rocking it indie-style

It's true...

2008-04-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

we're back! In true Colorado fashion, it was a beautiful 75 degrees yesterday - and now there are flurries of snow. I have every intention of updating my blog and completing our trip experiences, as I did in fact write them all down to remember later to type out for you.

There are just a feeeewww things to do first: like buy food so I don't starve and start not-living out of suitcases (which means I have to unpack)...

a slight, almost update

2008-03-31T00:50:00.001-07:00

Hey!

We have just finished an AMAZING 9 days in San Diego - don't worry - I have pictures and stories to post (including my experience eating a live cricket today)! But not yet, because I'm not ready for another blogging all-nighter.

I love San Diego and want to move here. Seriously. Even though gas is 3.65 and I'd have to live in a cardboard box and eat ramen... so if anyone wants to come with...

We're off to LA tomorrow and will be playing a Spin magazine showcase in Hollywood on Tuesday! Then we keep traveling up the Cali coast and have shows every night Tues-Sun. I tell you this because I'm not sure when my next blogging opp will be.

But stay posted.

day 40: tempe/phoenix/scottsdale

2008-03-20T23:55:00.000-07:00

The day started off with scrambled eggs, homemade biscuits and apple butter. We're staying with Robbie and Carissa, friends of Juli's and mine from Baylor. (Among other things, Robbie and Juli played in a band together, and Carissa and I were in the same group who traveled to Turkey during one of our spring breaks.) With their light, open apartment featuring great modern decorating and furniture, recycling and composts, and organic foods, I felt so at home. Again, I have to say one of my absolute favorite things about touring is reconnecting and hanging out with old friends.

Leaving Texas has brought a new energy - especially after realizing we had been there almost a full month! Arizona is gorgeous - sunny, no humidity to be felt, and not a cloud in the sky. Carissa took Dann, Juli and I on a little tour of downtown, right by the campus of Arizona State. An interesting thing about the area: Phoenix, Tempe (pronounced Temp-EE), and Scottsdale are all essentially the same city.

Carissa and Dann. I think the building to the right has some sort of significance, but now I don't remember. That's what I get for writing this a week later...

Tempe Beach Park

Juli and Dann fighting to the death... see how angry they look... and how effectively they punch.

Our show was at at place called the Rogue Bar. The sound guy didn't actually show up until our set had started, but a "new guy" named Manny held it together for us. Again, we didn't have a huge crowd (I think we brought 7 people?) but everyone else in the bar was pretty receptive. We played with a great band called Princess Lady Friend - I enjoyed their set so so much (check them out!).

Yay Arizona.

day 39: in the car

2008-03-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

The drive to Arizona was our longest day in the car yet: 16 hours, baby! As we passed through 2 time zones following the sun, it felt like the majority of our trip was during 4-5pm.

The most exciting thing to report about this day was that we experienced the official Worst Band Meal Ever. Just a preface before you start to get all judgmental and roll your eyes because of the "restaurant" we chose: we rarely ever eat fast food - and this place was the only possibility in the desert of New Mexico. It was either eat or starve. (Ok, ok, I know I'm making this way too dramatic.)

After waiting about 15 minutes to get our food at an otherwise customer-less Taco Bell, we decided it was more enjoyable (and probably cleaner) to eat outside.

I should have gotten more pics of this. Notice the dog by Juli's head. He was the most pathetic dog with the saddest-looking eyes I have ever seen.

Reid and Dann are staring at him, too, while Juli continues to laugh.

We took a few bites of the worst Taco Bell of our lives, and offered the rest to the sad pup. Well, the food was so bad that even this poor, starving dog wouldn't touch any of it. I wanted to save him from the cruel existence of Nowhere, New Mexico - but the rest of the band wouldn't have it. They said he was most likely on drugs along with the rest of the town.
So we grabbed some gas station "food."

And hours and hours later, made it to Tempe.

day 38: san antonio

2008-03-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

Today our plans changed about a zillion times. By the end of the day we ended up in San Antonio. Once again, we were originally supposed to play in Waco. Once again, there was rain. We figured we could just have the girls play an acoustic set inside, since Juli and I have a lot of friends there who were planning on coming. But after a few phone conversations with a few different people, it turns out there was some miscommunication when our show was rescheduled... and we didn't really have a show after all. Even though we had a guaranteed audience, they didn't want to go through with it. So, whatever, Waco. We've tried to play there 3 different times and each time has fallen through. Funny as it sounds, Waco is one of the places I really really want to play... a way of me saying, "Take that, Baylor music school."

So we came up with a few different options for where to stay the night, since we were playing in Lubbock the following evening (one beautiful Texas metropolis to the next!) only to discover the booking guy for the Lubbock venue was lame, too. So we cancelled that show. A few minutes later we had a new route to follow, and decided San Antonio was a good place to stop for the night.

We stayed at our friend Amy's parents house, which is more like a mini-village, with different houses and driveways and fields. At dinner, Tifah had one of my favorite quotable moments of the tour as she tried to explain: "You know, that thing, that big game, with football, and lots of people." (Yes, that would be the Super Bowl)

Even though it was late, we went out to the Riverwalk. On our way there, we drove by the Alamo, since Dann had never seen it. Not wanting to get his hopes up, Tif and I kept telling him how tiny the Alamo actually is - unlike the way it's often portrayed on film. We'd point to small structures and say: the Alamo is smaller than that! So it was pretty funny that Dann didn't even see it the first time we drove the loop around it (to be fair, he was driving and we didn't exactly point it out).

Here are some pics of the Riverwalk, one of my favorite places in Texas. You might just have to use your imagination, since it was so dark outside:

A red tunnel I was fascinated with.

We came across an Irish pub, and decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day a day late.

We played some darts. By "played" I mostly mean Reid made about 274 bullseyes.

