Members in Absentia

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.

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.

When you give in to creative passion, it will bring you to the ultimate thresholds of transfiguration and renewal. This growth causes pain, but it is a sacred pain. It would be much more tragic to have cautiously avoided these depths and remained removed on the shiny surfaces of the banal.” – John O’Donohue, from his book Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Marianne first witnessed the creative passions of Reverend Billy, Savitri D., and The Church of Stop Shopping at the Astor Place Starbucks in New York City. Both enlivened and fascinated by their synthesis of art, performance, song, and activism, Marianne was soon singing and participating in the event she came to watch. Such is the nature of street theater, where the street is the stage and the spectators often become part of the performance.

Marianne’s first real experience with social awareness, service engagement, and peace activism came from the Dominican sisters and her teachers at Molly College. Growing up in the 80’s she was also influenced by the activism of pivotal groups who called for radical and proactive responses to the crises of the Cold War nuclear arms race and emergence of AIDS.

Marianne has been in several vocal groups and celebrates the opportunity to be a part of this performance community. When not with the Church, crafting, reading, traveling, or dancing, Marianne teaches Naam Yoga at Cat Cow Yoga Studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and studies at the Universal Force Healing Center in New York City. 

Gwen Kash - Alto Gwen may look innocent, but fortunately for the safety of Western Civilization, the NYPD wasn’t fooled. Seeing her engaged in the extremely hazardous activity of stopping her bicycle at a red light, they acted quickly to arrest her – three times. Annoyed at spending the night in jail and having her beloved bicycle impounded, Gwen and a group of jail mates – I mean new friends - formed Freewheels Bicycle Defense Fund to fight back. She beat her charges and the bike was recovered mostly unharmed from the NYPD warehouse after a month’s sentence. It has since been renamed Connie the Ex-con Bicycle. When not riding her bike, getting arrested, or going to court, Gwen enjoys hanging out in Brooklyn, reading, jello wrestling, and stopping her shopping. 

Nasser is from Uganda, he is a world class Boxer. He is a happpy new father living in Poughkeepsie these days.

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 First Lady of the Church, for me. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Rest in Peace Beloved Brother Derrick. We love you FOREVER. June 2010

"How I got into the Church: Though I'd read of Billy in contraband copies of Adbusters while attending Catholic high school, I didn't meet him until the freezing, though exhilarating Febuary 15th march of this year. Laura the Soprano introduced me to the choir and I've been enjoying the ride ever since."

Michael O'Neil came to New York City in 2002 to work in media, the arts and political organizing. Michael has provided media and online consulting to groups including the Lower Eastside Girls Club, Green Party of New York State, the Writers Guild Of America East, and Ad Hoc Art. Other current endeavors include broadcasting on WBAI-FM, serving as Secretary of the Green Party of Brooklyn, and he is a founding member of the online, creator-owned media startup Strike.TV, organized in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 Writers Strike. He was born in Columbus, Ohio and attended college at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He currently resides in Brooklyn.

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.

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.

"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 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