to work with the iRig mic.  However, it will work with the built-in mic on the device.  In addition to the effects, it has a voice training module with warm-ups and listening exercises, as well as an on-board recorder that can be expanded to a four-track recorder through an in-App purchase.

My favorite of these effects is the Choir harmonization effect.  You can harmonize up to three voices and set the intervals for harmonization. The image below shows it set for unison, a major 3rd up, and a major 5th up. I typically set up for a 4th down, then 3rd and 5th up. You can configure it for various keys, as well as set it for chromatic, major, minor, and modal scales.

The app also has pitch correction. You can set the hard autotune sound that produces the semi-robotic sound popularized first by Cher then later by other artists, or you can do simple pitch correction.

There is also a morph app that presents an X-Y axis to change pitch and modulation. You can generated distorted voices or even change vocal gender.

There are also standard apps such as reverb and EQ.

The effects can be layered and set up as presets for quick access during performance. The on-board recorder does capture any effect that has been added to the signal.

Here’s a sample of VocaLive. I’m singing “Wade in the Water” with a simple piano accompaniment.

Check this out on Chirbit

The effects are a bit tinny to my ear. I’m sure there is a way to fix that. You can at least hear the reverb and some of the harmony in the piece.

ImproVox

ImproVox is similar to VocaLive, but has a simpler, cleaner interface. It doesn’t have anywhere near the number of effects found in VocaLive, but everything is laid out very neatly and effects can be changed on the fly.

Users are presented with two X-Y screens, each divided into four quadrants. The left is the harmonization pad. Each quadrant on that pad represents the number of voices available. Moving the controller ball from the center of the pad selects the voicing, Moving the ball further from the center intensifies the effect.

The right screen controls reverb effects. As with the harmonization pad, each quadrant represents a different effect, and the further you move from the center, the greater the effect.

There are simple control buttons at the bottom of the screen. One sets the key. You can do this manually by selecting the key, or you can hum a note into it to establish a tonal center.

I found the humming part to be harder than it looks it usually takes much longer than 2 seconds for it to lock on. However, once it does it will play a broken chord to establish the new key, and you can go from there. It’s a great way to set up a key comfortable for your voice.

Five more keys across the bottom of the screen determine harmony style. You can have choral style, barbershop, jazz, and others.

In the bottom left part of the screen are the record functions. You can overdub parts and build up a fairly complex piece, as well as save creations for export or to share on SoundCloud.

Finally, a button in the top left corner controls autotune. You can set it from hard autotune to something a bit more forgiving.

Personally, I find this app much easier to use than VocaLive, even though it doesn’t have the same capabilities. I find it easier to get the harmonies to sound nice.  Improvox is only $3.99.  There is a free version of VocaLive, but it’s very limited.  The full version is $19.99.

Latency seems to be an issue with ImproVox.  Especially if I had earbuds in, there would be a very slight delay between when I sang a note and when I heard it in the earbuds.  I don’t know if there is a way to mitigate that, but that alone would prevent this app from rising from the toy/play category to a true studio tool.

In the clip below I re-recorded “Wade in the Water,” this time using ImproVox. You can hear that latency, as well as a distinct robotic effect from the ever-present auto-tune.

Check this out on Chirbit

The next two apps I tend to think of more as vocal effects toys rather than as true effects processors.  Still they are quite fun.

The first involves audio looping.  Audio looping during performance has gotten to be a big thing with solo performers. You can loop on the fly and build up a complex layer of sounds, then sing on top of that.  Scottish singer K. T. Tunstall is probably one of the most prolific loopers.  Beatbox performers also use looping to build up complex rhythm tracks over which rap or other melodies can be added.

VocalJam

First up is VocalJam by vocal effects giant TC Helicon.  VocalJam is capable of recording up to 30 seconds for each loop.  There are six loop positions so you can create six different sections for your song, each with its own set of loops.

In addition to looping pitch correction and reverb can be added as in-App purchases.

On the iPhone VocalJam seems to have the same latency issues as ImproVox. I haven’t noticed the same problem on the iPad, and I’m not sure if there is some setting I could change, or if I’ve got some app running in the background that’s causing problems.

