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 15 May 1936) is an entertainer and activist for peace, best known for his hippie appearance, personality, and beliefs. His moniker (which is the name he uses on a day to day basis) was given to him by B.B. King at the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969. "It's worked pretty well through my life," he says, "except with telephone operators – I have to say 'Gravy, first initial W."

Romney's clown persona resulted from his political activism. Frequently being arrested at demonstrations, he decided he would be less likely to be arrested if he dressed as a clown. "Clowns are safe," he said. He does, however, enjoy traditional clown activities such as jokes, magic tricks and entertaining children.

Romney founded and co-founded several organizations, including Camp Winnarainbow, the Seva Foundation and the Hog Farm, an activist commune.

He is also the official clown of the Grateful Dead, and has two radio shows on Sirius Satellite Radio's Jam On station.

Biography

Romney was educated at William Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut. His early career was managed by Lenny Bruce. For a 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. One of Bob Dylan's girlfriends from the University of Minnesota, Bonnie Beecher, became Gravy's wife in 1965.[1]

Name change

At the Texas International Pop Festival Romney was lying onstage, exhausted after spending hours trying to get festivalgoers to put their clothes back on, 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 said he considered this a mystical event, and assumed Wavy Gravy as his legal name.

Woodstock Festival

At 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 group the "Please Force," a reference to their non-intrusive tactics at keeping order (e.g., "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 the Woodstock Festival, 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 of the event.

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 psychedelic tribute to the 1960s "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 28, 1998.

Ventures

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 managed 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 Jahanara) 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; it also teaches how to be a positive influence.

Until 2003, Ben & Jerry's produced an ice cream (caramel-cashew-Brazil nut base with a chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl and roasted almonds) 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 – after arrests during the September 1981 Abalone Alliance organized, anti-nuclear protest, trespass/occupation and civil disobedience action at Diablo Canyon 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.

Nobody's Business

Wavy Gravy established the store "Nobody's Business" across the road from the Hog Farm, 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.)

The "Nobody for President" campaign held a rally across from the White House on November 4, 1980 that included Yippies and a few anarchists to promote the option of "none of the above" choice on the ballot. After criticizing Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and John Anderson, the committee offered the "perfect" candidate: Nobody. "Nobody makes apple pie better than Mom. And Nobody will love you when you're down and out." Wavy Gravy told a crowd of 50 onlookers at the rally.

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 1960s, 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
• "Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie" - (2008)
• "Electric Apricot Quest For Festeroo" - (2008)

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.

Popular culture

• DJ Sasha wrote a song called "Wavy Gravy".
• 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.
• 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, almonds and Brazil nuts. The flavor was discontinued in 2003.
• In the CW's Supernatural, character Dean Winchester responds to a news report on why there's been so much freak weather around the globe is actually Carbon Emissions, by saying "Yeah, right, Wavy Gravy".
• In the 2009 Ang Lee film "Taking Woodstock", Romney is depicted walking around in the background while things are being planned and referred to a couple of times by event planners as "Wavy Gravy", quite incorrectly as Romney was not tagged with the moniker until a few weeks later by B. B. King at the Texas International Pop Festival.

See also

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

References

• Wavy Gravy -- The Man, The Ice Cream -- He Was At Woodstock, Hobnobbed With Ken Kesey And Jerry Garcia, And Now He's On The Road Again - This Time With A Book By Roger Anderson. Seattle Times Sept. 9th, 1992

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