Wavy Gravy

by Sparrow, December 29, 2006

I met Wavy Gravy at the Woodstock Film Festival, for the premiere of his documentary-in-progress, Saint Misbehavin'. (A team of clowns with carwash-type brushes gave me a "karma cleansing" on the way in.) You see, Mr. Gravy mentioned me in his autobiography, Something Good for a Change: Random Notes on Peace thru Living, although we never met. He referred to an article I wrote, "Garbage In Mind," in the Whole Earth Review, where I detail all the magazines I discover in the garbage. "I can send you my book, which contains the article," I offered Wavy, who was dressed in clown garb. "Who is your publisher?" Wavy wondered. "Soft Skull Press," I answered. "Oh, the fontanelle!,"* Mr. Gravy erupted. "That's one of my favorite words! Sometimes, new mothers bring me infants so I can place my fingers on their fontanelle. It's like touching eternity!" Next to him, Odetta smiled cryptically. Wavy Gravy began as a McDougal Street poet in the 1950s. Buffy Sainte-Marie, in the film, remembers sitting in the back of the Gaslight, spellbound by Wavy (then named Hugh Romney). Hugh and Bob Dylan shared a writing room. "Dylan wrote 'A Hard Rain's A'Gonna Fall' on my typewriter!" Wavy remarks, in Saint Misbehavin'. Something of the Greenwich Village poet remained in Wavy, even after he co-founded the Hog Farm. (His most famous line, "What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000! in the movie Woodstock could be from a Frank O'Hara poem.) After the film, Wavy answered questions. "You've met so many people - Lenny Bruce, the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd why is that?" one man queried. "Can it all just be a coincidence?" "Yes. A coincidence is a miracle God doesn't take credit for," Wavy explained. "If the US leaves North America, where will it go?" a guy in the back inquired (referring to Wavy's bumper sticker: "US Out Of North America!"). "Uranus," Wavy retorted.** Wavy explained the origin of the Nobody For President movement. "The Zippies were running a rock for president, and I had the rock, which I left in a taxicab. So I thought, 'Why not just run Nobody?' After all, Nobody's perfect. And Nobody should have that much power! "Actually, I don't think we need a president. The Senate could just sit around in a circle, and decide everything the way we do at the Farm-consensus minus one." He noted that Ben and Jerry have sadly discontinued his ice cream, "but I'm apparently going to be reincarnated as a sorbet!" "How can we get the US out of Iraq?" I inquired. "Be creative," Wavy advised. "Kick Bush's ass, but have fun doing it!" (Fun fact: B. B. King gave Wavy his name. "Wavy gravy" refers to a thick, meaty sauce.) www.wavygravy.org *I see this word directly comes from the French for "fountain." **Possibly this joke does not work on the page. America: A Prophecy - The Sparrow Reader is available at www.softskull.com.