The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir

Adetola Abiade

Alto

Adetola got introduced to the works and music of Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir while attending the choir’s last Spiegel Tent Show on October 1st 2006 to show support and watch her good friends Paul Allen and Andrew Pacho perform. During that very show Reverend Billy did something his choir and band had not planned for---a mini open mic for people in the audience with a “call & response” segment he made up on the spot….The words the Rev asked the audience to repeat and sing resonated with her “if you don’t know your history, you are doomed to repeat it”. With the forceful encouragement of a friend, the heavenly microphone made it into the hands of Adetola and she was plucked out of musical obscurity by Savitri D. & Reverend Billy, asked to join the choir and dropped into the welcoming arms of their raucous and diverse activist theatre community.

Adetola is from Rhode Island and was raised by native Nigerian parents who taught her and her siblings the importance of education, sacrifice, love, and the use of one’s talents to make a difference in the world. There is no question that an intense raw passion for music comes naturally to this choir member and soloist. Her musical inspirations range from Stevie Wonder, Dinah Washington, Oleta Adams, India Arie and many other vocal legends. Since joining Rev. Billy and the Choir, Adetola has gone through a “Consumption Awakening” and has been more thoughtful in where, why and how she spends her hard earned dollars. Honestly, when one listens to any of the famous Stop Shopping sermons, you can’t help but challenge yourself to think about the mechanics of consumption and its impact on the world without being forever changed. Adetola has now kicked the big box to the curb and takes pride in the support of Fair Trade, small business, and causes that protect workers, celebrate the arts and the environment….”Sing-a-luia”!!!!

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent"
— Eleanor Roosevelt

Paul Allen

Tenor

Paul is from Boston, he is a Chef and a wonderful dinner companion. Recently he has been teaching teens to cook. Check it out.

James Solomon Benn

Choir Director

I saw Reverend Billy's work chronicled on Channel 13's "Egg: The Arts Show". His presentation of an edgy fun-filled parody of the black church captivated me. He provided me a way of getting in touch with my own fractured youth — my father having been a Methodist preacher. My fated meeting with the Rev. occured the next day at the Kinko's on 54th Street. I learned first-hand about his mission and asked him how I could join his funky-purple-wig-wearing gospel choir. I was hooked. The rest is history. Having performed in and directed everything from Fats Waller to Shakespeare, the Church of Stop Shopping has allowed me to use my theatre skills to make a difference. Regional credits include AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' at Starlight Musicals, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at Indiana Repertory Theatre, FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE at Charlotte Rep and SHE LOVES ME with Nebraska Rep. James' one-person show, LIL BUTCHIE SINGS!, explores growing up fat, black and gay in the Bible belt.

Ben Cerf

Bass

He always suspected there was something sinister in shopping. brands befuddled him and the logos burned with meaningless urgency. always and here he is

Molly Chanoff

Singer of The Month!

Molly Chanoff is an acrobat living and teaching in Brooklyn. For 7 years she has been hanging from her toes and diving through hoops with LAVA, the award winning all-female acrobat/circus/dance troupe. When she is not doing that you can find her at Human Rights Watch, or doing capoeira, or perhaps in Brasil. She is overjoyed to be singing with the Stop Shopping Choir.

talk to Molly HERE

Mi Sun Choi

Soprano

Orignally from Korea, Mi Sun received her MFA degree in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College in 2003. She has been exploring different venues to continue her artistic career as a dancer, singer, or actress in New York. She is one of the affiliate artists of The ConcreteTemple Theater company

David Chung

David Chung is a freelance music and movement educator residing in Queens, NY. He has been performing for fifteen years in companies as varied as the Oratorio Society of New York, Broadway Housing Communities After-school Program, and DA Sokol Gymnastics Team, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the auditorium of PS 66, and Christopher Street Station. He is dedicated to vegetarianism, bicycling, and queer Asian media.

Ben Dubin-Thaler

Basso

I met the Reverend when he grabbed my ass while I was walking through Union Sq. park. He must have mistaken me for the Starfucks mermaid, as soon as he saw that it was just a boy dressed in a skirt on his way to radical cheerleading practice, he immediately and profusely apologized. But the Rev. couldn't get rid of me that easily. He has a way with hands, you see...just one grope and well... I was hooked on his spirit.

