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Indie Wire Peace, Love and "Wavy Gravy"
By Brian Brooks Thursday, March 19, 2009

"Don't take the brown acid..." was a memorable moment (we're sure among many) of Woodstock documentaries, and it was said aloud at the seminal '60s music event by Hugh Romney, better known as Wavy Gravy (right) who was in Austin for the SXSW Film Festival world premiere of "Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy movie." Wavy Gravy adopted his clown persona in part because clowns get arrested less often then hippies, and he eventually founded Cmp Winnarainbow where he teaches clowning and performing arts. Joining Wavy Gravy is the director of the film, Michelle Esrick and producer, David Becker in Austin.

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Hugh Romney a.k.a Wavy Gravy is, perhaps, best known as the man who dressed like a clown and served as the emcee at Woodstock. Consequently, it would be easy to dismiss him as a mere casualty of the 1960s. Over the course of the past 40 years, however, he quietly has spent his time reducing complicated ideas and politics to their simplest essence. Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie documents the story of his life, yet it is more than just another biopic. It not only is a film that can rejuvenate a person's belief in the power of the human spirit to be a force for positive change, but it also is a reminder - to paraphrase Mother Theresa - that grace and kindness come in many unusual disguises. Michelle Esrick, the director of Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie, wisely chose to portray Romney as a person on a fascinating journey rather than simply as an icon of the counterculture. Like Gandhi, who famously intertwined his life and his message, Wavy Gravy has been a man on a mission. Throughout the past four decades, he hasn't exactly produced a body of enduring art. Yet his daily life, as captured in the film, resonates like great poetry. It must be admitted, however, that nothing Romney has said has been overly profound. His jokes might be cunning and insightful, but they aren't outright hilarious. Likewise, his philosophy, when it is put into words, can be easily attacked as trite and Utopian. Nevertheless, as Romney is shown saying his morning prayers and venturing to the store to purchase wieners and ice cream, an extraordinary person is revealed, one who greets every situation as an adventure, a chance to play, and an opportunity to explore the human condition.

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It seems like a simple concept, trying to do good in the world. That's been the mantra of Hugh Romney, the Beat Generation poet who went on to become the master of ceremonies at the Woodstock Festival and later a peace activist, changing his name to Wavy Gravy.
Today, Gravy putters around his Berkeley, Calif., commune, where he has lived for more than 40 years. And he still engages in humanitarian efforts, hosting music fundraisers to help causes such as bringing cataract surgery to people in poverty-stricken areas of Southwest Asia.
But most of the new documentary from director Michelle Esrick follows his lifetime journey - his early days with Bob Dylan, his later days with Ken Kesey on the Electric Kool-Aid bus, his protests against the Vietnam War, his founding of the Hog Farm commune and his transition from a merry prankster to a court fool to a clown. (Wavy says he started dressing like a clown in part because policemen tend not to beat up protesters who are dressed that way.)
Austin is probably one of the best places for this world premiere. Gravy would be right at home here if he ever left Berkeley, which is unlikely. He's the closest thing to a saint that I'll ever meet. You may, of course, think that I must be hanging around a bunch of heathens. Go see the movie and judge for yourself.

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AS EVER, THE SxSW FILM FESTIVAL is peppered with spicy offerings. None is more piquant - and yet appealingly sweet - than Saint Misbehavin', a documentary assembled lovingly by first-time film-maker Michelle Esrick that profiles Wavy Gravy - an icon of hippiedom who is more, much more than that.

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hippie icon says his peace
By Jon Woodhouse June 11, 2009

Ask Wavy Gravy how he got to stand on stage in front of 400,000 rock fans as an emcee at the legendary Woodstock music festival, and the iconic hippie prankster launches into an amusing, convoluted narrative that begins with his formative days as a beat poet in New York's Greenwich Village. "We have to go back to the late '50s when I studied at Boston University," Wavy explains. "I was a teenage beatnik and studied jazz and poetry. People used to line up around the block to look at beatniks, it was like a geek show, and I was at the best place called the Gaslight (Cafe). I eventually talked the owner into allowing folk musicians to play in between the poems, and as I got tired of reading my poems I started talking about the weird stuff that happened during the day. The next thing you know I'm opening for Peter, Paul and Mary, and Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane, doing this stand-up philosophy. "When Woodstock time rolled along Chip Monk, who built the stage at Woodstock, and used to do lights at The Village Gate where I performed with Monk, he knew I could get on a microphone. What I did was life support announcements and came on between bands, and told people where the medical stuff was, that the acid wasn't going to kill them, and I had some great lines in the film. The one that was picked by Entertainment Weekly as one of the top entertainment lines of the 20th century was - Good morning, what we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000 - which was when we introduced hippies to granola.".

