October 25, 2018 500 AM
Noticias Breves
Kinky Friedman, a recent graduate from UT Austin, released his first album in 1973, recorded in Nashville, with his band The Texas Jewboys. Shortly thereafter, the National Organization of Women named Kinky “Male Chauvinist Pig of the Year”, maybe mostly for his song on that album, “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed.” I asked Kinky if he thought feminists had developed a sense of humor in the ensuing years or that his lyrics had evolved? “Definitely the latter!” he barked, which got a great laugh from this feminist, so maybe both.
Kinky will perform at the Presidio Trading Post and Cantina in mid-November.
His music and language, with a full repertoire of political incorrectness, got his band thrown off stage by the manager at a Dallas club right after the initial launch of “Sold American,” that first album. “It was a serious buzz kill, and probably due to language,”, inky opined. Willie Nelson, living in Dallas at the time, heard about the kerfuffle and invited Kinky over to his home and got him back on his feet. “Willie can heal broken hearts with music,” Kinky says of that time with Willie with great affection, and marked the beginning of a lasting friendship. When Kinky felt his music wasn’t going anywhere he turned to writing, 25 mystery novels later, and 15 books on Texas published, he found himself languishing.
Eventually in 2006, Kinky wandered head on into politics for real, not just in lyrics, running for Governor of Texas, which happened to be a very large detour. Kinky campaigned hard, enlisting friends far and wide. Janie and Dick Deguerin, part time residents of Marfa, hosted a fundraiser for Kinky’s political campaign, and remembered he walked in the Marfa Lights parade that same year.
Kinky also became a regular guest on “Imus in the Morning,” a New York morning drive time talk show on WFAN the sports talk radio station, for a host with a reputation for being less than erudite, even downright petty and insulting to anyone and everyone he imagines slighted him. Imus, who Kinky calls, “A whore with a heart of gold”, never trash talked Kinky, or his books, and promoted his run for governor with enthusiasm. Consequently, like Marfa itself, Kinky became more widely known in metropolitan area of New York, than in other parts of Texas. Kinky claims he “won the governorship in every state but Texas,” however he did not win in Texas.
At 3am, sitting at home alone watching reruns one morning Kinky got a call from Willie Nelson wanting to know what he was up to. “Watching ‘Matlock’, Kinky truthfully responded. “That’s a sure sign of depression. You have to turn off the TV and start writing songs again.” Kinky turned off the TV, wrote 12 songs in a month, which he affectionately calls “The Matlock Collection,” and credits Willie as the guy who picked up his spirit and inspired him for a second very important time in his life. After a 40-year hiatus, Kinky returned to music with his new recently released album, “The Circus of Life”. Kinky speaks with great affection and reverence for Willie who “faced dangerous, squalid challenges in the first part of his career, living in poverty in a trailer park with three small children, and then even more difficulty navigating a rise to stardom. Failure anyone can do well, success is harder.” Kinky feels Willie has honestly come to deserve the moniker Kinky has bestowed as the “Hillbilly Dali Lama.” “Because one never knows what effort will touch people, it’s critical to continue with figuring out what one’s personal Matlock might be, getting it out of the way, and seeing what can be accomplished,” says Kinky, now at 71, the philosopher raconteur. He learned from the guy in the cell next to Nelson Mandela, that while imprisoned Mandela listened to “Ride ‘Em Jewboy,” a ballad referencing the holocaust, from his first album smuggled into the prison, every night before he fell asleep. So truly, one never knows.
Kinky’s now wrapping up his latest album, “Mandela’s Blues,” as well as a new non-fiction book, The Adventures of Bobbie and Louie,” a Huck Finn/Tom Sawyer type memoir of Bob Dylan and his childhood friend (who co-authors) Louie Kemp, who had a full access back stage pass for 55 years of Dylan concerts and remembers everything.
The leap across the years lands Kinky back into music with what he characterizes as a more “Buddhist” feel to his songs. The Los Angeles musician and music writer Mike Simmons now calls Kinky the “Leonard Cohen of Texas.” Reached on the phone at his ranch, Kinky was working on writing songs with Chet O’Keefe, who was visiting from Terlingua. They met years ago in Scandinavia, when Chet opened for Kinky. Now he brings Kinky to the Presidio Trading Post and Cantina, November 17 at 8pm. Chet O’Keefe will once again open the set. Tickets are $15.
Kinky’s realm of influence and friendship captured in his wide net may not have won him the governorship of Texas, but he swears he’s “the governor of the hearts of Texas.” I suggested this sounds a little Princess Diana, who famously professed to wanting to be the queen of people’s hearts. This got a great laugh. Cigar and sense of humor firmly in place – Kinky’s back.
