Wavy Gravy

Wavy Gravy
File:Wavy gravy.jpg
Born	(1936-05-15) May 15, 1936 East Greenbush, New York
Occupation(s)	Activist, comic
Spouse	Bonnie Jean Beecher (m. 1965)
Website	WavyGravy.net

Wavy Gravy (born Hugh Nanton Romney on May 15, 1936) is a life-long activist for peace and personal empowerment, best known for his hippie appearance, personality, and beliefs. His moniker (which is the name he uses on a day-to-day basis; "It's worked pretty well through my life," he says, "except with telephone operators – I have to say 'Gravy, first initial W." ) was given to him by B.B. King at the Texas International Pop Festival. Romney was lying onstage when it was announced that B.B. King was going to play. Romney began to get up; a hand appeared on his shoulder. It was B.B. King, who asked, "Are you Wavy Gravy?" ...to which Romney replied "Yes." "It's OK; I can work around you," said B.B. King, and he proceeded to play. Romney considered this a mystical event, and permanently assumed Wavy Gravy as his legal name. Wavy Gravy's clown persona grew out of his political activism. Constantly being arrested at demonstrations, he decided he would be less likely to be busted if he dressed as a clown. "Clowns are safe," as he put it. He does however enjoy traditional clown duties such as jokes, magic tricks and entertaining children. He is also the "official clown" of the Grateful Dead , and has two radio shows on Sirius Satellite Radio's Jam On station. .

Biography

His parents knew Nobel Prize winning physicist Albert Einstein, who once held his hand and took him for a walk around the block when he was small. Romney was educated at William Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut. His early career was managed by Lenny Bruce. At one time he shared an apartment with singer-songwriter Tom Paxton in Greenwich Village, and Romney was one of Bob Dylan's earliest friends in New York City.

Later, during the first Woodstock Festival, Wavy Gravy and fellow members of the Hog Farm Collective were put in charge of security, which was remarkably low-key. The backstage password was "I forgot," typical of the good-natured whimsy of the era.

Wavy called his rather unorthodox group the "Please Force," a reference to their non-intrusive tactics at keeping order. ("Please don't do that, please do this instead.") When asked by the press — who were the first to inform him that he and the rest of the Hog Farm were handling security — what kind of tools he intended to use to maintain order at the event, his instant response was "Cream pies and seltzer bottles" (both being traditional clown props; he may have been referring to the silent film era Keystone Kops in particular). In Wavy's words: "They all wrote it down and I thought, 'the power of manipulating the media', ah ha!" Wavy Gravy has been the MC, and the only person to appear on the bill, of all three Woodstock Festivals.

On the morning of the 20th Anniversary of Woodstock, he was interviewed — along with Ken Kesey — live on Good Morning America at the Bethel concert site, where he discussed his experience as the MC at the event that came to define the Woodstock Generation.

Wavy Gravy's first appearance at an event in the Neo-Pagan community was at the WinterStar Symposium in 1998 with Paul Krassner . He appeared there again in 2000 with Phyllis Curott, where he joined Rev. Ivan Stang in a joint ritual of the Church of the SubGenius and his Church of the Cosmic Giggle.

At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's 60s psychedelic tribute "I Want To Take You Higher" , Wavy Gravy's sleeping bag and tie-dyed false teeth were displayed. He and Paul Krassner appeared there on the last day of the exhibit on February 28th, 1998.

Ventures

Nobody's Business

Just across the road from the Hog Farm, Wavy Gravy has established the store "Nobody's Business," reminiscent of his "Nobody for President" campaign — as in: "Who's in Washington right now working to make the world a safer place? Nobody!"; "Nobody's Perfect"; "Nobody Keeps All Promises"; "Nobody Should Have That Much Power"; etc. (His late pet pig was also named Nobody.)

Seva Foundation

Wavy, along with Ram Dass and Larry Brilliant, founded the Seva Foundation in 1978. Seva, based in Berkeley California, is an international development organization dedicated to ending poverty around the world. Wavy, along with the Grateful Dead and many other artists, has held many benefit concerts to raise money for Seva's programs. Wavy continues to serve on the organization's Board of Directors to this day.

Camp Winnarainbow

Wavy Gravy is also the co-founder (along with his wife) of a circus and performing arts camp called Camp Winnarainbow. It is located in Laytonville, California, near the legendary Hog Farm. The camp emphasizes experiential learning by urging campers to try new skills. The camp also teaches how to be a positive influence to the community.

