The rest is just Gravy

"In 1969, Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. was lying on stage at the Texas International Pop Festival, when he asked the conga drummers not to dance on the “wavy gravy.” B.B. King came onstage and asked him, “Are you Wavy Gravy?” Romney responded, “Yes, sir,” and afterwards, considering this a “mystical experience,” he legally changed his name. And Wavy Gravy he still is, as he prepares to celebrate his 90th birthday at a benefit for the Seva Foundation on May 16 at San Francisco's Masonic Auditorium."

"Mr. Gravy, as the New York Times would refer to him, has perhaps an unmatchable counterculture resume, including founding the activist collective The Hog Farm, which created Woodstock's “security,” the Please Force. (Its enforcement weapons were cream pies and seltzer bottles); rooming with Bob Dylan in the early '60s in Greenwich Village; becoming the official clown for the Grateful Dead; and founding the Phurst Church of Phun, a “secret clown society” dedicated to ending the Vietnam War."

"Add: Founding the “Nobody for President” campaigns of 1976 and 1980, which ran on the slogans “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!” And not least, having a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor named for him (RIP 2001)."

"Arguably most importantly, in 1978, he co-founded Berkeley's Seva Foundation with Ram Dass and physician Larry Brilliant. Seva's mission to prevent blindness now operates in more than 20 countries. Its programs have given back sight to more than three million people through surgery, self-sufficient eye care"

In 1969, Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. asked conga drummers not to dance on the “wavy gravy” at the Texas International Pop Festival. B.B. King asked if he was Wavy Gravy, and Romney answered yes, later changing his name after calling it a mystical experience. He became known for founding The Hog Farm, creating Woodstock’s “security” with the Please Force, rooming with Bob Dylan, serving as the official clown for the Grateful Dead, and founding the Phurst Church of Phun to end the Vietnam War. He also helped launch “Nobody for President” campaigns and founded Camp Winnarainbow. In 1978, he co-founded the Seva Foundation with Ram Dass and Larry Brilliant, preventing blindness across more than 20 countries and restoring sight to over three million people.

Read at East Bay Express | Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda