|
|
AHN NEWS: June and July 2004
This month's news is dedicated to PERFORMANCE ART for SOCIAL CHANGE. We honor Bill Talen who has just been awarded this year's AHN Award for his public performances as Reverend Billy. We interview singer, songwriter, and activist Holly Near. We review Bill Talen's book, What Should I Do if Reverend Billy Is in My Store? And we offer a link to Wise Fool Community Arts.
CONGRATULATIONS to BILL TALEN, recipient of the 2004 AHN AWARD!
 Bill Talen has just been awarded the Arts and Healing Network's annual award for his remarkable public performances as Reverend Billy from the Church of Stop Shopping. Adopting the mannerism and tone of a Baptist preacher and accompanied by the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, Bill asks consumers in places from Starbucks to the Disney Store to "Save your soul my childŠBack away from that silly product on that shelf." His clever use of performance and parody very effectively calls into question America's mindless consumption of resources. As such he is a model of an artist willing to take risks and move out into the public sphere to make relevant and important statements. The Arts and Healing Network applauds Bill for for waking people up, for making them reexamine their values, and for being a catalyst for positive change in the world.
To learn more about Bill Talen and the AHN Award, click here.
Or read Bill's book, What Should I Do if Reverend Billy Is in My Store?
|
|
|
|
AHN INTERVIEW:
Holly Near, singer, songwriter and activist
"I do not separate my music from my heart nor do I separate my ideas from my daily life. I open myself up to learning as much as I can about humanity and this mysterious life experience, but I do not relate to political work as series of 'causes.' Moment by moment, I integrate what I learn into my personal life, personalizing my politics. It is from this personal place that I write my songs." - Holly Near
Holly Near
 | Holly Near
Holly Near has been writing and performing songs for over 33 years that address themes such as fighting for freedom, human rights, and peace. She has traveled from the fields of central California singing in support of the United Farm Workers to El Salvador where she sang for peace amidst war and conflict. Whether in support of nurses striking for better conditions in the emergency room or in opposition to racist violence on the police force, Holly sings a bold truth.
AHN: When did you begin writing songs and singing?
Near: When I was a child I made up songs, and I sang all through childhood for community organizations, service groups and school events. My parents had a lovely record collection, ranging from Paul Robeson to Judy Garland. We learned about the world through music. I started singing and writing "professionally" when I was 19 or so.
|
|
AHN: Have your songs always spoken of political matters, injustices and the courage to change?
Near: Yes. That is not to say I haven't written love songs. In fact I just issued a collection of love songs that I have recorded over the years. It is called CRUSHED. But even with the love songs, I try to write from a place of consciousness, avoiding the traps of stereotypes and dysfunction as best I can.
AHN: What sustains you in your work...creatively, emotionally, financially?
Near: The audience. The people who keep coming to hear my work and keep buying my CDs. I imagine that is pretty much true for most performing artists. It's hard to do it if no one is listening. Also, I feel very grateful to have this work. So many people have jobs they don't like.
 |
Holly Near's CD
"And Still We Sing: The Outspoken Collection"
AHN: Who have been some of the key teachers and/or mentors for you in your work?
Near: The people I grew up with in my rural community, my parents and siblings -- all were a part of my early development. Then social change organizers, artists and leaders fed my awareness of the world. I don't necessarily attribute those lessons to famous people but rather individuals who took responsibility for their lives, contributed in small and delightful ways to their family, community, and the world.
I learn from hopeful people more than cynics. I learn from honest people more than those who lie and deceive. I learn from humble people more than those who are arrogant. Cynicism, deceit, arrogance -- all are easy to do. It is harder to walk the higher path. And I have learned from the combining of music and theater. I so admire those performers who honor craft and professionalism. I respect artists who take us somewhere better than we had been a moment before, even if their work opens us up to some horrific truth, as long as they guide us through it and give us a key for how to cope with the information or a road map that will guide us to improving the situation. I do not admire artists who simply bash and flee. They seem to be carriers of fear and I try not to follow fear.
