Ra Ra Roundabouts

So last night, I went to the Ra Ra Riot show in Cleveland, as evidenced below:

I tried to get all artsy with the glow of the popcorn machine. I don't think my vision translated well into print, but you get the idea.

I'm more than a little tired this morning.

The process of going to a concert seems pretty straightforward to the outside observer, and it should be. Our trek last night however was riddled with roundabouts, or rather, one roundabout that I couldn't seem to navigate. And the more you go around the roundabout, the more confusing it becomes, but you can't stop because there are other, more competent drivers who are handling this obstacle with ease. I feel like the roundabout might be a metaphor for life.

A little dizzy, I triumphantly conquered the circle of doom and picked up my friend. Don't cheer yet--We had to go back through the roundabout of evil to get to the venue. And this time, the stakes were raised: There were two pedestrians and a cyclist. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

So we were traversing the expanse that is Cleveland's East Side, when we finally arrived on the Case Western campus and we thought we were home free. We thought wrong. Upon arriving on campus, we found a tangled web of orange barrels and neon construction netting which crafted a six-street intersection of one-way terror. But being the brave souls we are, we forged onward. And I parallel parked. I know. Wow.

And the show was worth it, Jupiter One (an electro-rock band from New York) opened for Riot. They reminded me a little of Death Cab For Cutie. We only watched part of the Riot set, because we were exhausted and traumatized from the cross-city conquest we endured to get the show. But the songs were saw were great. The band have a live energy that just doesn't come through when listening to their tracks on MySpace. So it was worth it.

And I'm going to try to get a book deal to tell my roundabout story. Everyone wins.