The evening ended with a mysterious man following us. At least, he kept showing up where we were. Luckily we are sneaky and devious and made it back safely (whew). Plus, Dann and Reid are pretty confident they can beat anyone up.
;)

day 36-37: houston part 4

2008-03-17T23:40:00.000-07:00

So... back in Houston after a last minute request to play at Ecclesia for the second week in a row. The third time in a city must be the charm, because at the end of the day we were standing in a 5,000 sq. ft. house that our friend Chris wants to buy us. Seriously - he wants us to live rent-free in a massive house so we can have more time to create and play music together. Perks? Well, the obvious: free large house to easily get lost in, golf course out the back yard, garden, lots of windows. Non-perks? Living in Houston. So we'll see...

We went to lunch with one of our favorite people/sound guys, Zach, in the artsy part of Houston called Montrose. Within the hour or so that we were there, the weather went from sunny and warm to windy to rainy to cool and then back to warm. I guess Colorado isn't the only state that has unpredictable weather.

While I know weather is the most exciting topic to write about, the above paragraph actually is a perfect segue way to the next day. We had planned on going to Waco to do some promotion for our show, but because of a sudden weather change (ie: rain) there, we stayed in H-town. We had a nice long band meeting (blah blah blah) to establish leadership roles (yawn for you), and realized a little too late that we missed celebrating St. Patrick's Day...

Regardless, my sis Malia turned 25 today - Happy Birthday, Mimi!!!

day 34-35: austin part 2

2008-03-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

I loooove Austin! Pretty much every 5 minutes the thought of "I could totally live here" crossed my mind.

Then it occurred to me that I have actually lived in Austin... although I don't think it counts, since it was in the early '80s and before I turned 4 years old. If only as a toddler I would have known the vast treasure of music to be discovered and enjoyed in the great capital city of Texas...

When we first got to Austin I experienced culture shock. Well, I'm pretty sure that's the best way to describe it. Why? Probably because it was hot outside both days we were there (92 degrees, anyone?) and because there were people ev-er-y-where. Definitely a far cry from the majority of our tour stops in the last month. (ie: Camden, AR - where we saw 0 people)

Our first day, we made sure to stop by some of our favorite locations: Sno Beach (if snow cones could be gourmet, this is the place to find them) and the Hula Hut, which is right off of Lake Austin:

Yeah, this is a stolen picture from the internet... but since I'm just now recharging my camera batteries, I thought some form of picture would be better than none.

Later that night I was supposed to go to the Blender party with my cousin "Jonny Hey" (which started at midnight and went to 4am), but unfortunately was not feeling well. Bad timing!!!

SXSW ("South-By-Southwest" for those of you not music-festivally inclined) is one of the largest music festivals in the US. This year there were 1,700 bands playing in the span of a few days. Literally, everywhere you walk down the street, there is live music - not only in bars, but restaurants, alleyways, and even hair salons. Absolute craziness, I tell you!

So it's only fitting that our show turned out pretty crazy...
We played at a place called Guero's on a little outdoor stage:

(Another lame picture from the WWW. And I know it looks just like us, but that is not The Autumn Film you see pictured.)

So anyway, there is a little "window" in the back of the stage to load and unload all of your gear through - we had a total of 45 minutes to unload, set up, sound check, play our set, and load back up. After 20 minutes, nothing of my violin equipment seemed to be working. We were unplugging and re-plugging cables, trying out different amps, switching between computer gear and non-computer gear - all to no avail. The only sound I could produce was an annoyingly piercing buzzing sound. Time was wasting away and everyone was getting anxious, so I just decided to play all my violin parts on my keyboard. Problem solved. It felt odd with no violin, but I was so anxious to play that it didn't matter as much. We gained some new fans and sold even more T-shirts (apparently Texans love the cotton) so it was worth it. Jonny Hey took some pics, so maybe he can send them to me to post later.

After unloading everything out of the trailer to change a tire (another missed photo-op), we got back in the car for the 3 hour drive to Houston... as we had a last minute request for an all-day playing gig the next day. It was hard to leave Austin so soon, but the trip back was one of my favorites so far - I was driving with Juli doing a fine job DJ-ing it up - and a massive sing-along
ensued.

day 28-33: houston part 3

2008-03-13T23:48:00.000-07:00

Houston is starting to feel like our home away from home.

Highlights include...
-Our "we're halfway done with tour" dinner at Saltgrass. Would it surprise you to know the 5 of us ordered the same thing?
-Actually getting 8 hours of sleep a night!
-Hanging out with Josey (my roommate from Boulder's mom). Working out with Josey. Talking to Josey. Laughing with Josey. She loves telling her friends that a rock band is staying at her house. :-) She also loves making fun of her friends who came to our show and plugged their ears the whole time because it was so loud! (She says because of this embarrassing behavior, they are uninvited to our future shows.)
-Walking through Houston neighborhoods. Can you believe neighbors actually say hi to you and then stop and talk to you here?
-Playing lots and lots and lots of Rock Band with Reagan and his friends.
-Going out with my cousin Becca a few nights. Even though one of her hangouts (the Armadillo Palace) had a huge Armadillo out front and played country music - I was totally into it! Another place I loved was called The Volcano - super cool atmosphere with lots of masks. It reminded me of my Hawaiian heritage, how could I not like it? (Thanks for taking me everywhere, Becca!)
-Playing at Ecclesia. This equals a 13-hour day.
-Catching up on college basketball in this magical season of March Madness.
-Perusing modern art museums with Dann and Tifah.
-Looking for needles in haystacks at Home Depot and Lowe's with Reid... in the end it was all worth it - he built me a sweet pedal board!
-Rehearsing with Ableton - our new computer program!
-Watching "How It's Made" on the Discovery Channel. You would never believe how such things as lapel pins and golf clubs are made.
-Still forgetting to recharge my camera batteries... hence no pictures...

Our show at Walter's on Washington this week was another great show! After load in, we walked around the neighborhood looking for a place to eat with one of the other bands we were playing with... after walking for about 15 minutes and finding nothing, a fancy Italian restaurant appeared. The wait staff seemed excited to have us, as no one else was there. But after looking at the menu and noticing the high prices, we turned around to walk out. (This is a very normal occurrence - it's not unusual for us to walk in and out of at least 5 places before actually deciding on one.) Trying to persuade us to stay, the host said he would make us a deal and asked how much we were looking to spend. Tifah jumped right in and said, "We're poor musicians. So, comparable to Subway - $7 for food and a drink?" He smiled a big smile, said "Have a great night," and pointed to the door. Haha. Since that was our only option, we ended up eating stale snacks Juli's mom had given us a week before...