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The State of Things Saint Misbehavin'
By Amber Nimocks and Frank Stasio April 10, 2009

If you know who Wavy Gravy is, you probably think he's either the guy who served breakfast in bed to 400,000 at Woodstock or a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor. In "Saint Misbehavin,'" a new documentary that screened at last week's Full Frame Film Festival, filmmaker Michelle Esrick tells the whole story of this poet, activist, clown and all-around good human. Turns out Woodstock was just the beginning of his journey. Listen in as host Frank Stasio meets Wavy Gravy and Michelle Esrick.

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Herald Sun Reviews Full Frame continues its diverse lineup
By Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan April 3, 2009

The 12th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival got under way Thursday and continues this week. Here are some reviews of featured films.

"Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie."
(1:15 p.m. today, Fletcher Hall. USA, 87 minutes. Followed by Q&A with filmmakers and Wavy Gravy. Directed by Michelle Esrick. Produced by David Becker, executive produced by DA Pennebaker. Edited by Karen K.H. Sim. Cinematography by Daniel B. Gold.)

"Help me be the best Wavy Gravy I can muster." So begins the documentary about the beat poet turned Merry Prankster, Hog Farm commune member, peace activist, clown, husband, father and flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
"Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie" shows viewers that the hippie clown is more than just, well, a hippie clown. He is serious about being happy and helping to make others so, too. The film opens with Wavy Gravy -- real name Hugh Romney -- praying to anyone and everyone spiritual and secular as he starts his day. The camera follows him as he picks up some of his lifetime supply of Ben and Jerry's (a perk of having an ice cream named after him) and hot dogs for a dinner to feed 40 folks on his Hog Farm commune. Yep, the same commune he and wife Jahanara Romney have been part of for decades. The same commune that ran a free kitchen at Woodstock.
Wavy Gravy was the one on the microphone telling people on acid not to freak out, and the one helping them chill out in a tent. His humanitarian work extended beyond the counterculture. In 1978, Wavy Gravy and others started the nonprofit Seva Foundation, which funds international health programs for the poor. The first fundraising concert for cataract surgeries for blind people in India was performed by the Grateful Dead. Wavy Gravy also runs a peacenik children's clown camp, Camp Winnarainbow. The Romneys' own son was named Howdy Dogood, though he changed his name to Jordan when he was 13.
The film touches on other aspects of Wavy Gravy's life, like his early days as a beatnik poet in Greenwich Village with Bob Dylan, and as a Merry Prankster with Ken Kesey's cross country LSD tour chronicled in "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe. But most of the film combines old footage with current interviews of friends of Wavy Gravy today at age 72. His wife said when they married, he told her to expect a life that wasn't boring. He also said he didn't expect to live past 40. Jahanara Romney said that he is human, with faults and makes mistakes, but is also heroic. "He's my teacher and I'm his protector," she said.
She also said that Wavy Gravy is not a character that he puts on for the public. It is who he is. That comes across for the audience, too, and Wavy Gravy's positive vibes are hard to avoid.

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Herald Sun Hippie legend Wavy Gravy documents his own journey
By Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan April 4, 2009

