Something Good for a Change: Random Notes on Peace Thru Living

Proselytizing without preaching, Wavy Gravy (ne Hugh Romeny and perhaps best known as chief of the Please Force at the Woodstock music festival) puts forth his simple message of comedy and caring in a delightful collection of essays whose message is simple: life hurts only when you don't laugh. Gravy presents a mishmash of Buddhism, '60s political issues, advice on fund-raising and eulogies to Janis Joplin, Lenny Bruce and Abbie Hoffman, among others, and does so with such a sense of balance and humor that his occasional tendency to slide into aging-hippie doublespeak is incidental. His description of his work as a counselor in children's hospitals is particularly poignant, while his account of his own suicide attempt is darkly playful (``death bit down, found me wanting, and spat me back into the world''). Soap bubbles, garbage, various causes and one unique political campaign (in which Gravy runs for a city council seat in a clown costume) are all part of this romp through what's left of the counterculture. (June)