Anyway, I didn't mean to go off on such a tangent.

We had a great turnout - it almost felt like playing in Boulder with a crowd full of so many people we know. It was the first show to use my new pedal and Ableton... now all my loops are going through a computer, which means they are right on time and glorious!!!

My wrists are hurting from so much typing - which means this post is done. Hope you enjoyed the up-date.

day 27: dallas part 6

2008-03-07T23:50:00.000-08:00

After a slight blogging-hiatus, I am ready to resume (hopefully) regular postings... also, the moms of the band are freaking out that no one has been posting as of late.
(Don't worry, moms, we are still alive.)

After brunch in my old dorm at Baylor (yes, I am one of "those" alumni), I insisted that Chris take Juli and I to see all the new buildings on campus. I don't know if it was the sunny day or the happy memories, but I had a pretty stupid grin walking around. I'm sure Chris felt like a tour guide as I kept asking all the typical highschool-senioresque questions...

We then made the 1.5 hour drive to Dallas (a familiar drive from the college days) and had a few hours to chill before heading to the venue. Tonight's location was The Door, a venue in Deep Ellum (let's just say it's not the nicest part of downtown Dallas). First we enjoyed delicious food and drink (the best burger of my life, I think):

(Picture stolen from Juli's blog because my camera is still battery-less)

Then, after suffering through countless screamo bands made up of teenage boys (Juli's blog is a must-see for more on this phenomenon), we finally took the stage.

And it was absolutely the best show so far of the tour! We had 50 people there just for us, and as soon as the first note was played, everyone else in the place swarmed over to the stage. Once again, I got to see friends from long ago. One of them was another pal I traipsed in the Ukraine with - Brittany (and her new husband Zach). Thanks to Brooke F for bringing a bunch of people and Brooke B for the gift-bags and Alyssa for being there... and to everyone else for buying shirts and cheering.

I had forgotten what a difference a good show makes... God bless Texas!
(Um, cheesy?)

Oh yeah - a shout-out to Gabe, who turned 23 today!!!

day 26: waco part 1

2008-03-06T23:24:00.000-08:00

We woke up to... drizzle. Normally, this would of course suck. What made it even worse was that our show at Common Grounds was outside. Of course this was one of our only outdoor venues of the entire tour. Of course it hadn't rained in Waco for months until today. And of course it was 80 and beautiful here yesterday...

We stayed at our new friends Brooke and Freeland's house. I say "new" because we had only met them for about 5 minutes (at one of our shows in Denver a few months ago) previous to knocking on their door at 2 in the morning and overtaking their house. And I say "friends" because after spending 36 hours with people in their home and having them cook for you and bonding over Lost and wanting to adopt their personal zoo consisting of 2 Great Danes and 2 cats, you pretty much are friends.

As the rain poured down even harder, my dear friend Chris (along with Juli) picked me up and we headed to campus. After drying off, we found Brett and their baby Ellia, only to get soaked once again on our way to happy hour. By this time, our show was officially cancelled. (If you live in Waco, do not lose heart - we have a new show on March 18.) Later on, Chris, Juli, and I went to Common Grounds anyway... and after a few minutes, we noticed a guy we knew walk in the door. Turns out Kevin had driven all the way from Ft. Worth to see our show and had even bought a hotel room for the night. Needless to say, he was bummed that we weren't playing.

Juli and I crashed at Brett's little brother's house. Ryan was friends with my younger sis Malia - so it was weirding me out to be staying at his house that he owns with his wife! On this tour, I keep discovering more and more friends who have both spouses and houses. Maybe I could take a step towards stability and have a dog first?

day 25: austin part 1

2008-03-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

Hello, Dearest Readers. I finally have 1)time 2)the internet 3)the desire to write on my blog. However, I do not have 4) pictures, as I keep forgetting to charge the ol' rechargeable batteries. But a few stories should suffice, right?

We were in Austin for about 6.5 hours. 1.5 of those hours were spent at our favorite Austin restaurant, Kerbey Lane (gingerbread pancakes, anyone?), and the other 5 were spent at the venue. Normally I would be quite upset to spend such a little time in such a great city, but (as we are circling Texas at 3 times this month) we will be back in the capital city next week to paint it red.

We played at a place called Emo's - right on 6th Street - which is a great place to play in Austin. I guess everyone stays in the week before SXSW (a huuuuge music festival happening next week), because once again we had a whopping 3 fans in the audience. I'd like to thank Jonny Hey (my cousin who happens to have great taste in music as well as the latest men's fashion), Courtney (another of Tifah's high school friends), and Emily (a friend from Boulder who's now at UT) for making it out and clapping in between songs.

After another fun experience of loading the trailer back up, I drove us to Waco at the happy hour of 2 am. I was so excited to be back in this blessed city (yes, I did say both "excited" and "blessed" in reference to Waco) that I may have not been paying attention to the GPS, and somehow found us driving by train tracks on an unpaved road. ??? Yeah, I'd never been to that part of Waco before... somehow my nostalgia overtook my driving skills...

But - don't worry, it all turned out okay. I'm just not allowed to drive in Waco anymore. ;)

day 23-24: houston part 2

2008-03-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

Houston, oh Houston. Yesterday was pouring rain, today was deliciously warm and sunny.
Here is some of what we've been up to on our 2 days off:

Hanging out with Tif's friends Zach, David, and Sarah. I guess you'd say they're all of our friends now, since we hang out with them every time we're in town.

See this yard? This is only a small section...

of 1.4 acres outside Tifah's parents' house.
If you look really closely, you can see...

us hard at work raking. (Yes, we are talented at yard work, too.) We did it as a gift for Tifah's dad, who was so enthralled, he bought us steak!

Dann has been wowing us with his card tricks (little known fact: he is also a magician!)
He would also like to point out his growing bicep - no doubt a result of doing 100 pushups every other day.