DURHAM -- It is hard to be grumpy around someone with the good vibes of Wavy Gravy, the hippie clown, 1960s counterculture figure and namesake of a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor.
He is spreading peace and laughter in Durham this weekend at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival downtown. The 72-year-old Berkeley, Calif., resident who describes himself as a "Santa Claus to Deadheads" is the subject of the documentary "Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie," which screened at the festival Friday afternoon in the Carolina Theatre. Wavy Gravy -- real name Hugh Romney -- sat down earlier in the day with The Herald-Sun to talk about his life, the film and his work making the world a better place.
Gravy arrived at Full Frame clad in rainbow tie-dyed pants, a black shirt with a tie-dyed rainbow peace sign on it, hat, red clown nose and a fish on a leash named Saul Bass. Director Michelle Esrick said that it would take 10 films to chronicle Gravy's life, so she focused on his message and things that people don't know about him.
"Saint Misbehavin'" shows a side of Gravy that isn't as well known as his association with peace activism, Grateful Deadheads and the Hog Farm commune. Esrick spent a decade on the film that includes archival footage from the '60s.
Gravy started out as a New York beatnik poet with Bob Dylan. After moving to California, he participated in the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, became a staple at Grateful Dead shows and formed the Hog Farm collective, which ran the free kitchen and freak out tent at Woodstock. Later, Gravy helped start the international non- profit Seva Foundation, which funds cataract surgery for the poor. His life today is spent raising funds for Seva and running Camp Winnarainbow for kids. And he's still part of the Hog Farm and married to Jahanara Romney, his wife of more than 40 years.
Gravy said he's weird everywhere, all the time. Asked how he keeps so positive, he started singing, "Accentuate the positive ... ."
"Might as well take it half full than half empty, that's all," he explained. "I do walk to the edge and look over. I gazed into the abyss and decided it's not the best way to spend my time."
"Saint Misbehavin'" also showcases a song Gravy wrote, "Basic Human Needs," which he starts singing when asked about it. Recorded by musicians including Steve Earle, Bonnie Raitt and Bob Weir, Gravy hopes the song will help save the Seva Foundation, whose funding is down in the current economy.
The Wavy Gravy ice cream flavor was discontinued in 2003 after Unilever bought Ben & Jerry's, Gravy said, because using hazelnuts in ice cream wasn't cost effective. So he's talking to the company about bringing him back as a new flavor -- a rainbow sorbet -- to raise money for Seva and Camp Winnarainbow.
Next up for Gravy is more film festivals and a dinner in his honor by Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead to raise money for Seva and Camp Winnarainbow. Gravy hopes the documentary will raise awareness of both.
Copyright 2009 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved.

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Artery: The Independent Weekly's seasonal arts blog The Full Frame interviews: Wavy Gravy and Michelle Esrick
By Derek Anderson April 8, 2009

Watch a short interview with hippie icon and ice cream flavor Wavy Gravy and Michelle Esrick, director of Saint Misbehavin' The Wavy Gravy Movie, following the film's screening at the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C.
Satirist Paul Krasner describes Wavy as the "illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Theresa, conceived one starry night on a spiritual whoopie cushion," to which Wavy has replied, "Some people tell me I'm a saint, I tell them I'm Saint Misbehavin'."

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Wavy Gravy & Director Michelle Esrick at Full Frame from D.L. Anderson on Vimeo

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SXSW Film Reviews and interviews
by Marjorie Baumgarten March 20, 2009

Long before Ben & Jerry's made his name world-famous when the company chose it to describe its latest flavor of ice cream, the clown known as Wavy Gravy was already almost more concept than human being. Those who don't recognize him for his flavor may better remember him as the emcee at the first Woodstock Festival, back when he still used the name Hugh Romney and was in attendance with his fellow members of the Hog Farm Collective, who fed the masses and served as the event's security (the "Please Force") - no doubt accounting for much of the festival's peaceful vibe. This loving documentary traces the performer's career from his days as a beatnik poet and traveling monologist to a Merry Prankster in a jester's hat and later activist clown and humanitarian. "Help me to be the best Wavy Gravy I can muster," he says in his daily oblations. Decades afterward, this icon of the Sixties remains the embodiment of the era's peace-and-love spirit. He does it with humor; he does it with heart. Esrick's biographical survey is a tribute to idealism made manifest.

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ModernFilmZine Review: "St. Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie" tells story of basic human needs
By Michael Knox Sunday, April 5, 2009

When Hugh Romney joined up with Ken Kesey and the rest of the Merry Pranksters who formed the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test team, Romney knew it was an adventure he had to go on.
"It was a chance to sign up on a space ship," Romney said during one sequence of a documentary based on his adventures, "St. Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie."
Romney, who has been known as the clown, Wavy Gravy, ever since blues star B.B. King coined the name, has lived a life that's included being a jester with the Merry Pranksters, building a friendship with the Grateful Dead and traveling the world in an effort to help cure blindness in poor countries.
The film played out to a crowded audience during the Full Frame Film Festival in Durham, N.C. Prior to the movie a crowd of people lined up outside, twisting around the building.

