On Friday, clips from our TV show --The First Church of the Last Televangelist-- appeared on ABC Nightline's segment on the need to save public access channels and the diverse programming from the community they provide. We feel blessed to grace the airwaves with the fierce, sex advice show host Dr. Susan Block and other public access pioneers! Access-a-lujah!
Video here:
http://www.revbilly.com/press/2009/01/public-access-in-peril
Video here:
http://www.revbilly.com/press/2009/01/public-access-in-peril
Radical Prayer
Nature you must start car-jacking
Planet earth now surround all the laws
Hologram us with your expert hacking
Shock us shoppers till we have to pause…
Freak tornados persuade the Hummers to soar
Test-tube snakes chase the rich up the stair
Oscar-winners kill your ugly billboards
Automated signs say Advertise Where?
Is that a cloud or Greenland in the sky?
Please Fedex us the next end of time
All consumers need is a very good cry
Save us! Are we late? …hold the fries!
Give Che some new lines, the dead must reboot
The murdered eagles do miss their flying
Wait where was I? - when all hell broke loose
Hell doesn’t shop. No, hell is not buying.
Earth tell us - our last stand was Green!
We are the happy thing that suicides
We change our signs, re-shoot the scene
Who knows why we told the sea to rise.
Reverend Billy
Enticing difficulties await us, children, in the Life After Shopping. Yes, with a feeling of heady freedom we face the void of the night sky, and gape at the beauty of it, and then notice that the stars have become little derisively laughing faces...
You see, children, when the billboard disappears, then we find that nature was waiting directly behind it, and a terrible storm is brewing. A tsunami is more than a slap in the face. The earth is not necessarily social. We Americans might discover that soon, as we awaken from our consumption stupor. The earth was not shopping with us. The earth loves our music but hates our traffic. Oh god help us, enticing difficulties await us in the Life After Shopping.
The relief is that we now have a reunion with our long lost relative, the Fabulous Unknown. The night sky rushes in after the billboard fades. Can we fathom what this is? We are the prodigal children, returning to our loving home after years lost zonked in a super mall. We are waking from years of product-drunkenness and we want to return to that wonder, like when we were kids and looked up and had that jolting moment of - THIS UNIVERSE IS BIGGER AND DEEPER THAN... than anything... wow...
The stars might be laughing at us, children. It's alright. Your pastor advises: Don't worry about it, just pray with it. And we don't stand on ceremony here because we noticed the earth doesn't. A prayer might be the split second hopeful thought that you have while spitting. That's OK. We need to be glad that we're back and get to work. The universe will make fun of us or seem to ignore us, but remain more impossibly beautiful than your latest shopping binge... Mostly, the earth expects us to get to work saving ourselves.
Life After Shopping is what we all want, if it's not too late. Death While Shopping seemed so inevitable for so long. ...Blessings and Wildness! -Rev
Photos and video of our Coney Island expedition in the Church of Stop Shopping Group. Carnival stalls, not mega-malls! Coney-lujah...
Just kicked off the Church Of Stop Shopping group here on SG, before heading out in MERE MINUTES to Coney Island for a New Year's Day rally to stop the evictions of boardwalk entrepreneurs. They want to turn Coney Island into a CONDO ZONE, children! This is what we call SHOPOCALYPSE.
Click here for info on the fight, at our new Church group here on SG.
Click here for info on the fight, at our new Church group here on SG.
Statement of Belief
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir believe that Consumerism is overwhelming our lives. The corporations want us to have experiences only through their products.
Our neighborhoods, "commons" places like stoops and parks and streets and libraries, are disappearing into the corporatized world of big boxes and chain stores. But if we "back away from the product" – even a little bit, well then we Put The Odd Back In God!
The supermodels fly away and we're left with our original sensuality. So we are singing and preaching for local economies and real – not mediated through products – experience.
We like independent shops where you know the person behind the counter or at least –you like them enough to share a story.We ask that local activists who are defending themselves against supermalls, nuke plants, gentrification – call us and we'll come and put on our "Fabulous Worship!"