And now, a few of my favorite things around Tifah's house - a mini-tour, if you will:

Tif as a little girl. Awww...

Huge wall paintings. Tif's dad can tell you all the names of the men in these paintings.
Some of them are princes he knew personally... talk about some crazy stories!

Vintage hookah. Sweet!

An elephant. Yeah, I actually don't know the story here, but I like it nonetheless.

One of many Persian rugs to admire... and step on.

A big thanks to Mama Josey for rocking it as a host mom, and an equally big thanks to Maria Taylor, Damien Rice, and Radiohead for creating the perfect soundtrack for today.

Tomorrow - on the road again and back to work.

day 22: houston part 1

2008-03-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

This morning was an early one. We were supposed to be at the church we were playing at by 7:30... so it worked out really well for our GPS to keep freezing as we missed a turn somewhere and ended up being 30 minutes late. Additionally, this church met in a movie theater complex, which means that we had the pleasure of carrying our gear up and down escalators and elevators, through multiple glass doors, down hallways, past concession stands, and up and down more stairs.

Desperate times called for (gasp!) coffee. Those of you who know me know that I have caffeine about once every 2 years. Yes, today was that chosen day!

We made it to Tifah's parents' house just in time for lunch (ie: strategic free food location). I don't remember much after that, because as we were hanging out with her parents, I literally fell over on the couch and was out. Nap time didn't get to last too long, owing to the fact that we were back in the car driving to the next gig.

Taking pictures of me taking pictures of them

Reid loves him some merch

Our T's

Do you want some free music? Dann can hook you up

Foosball. The boys are fierce. Just ask Juli and I - we now owe them drinks. :P

The best part of the day for sure was arriving at the Reynold's. "Mama" Josey (my roommate in Boulder's mom) has been unanimously chosen as the bands' favorite. Luckily for her, we will be around not only part of this week, but most of the next.

day 21: dallas part 5

2008-03-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

Wow, I never knew this blog was in such demand... my sincere apologies for writing this a few days late. ;) In order to make it up to you, I will sacrifice some sleep to hopefully remember all the happenings...

Today (well, not really today, but let's pretend) I first woke up at 6am... which is ridiculous, especially for a Saturday. When I woke up again at 11, Juli and Dann were happily at brunch with some of Juli's friends. I was feeling quite unhappy about missing out, until my friend Alyssa called... she is a good friend from Baylor, and the person to which I attribute my love of Harry Potter. Anyway, I hadn't seen her in a year and a half, and was ecstatic to spend time with her and her husband Chad.

After packing up and loading out, we rode off into the sunset to pick up Reid and Tifah from the Dallas airport. This is the one part of the day I remembered having a camera. Hence these very compelling pictures of the Dallas sunset (in the car, no less):

After our happy reunion and catching up on our 72 hours apart, we made the 4 hour drive to Houston. On the way we had a long discussion which Reid and Dann noted "would never happen in a band with all guys." (ie: we talked about connecting and our feelings...) I am delighted to say that since our big talk, the boys have taken it to heart, and now I frequently hear: "Aubrea, let's connect," "Look, we're connecting," and "I just want to connect with you." Haha!

Once we got into The Woodlands (where we stayed for the night) we pretty much met the people we were staying with, said hey, and then crashed.

day 19-20: dallas part 4

2008-02-29T20:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Leap Day! It's been nice to have some days off, but the itch to play is starting to surface... yesterday Reid and Tifah left for Oregon (Reid's brother got married today). As the saying goes, when the cat's away, the mice will play. Or something to that effect...

Dann and I have been working on Ableton, the computer program we're switching to for looping. Basically, it used to take 2 buttons to do my looping - and now it is 200 buttons contained in 20 banks on 2 separate channels. A little overwhelming, to say the least! I compare it to moving from a studio apartment (tiny but you know where everything is) into the Pentagon (sooo many hallways with so many doors that lead to so many unknown secret things...well, not that I've ever been to the Pentagon, but one can imagine). Luckily for me, Dann is a pretty smart guy. Any time I have a question, it takes him about .0329 seconds to figure out the solution.

Mostly I've been hanging out with Brooke. Some of what we've been up to...

Hanging out with highschool girls Brooke works with at Student Venture. This is Jordan, who I met at a show a few months ago.

PowerPumping.
(no pic - the camera is not that attached)

Baking. (That's right, I do in fact bake about once a year.) The specialty of the evening was an Earl Grey chocolate cake. Tea? My favorite! Chocolate? Delicious! Both together in the form of a cake? Yes, please!

Brooke doing most of the work. I was also hard at work, taking about 20 "artistic" pictures of the bowls and spoons...

Dying the bottom half of my hair "Darkest Brown"... which makes for a grand total of 4 different colors on my head.

Hmmm, so those are all the appearances the camera made. A majority of my other goings-on have not been very photo-worthy, as they have included a lot of me blowing my nose and trying not to get more congested. Maybe I'm allergic to Texas?

day 18: dallas part 3

2008-02-27T19:03:00.000-08:00

Our show today was at noon - 12 hours earlier than our usual gig time. So the 10am departure felt earlier, too. :) We played a concert for the performance class at Collin College (known as CCCC), the school Juli went to before transferring to good ole Baylor. Back in my music major days, performance class was never a favorite (ie: required) and rarely appreciated (ie: an average of 3 per week). However, I would have been quite pleased to be a student at CCCC today, sitting in my required class and enjoying music of a not-so-classical genre.

As promised, my new/yet old/but not-really-mine camera has been attached at the hip... so I'll get on to the pictures:

a white board in the atrium announcing our show (much cooler than a poster - don't you think?)

the black box theatre

soundcheck makes them happy

writing the set list

the rockstar returns to her old stomping grounds

my mess. the boys are going to build me a pedal board!

Interspersed between our songs, we talked about the writing process and what it's like doing everything independently in the music business. Some of the students hung around afterwards to ask questions, and it hit me that I was the one answering questions, instead of asking them... I felt really thankful for this stage of what we are doing - that while it's a long and tedious process with even more work ahead, at least our journey has already begun and we're not at Square 1.