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Wavy Gravy in ‘Saint Misbehavin': Mostly We're Just Trying to Be Groovy
By Gareth Higgins April 3, 2009

Full Frame Day 2: There's a man going round with a red nose making people smile; documentary festivals can be very serious affairs - from 10:30 in the morning it's usually the case that we're plunged into questions of genocide, disease, loss and sorrow. So it was more than a relief when I found Wavy Gravy in the room today.
I missed the sixties by 5 years, and am never sure if the mythology around the decade is the pharmacological residue of the various substances ingested by its protagonists, or the over-statement of a movement that failed by misty-eyed retired peace warriors.
They didn't stop the war; they didn't permeate the culture in any positive lasting way; they didn't change anything, did they?
Hold on, I'm getting a little bit too 'film critic burned out on not realising that being here is a privilege'. Forgive me. Please. That's what Wavy would do.
A better question: What's the problem with fun? What's the problem with trying to bring more love into the world? What's the problem with making people happy just by being in the same room?
'Saint Misbehavin', the film about the former Hugh Romney is dedicated to revealing that this clown is warm on the inside, I think; burdened for his poor and suffering brothers and sisters, and alive to the possibility that smiling can make almost anything better.
'Saint Misbehavin' is about people who were prepared to live beyond the narrow circle of self. Living in community, sharing possessions, helping people look up from the difficulties of the everyday and enjoy it while it lasts, with a detour along the way to help save the eyesight of 2 million people (and counting) in the developing world. The film challenges the notion that the sixties were mostly about self-indulgence. Of course they were nothing but indulgence for some; but we may together suspect they have their reward.
A great Scottish architect once told me that the purpose of architecture is 'to help human beings live better'. I don't know if I'm what passes for a serious film critic or not; and I'm not even sure that I want to be. Not that there's anything wrong with that. So I'm not certain if what I'm about to say is an academically rigorous theory of film, but watching this movie left me thinking that at least part of the purpose of cinema might be the same as designing buildings: to create a space in which people can find more of their better selves; to become the best of what is already within them. 'Saint Misbehavin' isn't necessarily the most aesthetically accomplished documentary I've ever seen, but when you've got this much humanity on screen it does everything I needed it to do. (Have no fear, dear listeners, I haven't lost it - that phrase can apply equally to 'The Exorcist', 'Fanny and Alexander', 'Solaris', 'Magnolia', and any number of other accepted parts of the canon. I just happen to have had an uplifting experience with a delightful documentary today, that turned out to be far more substantial than 'delightful' implies.)
'Saint Misbehavin' becomes more than one man's life story; it's indicative of what living communally can be, and how human security depends on generosity, not fear. It's a modest work of art that wants to gently irritate accepted norms of human behaviour and respectability. It loves all people. It offers what its protagonist has dedicated his life to. It wants to suggest that it is possible to harness the energy that all human beings have toward peace.

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Rally: A different kind of peace march Hundreds of musicians march downtown to celebrate new president, but encourage the end to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
By Joshunda Sanders Sunday, March 22, 2009

As most people walking around downtown Saturday afternoon headed toward South by Southwest festivities, hippie icon Wavy Gravy (born Hugh Romney), bobbed his head to the sounds of musicians gathered at the steps of the Capitol to play songs for peace.
Wavy, who is in town for the premiere of a documentary about his life called "Saint Misbehavin'," gave out hugs, bubbles and smiles to his fellow war protesters Saturday afternoon at the fourth annual demonstration dubbed the Million Musicians March for Peace. Paraphrasing an Emma Goldman quote, he said, "If I can't dance, I don't want your revolution."
Wavy, who was master of ceremonies at Woodstock and who was part of the Hog Farm commune in Berkeley, Calif., was the march's grand marshal, and he hitched a ride on the back of a bright yellow pedicab. He led more than 100 people who marched from the Capitol through downtown to City Hall, waving fuzzy pink peace signs and singing "This Land is Your Land."
The march marked the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. In previous years, the mood of the two-mile march has been more somber, activists said. But the election of President Barack Obama changed that, said Richard Bowden, director of Instruments for Peace, one of the groups that organized the march.
"The new president has changed the mood here," Bowden, 56, said. "This is a better time than any other because we have someone who might listen to us in office. We're providing the energy so he can push the envelope."
The atmosphere was festive, said Marilyn White, 61, "but this is the anniversary of a sad war. We want to show citizens of Austin and all visitors to our city that we care about peace."
As the colorful crowd, dressed in everything from tie-dyed shirts to fluorescent pink T-shirts, made its way down Congress Avenue, people left coffee shops and restaurants to stare, wave or simply smile.
"We have to continue to rage against this war," said Nick Travis, 54, a member of Instruments for Peace.
"Barack Obama can't be everywhere at once, and he's only been president for a short time. But the struggle continues. And it'll go on until after we pass."

