Wavy Gravy | |
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_(cropped).jpg) Wavy Gravy in 2009 | |
| Born | Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. (1936-05-15)May 15, 1936 (age 89)[1][2] East Greenbush, New York, U.S. |
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| Children | 1 |
| Website | wavygravy |
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Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. (born May 15, 1936), known asWavy Gravy, is an American entertainer and peaceactivist best known for his role atWoodstock, as well as for hishippie persona andcountercultural beliefs.
Romney has founded or co-founded several organizations, including the activistcommune theHog Farm, and later, as Wavy Gravy,Camp Winnarainbow and theSeva Foundation. He founded thePhurst Church of Phun in the 1960s,[3] a secret society of comics and clowns that aimed to support the ending of theVietnam War through political theater, and has adopted aclown persona in support of his political activism, and more generally as a form of entertainment work,[not verified in body] including as the officialclown of theGrateful Dead.
As Wavy Gravy, he has had two radio shows onSirius Satellite Radio'sJam On station. A documentary film based on his life,Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie, was released in late 2010 to generally positive reviews. Romney was awarded the Kate Wolf Memorial Award by theWorld Folk Music Association in 1992.[4]
Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. was born inEast Greenbush, New York, on May 15, 1936.[5][1][6] His father, Hugh Romney Sr., was an architect.[7] Romney was raised in early life inPrinceton,New Jersey, and by middle school age his family moved toWest Hartford,Connecticut.[8][9] He attendedWilliam Hall High School, graduating in 1954.[9] After high school graduation, he volunteered for theUnited States Army, serving as asign painter, to take advantage of theG.I. Bill.[7][10] He was honorably discharged after 22 months.[citation needed]
Romney enteredBoston University Theater Department in the late 1950s under theG.I. Bill,[9][11] and then attended theNeighborhood Playhouse for the Theater inNew York City.[7]
In 1958, he began reading poetry regularly atThe Gaslight Cafe inGreenwich Village inNew York City, where he eventually became the cafe's entertainment director, befriending musicians such asBob Dylan,Tom Paxton, andDave Van Ronk.[12][8] He lived with Bob Dylan upstairs at 116 MacDougal Street.[8]
His early career was managed byLenny Bruce who brought Romney to California in 1962 where he did a live recording ofHugh Romney,Third Stream Humor as the opening act forThelonious Monk at Club Renaissance in Los Angeles.[13]
TheHog Farm collective was established through a chain of events beginning withKen Babbs hijacking theMerry Pranksters' bus,Furthur, to Mexico, which stranded theMerry Pranksters in Los Angeles.[citation needed] First Romney assembled a collective inNorth Hollywood, visited by musicians such asRavi Shankar andTiny Tim (whom he managed).[citation needed]
After moving toSunland, a suburb in theSan Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles, Romney was evicted from his one-bedroom cabin after the landlord discovered that a large group of assorted pranksters and musicians were staying there. Two hours later, a neighbor informed Romney that a nearby hog farm needed caretakers after the farmer had suffered a stroke, and Romney accepted an offer to work at the farm in exchange for rent.[7][14] Local people, musicians, artists, and members of other communes began staying at the mountain-top farm.[citation needed] In his bookSomething Good for a Change, Gravy described this early period as a "bizarrecommunal experiment" where the "people began to outnumber the pigs".[15]
Throughout the mid-1960s, both Romney and his wife,Bonnie Beecher, were employed in Los Angeles. He worked forColumbia Pictures teaching improvisation skills to actors.[citation needed] Beecher was a successful television actress, appearing in episodes ofThe Twilight Zone,Gunsmoke,Star Trek, andThe Fugitive.[citation needed]
By 1966, the Hog Farm had coalesced into an entertainment organization providing light shows at theShrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles for music artists such as theGrateful Dead,Cream, andJimi Hendrix.[citation needed] Beginning in 1967, the collective began traveling across the country in converted school buses purchased with money earned asextras inOtto Preminger's feature filmSkidoo (1968).[7]
The Hog Farm relocated to the Black Oak Ranch inLaytonville,Mendocino County, inNorthern California in the early 1990s.[16][17]
At the firstWoodstock Festival, Romney and the Hog Farm collective accepted festival executive Stan Goldstein's offer to help with preparations.[18]
Romney 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 andseltzer bottles"[18] (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!"[19]
