Wavy Gravy founded the Phurst Church of Phun in the 1960s, a secret society of comics and clowns that aimed to support 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, including as the official clown of the Grateful Dead.
16 Facts About Wavy Gravy
2.
Wavy Gravy attended William Hall High School, graduating in 1954.
3.
Wavy Gravy lived with Bob Dylan upstairs from 116 MacDougal Street.
4.
Wavy Gravy worked for Columbia Pictures teaching improvisation skills to actors.
5.
Wavy Gravy has been recognized for his work as a collage artist, with work presented at a solo exhibition in April 1999 at the Firehouse Gallery in New York under gallery owner Eric Gibbons.
6.
Wavy Gravy had an exhibition, Wavy Gravy Retrospective at the Firehouse Gallery of Bordentown, New Jersey.
7.
Wavy Gravy began exploring collage in the early '60s, and his first works were created in the period where he lived above the Gaslight in Greenwich Village; he has stated that he was inspired by a Max Ernst collage he saw at the Bitter End, when he opened for Peter, Paul and Mary.
8.
Wavy Gravy 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.
9.
Wavy Gravy co-founded the Seva Foundation in 1978, along with spiritual leader Ram Dass and public health expert Dr Larry Brilliant.
10.
Wavy Gravy 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 musicians.
11.
Wavy Gravy co-founded, with his wife, the circus and performing arts camp Camp Winnarainbow, now located in Laytonville, California near the Hog Farm.
12.
Wavy Gravy organized and acted as MC for a variety show there that he called the, "Tornado of Talent".
13.
Wavy Gravy arrived at the holding facility dressed in a pair of bright green coveralls.
14.
Wavy Gravy established the store Nobody's Business across the road from the Hog Farm.
15.
Wavy Gravy was briefly married to a "Frenchwoman" in the early 1960s; the marriage ended in divorce.
16.
In 1965, Wavy Gravy married the actress Bonnie Jean Beecher, who later adopted the name Jahanara Romney.