Sarah East Johnson

Alto

Sarah East Johnson is the founder and Artistic Director of LAVA, an Obie and Bessie Award winning performance troupe that integrates dance and acrobatics into original productions characterized by physical rigor, intellectual wit and subversive politics. LAVA has performed at PS 122, Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, The Flea Theater, Symphony Space, The Joyce, and the New Victory Theater and has toured around the U.S. The LAVA Studio in Prospect Heights Brooklyn offers classes for kids and adults in the unique blend of acrobatics and dance that LAVA is known for.

Gina Figueroa

Alto

Gina “La Loca” Figueroa is a revolutionary soul singer and a homesteader. The child of Puerto Rican nationalists and a serious native of the East Village she got her start in show business as the youngestmember of the now infamous SOLID GOLD dance machine. Since then she has worked as an actress, a model, a singer and what is sometimes known as an “instigator.” Gina is a loyal friend, a gifted monologuist and makes strong coffee wherever she goes.

Donald Gallagher

Basso

Donald Gallagher is a Radical Faerie. He is also a decorative painter of homes, offices, churches, restaurants. Some of his base needs he gets satisfied in the bass section of the Church of Stop Shopping gospel Choir. He joined the group to participate in the "Save the Poe and Judson Houses" campaign since he had his honeymoon at Judson House in 1966 with his so-called "lover." The Choir and the message of the Church of Stop Shopping have been a joy for him to be a part of.

Jerry Goralnick

Basso

It was a dark stormy night. Turning up my collar against the biting wind I roamed the docks hoping to find a little comfort on a cold wintry night. It’s funny how desire can drive a man. I heard a scurrying from behind but before I could react I felt cold steel against my head and the lights on the wharf dripped into my unconsciousness. Upon awakening I first felt the swaying and then I heard the sound of the water beating against the hull. Shanghaied! I was on a tramp steamer, bound I knew not where. The door to the little cabin swung open and there stood the meanest orneriest scoundrel I’d every encountered on the seven seas. Dressed in black boots and pantaloons, two belts holding swords criss crossed his chest. Oddly, he had no nipples. “I’m Captain Starbuck, and this ship is mine. You’ll do as I say or I’ll keel haul ya.” I soon learned what that meant. Slavery, processed foods, days of mindless strenuous work filled with a fear that blossomed into self loathing for not having the strength to overcome my predicament. All that changed one morning when sailing towards us out of the sun came a frigate flying the cancelled Mickey Mouse. Before we could man the cannons we were boarded and the captain and his cronies were quickly subdued. And there standing before me was a man. His pompadour was huge. His white collar barely smudged. “You’re all free” he said, “They call me Reverend Billy and this ship is no longer Starbuck’s. In the name of the Church of Stop Shopping this is now a bright unclaimed space. You’re welcome to join me, especially if you’re a tenor, but even if not, you’re still welcome.” How inclusive, I thought. And that’s how I came to join the Church of Stop Shopping .

Amber Gray

Alto

Growing up an Army brat, Amber Gray quickly learned the theatre was an immediate source for community. She is grateful to have found The Church of Stop Shopping family and forever relieved they have given her the strength to overcome her retail therapy vices. This August, Amber can be seen in the NYC Fringe show Melo-Llama: A Melodrama at the Connelly Theatre. Other New York credits include Dearborn Heights (Vital Theatre Company's Drama League Alumni Fest,) On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning (Red Room Theatre,) The Just Assassins (Wow Café Theatre,) as well as the new musical ULA: A Dream Play with Music (Phil Bosakowski Theatre.) Regionally, Amber has been seen in the world premiere of Prudence (Connecticut Repertory Theatre,) Ain't Misbehavin' (Huntington Theatre Company,) On the Razzle and Lady Windermere's Fan (Williamstown Theatre Festival.) Amber is a graduate from Boston University's College of Fine Arts where she received a BFA in Acting alongside the Bette Davis Award from the Davis Foundation and the Kahn Career Entry Grant for her artistic accomplishments.

