Hugh “Wavy Gravy” Romney Jr. will be celebrating his 90th birthday with a benefit concert at the Masonic on Saturday, May 16.
Brian Feulner/For the S.F. Chronicle
If laughter is a gift, few have given more generously than activist, poet and merry prankster Wavy Gravy. From his career-making turn as Woodstock’s emcee to his lifelong humanitarian work, the man born Hugh Romney Jr. has proven that clowns can, in fact, change the world.
That legacy will take center stage Saturday, May 16, when friends and past collaborators gather at the Masonic in San Francisco to mark Gravy’s 90th birthday. The star-studded lineup includes Steve Earle, Todd Rundgren, Cat Power, Rickie Lee Jones, Harper Simon, the Moldy Peaches and Maria Muldaur, among others.
Wavy Gravy’s 90th Birthday: 7 p.m. Saturday, May 16. Tickets start at $25. The Masonic, 1111 California St., S.F. www.sfmasonic.com
“It feels nifty,” Gravy told the Chronicle ahead of his party. “My goosebumps have goosebumps.”
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Appropriately, the event will double as a fundraiser for the Seva Foundation, an organization Gravy co-founded in 1978 with spiritual leader Ram Dass and esteemed epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant. To date, the foundation has helped restore the eyesight of more than 75 million patients by funding and expanding access to low-risk procedures.
But Seva is not the only seminal organization sparked by Gravy’s passion to do good in the world. He is also co-founder of Camp Winnarainbow, a summer circus and performing arts retreat in Laytonville (Mendocino County) largely populated with campers attending on scholarships.
Izzie Thomas, from left, and Natalie Nelson of San Rafael hoop dance during Hugh “Wavy Gravy” Romney Jr.’s 80th birthday celebration and concert fundraiser for the Seva Foundation at the event center at Sonoma Mountain Village in Ronhert Park in 2016. This year, Wavy Gravy marks his 90th with another benefit concert at the Masonic in San Francisco.
Brian Feulner/For the S.F. Chronicle
That spirit of service has also defined Gravy’s decadeslong friendships, including his relationship with Brilliant, whom he met 50 years ago.
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As Brilliant tells it, he spotted a strange fellow in the corner of a room on a film set wearing a rainbow jumpsuit.
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“Then he smiled, and he had rainbow-colored teeth to match,” Brilliant recalled. “I immediately went up and introduced myself. We’ve been friends ever since that day in June 1970.”
Before they joined forces on Seva, the two spent a stretch of time traveling by bus through the Middle East, stopping in Kathmandu, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan while raising money to feed those they encountered along the way. The experience would have a lasting impact, with Brilliant going on to work with the World Health Organization to help eradicate smallpox.
Eventually, a group that included Gravy, Brilliant, Dass and Apple founder Steve Jobs gathered to determine what humanitarian cause they should tackle next. When Brilliant helping children with diarrheal diseases, Gravy immediately saw comedic potential in the idea.
“He stood up and said, ‘I’ll put on a benefit concert and we’ll call it No S—!’” Brilliant said, with a laugh.
Entertainer and humanitarian Hugh “Wavy Gravy” Romney Jr. will be celebrating his 90th birthday with a benefit concert at the Masonic on Saturday, May 16.
Brian Feulner/For the S.F. Chronicle
That instinct to meet serious issues with comedy remains one of Gravy’s defining traits. Even during his early days as a poet publishing under his birth name, he was known for a pithy style that occasionally saw him paired with Allen Ginsberg for readings in New York City. Later, jokes would become a central conceit in Gravy’s exploits with Ken Kesey’s infamous Merry Pranksters.
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But it all started from a place of preservation.
“Originally, Wavy’s humor was a defense mechanism,” explained Earle, who met Gravy during his early appearances at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival in Golden Gate Park. “He was getting the s— beaten out of him at protests until he figured out that people were hesitant to hit him over the head with a night stick when he was in the clown outfit.”
Even now, during life’s darkest moments, Gravy believes humor can shine through.
“Laughter is the valve on the pressure cooker of life,” Gravy said. “If you don’t laugh at stuff, you end up with your brains — or your beans — on the ceiling. If you don’t have a sense of humor, it just isn’t funny anymore.”
That balance between comedy and compassion has defined much of Gravy’s life, evident in the 2010 documentary “Saint Misbehavin’.”
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Hugh “Wavy Gravy” Romney Jr. 90th birthday celebration at the Masonic on Saturday, May 16, doubles as a fundraiser for the Seva Foundation.
Brian Feulner/For the S.F. Chronicle
For many admirers, Gravy represents a distinctly Californian blend of idealism, irreverence and activism. That’s why on Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom will officially declare May 16 Wavy Gravy Day.
“On this occasion, I wish Wavy Gravy a happy 90th birthday and commend him for the lifetime of joy, humor, and advocacy he has shared with the world,” Newsom said in a statement.
It’s a sentiment that’s fully shared by Wavy’s closest friends.
“I’ve never known anybody else who wakes up and asks themselves how they can be of service in the way Wavy does,” Earle said. “Seva means ‘service’ and that’s what he provides. Just getting to know him and Dr. Larry Brilliant and Ram Dass has made me a much better person than I otherwise would have been.”
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Beneath the jokes and countercultural mythology, Gravy’s message has always been remarkably direct:
“I maintain that love is the answer. Love everybody, and they’ll love you back. Then maybe they’ll love somebody else. It’s contagious, you know!”
Zack Ruskin is a freelance writer.