Wavy Gravy
Encyclopedia
Wavy Gravy (born May 15, 1936) is an American entertainer and activist
for peace, best known for his hippie
appearance, personality and beliefs. His moniker (the name he uses day to day)
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 was also the official clown
of the Grateful Dead
and has two radio shows on Sirius Satellite Radio's Jam On
station.
A major film documentary on Wavy Gravy's life, Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Story, was released in late 2010 by Ripple Effect Films. The film, directed by Michelle Esrick, received excellent reviews.
in West Hartford, Connecticut
. In 1954, Romney volunteered for the military draft and was honorably discharged after 22 months in the U.S. Army
.
Under the GI Bill, Romney entered Boston University
Theater Department in 1957, then attended the Neighborhood Playhouse for the Theater in New York City
. He worked at The Gaslight Cafe
at night as poetry and entertainment director.
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, 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).
Manager Lenny Bruce brought Romney to California in 1962 where Romney did a live recording of Hugh Romney, Third Street Humor as the opening act for Thelonious Monk
at Club Renaissance in Los Angeles.
hijacking the Merry Pranksters
' bus, Furthur, to Mexico, which stranded the Merry Pranksters
in Los Angeles. Romney was evicted from his one-bedroom cabin in Sunland, a northern suburb of Los Angeles, after 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, 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.
Both Romney and Beecher had jobs in Los Angeles. He worked for Columbia Pictures teaching improvisation skills to actors. Bonnie was a successful television actress.
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.
, Gravy and the Hog Farm Collective accepted festival executive Stan Goldstein's offer to help with preparations.
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
" (both being traditional clown props; he may have been referring to the silent film era Keystone Kops
in particular). In Gravy's words: "They all wrote it down and I thought, 'the power of manipulating the media', ah ha!" 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.
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
", 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.
Romney was lying onstage, exhausted after spending hours trying to get festival-goers 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 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.
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. Wavy 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. Wavy serves on Seva's board of directors.
, in Laytonville, California
, near The Hog Farm.
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.
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
, Wavy organized and acted as MC for a 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
.
.
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 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.
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
for peace, best known for his hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
appearance, personality and beliefs. His moniker (the name he uses day to day)
was given to him by B.B. King at the Texas International Pop Festival
Texas International Pop Festival
The Texas International Pop Festival was a music festival held at Lewisville, Texas, on Labor Day weekend, August 30-September 1, 1969. It occurred two weeks after Woodstock...
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
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
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
Camp Winnarainbow
Camp Winnarainbow is a circus and performing arts camp for all ages, founded and run by Wavy Gravy. The camp adjoins the Hog Farm commune near Laytonville, California.- Activities :...
, the Seva Foundation
Seva Foundation
Seva Foundation is an international health organization based in Berkeley, California, that was founded in 1978 by public health expert Dr. Larry Brilliant. Seva is best known for their work restoring eyesight to nearly 3 million blind people suffering from cataract blindness in places like Tibet,...
and the Hog Farm
Hog Farm
The Hog Farm is an organization considered to be America's longest running hippie commune. With beginnings as an actual collective hog farm in Tujunga, California, the group, founded in the 1960s by peace activist and clown Wavy Gravy, evolved into a "mobile, hallucination-extended family", active...
, an activist commune
Commune
Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
. He was also the official clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
of the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
and has two radio shows on Sirius Satellite Radio's Jam On
Jam On
Jam On is a Jam Bands radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 29 , XM Satellite Radio channel 29 and Dish Network channel 6081. It has featured basketball player Bill Walton hosting a Grateful Dead show, hippie icon Wavy Gravy, and pedal steel player Buddy Cage as a DJ...
station.
A major film documentary on Wavy Gravy's life, Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Story, was released in late 2010 by Ripple Effect Films. The film, directed by Michelle Esrick, received excellent reviews.
Biography
Romney was born in East Greenbush, New York on May 15, 1936. He attended William Hall High SchoolHall High School (Connecticut)
William H. Hall High School, also known as Hall High School, is a four-year public high school located in West Hartford, Connecticut. The school colors are blue and white, and the mascot is the "Warrior." It is one of two public high schools in the West Hartford Public Schools, the other being...
in West Hartford, Connecticut
West Hartford, Connecticut
West Hartford is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town was incorporated in 1854. Prior to that date, the town was a parish of Hartford....
. In 1954, Romney volunteered for the military draft and was honorably discharged after 22 months in the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
.
Under the GI Bill, Romney entered Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
Theater Department in 1957, then attended the Neighborhood Playhouse for the Theater in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He worked at The Gaslight Cafe
The Gaslight Cafe
The Gaslight Cafe was an American coffee house located in the basement of 116 MacDougal Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York...
at night as poetry and entertainment director.
