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May 20, 2006

Happy birthday, Mr. Gravy

Tonight is Wavy Gravy’s birthday party at the Berkeley Community Theater, as always a benefit for SEVA.

C.W. Nevius writes about Wavy in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Compassion comes easy to this clown

A few excerpts:

….this has been a remarkable run, from making announcements atop the stage at Woodstock to having Ben & Jerry’s name a flavor of ice cream after him.

It was tasty, too.

With no visible means of support to speak of — Gravy calls himself “an activist, clown and former frozen dessert” — he’s not only lived a life in full, but filled it with an extraordinary zest and good deeds.

[…]

And then there’s the time he was poetry director at the Gaslight in Greenwich Village.

“I convinced the owner to bring on a kid named Bob Dylan.”

Dylan, by the way, wrote “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” on Gravy’s typewriter. So says Gravy, who says Salvador Dali stopped by and “made a salad.”

Is it any wonder that documentarian Michelle Esrick is on the Gravy train? Her film, “Saint Misbehavin’: The Life and Time of Wavy Gravy,” is due in 2007. Good luck. Editing his life into feature-film length won’t be easy….

I’ve had many opportunities to hang out with Wavy over the years - I’ve played festivals where he emceed, for example - and I’ve produced radio announcements for his various events over the years. I refer to him as a “regional saint,” for some reason. He’s a great character, and he’s done a hell of a lot of good in the world.

Happy birthday, other boss. I hope you have a great party tonight.

Posted by gans at May 20, 2006 10:09 AM

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Comments

Im sure you got this… The news about Ramrod’s death- I was expecting a tribute to him tonight, but I guess your “show” is to busy. Anyway his death touched me and the family and i suppose you too. so a tribute is well …over due

Posted by: Graham at May 20, 2006 11:27 PM

Wavy seems to be one of the jolly survivors. Thank for the good news. Now for the bad>

I could be way off -(I loved all these guys) but I think all of the Dead keyboardists (actually Garcia included w/ them) can be ruled a “suicide” (if its true about Vince). Some took longer to complete it than others. There’s gotta be more than great music that keeps you sane - wife and/or kids, therapy, 12 step stuff, god (of all varieties), gurus and holy men, and whatever else works to keep a level of sanity these days. I think this was lacking in all these great guys.

Posted by: grod at June 4, 2006 10:11 AM