AHN: What have been some of the challenges of your career? and some of the highlights?
Near: It has been challenging to remain true to myself. I sometimes long for the fame and fortune that comes with creating within the guidelines of popular culture. But in truth, I wasn't very good at it. I do this work better. As for highlights, every time I learn something it is a mini-highlight. Sometime those lessons are humiliating. I find myself shouting inside, "How could I not have seen that before?" But when I calm down, I put the lesson in my tool box and go on.
|
|
AHN: What are you looking forward to most right now?
Near: More and more I am invited to give the key note address at conferences and gatherings. I feel very honored. I like the opportunity to bring critical thinking, hope and activism to such gatherings, articulating through words and sounds what I have learned over the last 33 years of activism and sharing that experience with others who are on this journey.
But most importantly, I look forward to removing Bush and his organization from the White House. If we don't, it isn't the end. We will go on. We will keep working for peace. But this is a window of opportunity that I encourage everyone to notice. Get registered. Talk to friends, co-workers, cab drivers, shop keepers. We have a huge responsibility for we are voting on behalf of the world. The policies being perpetuated affect the whole world, but we are the only ones who get to vote. We should take that very seriously.
AHN: What advice do you have for others who would like their creative work to inspire positive change in the world?
Near: Stay open. Stay humble. Remain a student. Honor craft. Recognize the
power of being an artist and refrain from abusing it. Stay alert. Actively notice. Practice.
To learn more about Holly Near or to purchase her music, please visit www.hollynear.com .
|
|
|
|
|
FEATURED BOOK
What Should I Do If Reverend Billy Is in My Store?
by Bill Talen
 "Treat him as any other customer and do not respond to his or his devotees¹ antics. Ask him politely to leave the store. Call the police if he does not leave." ‹from an internal memorandum circulated by the Starbucks Seattle head office to all branches, April 2000
This book, written by AHN Award Winner Bill Talen , tells the story of the evolution of his alter ego, Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. It is an insightful and inspiring text about how art can move into the public arena where it can awaken others and ask them to examine their values. As the New Press describes, "Reverend Billy first appeared alongside the sidewalk preachers in Times Square during the Giuliani years, bringing his new post-religious theology to eager crowds. 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 800 neurotic Disney characters with their 'reeling eyeballs and sky-cracking grins'.... 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 'recovering preachers¹ 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 Reverend as he preaches love and peace to the crowds that gathered spontaneously in Union Square after the attacks of September 11." This 151-page hardback book was published by the New Press in 2003 and costs $21.95. Click here to order this book through Amazon .
|
|
|
|
FEATURED LINK
Wise Fool Community Arts
www.zeitgeist.net/wfca/wisefool.htm
Wise Fool Community Arts is a theatre project dedicated to community, celebration and change. In the traditions of public art and processional theatre, they combine giant puppetry, mask, stilt-dancing, wild costumes, eclectic sculpture, music, movement, fire and song to create highly participatory, issue-oriented, outdoor theatre that is accessible to all. Their intention is to use art as a vehicle for community building and education, to promote cultural diversity and to gain media exposure for vital issues by creating striking imagery that cannot be ignored. They continually seek to create opportunities for people to experience playfulness, magic and hope.
|
|
|
READERS RESPOND
Please send your thoughts and feedback on this month's news page to ahn@artheals.org. We would love to hear from you.
|
|
SIGN UP FOR THE ARTS AND HEALING NETWORK E-MAILING LIST
Become part of our e-mailing list and receive a monthly email with information about what's new at artheals.org. To join the e-mailing list, simply send an email to artheals- subscribe@topica.com or go to www.topica.com/lists/artheals/
|
|
AHN NEWS ARCHIVE
Missed a newsletter? Read past issues in the AHN News Archive.
^top |
|