Gaylen Hamilton

Gaylen unofficially joined the choir at Burning Man 2007 after having resisted overtures from the group for nearly a year. His first performance with the choir, at the Temple built by David Best, probably is still his favorite.

Gaylen has been active in the pursuit of social justice for decades. His early work with Colorado and New Jersey punk rock bands was overtly political and satirical with a double-barreled focus on ending racism and the fur trade. More recently, he has taken on the task of improving the world's access to Human Powered Vehicles (HPV). He is the founder of BrooklynBikeCycle, a not-very-profitable organization, with a mission to provide as many bicycles to as many people as possible in New York City and the world beyond.

He is also very involved with the Ghost Bikes and the annual Ghost Bike Memorial Ride.

Monica Hunken

Action Captain, Soprano

Monica, a California native born to an engineer and bilingual education activist, performs and teaches physical and street theater all over the world including a small Thai fishing village, a homeless shelter in India, a May Day festival in Poland, Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, international theater festivals in Scotland and Ecuador and all throughout the boroughs, disrupting the streets and chain stores of fabulous New York City. She has a BFA in Experimental Theater and a MA in Educational Theater from NYU but has received her greatest street education with the Church of Stop Shopping since 2002. You can usually catch her performing her solo plays, clowning in bike lanes or some other act of Exalted Embarassment.

Valerie Kelly

Tenor

Valerie is from Virginia, she is a reggae singer and a great cook, she lives in Brooklyn.

Barbara Lee Lee

Soprano

In the very early morning of March 11, 1960 at 1:07 am, Barbara Robin Lee was born to a sixteen year old black teenager at Pilgrim State Mental Hospital on Long Island, NY. Barbara grew up to be a madcap, nappy headed tomboy who read comic books and listened to Elton John. In her young adulthood, she got politicized first by campaigning for Gary Hart the first time around and then she discovered Anarchism when she became homeless and squatted in the Lower East Side. Barb has spent a lot of time jailed in the NYC and New Jersey jails for protesting in the streets of NYC, Tompkins Square Park and fighting white supremacists at Giants Stadium.

Nowadays, Barbara dyes her gray hairs and still thinks she's a teen ager. She loves her two cats and is a friend to all animals except for spiders, snakes, roaches and rats. She sings soprano in the choir and she thanks Rev. Billy for saving her from political apathy. Oh yeah, when the mood hits her, she unleashes her furious talent of the written word to all that will read and listen Lester Bangs, Assata Shakur and Dr. Hunter S. Thompson are her heroes.

Carol Lester

Alto

CAROL LESTER, Co-Founder & VP Communications, A&R
Mamapublooza Music Publishing, is an Industry Judge for the 2009 Independent Music Awards. Whether unplugged or backed by the World Women Ensemble, Carol simmers with emotion and passion. An active leader in the grass roots and social cause music scene, this award-winning ASCAP and UNISONG writer is a featured performer on SOUNDS OF HOPE NYC ARTISTS REMEMBER 9/11. Carol's Dharmic path has led her to be a proud new Soprano for Reverend Billy's Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, where voices intertwine to share the TRUE GIFTS of Love, Fellowship and Harmony for all humankind

Songs from Ms. Lester's three indie CDs have been licensed for use in TV, Film & Radio projects including USA TV Network, The Red Cross, and 9/11 Memorial Commission. And because there are 24 hours in the day, Ms. Lester is a partner in Mamapublooza Publishing, a division of Mamapalooza Records for which she is also a featured artist and a co-founder. Mamapalooza unites 800 International Mother Songwriters in earning licensing fees and is releasing a new CD for which Carol is Creative Director, "Volume 3 Compilation CD Moms Gone Mad / MamaLove".