Juli's sweet dad took us out for lunch, and on our way there, we saw...

the first official palm tree of the tour! (i think i was the only one excited)

Our next adventure included our very first band trip to the mall. Dann was in search of new hair (in the form of a new haircut) and new shoes.
dann before

and after

hhhotttt

During the above transformation, Reid rode the escalators making business calls and us girls kept ourselves busy... I ran into a glass wall (that I thought was a door) because I saw a huge picture of Tony Romo... I was just so excited about the photo opp that I bolted into the nearest "entrance." I'm sure Tony would appreciate my newly-bruised knee, just as the onlookers appreciated this unexpected laugh...

after the "run in"

Juli and Tifah testing out products:

"juli, smell - it smells real good!"

"ewww!"

not only does he have new hair, ladies and gentlemen... he has new shoes. mission accomplished!

So I'd say our first outing to the mall was both successful and eventful. Juli and Dann proclaimed that they were worn out from the event, to which Tifah responded, "But we've only been here for an hour!"

And that, folks, is what I've got for you today... this post has taken me quite some time to create (in the realm of 3+ hours), and I think it's high time for me to leave my computer now.

day 17: dallas part 2

2008-02-26T21:32:00.000-08:00

Da-da-daaa: I now have a camera (on loan) and will be posting pictures to add some 2.0 megapixel glory to all these words and stories!

One of my best friends ever (and former roommate), Brooke, lives 16 minutes away from where we are staying (thank you mapquest for that exact minute detail)! This is fantastic on many levels, one of which means lots of hang out time for the next few days.

-hi, brookie!-

While Reid and Tifah were out, she came over for the grand tour of Juli's mom's house and got to hear the nitty gritty about life on the road... Back in Spring '05, Brooke, Juli, and I hung out literally every day (she was Juli's and my first "manager" in the days we played out on Pearl Street and dreamed about being in a band together) and it was fun for the 3 of us to pull out some of the old "remember when's."

Dann was upstairs in the "workshop" figuring out the complexity of Ableton Live (we're going digital, baby!), and we pulled him away from the binary code in search of a good cup of coffee in Plano. As much as Juli loves Starbucks (that would be a joke), we chose a less corporate establishment where I enjoyed a Nutty Cow.

-a toast to joe-

-so happy together-

While also being one of my favorite people, Brooke is also quite the concert promoter. After discovering that the more people that come to our shows, the more money we make, she emailed 128 of her friends here in Dallas about our show next week. I started to email people, but then got distracted. (Crap - I just remembered I still need to do that...)

Sports have seriously been lacking in my life as of late, so thank God for high school sports in Texas (hey, I'll take what I can get)! Brooke and I bundled up (yeah, so, it was COLD today... whatever, Texas) to watch the Plano High Girl's Soccer team defeat their rivals 4-0. Go Wildcats!

The rest of the evening has included watching some of the presidential debates and taking lots of herbs to fight off the colds that are threatening to overtake us (today was the first day I have ever seen Reid cough in the 2 years I have known him... apparently he nevereverever gets sick). Ok, time for more echinacea.

day 16: dallas part 1

2008-02-25T21:19:00.001-08:00

Today was payday!!! It's pretty convenient that we all have different banks... and that our band account is at an even different bank than our individual accounts. It's also pretty convenient for me that my bank is apparently the Loser Bank, with locations only in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Minnesota.

Today was also Band Errand day... we are definitely a 5-person family with 1 car to share. But our spirits were high, since it was so amazingly WARM and gorgeous (yes, I know we're in Texas) outside! (It's hard not to be at least somewhat happy when you can roll down the windows and remember what the sun feels like.) After returning home, the boys disappeared to their newly-appointed workshop (the upstairs media/office room) for hours... evidently they were taking apart stuff, soldering other stuff, and building new stuff. In fact, it's almost 1am as I type this, and Reid just made his first appearance for the first time in approximately 12 hours...

(Oh, and a moment to brag on Dann: my Line 6 delay pedal has been acting up this past week, and after a many phone calls, trips to various electronic parts stores, and more soldering and unsoldering and re-soldering, he has completely fixed it for a whopping 74 cents - when Line 6 would have charged in the $100s for the repair. Yay Dann - thanks for fixing everything I own that breaks!)

While the boys were blissfully working away, us girls drove about 30 minutes (welcome to the massive Dallas suburbs) to the nearest Whole Foods for a little shopping. From my first step inside, I was pretty elated - because it was just like being in Boulder. It's interesting to me to see my reaction to anything that feels "normal" or that reminds me of home... when I walked into 24 Hr Fitness this morning I pretty much jumped up and down with a huge grin on my face (yikes, embarrassing...)

Well, on that note, I'll probably just say goodnight. I seriously love you guys and look forward to seeing you!!! I'll definitely jump up and down for that! :)

day 15: okc part 4

2008-02-24T23:49:00.000-08:00

(Shortest post ever because I'm actually writing this the day after, and can't remember much): This morning Tif and I played at Joel's church, followed by lunch from a pretty amazing Soul Food place, saying our goodbye's to new friends, loading the car and trailer, and making our way to Dallas!

God bless Texas. I never thought I'd say it, but I am sooo happy to be here! Not only is it the first warm weather we've had (ie: higher than 35), but this is a familiar place with familiar people. I'm pretty much all about the Lone Star State right now, and I'm not going to lie.

We had our own Oscar party (Reid discovered for the first time that the Oscars and the Academy Awards are, in fact, the same thing...awww...) and cheered when Glen and Marketa won for best song.

And then slept in actual, real beds! The end.

day 14: okc part 3

2008-02-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to think of a clever way to start this post...but nothing is coming, so I'll just start. I'm over Oklahoma. No offense to the state or the wonderful people that live here... but I may have only brought one sweater with me (yes, perhaps I was too optimistic about the overall weather we would encounter!) and am ready to wear some lighter (and, uh, cleaner) layers.