Remember children... Love is a Gift Economy! — The Rev
Mission
The Church of Stop Shopping is project of The Immediate Life, a New York based arts organization using theater, humor, and grassroots organizing to advance individuals and communities towards a more equitable future - starting today. We partner with citizens, grassroots organizations and progressive visionaries to produce dynamic, informed public campaigns that enact our core values - participatory democracy, ecological sustainability, and the preservation of vibrant communities and local economies.
History
Since 1996 our project has expanded from a one-man performance artist preaching against consumerism on the sidewalks of Times Square to a 35-person choir and 7-person band with dozens of original songs, a critically acclaimed stage show, a major motion picture and multiple media platforms. We have demonstrated commitment to educating the public about the consequences of unsustainable consumption. Our message--consuming less--is the single most effective and immediate response an individual can take to imeediately halting the climate crisis. This same messaage has reached millions of people and has contributed to the public's increasing awareness of the relationship between shopping and climate change. Besides our long-term commitment to promoting sustainable consumption, our organization’s efforts to revitalize public space and defend the first amendment have been documented all over the world.
Outcomes
Our ability to generate popular support and attract media attention has resulted in resounding successes in several collaborative campaigns, among them the cessation of Boreal clear cutting by The Limited Brands, the recognition of Ethiopian coffee trademarks by Starbucks Inc, the abandonment of restrictive film permitting by the city of New York, the designation of PS 64 (New York Public School) as a historical landmark, the preservation of the Poe House, and the successful campaigns of three nascent grassroots groups, the Retail Action Project, The Restaurant Opportunity Center and The Street Vendors Project.
For more info go to: RevBilly.com
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir believe that Consumerism is overwhelming our lives. The corporations want us to have experiences only through their products.
Our neighborhoods, "commons" places like stoops and parks and streets and libraries, are disappearing into the corporatized world of big boxes and chain stores. But if we "back away from the product" – even a little bit, well then we Put The Odd Back In God!
The supermodels fly away and we're left with our original sensuality. So we are singing and preaching for local economies and real – not mediated through products – experience.
We like independent shops where you know the person behind the counter or at least –you like them enough to share a story.We ask that local activists who are defending themselves against supermalls, nuke plants, gentrification – call us and we'll come and put on our "Fabulous Worship!"
Remember children... Love is a Gift Economy! — The Rev
Mission
The Church of Stop Shopping is project of The Immediate Life, a New York based arts organization using theater, humor, and grassroots organizing to advance individuals and communities towards a more equitable future - starting today. We partner with citizens, grassroots organizations and progressive visionaries to produce dynamic, informed public campaigns that enact our core values - participatory democracy, ecological sustainability, and the preservation of vibrant communities and local economies.
History
Since 1996 our project has expanded from a one-man performance artist preaching against consumerism on the sidewalks of Times Square to a 35-person choir and 7-person band with dozens of original songs, a critically acclaimed stage show, a major motion picture and multiple media platforms. We have demonstrated commitment to educating the public about the consequences of unsustainable consumption. Our message--consuming less--is the single most effective and immediate response an individual can take to imeediately halting the climate crisis. This same messaage has reached millions of people and has contributed to the public's increasing awareness of the relationship between shopping and climate change. Besides our long-term commitment to promoting sustainable consumption, our organization’s efforts to revitalize public space and defend the first amendment have been documented all over the world.
Outcomes
Our ability to generate popular support and attract media attention has resulted in resounding successes in several collaborative campaigns, among them the cessation of Boreal clear cutting by The Limited Brands, the recognition of Ethiopian coffee trademarks by Starbucks Inc, the abandonment of restrictive film permitting by the city of New York, the designation of PS 64 (New York Public School) as a historical landmark, the preservation of the Poe House, and the successful campaigns of three nascent grassroots groups, the Retail Action Project, The Restaurant Opportunity Center and The Street Vendors Project.
For more info go to: RevBilly.com
