Results tagged “stopshopping”

Over the weekend, Reverend Billy and his Stop Shopping Choir paid a visit to a closing establishment on 10th Street across from Saint Mark's Church. After 45 years Angelo Fontana's shoe repair shop is being priced out of the East Village, and the good Reverend was there to make some noise.

As noted earlier today, a number of consumer activists, sweatshop protesters and anti-capitalist agitators have for years been working to turn Black Friday into Buy Nothing Day. Spearheaded by the anti-advertising gadflies at Adbusters, the event calls on individuals to suspend purchases for 24 hours and engage in creative activism to highlight the unsustainable patterns of mass consumer culture. Naturally, New York’s anti-corporate performance icon Reverend Billy is all over this. We spoke with...

LISTEN UP: Last month we set up shop at White Rabbit, which was transformed into Gothamist House, with WOXY for 4 days of shows. Now WOXY has put together "Best of" podcasts from each of those days, and the first one is up -- so give a listen! Gothamist House Day 1.mp3 ART: First Friday's are so over, tonight come to Williamsburg for Every 2nd Friday. Pick up a copy of "the only comprehensive guide...

Yesterday we opened the doors to Gothamist House and hopefully you were able to drop by or listen in on WOXY. In just a couple of hours we'll be opening up the doors again, for day two -- here's the lineup:

Yesterday CMJ began to take over the city. Reports of long lines at the badge pickup station came in quickly, but if this week is about anything it's about long lines. Oh, and music. If you're off for the day, come and knock on our door at Gothamist House. It's free, and here's a preview of what you'll hear:

Performance artist and activist Bill Talen, AKA Reverend Billy, has been raising hell in New York City for so long now it’s hard to imagine this town without him. Since first seizing his sidewalk pulpit in the late 90s to combat the Disneyfication of Times Square, the reverend has been consistently down with a host of local and international progressive causes. With the help of his raucous Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, he also puts on a hilarious and inspirational theatrical show. (Not to take anything away from Other Love, his quite moving solo piece.) November will see the release of a documentary concerning the cross-country travels of Reverend Billy and his choir, What Would Jesus Buy?, produced by Morgan Spurlock of Supersize Me fame. Tonight the Reverend brings his righteous lefty heat to Gothamist House; all are invited to come on down and testify.

It's time to start polishing up your leaving-work-early excuses, because CMJ is just around the corner. This means day shows, night shows, after parties and nearly every space downtown turning into a venue for the week.

With just over a week to go before the CMJ music marathon takes over the venues and random spaces in this city...we're finally ready to announce the Gothamist House lineups for this year. One day at a time. As a reminder, this year WOXY will be broadcasting from the space -- so if you find yourself at work you'll still be able to listen in! At the end of the week stay tuned for a Best of Gothamist House podcast, also provided by WOXY. Now without further ado, here is the lineup for day one:

Last month Reverend Billy was locked up for reciting the First Amendment in Union Square. Tonight he returns with a troupe of others to speak out against the outrageous new law that would limit public photography and filming in New York.

Saturday we posted about Reverend Billy getting arrested during Friday night's Critical Mass as he recited the First Amendment. The above is a video of how it went down. Each police officer involved is identified by the cameraman, and at the end you'll see Lt Daniel Albano, "one of the main architects of the recent NYPD crackdown on civil rights." That night Reverend Billy was in jail for 20 hours, and charged with harassment of a public official.

Last night, as part of a fund-raiser for the Church of Stop Shopping, Reverend Billy visited the Chase branch that is where the Second Avenue Deli used to be. dogseat has a great series of photographs (you can seem them on his Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Flickr set) of Reverend Billy and the gospel singers outside the branch. And they're on top of the Yiddish Walk of Fame. Sigh, progress is rough.

Here's a video from Kelly Loudenberg, who writes, "The League of Humane Voters and The Church of Stop Shopping along with the vegan community and East Village residents teamed up this weekend for a rally to stop the closing of The Whole Earth Bakery on Saint Marks. Owner of the bakery, Peter Silvestri was there serving warm food and sweet treats to all."

Yesterday afternoon, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping went to the Astor Place Cube to protest Starbucks' refusal to let Ethiopia to trademark coffees. The Ethiopian government tried to trademark coffee names, like Sidamo, Harar, and Yirgacheffe, which could bring nearly $100 million to farmers, but the US Patent and Trademark Office denied Ethiopia's trademark applications. Reverend Billy was arrested and taken to the 9th Precinct; we're guessing the Starbucks across from the Cube wasn't too happy about it.

Dunh dunh DUNH! It's the most insane shopping day of the year, thanks to most people being off and feeling that the day after Thanksgiving is an acceptable beginning to the Christmas shopping season. However, some stores were actually open yesterday, giving turkey and football some competition. Some stores opened at 5AM today, others at 6AM. In fact, some people have been flying in from overseas, perhaps to take advantage of the exchange rate!

EVENT: Rev Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir have been unleashing their rowdy anti-corporate exorcisms at the Spiegeltent, “a wondrous 1920’s venue of billowing velvet, stained glass, teak, and a thousand mirrors.” But righteous consumers beware: The Spiegeltent is part of the South Street Seaport Mall, which is made unclean by wicked corporations like Victoria’s Secret – all the better for the Rev’s antics. He chastises the company for clear-cutting Canadian boreal forests to produce one million catalogs per day. (A Village Voice blog reports on Victoria’s Secret’s struggle to silence the Rev) On this day he rests from damning their unmentionables to observe the fifth anniversary of 9/11. - John Del Signore

EVENT: Every time a new song by Madonna, Bloc Party or...anyone really, come sout - it's pretty safe to say it'll be remixed within a week. Tonight DJ Spooky discusses the art of the remix at the Apple Store. All you need is a little imagination, some knowledge of modern sampling and production techniques and, of course, a Mac.

THEATER: Mike Daisey, the versatile, unpredictable monologuist (and onetime Gothamist interviewee), has revealed a lot about his own past and personality over the course of his years of performing and writing. Now, in the last entry of the season at Galapagos' "Evolve" series, he's going after new material -- a select array of "Great Men of Genius" other than himself. Last week he explored the life

Raphie Frank,
Interview Retrospective

Reverend Billy, Street Preacher, The Church of Stop Shopping