His early career was managed by Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce
Leonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...
. For a time he shared an apartment with singer-songwriter Tom Paxton
Tom Paxton
Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...
in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, and Romney was one of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's earliest friends in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. One of Bob Dylan's girlfriends from the University of Minnesota, Bonnie Beecher, 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).
Manager Lenny Bruce brought Romney to California in 1962 where Romney did a live recording of Hugh Romney, Third Street Humor as the opening act for Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
at Club Renaissance in Los Angeles.
The Hog Farm
The Hog Farm Collective was established through a chain of events beginning with Ken BabbsKen Babbs
Ken Babbs is a famous Merry Prankster who became one of the psychedelic leaders of the 1960s. He along with best friend and Prankster leader, Ken Kesey wrote the book Last Go Round...
hijacking the Merry Pranksters
Merry Pranksters
The Merry Pranksters were a group of people who formed around American author Ken Kesey in 1964 and sometimes lived communally at his homes in California and Oregon...
' bus, Furthur, to Mexico, which stranded the Merry Pranksters
Merry Pranksters
The Merry Pranksters were a group of people who formed around American author Ken Kesey in 1964 and sometimes lived communally at his homes in California and Oregon...
in Los Angeles. Romney was evicted from his one-bedroom cabin in Sunland, a northern suburb of Los Angeles, after 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, 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.
Both Romney and Beecher had jobs in Los Angeles. He worked for Columbia Pictures teaching improvisation skills to actors. Bonnie was a successful television actress.
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
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
in Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
's feature film Skidoo
Skidoo (film)
Skidoo is an American comedy film directed by Otto Preminger, starring Jackie Gleason and Carol Channing, written by Doran William Cannon and released by Paramount Pictures on December 19, 1968...
(1968).
The Hog Farm relocated to Black Oak Ranch in northern California in the early 1990s.
Woodstock Festival
At the first Woodstock FestivalWoodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
, Gravy and the Hog Farm Collective accepted festival executive Stan Goldstein's offer to help with preparations.
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
Soda syphon
The soda syphon , also known as the seltzer bottle or syphon seltzer bottle is a device for dispensing carbonated or soda water....
" (both being traditional clown props; he may have been referring to the silent film era Keystone Kops
Keystone Kops
The Keystone Kops were incompetent fictional policemen, featured in silent film comedies in the early 20th century. The movies were produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. The idea came from Hank Mann who also played police chief Tehiezel in the first film...
in particular). In Gravy's words: "They all wrote it down and I thought, 'the power of manipulating the media', ah ha!" 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
Ken Kesey
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...
— live on Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
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
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
. He appeared there again in 2000 with Phyllis Curott
Phyllis Curott
Phyllis Curott is a Wiccan priestess, attorney, and author .- Early life :Her parents were agnostic-atheist, socially liberal intellectuals who encouraged her to make her own decisions regarding theology but taught her to adhere to the Golden Rule...
, where he joined Rev. Ivan Stang
Ivan Stang
Rev. Ivan Stang, born Douglass St. Clair Smith August 21, 1953 in Washington, D.C., raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and attended the St. Mark's School of Texas. He is best known as the author and publisher of the first screed of the Church of the SubGenius...
in a joint ritual of the Church of the SubGenius
Church of the SubGenius
The Church of the SubGenius is a "parody religion" organization that satirizes religion, conspiracy theories, unidentified flying objects, and popular culture. Originally based in Dallas, Texas, the Church of the SubGenius gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s and maintains an active presence on...
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
I Want to Take You Higher
"I Want to Take You Higher" is a 1969 song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, the B-side to their Top 30 hit Stand!". Unlike most of the other tracks on the Stand! album, "I Want to Take You Higher" is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one...
", Gravy's sleeping bag and tie-dyed false teeth were displayed. He and Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
appeared there on the last day of the exhibit on February 28, 1998.
Origin of name Wavy Gravy
At the 1969 Texas International Pop FestivalTexas International Pop Festival
The Texas International Pop Festival was a music festival held at Lewisville, Texas, on Labor Day weekend, August 30-September 1, 1969. It occurred two weeks after Woodstock...
Romney was lying onstage, exhausted after spending hours trying to get festival-goers 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 Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
proceeded to jam for hours after that. Romney said he considered this a mystical event, and assumed Wavy Gravy as his legal name.
Seva Foundation
Gravy founded Seva FoundationSeva Foundation
Seva Foundation is an international health organization based in Berkeley, California, that was founded in 1978 by public health expert Dr. Larry Brilliant. Seva is best known for their work restoring eyesight to nearly 3 million blind people suffering from cataract blindness in places like Tibet,...
along with spiritual leader Ram Dass
Ram Dass
Ram Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
and public health expert Dr. Larry Brilliant
Larry Brilliant
Lawrence "Larry" Brilliant is an American physician, epidemiologist, technologist, author, and the former director of Google's philanthropic arm Google.org. Brilliant, a technology patent holder, has been CEO of two public companies and other venture backed start ups. From 1973 to 1976, he...