On the grassroots front, Ms Lester is a co founder and 2 term Board President of one of the most successful urban Charter Schools in the Nation (LCCS) and runs a local Environmental Coalition to protect local school children from toxic dust particulates released from historic fill in soil during groundbreaking construction by unscrupulous Developers. Visit her website and see the new music video from her Award Winning CD FEED THE LOVE STARVE THE WAR which features the World Women Ensemble: Vivian Warfield, Tara Thierry, Catarina Racha & Daphna El Roy. Watch.

e. Katrina Lewis

Piano

e. Katrina Lewis is a self taught musician, entangled between two worlds of passion & prize, with influences dating as far back as King David, living, breathing, & nurturing the thought, sound, & existence of every form of music created and in process of creation. She’s not just a musician but the actual music. She is the founder and president of Beware of Music, LLC based in Brooklyn, NY. Beware of Music (BOM) is a fast-growing full service music vehicle offering licensing, production, composition, engineering, notation, educational, performance and business-related services relative to the entertainment industry. e. Katrina recently completed her post-graduate studies with an MBA focused in entertainment and arts. For more information, you can log onto her company website to hear music at www.bewareofmusic.com. She will also be releasing her debut double CD in November, 2008 and will be available through her website.

chantel cherisse lucier

Alto

chantel cherisse lucier is a native of San Francisco, CA. She is of Mexican, Norweigan, and Italian descent with an entirely French name... In addition to singing, chantel creates theatre & film, makes jewelry, paints, creates interdisciplinary work and photography, is a certified Reflexologist and works with the LIving Theatre. visit: wokenglacier.org, www.livingtheatre.org, and chantellucier.com.

"Words, like other waste matter, eventually drift down the drain. acts live on... action". — Henry Miller

Derrick McGinty

Star

Billy and I met when he came to see a Peculiar Works Project show I was in at the Dixon Place Theatre, which at that time was located at the Vineyard 26 space. I didn't know him at the time but we talked a bit after the show and did some hamming it up, a la Southern Baptist Church. Unbeknownst to me he was not just auditioning me but creating a role, the 1st Lady of the Church, for me. And the rest, as they say, is history

Urania Mylonas

Alto

Urania Mylonas is a writer and editor living in New York City. She first heard of Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir from a little bird in Washington Square Park named Harvey. Go to Urania's photo page...

Laura Newman

Soprano

Laura was assigned to go on a field trip to Reverend Billy's Church by professor Stephen Duncombe in the spring of 2000. One month later at the April 16th March on D.C. the Reverend and Laura spent the day together as tourists de la Resistance and she told him she liked to sing. Since then she has sung on hundreds of stages and into many bullhorns. Highlights include soloing after Joan Baez at Burning Man 2005 and singing a gospel rendition of the 1st amendment under her breath while handcuffed at the police station with Reverend Billy. Laura is also a film director and writer. Her work, which often stars members of the choir, can be seen at irREVERENTproductions. She would like to thank James for giving her the juice that makes her more than a white girl with a wind pipe.

Stefani Peikin

Soprano

Stefani is a vocalist from Virginia. She holds a BA in Vocal Performance, Opera & Classical music. She can be seen & heard around NYC performing with, “Cold War,” “Live Perl,” and her band, “Stefani and the Soft Corps,” and as the voice in a slew of radio spots. You can also see her in a few small roles in indie films, and on the improv comedy circuit. In her free time she supports the live music scene or can be found baking tasty goodies. Always knowing that authority should be questioned, she feels she has found a home within this truly remarkable community. She is ecstatic to be absolved of her shopping demons and spreading the love and singing the gospel with Reverend Billy and family.

Susannah Pryce

Soprano

The first time I saw The Rev was 98 or 99. I was performing in a show and riding around box office cash on a bike for the Fringe Festival. I saw this thing with a preacher and somebody in a mouse costume and I thought... I want to see that one! Later as an organizer for Artist for Peace (now Artists for Humanity) I called on the Rev to open our first show. A couple years later The Rev saw me drowning in a 'real job' and saved me from the 'no shows' blues. Thanks Rev! "