Until 2003, Ben & Jerry's ice cream produced a vanilla-based ice cream containing caramel, cashews and Brazil nuts, and named "Wavy Gravy" to help fund scholarships for underprivileged kids to go to Camp Winnarainbow.

Tornado of Talent

With hundreds of men being detained (women were held separately) in the “Hotel Diablo” – actually the old gymnasium at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, CA – following arrests during the September 1981 Abalone Alliance organized, anti-nuclear protest, trespass/occupation and civil disobedience action at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Wavy organized and acted as MC for an amusing variety show that he called the “Tornado of Talent” which featured, among other performers – after the guards had allowed an acoustic guitar to be brought into the “jail” – Jackson Browne.

Bibliography

• The Hog Farm and Friends (1974; Links; ISBN 0-8256-3014-2)
• Something Good for a Change: Random Notes on Peace Thru Living (1992; St Martins; ISBN 0-312-07838-2)

Discography

• Third Stream Humor early 60s, World Pacific (by Hugh Romney)
• Old Feathers, New Bird - Wavy Gravy (1988) Relix
• 80s are the 60s (2002) RX Records

Filmography

• The Fat Black Pussycat (1963)
• Cisco Pike (1972)
• The '60s (1999)
• The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2005)

As himself

• Woodstock (1970)
• Flashing on the Sixties: A Tribal Document (1990) TV
• The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 6 (1995) (TV)
• Timothy Leary's Last Trip (1997)
• My Generation (2000)
• The End of the Road (2001)
• Ram Dass, Fierce Grace (2001)
• Breaking the Rules (2006)
• "Battleground Earth: Ludacris vs. Tommy Lee" - Green Death (2008) TV episode

Radio

• Gravy in your Ear - Wavy Gravy's radio show airing on the 15th of each month on Sirius Satellite Radio, with several re-broadcasts .
• The Wavy Files - a series of individual commentary segments by Wavy Gravy placed randomly throughout the Jam On programming on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Quotes

• "We are all the same person trying to shake hands with our self."
• "The 90's are the 60's standing on their head."
• "What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000!" (the introduction of granola at Woodstock — an urgent fix for a desperate situation)

{A sound bite of this statement was used at the start of Robert Plant's 1990 song Tie Dye On the Highway Track 7 from the album Manic Nirvana.}

• "We must be in Heaven, man!" (from his Woodstock address) {Again referred to in Robert Plant's 1990 song Tie Dye On the Highway An original Sound bite?}

"There's always a little bit of Heaven in a disaster area." (from his Woodstock address)

• "A lot of the kids who are running Camp Winnarainbow now started as campers when they were seven. They can usually do it on a unicycle while juggling three balls. We curry both hemispheres of the brain. In school, kids learn numbers and letters; we teach timing and balance, which I think is equally important — without competition, except with yourself."
• "...kids will do anything if they can stay up later than other kids, even sit with a straight back and watch their breath." (about meditation at Winnarainbow)
• "When you can't laugh at life, it just isn't funny anymore."

Quotes about Wavy Gravy

• "This wise clown of compassion is a genuine mahatma of the Cosmic Giggle." - Ram Dass
• "Wavy Gravy is the illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Teresa." - Paul Krassner

References in popular culture

• The cartoon strip, Smokey Stover often had a sign hanging on the fire-house wall that read "Scram Gravy Ain't Wavy."
• In the Simpsons episode Burns' Heir, Mr. Burns disguises himself as Wavy Gravy to infiltrate and destroy a Greenpeace ship that was attempting to stop the dumping of nuclear waste.
• The British adult comic Viz features a character called Ravy Davey Gravy, a fan of House and Dance music.
• In the comic strip 9 Chickweed Lane "scram gravy ain't wavy" was quoted in the June 4th 2005 strip
• Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after Wavy Gravy which was hazelnut ice cream with caramel swirls, cashews and Brazil nuts. The flavor was discontinued in 2003.

See also

• Performer
• Clown
• Grateful Dead
• The Hog Farm
• The Seva Foundation
• The Merry Pranksters

External links

• Wavy Gravy Homepage
• Seva Foundation Website
• Camp Winnarainbow Website
• Wavy Gravy video from Seventh Hour Blues
• Nobody for President
• Wavy Gravy's 70th Birthday Bash - video shot and edited by Wavy's son, documenting Wavy's 70th birthday party in Berkeley.
• Saint Misbehavin' - a film (about Wavy) in progress by Michelle Esrick