
"Like the best of clowns, Wavy Gravy
will make as big a fool of himself as is necessary to make a wiser
man of you. He is one of the better people on earth."
-- Ron Rosenbaum,
Village Voice |
Wavy
Gravy has lived a life filled with excitement, adventure,
and philanthropy. He was a part of the Beat movement in the late
1950s, hanging out in Greenwich Village with hipsters and folk singers
like Paul Krassner, Lenny Bruce, and Bob Dylan. He was a comedian
and a comic actor, working for a time at the Committee (San Francisco's
equivalent to Chicago's Second City ). By 1966, he was one of Ken
Kesey's Merry Pranksters and living on a mountain top commune near
L.A. called the Hog Farm. After a time, the Hog Farm took to the
road with its members living in a fleet of converted school buses
and traveling the country protesting the Vietnam War. Wavy Gravy
achieved his first 15 minutes of fame when he declared from the
stage at Woodstock, "What we have in mind is breakfast in bed
for 400,000."
Wavy
has filled his days with an endless list of benefits and worthy
causes, including the Seva Foundation, Home Aid (for the homeless),
Cowboys for Indians (for Native Americans), Blues Against Blindness
and more. He also co-founded the legendary camp Winnarainbow for
children with is wife Jahanara and has spent countless hours spent
in children's hospital ward. He is addicted to helping people, and
his enthusiasm is contagious. |