Oh have I been too discrete?

Generally a song or a band makes it onto my radar but I don't do much research on them until personally invested. Then after a show, or an appearance on SNL or something that captures my attention, I start to Google the heck out of them. (Hey Michael Buble!) So last night we're headed to some event featuring Ra Ra Riot. I'm not overly familiar with RRR but did like their album and absolutely love the track "Can You Tell." With no RSVP or much in the way of a reason to be there, my friend finagled us in by the wise reasoning that, "They rarely turn you away, especially if you say you RSVPed." She was right, and we breezed right in. I'm gonna have to try that more.

We found ourselves in a gallery space filled with expensive and mostly useless electronics: touch screen televisions, a chair massage cocoon, a space saving exercise cycle, a six hundred dollar jacket marketed as "invincible." We were basically there for free drinks and snacks.

Earlier in the night, we had already tossed back a few four dollar beers while talking about relationship woes and learning new things about each other. Actually it was all new because this was the first time we'd hung out, after meeting at an event a few weeks ago. We covered how we got from there to here, why we seemed to share similar insecurities and the inability to let things take their natural course, hit and missed on some interests, and basically got along famously.

Back at the event, my friend said, "The people here are like, too pretty." I knew what she meant. Most everyone was well groomed and had the casual air of good looking. Being unafraid of social interaction, my brash new friend set about chatting people up to discern why this particular crowd was here. Turned out, all the carefully scruffy plaid types were friends of the band, everyone else was corporate. I'd heard from friends that bands often pimped themselves out to play business gigs. It's a thankless job -- but pays well -- as most of the crowd doesn't really know your music and there's not exactly a concert vibe happening.

But Ra Ra Riot was really great live, and people were all paying attention, even if dancing didn't exactly break out everywhere. The band formed as undergrads in Syracuse and have quickly built quite the following and national buzz. They are also really young, like early twentyish young. We happened to meet their manager, who couldn't have been much older than twenty five. Ra Ra Riot is six members, and features a classically trained cellist and violinist. The cellist, Alexandra Lawn, is my new favorite Alexandra. Actually she's probably lots of people's favorite Alexandras, and for good reason with her combination of talent and beauty.

It makes me think about all the things that Ra Ra Riot has going for it: easily digestible music, a stellar front man with a pretty voice, indie geek cred, two beautiful strings players, a good backstory with a smattering of tragedy, and lots of critical acclaim. Two nights ago they were on Letterman, tonight they were playing for me. For free.