This Sunday is the finale of Reverend Billy’s “HoneyBeeLujah!” show at Joe’s Pub. The gospel-style review features Reverend Billy evangelizing about the link between mass die-offs of bees worldwide and the widespread use of “neocotinoid” pesticides in factory farming. The show also features the most evolved performances yet by the 40-member Stop Shopping Choir and their Not Buying It Band — who bring foot-stomping fervor to songs about climate change and species loss. During the show’s eight-week run, Billy has honored local activists and beekeepers on stage. Last Sunday, he “cannonized” the Cooper Union students who staged a 65-day occupation of the president’s office to protest the imposition of tuition fees. The Rev. also invited members of the Lower Eastside Girls Club Choir, above, to perform their own ode to bees. This Sunday, he’ll be conferring sainthood on Ronnie Cummins, founder of the Organic Consumers Association and a “legend” in the safe food movement. Afterwards, Billy’s inviting folks to join the choir for an after-party/fundraiser at Swift’s Hibernian Lounge, on E. Fourth St. They’re mustering funds for another theatrical “invasion” of Harvard’s Microrobotics Lab — where researchers are developing a “Robobee” to replace the real bees that our pesticides are killing. It’s a Dr. Strangelove-like travesty that Billy says can only be defeated by public exposure and “magic surrealism.”
Sarah Ferguson
