Friday is Buy Nothing Day - Rev. Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping

[IndyOp]

is a new wrinkle -- was just on AAR...

The Reverend Billy is a revivalist preacher who leads the Church of Stop Shopping, an anticonsumerist communion devoted to putting the odd into God. Created by the actor Bill Talen, the Reverend first appeared alongside the sidewalk preachers in New York's Times Square during the Giuliani years, bringing his new post-religious theology to eager crowds.

Now Reverend Billy has a cult following across the country and was recently featured in a profile in the New York Times Magazine. In these pages we go inside the Disney Store on 42nd Street (the high church of retail) to witness staged dramas against consumerism that employ eight hundred Disney characters with their reeling eye-balls and sky-cracking grins as the mise-en-scene. We encounter the icon-twisting logic of credit card exorcism performed in front of astonished tourists and listen to a gospel choir made up of recovered preachers' kids singing anti-Starbucks anthems at the cash register of the $5 latte. We watch as the defense of a community garden is turned into an Off-Broadway hit and join with the Reverened as he preaches love and peace to the crowds that gathered spontaneously in Union Square after the attacks of September 11.

What Should I Do If Reverend Billy Comes to My Store?

http://www.revbilly.com/index.php

And see Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/

[FreedomAngel82]

1. Who's Rev Billy?

I went shopping today. :) I don't go Christmas shopping till later.

[IndyOp]

5. Rev Billy leads an anticonsumerist communion...

The Reverend Billy is a revivalist preacher who leads the Church of Stop Shopping, an anticonsumerist communion devoted to putting the odd into God. Created by the actor Bill Talen, the Reverend first appeared alongside the sidewalk preachers in New York's Times Square during the Giuliani years, bringing his new post-religious theology to eager crowds.

Now Reverend Billy has a cult following across the country and was recently featured in a profile in the New York Times Magazine. In these pages we go inside the Disney Store on 42nd Street (the high church of retail) to witness staged dramas against consumerism that employ eight hundred Disney characters with their reeling eye-balls and sky-cracking grins as the mise-en-scene.

We encounter the icon-twisting logic of credit card exorcism performed in front of astonished tourists and listen to a gospel choir made up of recovered preachers' kids singing anti-Starbucks anthems at the cash register of the $5 latte. We watch as the defense of a community garden is turned into an Off-Broadway hit and join with the Reverened as he preaches love and peace to the crowds that gathered spontaneously in Union Square after the attacks of September 11.

What Should I Do If Reverend Billy Comes to My Store?

[blm]

2. Been spending nothing on that day for 5 years now.

.

[Nay]

4. Haven't shopped on that day for a long time.

[Cha]

3. I'm always working at our

co-op on that Friday..but even if I weren't I wouldn't be contributing to the mass hysteria of Christmas shopping.

We're really busy but we're a Blue store and sell mostly Organic Food.

[IndyOp]

6. Food - especially organic - is an encouraged purchase any day of the year

It is the disease of consumerism that we must fight - buying more than we need, living a materialistic, rather than a community-focused or spiritual life.

Buy Blue!

[Cha]

15. Yes, and I just talked to my

son on Kauai and found out he doesn't like "consumerism", either!

[Jane Austin]

7. We're Blue, too, so if you want to Buy Blue from the comfort of your

own home, feel free to check us out.

Buy Blue for dogs and cats - - and the people who love them - - at

www.dogstuff.com

We're a Mom and Pop business (Hi, I'm Mom :hi: - - Pop is the Webmeister) and we're not only Blue, we support many rescue groups around the country as well as emergency medical and transport funds for dogs in distress.

[IndyOp]

8. I will look. Can't buy anything on Friday, though -

:hi:

[Jane Austin]

10. We'd love to have your business any time you're ready!

We'll be here. :)

[IndyOp]

14. But, um, what is up with the pic of the boy with toy gun & flag?

United We Stand? Yuck.

[Jane Austin]

25. Honestly? I never noticed the toy gun. I'm all about the dog and

making sure it's a decent likeness of the breed.

I figured the flag and dog motif would appeal to some of our customers (We don't ask the political affiliations before they buy. :) ) but you'll be happy to know that we've only sold a couple in the two years we've had it.

The same artist usually does much more pacific pictures of a boy and his dog, usually a Golden Retriever.

[kliljedahl]

9. Just bookmarked your site

TYVM, I'll send what business I can your way, & you'll have all of mine from now on.

[Jane Austin]

13. Wow, thanks!

Be sure to tell us on your order that you heard about us on DU.

[Cha]

12. Good to know!

Know lots of people with dogs who want only the best for them :hi:

[Jane Austin]

18. Cool! In our supplies line, everything we sell is used and recommended

by me on our own Golden Retrievers, several of whom have made something of a name for themselves in conformation and performance events.

If I don't endorse it personally, we don't sell it.

[meganmonkey]

17. There is a dog that looks just like mine on your homepage!

The picture of 2 aussie shepherds - the one on the left looks a lot like my Quagmire.

:) Woof! he says.

[Jane Austin]

21. Your Aussies must have a lot of substance!

Because those two beauties are Bernese Mountain Dogs, belonging to a friend of mine from Tennessee.

They were down here in Texas for the Berner National a couple of years ago, so we snapped a few pictures of them for our website.

Don't feel bad, though, because on mousepads, cards and other decorative doo dads, it can be really hard for us to tell whether it's a Tri-colored Aussie or a female Berner.

Please give Quagmire (great name!) a kiss on the nose from her Auntie Jane. :)

[meganmonkey]

24. That's wild!

I don't know breeds at all. But yeah, he is a tri-color and his face markings are almost identical to that one in the pic. His front paws don't have the caramel color, though, that's the only obvious difference.

I'll give him an extra kiss from you! :)

[Jane Austin]

23. Let us know where your coop is so nearby DUers can know about it.

Thanks.

[Cha]

26. It's in a small town

in upstate New York. The good news is ..we're wildly busy and have been in business since 1975.

It's non profit so people around here can shop there if they're on a fixed income.

We're still last century in that we don't have a computer or website but keep moving up in spite of the lack of hardware.

Thanks for asking about us. :)

Edit~ OT, but do you know where DU has hidden the icon for "bookmarks", it doesn't show on my screen?

[Jane Austin]

27. Sounds like a great operation.

Congratulations on your success - - what a wonderful service you provide.

[latebloomer]

11. Reverend Billy is Da Bomb!!

I saw him once in person-- he is not a real minister but he certainly rouses the crowd-- funny, too!

[IndyOp]

16. I loved the 'Choir' too - they got going when Sam was talking

about the consequence of national box/chain stores, in terms of labor, ecology, community and so forth -- "Preach It, Brother Sam!"

:kick:

[ktowntennesseedem]

19. Easy for me!

I'm flat busted until payday at the end of the month!

[La Coliniere]

20. Done nothing but

read on the day after Thanksgiving for the past 4 or 5 years. And that's what I plan on doing this year. Bye Bye, Buy Buy!

[Nicole]

22. I never shop that day