While I’ve had fun with this app, I’m still learning how to use it. I’m no beatboxer, and I’m still trying to get the hang of layering. So, rather than be embarrassed by my feeble attempts, here is vocal artist John Paul and his song Old Hill…

Two more live performance looping apps are Loopy, and Everyday Looper. I haven’t had a chance to try these (because I don’t want to go broke buying apps.

The last app I’ll cover today is a flashback to the 1980s…

iVoxel

iVoxel is a cool singing vocoder app from VirSin. Vocoders are famous (infamous?) for producing robotic vocal effects. This app takes a vocal or other sound input, distorts it, then allows it to be played from the keyboard. You can use the built-in keyboard or a MIDI keyboard such as the Akai LPK25. You can also use the built-in mic on the iPad/iPhone or an external mic such as the one from iRig.

There are lots of parameters for distorting the sound. You can also set up attack, hold, and end points for the samples.

The app also includes an on-board sequencer, but I haven’t had a chance to try it out, yet.

The cool thing about this app is that you don’t have to sing to create some interesting music. If I use the basic settings and take off the mono setting, I can turn simple speech in to harmonized chords as played from the keyboard.

I figured that if any speech would work, why not a famous speech? I downloaded an MP3 of Martin Luther King, Jr’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. I set up iVoxel on my iPad with the iRig adapter. I had the MP3 on my iPhone, and patched it in through that adapter. As the speech played I improvised some chords on an F-major scale. The signal was routed from the iPad back out to my little Tascam DR-05 recorder.

I was amazed at the results. I popped the resulting file into Audacity and edited out applause and King’s characteristic dramatic pauses. The first part of the speech builds upon the phrase “Now is the time…” (“I have a dream…” comes later in the speech.) I let each repetition of that phrase build to a cadence. Here’s the result…

Check this out on Chirbit

It sounds a bit like the auto-tuned Symphony of Science video. I’ve got several other ideas for this app that I want to try when I have some time.

Finally, I did some experimenting with my home studio setup. I’ve got a Peavey 8 channel mixer that I use with my Mac. I was able to take the FX Send outputs from the mixer and plug them into the iRig adapter. From that I took the headphone/line-out and patched it back into the FX Return inputs on the mixer. That way I could apply any effects from the iPhone or iPad to any signal sent through the mixer. That opens up a whole world of possibilities for sound manipulation.

Even though streamlined, powerful apps are fairly cost effective, there is on trend that bothers me – the “In-App Purchase.”  You purchase a cheap application, or perhaps find a free one, only to find that inside the app you have to purchase additional components to get it to do what you want.  I’ve found this to be the case with photography and music-related apps quite frequently.

For example, TC-Helicon’s VocalJam app is $6.99 in the app store.

By itself it’s a pretty good program. However, if you try to click on the effects buttons on the left side, you get the following message:

The Hard Tune and Correction effects are an additional $3.99. If you want the reverb effects, that’s an additional $1.99. Less than $12 for a really cool program isn’t bad at all, and it does save you some money if you don’t need these features. However, there is something that grates at me when I can’t use all of my software. Those little $2 and $4 purchases can add up.

iK Multimedia’s VocaLive is another offender. The “Lite” version is free. You can do some pretty cool stuff with it, but the app is limited. Each effect costs from $3.99 to $5.99, and there are a TON of them. However, the full version is $19.99, and all of the effects are included. If you know you’re going to be using several of the effects, it makes more sense to purchase the full app.

Unfortunately, VocaLive is satisfied with you just purchasing their app. You also get pop-up ads for other iK products, like this:

I don’t mind the In-App purchase as much if it truly is an addition to the program. The Camel Audio Alchemy Synth app comes with presets, but you can purchase additional ones.

This does not affect the way the software works, though, and you certainly don’t get annoying pop-ups when the program launches.

The concept really isn’t that new.  I’ve gotten tons of Shareware and demo software for both PCs and Macs over the years.  Some of it has been useful, and some, not so much.  I guess I was just hoping that the app environment would be a bit more closed and complete than the software environment.  It’s a forlorn dream, to be sure.  The one constant truth is that if there is a way to get more money from a customer, a software or app company will find a way to do so.