Street roots., May 27, 2016, Page 8, Image 8

Page 8
News
Street Roots • May 27-June 2, 2016
Street Roots • May 27-June 2, 2016
News
miracle? Is the moss speaking to us?
BY STEPHEN QUIRKE
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The reverence of irreverence
sk almost anyone about Earth’s future
and you’re likely to hear a litany of
doom and gloom.
It’s not hard to see why. Ominous warnings
about climate change and the coming wave of
droughts, refugees and extinctions have
PHOTO BY ERIK MCGREGOR
barely nudged our national habits of
militarism, racism, consumerism and
economic .entrapment. Faced with these
problems, it would take a miracle to change
course and avert the ever-worsening
projections of climate chaos in front of us.
Luckily, one man is promising miracles,
and he’s got the pointy shoes, all-white suit
and shock of blond hair to back them up.
That man is Reverend Billy of the Church of
Stop Shopping Gospel Choir - a hilarious
concatenation of performance art, political
protest, gospel singing and religious service.
Reverend Billy preaches a kind of
liberation theology centered on our
relationship to consumer goods. Described as
equal parts evangelist, Elvis impersonator
and Situationist, Reverend Billy is a man of
passion who defies easy classification. As an
actor and theater producer in San Francisco, •
Billy Talen invented the character of
Reverend Billy to connect with America’s
overwhelmingly Christian psychology.
For years, the character was a
performance piece - sending subversive,
liberating messages in the guise of a right­
wing, fire and brimstone patriarch. But over
time, Talen’s character took on a life of its
own. After Sept. 11, 2001, Talen’s community
began relying on him as a pastor, and he
fused with his character as the Church of
Stop Shopping began performing baptisms,
weddings and funerals.
Since 1998, Talen has been bringing
Reverend Billy (center in white jacket) delivers a speech during the Occupy Wall Street campaign in 2011.
Bill Talen, known as Reverend Billy, delivers a speech to Members of the Occupy Wall Street movement
religious inspiration to movements for social
in Zuccotti park in New York City, Oct. 25, 2011.
and environmental justice, touring the
country with the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir
beginners?
echoing down from on high.
the right to speak our minds inside corporate
to give impassioned sermons against
have any message you’d like to send to these
want from us?
territory.
We
absolutely
do
trespass
on
consumerism, militarism and racism and
groups?
R.B.: I turned to the Reverend Billy
S.Q.: You’re widely known for exorcising
private property.
traveling twice to Ferguson, Missouri, after
Reverend Billy: It wants the human race
character
in my 40s, so it was like a midlife
demons
from
cash
registers.
Have
you
ever
In
the
case
of
Black
Lives
Matter,
the
the killing of Michael Brown.
R.B.: The whole process of our response
to join it in a serious defense of life, and
crisis. But lots of people who do this sort of
exorcised
the
CEO
of
a
Fortune
500
company?
young
African-Americans
of
Ferguson
just
Talen’s fiery performance often jumps
to
the
Earth
’
s
crisis
needs
to
end
its
we’re not doing that yet. We’re still allowing
thing do it as young people. If you look back
claimed a patch of sidewalk opposite the
from the hysterical to the profound. And
segregation. And that needs to start with the
this momentum of overconsumption,
across the cultural shape-changers of history,
R.B.:
Well
we
apparently
have
gotten
too
Ferguson
Police
Department
for
a
month
unlike most preachers, he prefers to give
nongovernmental
organizations,
the
NGOs,
overpopulation, fossil fuel use, toxicity,
people like Cesar Chavez, Malcom X and Dr.
close to a CEO on occasion. One of my
after Michael Brown’s murder. In one chapter
sermons in “contested space” under the
who are often fifing these litigation papers.
pollution, and we haven’t really turned the
King, artists like Fela Kuti, Phil Ochs, Lenny
sermons on YouTube was deleted, and we
of the book, we’re talking about Ferguson -
doctrine of “holy trespass” - which often
The environmental movement is notoriously
corner yet on what we’re doing to the life of
Bruce and Abbie Hoffman - the people who
think
it
was
because
I
invited
people
to
go
up
we
’
re
about
50
percent
persons
of
color
in
finds him dragged out of shopping malls,
white.
The
only
one
big
NGO
that
seems
to
the Earth. And the Earth, by her
took on characters or changed the people
to
the
comer
office
on
the
60th
floor
and
the Stop Shopping Choir - and we went to
bank lobbies and public squares. He has been
be integrated to any degree is Greenpeace.
superstorms and tsunamis and tornadoes and
around them by being outrageous, by
take
(JPMorgan
Chase
CEO)
Jamie
Dimon
by
Ferguson
twice,
led
of
course
by
the
African-
arrested more than 70 times.
But
many
of
the
other
NGOs
are
not
racially
earthquakes, mudslides and droughts, flash
breaking into conservative social norms -
the lapels and shake some sense into him.