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SXSW Video Interview: Hippie Icon Wavy Gravy Talks Peace, Love and Nonsense
By Cole Abaius Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wavy Gravy is the proto-typical hippie. He was a peace-loving, humanitarian warning people about the bad acid before the term was even invented. Over the years, he has done more with his life than most could do in thirty lifetimes - living with Bob Dylan, being a focal point for the beatnik movement, helping to build the folk movement, tripping acid with Ken Kesey, setting up a traveling commune, feeding people at Woodstock for free, living with Bob Dylan, speaking out against war, traveling the globe to bring aid to disaster victims, setting up foundations to raise money and awareness about curable blindness, creating a kid's camp, wearing a clown nose in public, and living with Bob Dylan.
Now, he's the subject of a great documentary, Saint Misbehavin': The Life and Time of Wavy Gravy, directed by Michelle Esrick. Both took some time out of their busy days spent saving the world to speak to us about the process of making the film, the need for compassion today, and the philosophy behind pouring gravy all over the world.
And we got most of it on video...
After I ran out of magic tapeless memory space in my super-advanced camera, we continued talking about whether it's harder for the film to resonate with today's sensibilities which are arguably far removed from the vibe of the 1960s.
"The situation changes so what you do has to change. If you don't change, you're dead, so I try to keep changing," Wavy said. Esrick added that today's climate is actually a very viable ground for planting the seeds of a film like this. Considering that we have a president making a call for people to do service, Esrick sees Gravy as the perfect example, a role model for the public to view, and a focal point that brings about great change and great inspiration for others to do great works.
It's obviously a difficult task to accomplish - not all of us, very few in fact have the sort of natural inclination to help others that Wavy Gravy has, but Esrick made a good point when I asked her how she learned to share that part of her life.
"When I interviewed Bob Weir for the film, I asked, 'what have you learned from Wavy?' or 'what has Wavy taught you?' and he said, 'It's not what he's taught me. He affirms what I already know.'"

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SXSW '09 PODCAST Wavy Gravy and Michelle Esrick
Thursday, March 18, 2009

Wavy Gravy, SAINT MISBEHAVIN' If you only know Wavy Gravy as a delicious ice cream flavor, or as that guy who warned the Woodstock crowd to beware the bad acid circulating, then you really should check out director Michelle Esrick's genuinely uplifting new portrait of the beatnik-cum-activist (and more!) in Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie, screening at this year's SXSW: Saint Misbehavin' reveals the true story of cultural phenomenon Wavy Gravy -- a man whose commitment to making the world a better place has never wavered. We experience the impact one person can have and connect to the hope that each one of us can make a difference while keeping our sense of humor. Wavy Gravy is known as the MC of the Woodstock Festival, a hippie icon, clown, and even a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor. In Saint Misbehavin', we meet a true servant to humanity who carries his message through humor, compassion and a song he sings, called "Basic Human Needs." Weaving together intimate verite footage, reflections from an array of cultural and counter-cultural peers, and never-before-seen archival footage, the film tells a story that is bigger than the man himself.
Though I had never walked into an interview with the disclaimer question, "Are you allergic to incense smoke?", that one wasn't too surprising as my chat with Wavy G. and Esrick also featured a one-stringed instrument, a propeller hat, a clown nose, and bubbles being blown.

