Rev. Billy And Choir Perform Flash Concert At Ground Zero, Aug. 17, 7pm - "To Discourage A Dubya Revisitation To Hallowed Ground For Political Gain"

After months of surreptitiously performing the text of the First Amendment inside the World Trade Center PATH Station, Reverend Billy and the First Amendment Gospel Choir will perform "George Bush Does Not Return To Ground Zero" in open defiance to the claim that Ground Zero is private property, and not open to peaceable assembly.

August 17, 2004 -- For months now, every Tuesday at 6:30 pm, inside the PATH station at Ground Zero, Obie-award winning performance artist Bill Talen, AKA "Reverend Billy," has conducted what have come to be known as "First Amendment Mobs." The sight of wandering cell phone users reciting the First Amendment, a recitation that builds to a unified, shouted incantation, has become familiar to station personnel and commuters alike, an interesting wrinkle in their weekly routine.

The point, according to the Reverend, is that the tragedy of 9/11 has been used as an excuse to trample the Constitution, and we must remind people that we all have a right to gather where we please. Permit or no permit we can say what we want, even at, perhaps especially at, Ground Zero.

But there is one person Mr. Talen and his supporters would rather not see showing up in Lower Manhattan, and as the Republican National Convention draws closer, they are more indignant than ever at the thought of George W. Bush exploiting a place they see as hallowed ground. Their feelings led them to write the song,"George Bush Does Not Return To Ground Zero" which reads, in part, as follows:

George Bush does not return to Ground Zero
George Bush cannot return here a hero
You can't raise your bullhorn.
The fire fighters gone.
The teleprompter says goodbye,
New York is re-born, born, born, born.
(To see and hear the entire song, go to www.revbilly.com)

Apparently most New Yorkers share these sentiments. The most recent polls show that 83% of New York City residents do not want the Republicans to come here. Equally important, many of those most affected by the tragedy of 9/11 - the surviving family members and firefighters - are incensed that George Bush would use their tragedy as a backdrop for threatening civil liberties

The oncoming Republican invasion has Mr. Talen and his choir pretty riled up, so on Tuesday August 17th, the First Amendment Mob will climax with a lively 7pm performance of "George Bush Does Not Return To Ground Zero" and a brief sermon from the Reverend.

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