West Meets East
“I like this place,” said Caitlin Moe, the 21 year-old violin prodigy we've written about here before. Moe was one of the many bodies that packed the Bootleg Theatre last night to see Red Arrow Messenger, the local band that just ended their month-long residency at the space. Moe, dressed in a long woven scarf, black miniskirt and brown ankle boots, embodied the Laurel Canyon, Dylan-esque sound that echoed throughout the venue. “And I really like this band.”
Red Arrow Messenger, a quartet of private school-bred bandmates who first formed during their undergrad days at UC-Berkeley, are intimately known by former classmates from Harvard Westlake and Crossroads, two of the toniest prep schools in town.
And fans including Maroon 5’s Mickey Madden flock to this dodgy strip of Beverly Boulevard near Lafayette Park from as far away as the Palisades, week after week, to hear the band’s brand of authentic, old California country rock. The crowd, along with the band, dresses the part, mixing East Side quirk with West Side polish.
HAT TRICKS: From left, journalist and curator Alexis Johnson and stylist Sam Jacober.
“I love every second of this,” said Stephen Edelstein, Red Arrow Messenger’s sweat-drenched drummer, as he greeted and hugged his fawning post-performance crowd. “That’s why I do this...well, that and the money,” he deadpanned.
Edelstein follows in the footsteps of other passionate drummers of note by taming his Jesus-like locks with thick, stretchy headbands. A black fleece number picked up in Park City, Utah, is his headpiece of choice. But lately, a blue-and-gray speckled model from American Apparel has been appearing on stage most.
“It started as a convenience thing,” he said of his now-signature look. “There’s no slaving with a curling iron.”
A special addition to last night’s show was a choreographed number by the Maia Harari Dance Theatre. Harari, a niece of famed filmmaker and writer Nora Ephron, donned a studded sleeveless denim vest while her dancers got down in black leather jackets and simple red lips. It was a far cry from Harari’s ghastly look of the band’s last video, which was filmed in a Santa Monica cemetery.
FOOTLOOSE: Maia Harari, third from top left in sleeveless vest, and her dance company.
Fellow musician Oliwa (yes, just Oliwa), whose band, Jeffertiti’s Nile, is scheduled to play the Bootleg on Saturday night, sported a pair of striped purple Marc Jacobs pants found by a friend in a second hand store. He thinks. “I guess I don’t really know where they came from,” he said, befuddled.
CANDY STRIPED: Musician Oliwa, on left, and friend.
But Alexis Johnson, a journalist, curator and Harvard Westlake alum who traveled from Brentwood to see her friends play, knew the exact origins of her straw and ribbon cloche hat – Urban Outfitters.
“The booties are Fendi,” she said, knocking back a $6 beer.