. 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. Wavy is famous for throwing all-star benefit concerts regularly featuring members of the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
, Graham Nash
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash, OBE is an English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer...
, Ani Difranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
, Ben Harper
Ben Harper
Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents...
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
and many other compassionate musicians. Wavy serves on Seva's board of directors.
Camp Winnarainbow
Gravy is also the co-founder, with his wife, of the circus and performing arts camp Camp WinnarainbowCamp Winnarainbow
Camp Winnarainbow is a circus and performing arts camp for all ages, founded and run by Wavy Gravy. The camp adjoins the Hog Farm commune near Laytonville, California.- Activities :...
, in Laytonville, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, near The Hog Farm.
Until 2003, Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's is an American ice cream company, a division of the British-Dutch Unilever conglomerate, that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream novelty products, manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc., headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont, United...
produced an ice cream named "Wavy Gravy" (caramel-cashew
Cashew
The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...
-Brazil nut
Brazil Nut
The Brazil nut is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seed.- Order :...
base with a chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl and roasted almonds) which helped drive a scholarship fund for underprivileged kids to attend 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 CollegeCuesta College
Cuesta College is a public community college located in San Luis Obispo County near the Central Coast of California. It currently offers 76 Associate's degree programs and 96 certificate programs...
in San Luis Obispo, California – after arrests during the September 1981 Abalone Alliance
Abalone alliance
The Abalone Alliance was a nonviolent civil disobedience group formed to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast in the United States...
organized, anti-nuclear protest, trespass/occupation and civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
action at Diablo Canyon Power Plant
Diablo Canyon Power Plant
Diablo Canyon Power Plant is an electricity-generating nuclear power plant at Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County, California. The plant has two Westinghouse-designed 4-loop pressurized-water nuclear reactors operated by Pacific Gas & Electric. The facility is located on about in Avila Beach,...
, Wavy organized and acted as MC for a 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
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
.
Nobody's Business/Nobody for President
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. The joke had previously been used in the 1932 short film Betty Boop for PresidentBetty Boop for President
Betty Boop for President is a 1932 Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop. It was released on November 4, 1932 by Paramount Pictures.-Plot:Betty runs for the office of President against Mr. Nobody...
.
The "Nobody for President" campaign held a rally across from the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
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
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and John B. Anderson
John B. Anderson
John Bayard Anderson is a former United States Congressman and Presidential candidate from Illinois. He was a U.S. Representative from the 16th Congressional District of Illinois for ten terms from 1961 through 1981 and an Independent candidate in the 1980 presidential election. He was previously...
, 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.
In popular culture
- In The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Burns' HeirBurns' Heir"Burns' Heir" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons fifth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 14, 1994. In the episode, Mr. Burns has a near-death experience which prompts him to find an heir to inherit his wealth after he dies...
", Mr. BurnsMontgomery BurnsCharles Montgomery "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer and previously Christopher Collins. Burns is the evil owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is Homer...
disguises himself as Wavy Gravy to infiltrate and destroy a GreenpeaceGreenpeaceGreenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
ship that is attempting to stop the dumping of nuclear waste. - Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry'sBen & Jerry'sBen & Jerry's is an American ice cream company, a division of the British-Dutch Unilever conglomerate, that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream novelty products, manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc., headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont, United...
named a flavor after Wavy Gravy which was caramel and cashew/Brazil nut ice cream with a hazelnut-fudge swirl and roasted almonds. The flavor was discontinued in 2003. - In the CW's SupernaturalSupernatural (TV series)Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
, 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 feature Taking WoodstockTaking WoodstockTaking Woodstock is a 2009 American comedy-drama film about the Woodstock Festival of 1969, directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay by James Schamus is based on the memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte.The film premiered at the 2009 Cannes...
, Romney is depicted walking around in the background while things are being planned and is referred to a couple of times by event planners as "Wavy Gravy." - DJ Sasha wrote a song called "Wavy Gravy".
- The Ace of CupsThe Ace of CupsThe Ace of Cups was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1967. It has been described as one of the first all-female rock bands.The members of the Ace of Cups were Mary Gannon , Marla Hunt , Denise Kaufman , Mary Ellen Simpson , and Diane Vitalich...
song "Simplicity" is about Wavy Gravy.
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)
- 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.
- The Wavy Files - a series of individual commentary segments by Gravy placed randomly throughout the Jam On programming on Sirius Satellite Radio.