Tifah and I had rehearsal with Joel and his band (the 2 of us are playing with them tomorrow), and I was reminded of the odd experience of playing with different/unfamiliar musicians. While it's unsettling, it's also stimulating to create music with strangers. The drummer in Joel's band also plays viola, and I was totally digging our string "duets." In fact, I told Tif we definitely need a violist in The Autumn Film (so if you guys know of anyone...)

Juli, Dann and Reid picked us up and we headed to Tulsa, where Tifah and I were supposed to play an acoustic set at a sushi bar. However, 30 minutes into the drive, we found out it was cancelled. Soooo, with sad hearts and empty stomachs (no more free sushi for us), we turned around and spent the next few hours at the movie theater. Let me just assure you that it is not worth your money to see "Be Kind Please Rewind" or "Jumper." Well, unless you come to OK - matinees here are only $3.50!

I miss you guys and wish you could all be here... oooh, if anyone wants to invest in a motor home or something, we could all just live together and travel the country! Any takers?

P.S. There is a new video posted on Day 10. ;)

day 13: okc part 2

2008-02-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

Well, the air mattresses weren't completely fixed like we had previously thought... this was discovered shortly after turning off the lights as I felt like I was somehow sinking slowly towards the ground... Along with being quite cold (despite my 3 layers of clothing), this all resulted in few hours of sleep and a groggy day today...

In Oklahoma City, everything seems to be gray (the sky) or beige (the buildings) with not much green (to give the city some credit, it is still winter). We had lunch with Joel and his friends at a popular burger joint, then had a few hours to chill before heading to the venue.

Tonight was a great show - we had a fantastic turnout (of course, anything is fantastic after playing a show where no one showed up!) and shared the bill with some really quality bands. Plus, our green room was supplied with delicious catering! My friend Mindy from college (another friend I haven't seen in years) came and hung out.

Afterwards we all went out to Bricktown, which is like the newer downtown section of OKC. Just like the name implies, all the buildings are brick (so maybe the city isn't as gray as I thought earlier today) - pretty hip location.

Alright, I'm off to bed so I can hopefully get up in enough time to make it to the Farmer's Market tomorrow...

day 12: okc part 1

2008-02-21T23:19:00.000-08:00

So, here we are. 1:20am and we just decided to go to bed... only to discover all of our new air mattresses apparently have holes in them. Thankfully, Reid and Dann were able to find the holes within a few minutes, and even more thankfully, we had the hole patches handy and ready to apply.

Now all we have to do is wait 30 minutes for everything to dry and function properly. But I just heard that the latest episode of Lost will be finished downloading in approximately 30 minutes as well... meaning we won't actually be going to bed for the next hour and a half, since apparently Lost comes before sleep.

After an 8 hour trip driving down a lot of winding roads through the drizzle of Arkansas and Oklahoma and listening to a lot of Prager podcasts, we arrived in Oklahoma City. Here we're staying at our friend Joel's house (Tifah and I met him last spring on a singer/songwriter tour we played in Texas). Upon our arrival this evening, we hung out with Joel's roommate Joshon and Joshon's girlfriend Taylor. Joshon has traveled the world playing on various soccer teams, and Taylor teaches English to local Burmese refugees. Needless to say, it was like hanging out with fellow Boulderites (Boulderinians?), especially while sipping tea.

It's cold here. On this trip, I have constantly found myself wishing I had the body thermostat of a male - I seem to always be freezing, while Dann seems to always be burning up. We decided there is at least a 30 degree difference between the two of us...

Ooh, air mattresses are ready to go, and the others (hehe) have decided to watch Lost tomorrow. I am all about bed right now!

day 11: camden, ak

2008-02-20T21:06:00.001-08:00

Where is Camden, you ask?

That is a great question. While we might be in Camden at the moment, I have no idea where it actually is. After leaving Little Rock, we drove on some roads (not all of them very interstate-like), and ended up pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Um literally. However, this "nowhere" at least has a Holiday Inn Express, with big rooms and free wi-fi! That's about it. In fact, I'm not sure if anyone lives here...

At our show tonight, there were 8 people in attendance. 7 of those consisted of the other bands and the last was the sound guy. Oh wait - I almost forgot - a random teenager (bless him) did walk in right after our set ended. Yeah, so you might say tonight was more like a glorified rehearsal, with speakers that were so hot, all we could smell was something burning...

The rest of the show we were treated to blaring screamo music, which left my ears ringing from no melodies, the same chord progressions, and the bass DAHDAHDAHDAHHH over and over... therefore, I am now listening to the soundtrack from "Once" so that I can remember what music sounds like. (Hopefully the other bands will not somehow stumble across my blog and read my stellar review of their noise-making). ;)

Tomorrow begins our trek west and to (predominantly) more populated cities...

day 10: little rock part 2

2008-02-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

Today started off on an unexpectedly sad note for me. My grandpa Glynn Alford (whom we affectionately called "Get-Get"), died this morning. For the past 10 years, he'd been suffering from senile dementia and had slowly lost his memory, verbal skills, and physical ability. Get-Get was a great man, and I am proud that he was my grandfather. Plus, he taught me how to pronounce "Mississippi," when I used to say "Mithithippi." I'm glad that he's in a better place right now where he can talk, walk, and laugh again!

I think we finally got out of the house around 1pm today. Juli's uncle had a plethora of suggestions to satisfy our tourist urges, and our first stop was a place called Pinnacle Mountain. (Coming from Colorado, whenever anyone mentions the word "mountain," I'm glad they quickly follow with the explanation: "well, they aren't like your mountains." I'm not going to lie that we Coloradans can be quite snobby with the definition of a mountain.) Anyway, the weather was quite warm, and we proceeded to hike up (sometimes jumping up on big rocks) and enjoy the views.

Our next stop was the River Market District, right along the Arkansas River. Little Rock certainly surprised me with its English pubs, trolleys, fair-trade shops, and art galleries. Oh, not to mention the Bill Clinton Museum Store, filled with "I miss Bill" on everything imaginable. What was even more surprising to me is that not a single woman could be found walking around outside. The only one we saw was our waitress... where were all the females hiding? And why were all the men wearing polo shirts? Quite strange...