Romney made announcements from the concert stage throughout the festival. He later wrote in his memoir that "the reason that I got to do all those stage announcements was because of my relationship withChip Monk [sic]. Chip built the stage at Woodstock."[20]
At theRock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's psychedelic tribute to the 1960s "I Want To Take You Higher",[21] Romney's sleeping bag and tie-dyed false teeth were displayed. He andPaul Krassner appeared there on the last day of the exhibit on February 28, 1998.[citation needed]
Romney, as Wavy Gravy after the first Woodstock, has been theMaster of Ceremonies of, and the only person to appear on the bill of all three Woodstock festivals: the original festival in 1969, the 25th anniversaryWoodstock '94 festival in 1994, and the 30th anniversaryWoodstock '99 festival in 1999. On the morning of the 20th Anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, he and authorKen Kesey were interviewed onGood Morning America, live from the Bethel concert site, where he discussed his experience as the MC of the event.[citation needed]
At the 1969Texas International Pop Festival, two weeks after Woodstock, Romney was lying onstage, exhausted after spending hours trying to get festival-goers to put their clothes back on. He later explained, "They had these conga drummers on the stage, and I said, 'Don't dance on the wavy gravy'. Then someone announced thatB.B. King was there, and he was going to play for free. I started to get up, and I felt this hand on my shoulder and it was B.B. King. And he said, 'Are you Wavy Gravy?' and I just said, 'Yes, sir,' and he said, 'Wavy Gravy, I can work around you.' And he stood me up next to his amplifier, andJohnny Winter comes from the other side, and they played all night long."[22][23] Romney said he considered this a mystical event, and assumed Wavy Gravy as his legal name.[24][independent source needed]
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After frequent arrests at demonstrations, Wavy Gravy decided that his arrest would be less likely if he dressed as a clown. Romney therefore co-founded thePhurst Church of Phun in 1960 as a secret society of comics and clowns dedicated to ending the Vietnam War through the use of political theater. Romney also performs more generally as a clown, including entertaining children, work that includes such traditional clown activities as joke-telling and magic tricks. As Wavy Gravy, he has served as an officialclown of theGrateful Dead.[when?][25]
Wavy Gravy has also been recognized for his work as acollage artist, with work presented at a solo exhibition in April 1999 at the Firehouse Gallery in New York under gallery owner Eric Gibbons.[26] He had an exhibition, entitledWavy Gravy Retrospective (1996), at the Firehouse Gallery of Bordentown, New Jersey.
He began exploring collage in the early 1960s, and his first works were created in the period where he lived above the Gaslight in Greenwich Village; he has stated that he was inspired by aMax Ernst collage he saw at the Bitter End, when he opened forPeter, Paul and Mary.[when?][citation needed] His collage work includes larger pieces done for celebrities in theSan Francisco Bay Area.[citation needed]
Wavy Gravy's first appearance at an event in theNeo-Pagan community was at the WinterStar Symposium in 1998 withPaul Krassner.[27][failed verification] He appeared there again in 2000 withPhyllis Curott, where he joined Rev.Ivan Stang in a joint ritual of theChurch of the SubGenius and his Church of the Cosmic Giggle.[28]
Wavy Gravy co-founded theSeva Foundation in 1978, along with spiritual leaderRam Dass and public health expertDr. Larry Brilliant.[29][30][31] Based inBerkeley, California, Seva Foundation is an international health organization working to build sustainable sight restoration programs in many of the globe's most under-served communities.[29][32] Gravy is famous for throwing all-starbenefit concerts regularly featuring members of theGrateful Dead,Bonnie Raitt,Jackson Browne,David Crosby,Graham Nash,Ani DiFranco,Ben Harper,Elvis Costello, and many other musicians.[29]
Gravy co-founded, with his wife, the circus and performing arts campCamp Winnarainbow, now located inLaytonville, California near the Hog Farm.[when?][32][33] He co-ran the camp alongside Txi Whizz (also known as Barbara Hanna), his "right-hand woman".[34]
In September 1981 there was ananti-nuclear protest, which included trespassing, blockade, occupation, andcivil disobedience action atDiablo Canyon Power Plant, organized by theAbalone Alliance.[35] Approximately 640 protesters were arrested, and Wavy Gravy andJackson Browne were in attendance.[35]
Browne was able to have an acoustic guitar and performed in the gymnasium atCuesta College; where the male incarcerated were being held.[35] Gravy organized and acted as MC for a variety show there that he called the, "Tornado of Talent". 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.
