Wavy Gravy

Wavy Gravy
Wavy Gravy in 2009
Born Hugh Nanton Romney
(1936-05-15) May 15, 1936
New York City, U.S.
Occupation
Spouse(s)
Bonnie Beecher (m. 1965)
Website www.wavygravy.net
Signature

Hugh Nanton Romney (born May 15, 1936), better known as Wavy Gravy, is an American entertainer and activist for peace, best known for his hippie appearance, personality and countercultural beliefs. His moniker was given to him by B.B. King at the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969.[1] "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 arrested at demonstrations, he decided he would be less likely to be arrested if he dressed as a clown, so he became a founding member of the Phurst Church of Phun, a secret society of comics and clowns dedicated to ending the Vietnam War through the use of political theater. "Clowns are safe," he said. Despite this, he also performs traditional clown activities such as jokes, magic tricks and entertaining children.

Wavy Gravy founded and co-founded several organizations, including Camp Winnarainbow, the Seva Foundation and the Hog Farm, an activist commune. He was also the official clown of the Grateful Dead[2] and has two radio shows on Sirius Satellite Radio's Jam On station.[3]

A documentary on Wavy Gravy's life, Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie, was released in late 2010 by Ripple Effect Films.[4] The film, directed by Michelle Esrick, received positive reviews.[5][6][7][8]

Early life

Romney was born in East Greenbush, New York on May 15, 1936. As a child, he took walks around the block with Albert Einstein. He attended William Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut. In 1954, Romney volunteered for the military and was honorably discharged after 22 months in the United States Army. Under the G.I. Bill, Romney entered Boston University Theater Department in 1957 and then attended the Neighborhood Playhouse for the Theater in New York City. In 1958, he began reading poetry regularly at The Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village. He eventually became the cafe's entertainment director, befriending musicians such as Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, and Dave Van Ronk.[9]

Career

His early career was managed by Lenny Bruce who brought Romney to California in 1962 where Romney did a live recording of Hugh Romney, Third Stream Humor as the opening act for Thelonious Monk at Club Renaissance in Los Angeles.[10]

The Hog Farm

The Hog Farm collective was established through a chain of events beginning with Ken Babbs hijacking the Merry Pranksters' bus, Further, to Mexico, which stranded the Merry Pranksters in Los Angeles. First Romney assembled a collective in North Hollywood, visited by the likes of musicians such as Tiny Tim whom he managed, and Ravi Shankar. After moving to Sunland, a suburb north of Los Angeles, he was evicted from his one-bedroom cabin when the landlord found out that a large group of assorted pranksters and musicians were staying there. Two hours later, a neighbor informed Romney that a nearby hog farm, owned by Claude Doty,[11] needed caretakers. Romney accepted the offer and worked the farm in exchange for rent. Local people, musicians, artists, and folks from other communes began staying at the mountain-top farm. In his book Something Good for a Change, Gravy described this early period as a "bizarre communal experiment" where the "people began to outnumber the pigs".[12]

Both Romney and his wife, Bonnie Beecher, had jobs in Los Angeles. He worked for Columbia Pictures teaching improvisation skills to actors. Bonnie was a successful television actress, appearing in episodes of The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, Star Trek, and The Fugitive.

By 1966, the Hog Farm had coalesced into an entertainment organization providing light shows at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles for music artists like the Grateful Dead, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix. Beginning in 1967, the collective began traveling across the country in converted school buses purchased with money earned as extras in Otto Preminger's feature film Skidoo (1968).

The Hog Farm relocated to Black Oak Ranch in northern California in the early 1990s.[13]

Woodstock Festival

At the first Woodstock Festival, Gravy and the Hog Farm collective accepted festival executive Stan Goldstein's offer to help with preparations.[14]

Gravy 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 response was "Cream pies and seltzer bottles"[14] (both being traditional clown props). In Gravy's words: "They all wrote it down and I thought, 'the power of manipulating the media', ah ha!" [15] Gravy has been the Master of Ceremonies, and the only person to appear on the bill of all three Woodstock Festivals.