Our favorite quote of the day happened just as we were leaving: noticing our Colorado license plates, a guy stopped Dann and Reid and asked them where in Colorado we were from. After saying "Boulder," the guy replied, "Wow, so you're really in a big city now." ? Little Rock? Really?

Driving home, we made ourselves laugh by belting out "Time After Time" in the worst harmonies ever, followed by "Rootless Tree." We may have caught it all on video... to maybe appear someday somewhere. ;)

What we should have captured was Dann trying to cure Tifah of her hiccups. After his drinking-water-from-a-washcloth trick didn't work, he proceeded to jump out numerous times from behind the couches and scare her. Which also didn't work, because we all just laughed hysterically. Reid tried to contribute by punching her in the stomach, but (surprise) that didn't work either. After a few hours, I'm happy to report she is cured!

(Oh, and I am keeping my lips sealed about the movie from last night. I think it's funny that you're so curious... maybe it should be a contest, and whoever guesses correctly will win something from some band called The Autumn Film...?!)

day 9: little rock part 1

2008-02-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

Warning: this will most likely not be the most exciting thing you have ever read. But since I now know I have at least 7 faithful readers, then I will try to scrounge something up.

Half of the day was spent in a very sunny Memphis, followed by 3 hours in the car which led us to the town of Little Rock. We're staying with Juli's uncle Frank and aunt Linda - who live in a cute little house in the woods. After eating delicious homemade soup and sourdough bread, we somehow are on the 3rd movie of the evening... Fargo, then a movie too embarrassing to mention (Dann and Reid said it's pretty much the worst movie ever made, so you can use your imagination...), and currently Catch Me if You Can.

I know you are all so enthralled at this point. I'm pretty much putting myself to sleep. But, never fear, tomorrow we are exploring all this town has to offer and I'm sure there will be stories to write. I mean, the Clinton's lived here - how can there not be stories?!

day 8: memphis part 2

2008-02-17T23:04:00.001-08:00

Today was fully engaging and I loved it! However, my mind is not fully engaged at the moment, as I am exhausted and have yet to encounter a full night's sleep.

But, since I know at least 2 people are reading this (ie: Juli and Dann), I'll wait a few minutes before going to bed to attempt typing some words for you...

In celebration of Black History Month, we went to church today. (Well, okay, for other reasons too.) Our good friend and favorite speaker, Bryan Lorrits, is the pastor of a church here in Memphis that is focused on racial diversity... today he spoke on Jesus and OJ Simpson. Very compelling stuff - in fact, the thought crossed my mind that maybe I should even move to Memphis, just to hear Bryan speak on a weekly basis. (That thought passed quickly.)

The rest of the day was spent in great conversation full of laughter and accompanied by great food. Bryan and his family brought over BBQ only to be found in Memphis... then later we went over to my friends' Jon and Lesleigh's house for a de-licious dinner. It hit me how surreal yet very cool it is for good friends from my past (Jon was a friend from Baylor) to interact and be apart of my present life (or something like that).

Okay, that's it for now...................

day 7: memphis part 1

2008-02-16T22:54:00.000-08:00

As of right now, this very moment, the first week of tour is officially over. Which means, well, a mere 8 1/2 weeks left. Tonight was the best night so far - with a show that will be quite hard to top!

We left the drizzling city of Springfield this morning around 10 and spent the next 6 hours in the car. I grabbed the very back seat of the Yukon and spent most of those 6 hours dozing off and on - in between a little Flight of the Conchords, Jonatha Brooke, making a few phone calls, and catching up on journaling.

I think we were all feeling pretty worn down today, but oh how we perked right up when we pulled up to the house we're staying at the next few days: gorgeous and uncluttered and huge (ie: no air mattresses tonight, baby!) I enjoyed a nice run around the neighborhood in the cool air before catching up on some NCAA basketball. Sadly (for me), I am pretty much the only sports fan of the 5 of us, and have to make sure to take advantage of any game-watching that presents itself.

Tonight we played at a place called Newby's. Apparently they have a pretty sweet theater that seats 500. Apparently they also forgot we were coming - and could not find any local openers. So, they stuck us on the bar stage instead. Although there may have only been about 17 people there (all huddled around the bar), our friends Jon, Lesleigh, and Rick sat right in front of the stage.

And it was the most fun show we have played in a long time - all 3 of them were cheering and yelling and bobbing their heads and air-drumming and singing the background vocals - which made us totally into it. And from our first note, everyone at the bar turned and listened - and even came down to sit closer! It was our first show where 100% of the audience bough merch. Turns out that one of the guys there was Joe Simpson's right hand man for a few years (Ashley Simpson's tour manager, etc) before getting out of the business. He said he would for sure be telling all his contacts in LA about us... and my dream of meeting Ashley and Jessica is now on its way to becoming reality!

Um, kidding. Except that then I'd have a better chance at meeting Tony Romo. :)

day 6: springfield

2008-02-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

My name is Octavia and I like to tango.

Since "Aubrea" isn't the most commonly heard name in the world, I often get called random variations. I think today takes the cake, as I was called "Octavia." I can't remember the story that followed, but somehow the tango was mentioned, and now I guess I have an all-new identity. :)

After walking a few blocks around Springfield, MO, I must retract some of my statements yesterday regarding boys wearing tight girl jeans everywhere I happen to look. I am very happy to report that today I have only witnessed appropriately dressed guys wearing Diesel Jeans, my favorite guy jeans brand ever (hint, hint to no one in particular).

Anyway, as this is not a blog on fashion, I'll just go ahead and move on...

We got to Springfield this morning around 3:30 after a longer-than-expected 3 hour drive. Apparently Google Maps is not omniscient, but luckily I love driving through the night, even without the aid of caffeine.

After waking up around noon (it's been difficult adjusting to a new sleep schedule...), we hung out with our friend Amy and her new boyfriend (!) Zach, watched the latest episode of Lost (seriously, that show is getting crazy), and headed to the venue. Tonight we played at my favorite place so far that we've played on this tour (yeah, I know we've had a whopping 4 shows...) - a sweet art gallery that had CLEAN bathrooms!!!