"Wavy Gravy nominatedNobody for president at the "Yippie National Convention" outside the Republican National Convention in Kansas City in 1976. It was the second time the Hog Farm had nominated a candidate for the Presidency, following the nomination of the hog, Pigasus, eight years prior.[36]"
Wavy Gravy ran a "Nobody for President" campaign that held a rally across from theWhite House on November 4, 1980, which includedYippies and a fewanarchists to promote the option of "none of the above" choice on the ballot—as in, "Nobody's Perfect", "Nobody Keeps All Promises", "Nobody Should Have That Much Power", and "Who's in Washington right now working to make the world a safer place? Nobody!".[37][38][independent source needed] After criticizingJimmy Carter,Ronald Reagan andJohn 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.[39][40] The allusion had been used previously, in the 1932 short filmBetty Boop for President.[citation needed]
Gravy established the store Nobody's Business across the road from the Hog Farm.[when?][41] reminiscent of his "Nobody for President" campaign.
He was briefly married to a "Frenchwoman" in the early 1960s; the marriage ended in divorce.[7]
In 1965, Wavy Gravy married the actressBonnie Jean Beecher, who later adopted the name Jahanara Romney.[42] They have a son, born in 1971 as Howdy Do-Good Gravy Tomahawk Truckstop Romney, who has since become known as Jordan Romney.[42]
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As Wavy Gravy, he has had two radio shows onSirius Satellite Radio'sJam On station.[43]
| Year | Title | Role | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | The Fat Black Pussycat | Assistant Detective (as Hugh Romney) | Film | Detective film |
| 1970 | Woodstock | Himself | Film | Documentary film |
| 1972 | Cisco Pike | Reed (as Hugh Romney) | Film | [33][44] |
| 1994 | Flashing on the Sixties: A Tribal Document | Himself | Television | |
| 1995 | The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 6 | Himself | Television | |
| 1997 | Timothy Leary's Last Trip | Himself | Film | Film takes place at the "Pig-Nic" at the Hog Farm.[45] |
| 1999 | The '60s | Film | ||
| 2000 | My Generation | Himself | Film | |
| 2001 | The End of the Road | Himself | Film | |
| 2001 | Ram Dass, Fierce Grace | Himself | Film | |
| 2005 | The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose | Film | ||
| 2006 | Breaking the Rules | Himself | Film | |
| 2008 | Battleground Earth | Himself | Television | episode "Ludacris vs. Tommy Lee" |
| 2008 | Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo | Himself | Film | Mockumentary film.[46] |
| 2009 | Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie | Himself | Film | Documentary film, directed by Michelle Esrick and released by Ripple Effect Films.[42][47][48][49] |
| 2009 | Woodstock: Now & Then | Himself | Film | |
| 2019 | Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation | Himself | Film | Documentary film by director Barak Goodman.[50][51] |
| 2021 | "Saint Stupid The Movie recut" | Himself | Film by Bishop Joey | https://vimeo.com/547299331?ref=em-share |
Ben & Jerry'sWavy Gravy ice cream flavor is named for Romney. Until 2001,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 hisCamp Winnarainbow.[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][excessive citations]
Twenty years before Woodstock, a young Gravy, then Hugh Romney, moved to West Hartford with his mother and step-father, where he attended middle school. He eventually graduated from Hall High School in 1954 and discovered a love of art at the Wadsworth Atheneum. As a musical theater student at Boston University in the late 1950s, he'd round up musicians and poets who weren't doing anything on Mondays and drive into Hartford to put on poetry and jazz shows at the Golden Lion.
My stepfather was an aide to [General] Omar Bradley and he suggested, "Don't volunteer for anything but typing and sign making!" So I went into a new company for basic training at Fort Dix [NJ] and, lucky me, they wanted sign painters.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)In 1965 Mr. Romney married Bonnie Jean Beecher, who later became Jahanara Romney and has been his wife for 45 years. We meet his cheerful son, Howdy Do-Good Gravy Tomahawk Truckstop Romney, later changed to Jordan, who was born on the seat of a Greyhound bus.
...Peter Lind lives it every day. Lind is one of five Ben & Jerry's Flavor Gurus whose days are filled with ice cream development and tasting.
Several months later, Ben & Jerry's began quietly removing the claims from its Rainforest Crunch labels. "It would be misleading at this time to imply that 100 percent of the profits from 100 percent of the nuts would be used to help Xapuri," Mr. Cohen admitted in a recent interview.
How many of you remember Wavy Gravy? This nutty flavor is one of only a very few to ever be resurrected from the Flavor Graveyard. Get the full story here >> t.co/KiALQVOCeH #peaceloveicecream t.co/Tq4Kj3j7n4
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