Review: Catalpa Festival @ Randall's Island (Day 1)

Catalpa Festival @ Randall’s Island - July 28, 2012
Photos: Geanna B. and James MacFie / Review: Geanna B.

Renaissance Fairs are great, we know this much is true. Where else can you eat delicious turkey legs while donning your favorite crushed velvet garments and lamenting the devastation of the Bubonic Plague? Probably nowhere, actually. But even in the midst of all this Humanist fun, there is one major thang that the Renaissance inarguably lacks: the presence of Snoop D-O-G-G and his historic album, Doggystyle.

Lucky for us, Catalpa NYC was there last weekend to fill the void. But what is Catalpa, exactly? And how did it get its name? And how are we to pronounce said name? And why were there no cats involved? AND WHERE WERE THE BRISKET TACOS?! All of these questions remain unanswered, but we did give it a Google, just for good measure:

Watch: Poly Styrene -- "Ghoulish" Official Video With A Lot of Michael Jackson Impersonators

The world of music lost one of its best innovators this past April with the passing of punk rock pioneer and X-Ray Spex muse Poly Styrene due to cancer. Fortunately, however, she'd finished recording her most recent solo album, Generation Indigo, just prior to her diagnosis, and today we've received word that Indigo's second single "Ghoulish" now has an official music video that you can check out above.

Directed by Lauryn Siegel, the video features a ton of Michael Jackson impersonators, as Poly mentioned prior to the album's release that she'd taken her inspiration for "Ghoulish" from watching footage of the King of Pop at the end of his life - seeing through his outward appearance to note the nice, gentle person beneath. Her label, Future Noise Music, will release a single for the track on August 8th, along with a remix by DFA Records' disco/house mavens Hercules & Love Affair.

Check out the video for Generation Indigo's first single "Virtual Boyfriend" after the jump, as well as one for the classic X-Ray Spex track "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!"