Next we are headed to a party at Zach's house. Thanks for all the comments and love!

day 5: co-lum-bee-uh

2008-02-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

I am so tired of seeing boy's tighty-whity/colored underwear hanging 6 inches out of their tight girl-jeans. (Thanks Reid and Dann for having more taste than that). Seriously, what is it about these boy "rockers"? It's quite unfortunate for me that I am not attracted to this sort of male, because I see and meet at least 31 of them a week. And now that we're on tour, that number jumps up at least 4 times. So... that means 124 times per week I am subjected to this unattractive fashion disaster. I guess this lack of style sense must be doing something for them, because no matter where we seem to travel (even middle of nowhere Kansas/any college town USA), boys in tight girl's jeans appear everywhere I turn my head.

I could go on and on, but I will limit my words (and your mind's eye) on this subject for now. Maybe because it's Valentine's Day my senses are heightened...

Presently we are in the town of Columbia, Missouri, home of the Mizzou Tigers. For some reason, it took awhile to actually find the Mizzou campus... but as Dann and I were exploring the streets of downtown, we glimpsed white pillars, tall brick buildings, and flags in the distance (all pretty good signs of a university) - and the exploration began. The experience was beautiful, and I felt more educated simply by walking in the midst of all the stressed out students.

By the way, folks here in Columbia are not as kind as those in KC. It seemed as though we needed constant reminders from other drivers' horns that (1) we are from Colorado, (2) are pulling a large white trailer, and (3) don't always know where we're going (even though, yes, we do have a GPS).

The boys just took us out for a delicious dinner at a place called Tellers, where we enjoyed sweet potato fries, wine, and chocolate cake. Now we're back at MoJo's, the venue of the evening. There's a pretty decent crowd, and thankfully the band playing now is not as miserable as the first one (hence, our dinner departure). Oh - and they just announced it is their last song. So, it's almost game time for us... after our set, we're on to Springfield.

I kind of like this blogging thing...

day 4: kc part 2

2008-02-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

Reid got saved twice today. I know, pretty unbelievable, right? His first conversion experience was a result of an email written from a girl in Alaska. In one of her "beautifully" penned lines, she noted that he is a nice person. However, she was concerned that most nice people do not realize their need for a savior...

In his second conversion today, Reid was given a booklet from a nice guy on the UMKC campus, detailing each step he can take to be saved. It's a good thing people are so concerned with his salvation! I just wonder why the rest of us were left out.

One of the great (and not-so-great things) about being a rarely-known band is that not only do we get to play our music... we get to be our own manager, our own booking agency, our own publisher, our own merch salesmen, our own roadies, our own drivers, our own techs, and our own street team (among other terribly fascinating things I know I've forgotten). Today, we, The Autumn Film street team, scattered across the University of Missouri Kansas City campus to spread the love of our free downloads. Today we also realized that students in KC are generally much nicer than those in Boulder. Instead of hearing "No, I don't like music" (how does one respond to that one?), we heard "Of course! Thanks!" (Whew - it's only free music, after all! You can always delete it later... or just humor us.)

Tonight we played at a place in Kansas City called the Record Bar, where we played a few months ago. Our set came in the middle of two sweet bands called "The ACB's" and "It's Over," and our friends at Present Magazine hosted the show. The highlight for me was seeing my friend Emily Mann Smith, who I basically met in 2001 (we hung out in Ukraine) and haven't seen for 4 years. This is no doubt one of the best things about touring: seeing long-lost friends, who end up being not so long-lost anymore.

Alright, it's about 2am, which is almost time for bed. Almost...

day 3: kc part 1

2008-02-12T14:48:00.000-08:00

I'm currently watching Dann chew on a large bread bowl. He is the only one without a laptop, so the rest of us are happily typing away...

Talk about a short road trip - the drive to Kansas City today was only about 2 hours! Thankfully, we have a large selection of entertainment for the car (aside from the entertainment we provide in simply being ourselves). Some of the starters are Alias Season 5, Big Love, The Office Seasons 1-3, Flight of the Conchords... oh, and today we just acquired all the Harry Potter books on cd! Tifah and I are fanatics and are looking forward to the rest of the band joining in. (Haha).

Our experience in Kansas thus far has certainly been interesting, and I am curious to see all the different types of people we will be staying with along the way. The next 2 nights we are staying with a guy named Pete, who interviewed us for the entertainment magazine here in KC called Present. Our show isn't until tomorrow night, so until then, we have quite a bit of exploring to do.

day 2: the little apple

2008-02-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

It's funny how an 8 hour drive seems to last maybe 45 minutes to an hour. I mean, it's not like I'm in the car much. ;)

Today has been our first day off after 4 days of playing. I think it's also the first day I've had moments of feeling alert...

We're in the middle of a farm town in Kansas... after going to sleep by the fire underneath a large deer head (apparently named "Elvis"), I woke up right next to Tifah with icicles on my feet, or at least it seemed... this whole time I've been excited to get out of the coldness of Colorado, only to discover Kansas is deceptive with its sunny days yet bitter cold temps.

Okay, I can see myself going into too much detail, so here's a faster synopsis: Lunch at the Little Apple Brewery (oh yeah, we're in Manhattan, Kansas...hence all the "Little Apple"-ing) with our friends from the former band Moving Rushmore, driving illegally through the KSU campus (the roundabouts led us astray), touring downtown (which took about 2.6 minutes), band workout (with the boys working out their fingers on their computers), and watching Episode VI of Star Wars. Not bad for a Monday afternoon...

In other news, Tifah is on voice rest, which means it's up to the rest of us to decipher in record time what exactly she's trying to communicate... and then effectively communicate our interpretation to the rest of the world (ie: who we are in conversation with). Mostly this includes a lot of hand-signals, drawings on napkins, and lip-reading. I have complete confidence that we will all be competent in this most-important skill. At least I know we're going to have a lot of practice.

Tomorrow we drive to Kansas City!

5 people, 67 days, 45(ish) shows...

2008-02-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

We're going on tour! I think I may write about it... but until then there is laundry to do, taxes to file, and the next 10 weeks of my life to get in order. Oh yeah, and headlining the Boulder Theater tonight...