Susannah Pryce is a multi talented artist. She holds a degree in Performing Arts Acting (Cum Laude) from Florida School of the Arts and has been studying and performing on both the east and west coast since 1989. Highlights include Comedy Centrals Upright Citizens Brigade (Season 1, Episode 107/The Lady of the Lake ), East coast tours with Theatre IV, and West coast tours with B Street theatre under the direction of Timothy Busfield. As a model Susannah has graced the cover of the village voice and walked the runway for Nigerian Fabrics and Fashion (NYC), Timeless Elegance (NYC), and the Rhone Alps ski show at Florence Gould Hall in mid-town Manhattan . As a visual artist Susannah's work was shown at ABC No Rio (NYC-lower east side), Korova Milk Bar (NYC-east village), and is currently on display at the Bedford Avenue booth of the L train in Williamsburg , Brooklyn. As a vocalist she has performed her own original songs live at Tagine Dining Gallery (NYC-43rd and 9th Avenue ), Stingers Lounge (Williamsburg , Brooklyn), and at the Fete de la musique in Strasbourg , France . As a musician Susannah has been playing the clarinet for more than 13 years and has experience playing the piano and violin as well. As a writer she has two projects completed and copy written: a one act play titled "Chai Mama"(now 'Chai') and a book of 300 poems titled "Diary in Disguise". She speaks French and is a candidate for degrees both Modern Dance-Choreography and English at Long Island University (Brooklyn Campus). Susannah is thrilled to be a part of Reverend Billy's Stop Shopping Choir!

Andrew Pryce

Soprano-non-castrato-one-day-to-be-Tenor

Andrew began singing in the womb. His second song (Sung at the age of 11 months) was the ABC's. At 13 months of age he's moved on to his own version of a song he learned from some purple thing on TV. Now at the ripe old age of 14 months he is randomly repeating "Ashes Ashes Ya Ya Yah!" Andrew is thrilled to be a part of Reverend Billy's Stop Shopping Choir!

John Quilty

Tenor

John is a New York-based actor who works regularly Off-Broadway. He came to the Gospell Choir after being healed from credit card debt. In his youth, John was a New York City Guardian Angel who patrolled Restaurant Row and the A "Muggers Express" subway trains. He no longer dons a red beret, but sings for peace and non-violent solutions.

Don Owen Rider

In 2001, a young Owen on vacation stumbled into the East Village on a hot, steamy August afternoon looking for a Fringe Festival theatre. Unable to find 8th Street and tired from the heat, all he really wanted was a tall, frosty Frappuccino from Starbucks. He looked everywhere but there was no sign of Starbucks. "What is this place?" he thought. "Get me back to Times Square!"

Little did he know that he would one day hear the Good News of the Starbucks-less at a Reverend Billy revival in that strange neighborhood of owner-run coffee shops, and not only back away from the Frappuccino, but join the Stop Shopping choir! Owen hopes to inspire others to stop their shopping, one coffee beverage at a time.

Maraluna Rivas

Alto

Maraluna Rivas, Native New Yorker, was born on a stage. Her parents Margie and Bittman "Bimbo" Rivas, legendary
for their work in the housing movement and revolutionary theater, her talent comes as a part of the blood line. Acting since she was a child, and watching her father and mother work as historical theater giants, has moved Maraluna to become an actress. It is an honor and a privilege for her to work with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping gospel Choir. A full time student at Hunter College and being a stellar mother as well.

She would like to thank her son Mason; Glen, her brothers Bimbi & Kaita, her niece Majic, her cousin Gina, her God-father Chino, Luis Guzman and ALL of her friends for all their love, support and inspiration.

Jean Rohe

Jean Rohe is a vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. Born in Paterson, NJ, Jean grew up singing and performing folk music with her family all over her home state and quickly grew to embrace jazz as well as Brazilian and Afro-Peruvian musical styles. In July 2006 she won 2nd place and the audience choice award in the international vocal competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. She has sung extensively in a variety of groups and venues in New York as well as abroad, although she may be best known for her preemptive rebuttal of Sen. John McCain at Madison Square Garden during her graduation from the New School in May 2006. Her first record, “Lead Me Home,” features her original compositions and some songs from the Southern Hemisphere. She teaches and performs music for young children at public schools on the Lower East Side through the Third Street Music School Settlement and at other places throughout the city.