American mothers in our choir. That chapter
In 2013, Reverend Billy and the Church of
representative of the larger population. And
floods - the Earth is very serious in her
many of them were younger. I came to it in
These Silicon Valley companies delete your
in the book is about going there on Black
Stop Shopping Gospel Choir performed a
attempt to cleanse and rebalance and become the parks departments themselves, the
one direction. I came to it in midlife. But we
material,
and
they
don
’
t
tell
you
why.
It
may
Friday,
going
into
Walmarts,
Macy
’
s
and
series of sermons inside Chase banks,
governments
themselves,
they
all
need
to
be
sustainable again. We’re not really joining the
are looking to the younger generations to
have
been
our
cartoonish
encouragement
Target stores, shouting, “Hands Up, Don’t
criticizing their financing of coal mining and
democratized.
Earth, and the price of not joining the Earth
realize that the life systems of the Earth are
that
our
viewers
take
climate
change
more
Shop,
”
following
hundreds
of
African-
other fossil fuel projects that drive climate
is that we will lose our fives.
in jeopardy, and it is a methodical economic
seriously by finding out who’s bank-rolling it,
American Ferguson residents. Of course, for
change. While Billy preached on his bullhorn,
S.Q.: We often think of church as a building,
and cultural system that is doing this; it is a
and
then
making
those
individuals
his choir resurrected the golden toads - an
the
Church
of
Stop
Shopping,
that
was
a
very
but in the Church of Stop Shopping, you’ve
S.Q.: OK, so where do we sign up?
small number of people in society and the
responsible. We tried hard to get through to
extinct species once native to the cloud
interesting development
made church in parking lots, Walmarts,
rest
of us are just kind of going along with it
YouTube
and
Google
to
get
an
explanation
on
forests of Costa Rica. Billy faced a year in
Harvard research labs and Chase banks. Can
R.B.: We are trying to get out from behind
We need a large number of radicals who
why
they
had
exorcised
me.
We
never
heard
prison for these performances but ultimately
S.Q.:
Where
is
the
weirdest
place
you
’
ve
ever
you
explain
your
church
’
s
doctrine
of
“
holy
the corporate mediation of Facebook by
are young. We need radicals of all ages
back.
was sentenced to only a week of community
held a church service?
trespass”?
inviting people to live in direct relationship.
(laughter). We need 90-year-old radicals as
service. In 2014, Chase dropped its support
We call it Earthalujahville - join our town! So
well. Some of the bravest people, some of the
S.Q.:
Would
you
like
to
try
exorcising
a
for Mountaintop Removal coal mining.
R.B.:
Well,
we
always
wanted
to
perform
in
R.B.:
We
believe
that
all
social
movements,
trade personal information; we have to start
most radical are grandmothers, like The
CEO? Perhaps with their permission?
Reverend Billy was in Portland on May 1 to trusting each other again. It’s in that distrust,
going back certainly through abolition, civil
Carnegie Hall. We have a 35-voice chorus,
Raging Grannies - handcuffing themselves to
celebrate Portland’s May Day rally and to
rights,
the
labor
movement,
Occupy
Wall
and
the
only
difference
between
our
choir
in that fear, that the corporation moves in,
bulldozers. Earthalujah!
R.B.: You know there are activists who
speak at Powell’s about his new book, “The
Street - they were all based on creative
and lots of other choirs is that we get
and then says, “OK, let me take care of this.”
bird-dog
individuals,
and
others
who
bird-dog
Earth Wants You,” a motivational handbook
trespassing. I don’t think that we have any
arrested a lot So we decided to have our
S.Q.: Here in Portland we’ve just seen
customers of bad companies. There is
about creative direct action. Street Roots
social movements that were successful in
Carnegie Hall debut, but it was in a
S.Q.: As you may have heard, Monsanto is
research
on moss drive a huge wave of activism
something
threatening
about
getting
too
caught up with him to discuss Earth activism, being sued by the city of Portland for polluting
American culture where there wasn’t actual
snowstorm on the roof of Carnegie Hall. And
against toxic air pollution. After years of
personally
direct
You
have
to
be
careful.
trespassing
or
the
charge
of
trespassing.
So
demonology and his book.
it
was
glorious}
Our
voices
echoed
into
the
the Willamette River with PCBs. A cleanup
inaction, the city and county are now ■
we are joining those social movements. You
canyons below us in New York City. And I
effort is underway, but community groups,
considering
a local agency to reduce air
S.Q.:
How
old
were
you
when
you
first
cast
Stephen Quirke: Your new book is called
have to demand entrance into certain places.
believe that people appreciated hearing the
particularly communities of color, are
pollution. You’re a man of God; is this a
out
a
demon?
Do
you
have
any
advice
for
In
the
Church
of
Stop
Shopping,
we
demand
“The Earth Wants You.” What does the Earth
angelic
voices
of
the
Stop
Shopping
Choir
struggling to have their voices heard. Do you
A
A conversation with Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping
R.B.: The ability of the polluters to keep
the information from us has got to end. And I
agree ?ivith the moss that we need to
publicize the air and the water and the soil
that we five in. After we filed a (public-
records) request with the Portland Parks
Bureau, we found that Portland is officially
spraying the virulent toxin glyphosate,
manufactured by Monsanto, all over the city.
