Good Magazine: Rev. Billy ‘Not Like Mike’ (Bloomberg)

From GOOD by way of GP.org:

Reverend Billy Tallen bursts onstage wearing a white tuxedo and a black priest’s habit, his platinum hair sprayed into an Elvis bouffant. A 35-member gospel choir breaks into a soulful hum and within seconds, the packed New York City auditorium erupts in shouts of “Amen” and “Hallelujah.” “I know some of you are shopping too much,” Tallen bellows to a room packed with aging hippies and twenty-something hipsters. “Consuming too much, sneaking off to the big box. You gotta push back!” And with that, his back-up singers launch into their first anti-consumerist anthem of the night. “Who are these politicos? Have you ever seen one lie?” the choir sings, as the Reverend wings his head up and down, his arms reaching to the heavens. “They gotta live uptown. Somewhere where they can hide. Who buys them all that TV time? He’s the one who broke your lease. Officials slick their palms with grease” This is tried-and-true material for “the Rev,” as William Tallen, 59, is known. Ever since he founded the Church of Life After Shopping, after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001, he has been spreading the gospel that Americans cannot buy their way out of their problems. In the years since, Tallen has amassed hundreds of followers and become arguably the most entertaining champion of embattled mom-and-pop retailers in the city. But this year, he upped the ante.