Jean first encountered the Church of Stop Shopping at St. Mark’s Church following a civil-disobedience training during the 2004 Republican National Convention protests in New York City. It was an historical moment that seemed so full of possibility and people power, and the incredible feeling of freedom in the Stop Shopping Gospel touched her profoundly and still rings in her head each time she gets too close to “the product.” In spring 2008 Jean officially joined the congregation and is so glad she did.
Hear more at www.jeanrohe.com.

Sari Rubenstien

Alto

Sari is a lifelong New Yorker. After attending a string of incredibly hip art schools, she began performing as lead singer of The Gamma Rays (Teenbeat Records) and Music From The Mood Expansion Chamber. She is a proud member of the Missile Dick Chicks and a founder of Rubulad, a community-based arts organization that produces large scale, multi-media events. Her belief that music and performance can change the world remains unshaken.

Judy Sky

Soprano

"I believe that service to mankind , is the rent that we pay for a life on earth." So, I have always sought out worthwhile causes for my music and art. If my work inspires, causes dialogue, provokes change or just provides a moment of pleasure, then I know that I have succeeded.

Ruby Spiegel

soprano

Ruby lives in Brooklyn and is a sophomore at St. Ann's School. She is an award winning playwright whose plays include "Love Me The Bone" and her most recent, inspired by Reverend Billy, "All Ye Know."

She first met the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir in the Arkaden Mall in Berlin, has sung in choirs for many years and is monitoring the polls in Florida on election day.

Messages for Ruby here

Lizie Steelheart

Soprano

lizzie steelheart found salvation with the church of stop shopping a little over three years ago. she loves rock n'roll, playing the electric guitar really loud, burningman, swimming, traveling, reading, writing, dancing, costumes and chocolate (among other things.) she has a B.F.A. in theater and a license of cosmetology, and would love to cut, color and style your hair or do your makeup! she lives on the lower east side with her husband and true love, the fabulous french ben.

Dawn Stewart-Lookkin

Alto

Born and raised in NYC by a leftist single mom and the whole multicultural "village" at the UU Community Church of NY, Dawn has always been surrounded by progressive political activists working for the people. Back in the 1970s, her mom (Scottish American from Massachusetts) met her dad (Chinese from Trinidad) while he was operating the projector at Third World Newsreel showing a documentary about the Rosenberg Trials...From this beginning, it was already written in the stars that she would eventually find her calling with The Church of Stop Shopping!

Dawn started singing at 11 and since then has performed in musicals, choruses, choirs & a capella groups but there is no other group or community that she wanted to be more apart of than the Stop Shopping Choir. For her, it is a dream and a blessing to join such a loving, activist-y, fun family of people. To sing/be creative and make a diffference simultaneously, isn't that what we all desire? Summer of 2007 she got to take the movement to the streets of Vermont as an apprentice with Bread and Puppet Theater, paving her way to activist street theater. Her heart also belongs to crafts & making things with her hands, like crocheted finger puppets! She recently started a small business to showcase her creations . Dawn lives in Chelsea with her beloved and their Maine Coon cat.

Francisco Valera

Basso

Francisco Valera was born and raised in Caracas-Venezuela. His first theatre experience was at six years old with Grupo Cultural La ladera, playing a poor student in a chaotic school in a country in crisis — a character not far removed from his own reality. He worked seven years with this company on a number of productions, performing plays with a strong political message (and very inspirational) in hospitals, prisons and on the streets.
Following this, Francisco took a long detour — an exciting and eye opening journey out of his acting path into the world. Joyful and painful experiences took place."I didn't go to college, and yet It feels as if I got a P.h.D." this detour ended after Sept 11, 2001, when he witnessed the most horrific scene of his life: "I was there, on Church St. standing speechless and sobbing as I saw people jumping off the towers in fire, thinking, death comes and take us in the most unexpected ways, sometimes we don't even know is happening and in a second were gone."
He is very Proud to be a permanent member of Reverend Billy and The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir! Francisco lives and loves in the East Village.
He just finished his amazing film DOG RUN.

The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir

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