It’s much more than most Portland citizens
are led to understand; glyphosates are even
being sprayed along Waterfront Park. So I’d
like to thank the moss and the human moss
workers for their hard work. It is a miracle
that the moss is talking to us. Let’s listen to
the moss. We want the human moss
advocates to integrate the information that
we’re getting about glyphosates and the
so-called inert elements in Monsanto’s
Roundup, which are very poisonous, so that
Portland can be a cleaner place to live.
Page 9
the Starbuckses in the world, or as the lawyer
said, “in the known universe.”
We hope that there are no Starbucks in the
unknown universe. In our church, we’re very
fond of the unknown universe. And we
believe that almost all of the universe has no
Starbucks in it. And we are counting on the
universe that has no Starbucks in it to save
us.
S.Q.: In your book, you say that our
economic system is hiding behind the name “the
modern economy” but is actually “a
fundamentalist religion and a mental
condition. ” Do you view capitalism as a
religion? If so, can capitalists be saved?
R.B.: Not in its corporate or neo-liberal
form. Some people use the word “capitalism”
to describe the effort to make economies
with small, local businesses. We defend ma
and pa stores because they are the basis of
neighborhoods. But successful ma and pa
stores in communities have an element that
is basic to their operation,-which we would
S.Q.:/ saw that map that you released (www.
call the gift economy. There’s much giving
revbilly.com/portlandmap). It showed 1,593
and receiving that takes place in
applications of glyphosate over
a healthy neighborhood that is
the past two years. What should Contact
not monetized. Corporate
we do with that information?
capitalism, or neo-liberalism, with
Reverend Billy
its global element, that needs to
R.B.: I think it’s important
Website: RevBilly.com.
end. That cannot be anything but
to regard very seriously the
Letter: Reverend Billy,
a sweatshop-laden, polluting,
willingness of our public
P.O. Box 1556,
Earth-killing, racist system. That
officials to spray such a poison
New York, NY 10013
must end.
as Monsanto’s Roundup. It’s
also something that should not Email: re vbilly @ revbi lly.
com
S.Q What about for individual
be for sale on the retail shelf.
capitalists? Are they capable of
Roundup is also a consumer
redemption - of becoming non­
- item. And yoii have advertising
capitalists?
' openly on public media, urging people to buy
and spray on their lawns and their gardens.
R.B.: Oh, it’s happening every day. We’ve
We need Portland to lead us. Do the right
seen so many people from the criminal
thing, and become known as the community
that took this measure to defend itself against classes of speculators turn to save their own
lives. To be healthier personally and to bring
corporate toxicity, and I think others will
a healthier life to their families, they turn
follow. We're looking to Portland for
their backs on the corporate capitalist way of
leadership.
life, and they become small-business people,
farmers, and then live in service to their
S.Q.: I’ve been told that you have been
fellow human beings and to the Earth.
banned from every single Starbucks in
There’s a quiet revolution going on that is
California. Is that true? What kind of miracles
more obvious in Portland than it is in many
were you performing?
other places, involving farmers markets,
swap, thrift and cottage industries.
R.B.: We were casting demons from cash
Yes - many people are turning to a better
registers. We were doing performances there,
life. Earthalujah!
in which we pretended to be customers, but .
we would have huge operatic arguments, and
S.Q.: I heard a rumor that you had planned
we would fall in love, and you know, break the
to levitate the Portland Art Museum on May
corporation’s hypnosis, basically. My partner
Day. Is that true?
Savitri, who is the director of our
performances, was kicked out of a Starbucks
R.B.: We were planning to levitate the
for saying the word “Starbucks.” She said the
Portland museum, but our schedule wouldn’t
word “Starbucks” in the wrong way or
allow it
something.
Museums today are using high culture the
People don’t realize how strict the
way tobacco used to - to purchase prestige.
enforcement of certain behaviors is in a
Museums have to be forced by their local
consumer environment Starbucks likes to
citizens out of that We were part of the
pretend they are a child of the café society of
Liberate Tate movement, where we
Zurich and Paris in the 1920s, but that was a
performed three times. We also performed at
radical society that changed the culture.
the British museum and tried to get the Koch
Starbucks is not a radical society changing
brothers out of the New York museum, where
the culture; it is a conservative element. It is
I was arrested with members of the choir.
not a fair-trade company. It is a monoculture;
You can’t raise money killing the Earth;
it makes us all the same, and it makes bad
these museums have to raise money other
coffee.
ways. It doesn’t really make sense to have
I’m not precisely sure if the injunction
high culture by killing the Earth, because
against me is still in force or not I believe
then your museum goer is dead. An exhibit
that it was just for three years, starting back
that opens in a museum would be much
in 2005.... But during that period of time, we
received a letter from Starbucks headquarters different if your patrons are all dead. It’s a
real marketing problem.
in Seattle that said we were unwelcome in all