Throughout the festival, Gravy made several announcements from the concert stage. He later wrote in his memoir that "the reason that I got do to all those stage announcements was because of my relationship with Chip Monk [sic]. Chip built the stage at Woodstock."[16]

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.

Gravy's first appearance at an event in the Neo-Pagan community was at the WinterStar Symposium in 1998 with Paul Krassner.[17] 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",[18] 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

Gravy began Seva Foundation along with spiritual leader Ram Dass and public health expert Dr. Larry Brilliant. Based in Berkeley, California, Seva is an international health organization working to build sustainable health projects in many of the globe's most under-served communities. Gravy is famous for throwing all-star benefit concerts regularly featuring members of the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Ani DiFranco, Ben Harper, Elvis Costello and many other compassionate musicians. He serves on Seva's board of directors.[19]

Camp Winnarainbow

Gravy is also the co-founder, with his wife, of the circus and performing arts camp Camp Winnarainbow, in Laytonville, California, near the Hog Farm.[20] Until 2003, Ben & Jerry's produced an ice cream named "Wavy Gravy" (caramel-cashew-Brazil nut base with a chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl and roasted almonds) which helped drive a scholarship fund for underprivileged kids to attend Camp Winnarainbow.[21]

Artist

Gravy has also been recognized for his work as a collage artist. He held a solo exhibition throughout April 1999, at the Firehouse Gallery under the direction of its owner Eric Gibbons.[22] He is known to create larger works in collage for celebrities in the Bay Area of California. He began exploring collage in the early '60s even before becoming Wavy Gravy, his first works created while living above the Gaslight in Greenwich Village after being inspired by a Max Ernst collage he saw at the Bitter End when opening for Peter, Paul and Mary.

"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, California – after arrests during the September 1981 Abalone Alliance-organized anti-nuclear protest, trespass/occupation and civil disobedience action at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Gravy organized and acted as MC for a variety show that he called the "Tornado of Talent" which featured, among other performers (and after the guards had allowed an acoustic guitar to be brought into the "jail"), Jackson Browne. Wavy arrived at the holding facility dressed in a pair of bright green coveralls. After settling into his "bunk" (a thin mattress on the gym floor) he removed the coveralls to reveal a Santa Claus suit.

Nobody's Business/Nobody for President

Gravy established the store Nobody's Business across the road from the Hog Farm,[23] 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.[24] The joke had previously been used in the 1932 short film Betty Boop for President.

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. [25]After criticizing Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and John B. 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," Gravy told a crowd of 50 onlookers at the rally.[26][27]

Personal life

Wavy Gravy and his wife, Jahanara Romney (July 2013)

Early on, he shared an apartment with singer-songwriter Tom Paxton in Greenwich Village for a time, 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,[28] now Jahanara Romney, became Gravy's wife in 1965. They have a son, Jordan Romney (born in 1971 as Howdy Do-Good Gravy Tomahawk Truckstop Romney)

Romney has stated that he has no familial relationship with the Romney family of American politics, which includes George W. and Mitt Romney.

Origin of name Wavy Gravy

Two weeks after Woodstock, at the 1969 Texas International Pop Festival Romney was lying onstage, exhausted after spending hours trying to get festival-goers to put their clothes back on,[1] 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," [29] said B.B. King, and he and Johnny Winter proceeded to jam for hours after that. Romney said he considered this a mystical event, and assumed Wavy Gravy as his legal name.[30]

Works

Books

  • 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)

Recordings

  • Beat Generation Jazz Poetry. Folk Lyrics. John Brent, Len Chandler and Hugh Romney at the Gaslight, Greenwich Village Circa 1960, Musitron Records[31]
  • 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

Films

  • The Fat Black Pussycat (1963)
  • Cisco Pike (1972)
  • The '60s (1999)
  • " Flashing on the Sixties- A Tribal Document (1994)
  • The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2005)

