Wavy Gravy

Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. (born May 15, 1936), known as Wavy Gravy, is an American entertainer and peace activist best known for his role at Woodstock, as well as for his hippie persona and countercultural beliefs.

Romney has founded or co-founded several organizations, including the activist commune the Hog Farm, and later, as Wavy Gravy, Camp Winnarainbow and the Seva Foundation. He founded the Phurst Church of Phun in the 1960s, a secret society of comics and clowns that aimed to support the ending of the Vietnam War through political theater, and has adopted a clown persona in support of his political activism, and more generally as a form of entertainment work,^{[not verified in body]} including as the official clown of the Grateful Dead.

As Wavy Gravy, he has had two radio shows on Sirius Satellite Radio's Jam 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 the World Folk Music Association in 1992.

Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. was born in East Greenbush, New York, on May 15, 1936. His father, Hugh Romney Sr., was an architect. Romney was raised in early life in Princeton, New Jersey, and by middle school age his family moved to West Hartford, Connecticut. He attended William Hall High School, graduating in 1954. After high school graduation, he volunteered for the United States Army, serving as a sign painter, to take advantage of the G.I. Bill. He was honorably discharged after 22 months.^{[citation needed]}

Romney entered Boston University Theater Department in the late 1950s under the G.I. Bill, and then attended the Neighborhood Playhouse for the Theater in New York City.

In 1958, he began reading poetry regularly at The Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village in New York City, where he eventually became the cafe's entertainment director, befriending musicians such as Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, and Dave Van Ronk. He lived with Bob Dylan upstairs at 116 MacDougal Street.

His early career was managed by Lenny Bruce who brought Romney to California in 1962 where he did a live recording of Hugh Romney, Third Stream Humor as the opening act for Thelonious Monk at Club Renaissance in Los Angeles.

The Hog Farm collective was established through a chain of events beginning with Ken Babbs hijacking the Merry Pranksters' bus, Furthur, to Mexico, which stranded the Merry Pranksters in Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]} First Romney assembled a collective in North Hollywood, visited by musicians such as Ravi Shankar and Tiny Tim (whom he managed).^{[citation needed]}