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The Rev and Savitri D have at the myths of consumerism and big box populism on the BBC World Service!

The 'Reverend Billy' is a man on a mission. He wants the world to change their shopping habits and use local shops instead of big chain stores.

At the grand old Battersea Art Centre, we managed to catch the tail end of Rev Billy Stop Shopping ‘Shopocalypse’ tour.

It was a long day for the good rev and choir, as they had been preeching in the behemoth commonly known as Westfield shopping centre all day and had encountered an unnecessary amount of static from under-trained heavy handed security guards.

Fantastic, tabloid style photo and headline in this piece. Due to the bizarre, "e-paper" nature of the article's website it's difficult to present the text here, but you can click here to read it.

It's the second link from the top, in the list.

The Reverend Billy and his 'Life After Shopping' Gospel choir from New York were busy in London today on their 2009 UK Shopocalypse Tour.

I met them at Downing St, where they gave a brief performance, although unfortunately Gordon Brown wasn't at home. The police at this high security site, now hidden behind tall gates with armed guards, obviously didn't quite know how to handle the holy activists, and the officer who stopped the Reverend to question him failed to make much progress - other than being diagnosed by Billy as having a "shopping problem."

HALLELUJAH! There is help at hand for those who feel we are living in a profit-driven, wicked and dirty world — a world that is rife with advertising, supermarket domination, packaging and global warming.

The saviour for people who think we are suffering from shopping overload is Reverend Billy and his Gospel Choir of Stop Shopping.

Even the most hardened devotee of the shopping culture cannot fail to be persuaded as Reverend Billy and his choir sing, preach, charm, berate, seduce and rescue men, women and children — all in one evening.

Rule one for interviewers: know who you are interviewing. But today, that's complicated. Am I speaking to former playwright and actor Bill Talen, the man behind the spoof preacher and anti-capitalist figurehead Reverend Billy? Or am I interviewing - well, Reverend Billy himself? Talen, like many character comics, seems to no longer know where the actor stops and the faux-evangelist begins. "I can't keep track of the integration of myself and this character," says Billy, in that southern drawl he uses to terrorise Disney stores across America.

To some, Reverend Billy is a messenger of the revealed word. To others, he’s a simple blasphemer. The preacher, otherwise known as Bill Talen, 59, hails from South Dakota and Minnesota, smack dab in America’s heartland. He’s a dead-ringer for the actor Kurt Russell, albeit with a towering bleach-blond pompadour and a penchant for electric-blue leisure suits.

Spektakuläre Auftritte: Spiritualized errichteten Soundkathedralen, Reverend Billy ritterte mit Gospels gegen Konsum und Ausbeutung - auch in Wien

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Would Jesus take a bailout?

Confronted with the once-in-a-century opportunity to remake the financial system, the reformers in Washington have a choice: Succumb to the temptation of serving financial supermarkets or lift up community banks and street-level economies.

Enter Reverend Billy Talen, the New York-based street preacher, performer and activist who -- along with his flock, the Church of Life After Shopping -- believes government has a moral obligation to support communities before big banks.

Back in the days of the singing telegram, a popular phrase was “Say it with flowers.” That’s what the group Union Square Not For Sale did last Wednesday, when it held a rally calling on City Councilmember Rosie Mendez to help keep the Union Square pavilion restaurant-free. . .