Watch: Clips from New Wavy Gravy Doc
Now 74, Wavy Gravy has led an epic life — he was a founder of the Berkeley Hog Farm commune, the emcee of Woodstock and the inspiration for a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor. It’s all chronicled in the new documentary Saint Misbehavin, which traces his remarkable evolution from beat poet to the world’s most famous hippie — including interviews with friends including Jackson Browne, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Bonnie Raitt. Check out our exclusive clips from the film below.
Clip A
Wavy Gravy’s Dream
1. Gravy still organizes several all-star benefits a year for charitable causes, including funding free cataract operations in third-world countries and Camp Winnarainbow, his own performing arts camp that helps disadvantaged children. In this clip, see Wavy at his benefits with members of the Grateful Dead, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez. “He’s able to bring people together above all others,” Raitt says. “He’s our Pied Piper.”
Clip B
Starting Over
2. Before B.B. King dubbed him “Wavy Gravy” in 1969, he was Hugh Romney, once a poet on the Greenwich Village folk scene — he even shared a MacDougal Street loft with Bob Dylan. “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall’ was written on my typewriter in that room,” he says in the film. In this clip, Gravy discusses how he transformed from underground poet to Lenny Bruce-inspired standup act. “I decided to skip the poems and just talk about my weird day,” he says.
