Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir Credit: Photo provided by Billy Talen
Billy Talen, the radical, revolutionary, progressive performer based in New York City, is Reverend Billy.
Reverend Billy has been warning folks of the imminent “Shopocalypse” for over 30 years. For readers unfamiliar with the Shopocalypse, it’s the impending end of humanity as we know it attributable to the manic buying of goods and services in a futile attempt to improve our well-being and happiness while solving what ails America — and, I would argue, Canada. And, as Reverend Billy evangelizes, “All that shopping gets me depressed. But what really gets me down is that damn convenience.”
The Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir Credit: Photo supplied by Billy Talen
The Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir joined Reverend Billy in the early 2000’s adding another layer of revivalist momentum to his church services, commercial disobedience and guerrilla theatre.
Billy’s “little wars” stem from the mid 1960s when public performances created revolutionary sociopolitical change targeting capitalism and the Vietnam Conflict – an illegal American “war” that I’m couching in air quotes because war was never declared by the American government.
These spontaneous, unexpected performances in public spaces draw attention to political and social issues through satire, protest and in Reverend Billy’s case, good old Southern Baptist evangelical revivalist preaching in the style of Billy Graham whose followers included Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon — all of whom served as president during the Vietnam conflict (1955-1975).
Reverend Billy with protestors Credit: Photo provided by Billy Talen
Billy and I discuss his early life and how he came to embrace the persona of Reverend Billy who has been known to pop up outside iconic American institutions and has called Monsanto and Disney the devil — Earthalujah! — Mickey mouse the anti-Christ, exorcised Walmart and protested anti-consumerism and anti-materialism in front of Trump Tower.
During COVID, Reverend Billy peacefully protested the Samaritan’s Purse Mission Hospital in Central Park, NYC. During that protest Reverend Billy was violently arrested after planting a 2SLGBTQIA+ flag within view of the field hospital run by hard right apocalyptic Christians.
We discuss that incident and the fact that Reverend Billy posed no threat to the hospital, its workers or patients and was actually leaving the area when he was tackled and arrested. See coverage of the event here with Reverend Billy starting at 6:49 minutes and then listen to Billy and his partner, Sivitri D, speak to the hidden agendas of the Samaritan’s Purse, a non-profit that received $245 million in donated goods and services (2021).
Roundup OUT! of NYC Parks Credit: Photo supplied by Billy Talen
Billy and a member of the Church of Stop Shopping spoke to the Environmental Protection Agency regarding Monsanto’s Agent Orange, the non-selective herbicide used in Roundup.
In fact, Dragonfly Wilson, a member of the Church of Stop Shopping, revealed to that public forum that her father, a life long member of the American armed forces who worked as a paramedic, died from cancer linked directly to Agent Orange. Following Reverend Billy and Dragonfly’s testimony, members of the Stop Shopping Choir began popping up and started singing my new favourite song, Monsanto is the Devil, No Glyphosates. Check out the testimonies and singing here: Monsanto is the Devil, No Glyphosates (2017).
Reverend Billy has been featured in a number of documentaries including What Would Jesus Buy? (2007), a thought-provoking documentary diving into the over-commercialization of Christmas and the dark side of consumer culture.
And, of course every holiday season Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir hit the road challenging corporate greed, materialism, and environmental destruction.
Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir opening for Neil Young and Crazy Horse on the Love Earth tour Credit: Photo supplied by Billy Talen
Find out Reverend Billy’s Canadian connection — and, it’s much more than Neil Young if you can believe it! — and what the future holds for the good Reverend, the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and Mother Earth.
And, how the big banks — especially J. P. Morgan Chase Bank — killed the Paris Climate Accord over oil, gas, mining and plastics economics. And, why it’s time to do more than simply holding protests and infantilizing nature.
In the immortal words of Reverend Billy, “Earthalujah! Everyone!”
You can often find Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir holding service at Joe’s Pub — 425 Lafayette St, NYC — or watch them online if you can’t get there in person. Check out the December 2024 performance of EXTINCTION! The Musical.
Or, at the Earthchxrch — 36 Ave C @ East 3rd St., Loisaida, East Village, NYC — 5pm Sundays, no tickets/free, family friendly.
Find out so much more and sign up for Reverend Billy’s newsletter.
Check out Earth Riot Radio.
Purchase Reverend Billy’s books, The Earth Wants You as well as What Should I Do If Reverend Billy Is My Store? and Revolution for the Hell of It co-authored with Abbie Hoffman and Harvey Wasserman.
Banyan Books and Sound in Vancouver, BC.
Watch for the documentary, You Need This, premiering March 23, 2025.
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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