Despite The Rain, A Music Festival Thrives In Bushwick

By Caitlin White

While the last day of Governors Ball was canceled due to severe weather–and Kanye West fans were hoodwinked into hoping against hope for makeup shows–a steady and resilient truly local festival soldiered on in Bushwick. The annual Color Me Bushwick festival is held at Pickthorn Salon, which is smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood on the corner of Wyckoff and Willoughby, and 2016 was the third year the festival has taken place. Organized by Pickthorn owner Chelsey Pickthorn and Jocelyn Simone, the bill included acts like Controller, Nail Polish, Big Bliss, Little Racer, Haybaby, and plenty more.

Tucked into the cozy salon, a makeshift stage and sponsors like PBR and Sailor Jerry’s made the mini-fest a viable alternative to the rainy trek to Randall’s Island. It’s completely free–aside from tipping your bartender, which, duh– and there’s a lot more than just music going on. “Baristartist” Michael Breach offered cappuccinos and lattes emblazoned with selfies and food coloring, a hair booth in a U-Haul outside the shop manned by Davines North America, and a 3D walk in Space Oddity panorama by Phil Buehler. Of course, if none of those things appeal to you, the fact that a new band played every hour, about thirty acts in total, was enough to entice people into the cramped space.

http://www.instagram.com/p/BGSH6VtBanS/?taken-by=baristart

Closing out the show last night was the quickly-rising trio Haybaby, a local act who put out their debut album Sleepy Kids via Tiny Engines last fall, and followed that up with a new EP Blood Harvest at the end of April. Events like these are proof that even while large scale occasions like Governors Ball take over New York, there’s always something small and local going on, too. Listen to Haybaby’s new EP below and make sure to watch out for next year’s Color Me Bushwick. In the meantime, you can catch Haybaby and countless other bands playing at Northside Festival shows this week.