Exhibition

  • Wavy Gravy Retrospective (1996) at the Firehouse Gallery of Bordentown, NJ.
As himself
  • Woodstock (1970)
  • Flashing on the Sixties: A Tribal Document (1994) 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, episode "Ludacris vs. Tommy Lee" (2008)
  • Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie (2008)
  • Electric Apricot Quest for Festeroo (2008)
  • Woodstock: Now & Then (2009)

Radio

  • Gravy in Your Ear: Gravy's radio show airing on the 15th of each month on Sirius Satellite Radio, with several re-broadcasts.[3]
  • The Wavy Files: a series of individual commentary segments by Gravy placed randomly throughout the Jam On programming on Sirius Satellite Radio.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Michael E. Young; Roy Appleton (August 30, 2009). "Texas International Pop Festival was full of surprises for artists, fans, onlookers". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved May 15, 2010 – via Janis joplin.net.
  2. ↑ "Arts Days". The Kennedy Center Arts Edge. Archived from the original on 1 April 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Corey Deitz (June 19, 2018). "Sirius XM Satellite Radio Personalities". Lifewire. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  4. ↑ "Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie". Ripple Effect Films. Archived from the original on 2011-02-08. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
  5. ↑ Holden, Stephen (December 7, 2010). "The Hippie Serving Peace and Breakfast". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
  6. ↑ Frank Scheck (December 9, 2010). "Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie -- Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  7. ↑ Peter Hartlaub (December 3, 2010). "'Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie' review". SFGATE. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  8. ↑ "????". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  9. ↑ Van Laarhoven, Kaspar (December 28, 2016). "The Story of The Gaslight Cafe, Where Dylan Premiered 'A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall'". Bedford+Bowery. New York Magazine. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  10. ↑ Kelley, Robin D.G. Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original Simon & Schuster 2009 p.320
  11. ↑ Zekley, Mickey (1995). "The Hog Farm Blues". The Adventures Of A Street Musician – Part One.
  12. ↑ Wavy Gravy (1992), p. 229.
  13. ↑ "Black Oak Ranch History". Kate Wolf Music Festival. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  14. 1 2 Wavy Gravy (1974). The Hog Farm and Friends. New York: Links Press. pp. 72–74. ISBN 9780825630149. OCLC 947606.
  15. ↑ New Yippie Book Collective (1983). Blacklisted News: Secret Histories from Chicago, '68, to 1984. Bleecker Publishing. ISBN 9780912873008.
  16. ↑ Wavy Gravy (1992). Something Good for a Change: Random Notes on Peace Thru Living (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312078386. OCLC 25367907.
  17. ↑ "Expanding The Frontiers Of Your Consideration". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28.
  18. ↑ "The Psychedelic Era". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-09-05.
  19. ↑ "Seva's Board of Directors". www.seva.org. Seva Foundation. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  20. ↑ "California overnight summer camp for kids and teens". Camp Winnarainbow. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  21. ↑ Dominick A. Miserandino. "Wavy Gravy 1960's icon and activist". TheCelebrityCafe.com. Archived from the original on 2006-01-01. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  22. ↑ "On the Towns; Going Out". The New York Times. 4 April 1999. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  23. ↑ Brown, Jonathan. "Still hippy after all these years" Independent UK, October 25, 2007
  24. ↑ "Nobody for President, 2020 [Official Pages]". www.nobodyforpresident.org. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  25. ↑
  26. ↑ The New York Times "Anarchists Push Cause of 'None of the above'" November 5, 1980
  27. ↑ Wavy Gravy (Winter 1988). "20th Anniversary Rendezvous - Wavy Gravy". WholeEarth.com. Whole Earth Review.
  28. ↑ "Bonnie Beecher". IMDb. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  29. ↑ Interview on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, 26 May 2011.
  30. ↑ "About - Wavy Gravy". wavygravy.net. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  31. ↑ "Village voices". lpcoverlover.com. 12 July 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
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