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SXSW Report: Keep Austin Wavy
March 17, 2009

MAGNET's Mitch Myers reports from the SXSW Film Conference And Festival, where his viewing schedule included Made In China, The Overbrook Brothers, Wake Up and ... a Wavy Gravy documentary.
Despite the fratboy vibe that pervades SXSW, it was great to see the original hippie clown prince, Wavy Gravy, hustling his tie-dyed documentary, Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie. Of course, it took filmmaker Michele Esrick 10 years to complete the movie, but now you can learn how beatnik storyteller Hugh Romney evolved into the outspoken commune leader, social activist and ice-cream flavor Wavy Gravy. From his early Greenwich Village days sharing a performance bill with Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane to leading humanitarian efforts at the original Woodstock, Wavy has lived long enough to become a counterculture icon. And now you can send your children up to Camp Winnarainbow, where Wavy teaches the performance arts and how to be a clown (in a good way).

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Reel Talks Wavy Gravy and Michelle Esrick
Sunday, March 12, 2009

At SXSW 2009, we're commemorating the release of Warner Home Video's special edition 40th anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu-ray and DVD release of Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music with a special panel, WOODSTOCK: Untold Stories. We're pleased as punch that one of our panelists will be the legendary activist, prankster, and subject of Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie, Wavy Gravy himself. We recently talked to Wavy, along with the director of Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie, Michelle Esrick .

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Wavy Gravy:Relevant in the 60s and Today
By Dan Dunlop April 3, 2009

I admit upfront that I am a huge Wavy Gravy fan. After today, I'm tempted to become a Wavy Gravy groupie. Michelle Esrick directed "Saint Misbehavin'," the film that tells part of the Wavy Gravy Story. (DA Pennebaker was the executive producer on the film.) Wavy and Michelle visited us today in the Full Frame Press Lounge (where my firm is doing pro bono work) and I had the opportunity to film them while they were being interviewed by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan of the Herald-Sun. After the interview I got to hang out with Wavy and Michelle, and listen to more of Wavy's stories. He was extremely gracious and generous with his time. For me, meeting Wavy Gravy was one of the true highlights of the 2009 Full Frame Festival! This guy has more positive energy than anyone I've ever met. As far as I'm concerned, Wavy Gravy is as relevant today as he was in the 60's, in large part because he has chosen to remain relevant through his good works. (Watch the video clip below!)

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Postcard #3 Full Frame 2009
By Darleen Ortega April 4, 2009

Yu's film was followed by my favorite film of the festival so far, "Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie." It turns out that Wavy Gravy is more than just a popular Ben-and-Jerry's ice cream flavor--it's the name adopted by Hugh Romney, an iconic hippie prankster who has lived a particularly inspiring brand of idealism for half a century. He began as a poet in Greenwich Village, friend to Bob Dylan, Ken Kesey, and Tiny Tim, among others. From there he adopted a more comic persona, performing a kind of stand-up routine that provoked people to ask questions and care more deeply. A leader in what came to be the hippie movement, he eventually traveled across America with his freewheeling commune known as "The Hog Farm," and often wore a jester costume, embracing the role of the fool in service of his ideals. He and his remarkable wife of some 40 years, Jahanara, led a sort of security detail at Woodstock that included a kind of reenactment of the biblical feeding of the 5,000, and eventually took a remarkable trip across Europe and through Asia (including through countries like Afghanistan where a westerner would be unable to travel in the same way now), spreading an ethic of warmth and generosity wherever they went. One can't help but compare the footage of that trip with how such a trip might look now; as Wavy Gravy puts it, "War is such a complicated way of getting to know people."
I am telling you, the story may sound goofy from the description, but it is absolutely inspiring stuff, revealing that, for some at least, the hippie movement consisted of a lot more than drugs and free love, but rather of a brand of devotion that some people have actually lived out in the years since. Wavy Gravy, who eventually adopted a clown persona partly because he frequently entertains children (and adults) but also because dressing as a clown (or as Santa or the Easter Bunny) seemed to finally deter police beatings that gravely exacerbated his serious long-standing back problems), is the perfect modern-day example of a sacred fool. As his best friend of many years describes it, when you meet a clown who thinks more deeply than you do and has read more than you have, it throws you, and Wavy Gravy uses the spaces his playful humor opens up to heal and inspire. Jahanara, too (whom the director calls "the ground beneath the clown") is incredibly inspiring; one has the sense of a marriage of equals that truly works, which makes it especially remarkable (and not at all icky) when she professes simply, "He's my teacher and I'm his protector." (I was thrilled to actually get to see them at the Q&A afterwards.) This film really deserves to be seen, so I'll keep you informed of release dates, which I hope will be forthcoming. (9)

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