Kinky Friedman on the "Texas Monthly" Hour
2003 July 06
Kinky on "Texas Monthly" Hour
Kinky Friedman, a Texas icon, legend, and crazy person, was interviewed by the editor of the Texas Monthly magazine on their weekly TV show today. I saw only half the interview, but the Kinkster was in fine form. A few highlights.
Digression: For those not very familiar with Kinky, he is actually Richard Friedman, writer (18 books), folk singer (9 albums), New Yorker (for many years), amateur detective, humorist, animal rescue rancher, salsa vendor, and wild man from Borneo. He is currently running for governor of Texas. Yee ha! Check out www.kinkyfriedman.com for a full dose of weirdness. End of digression.
He ran for Justice of the Peace in his home town of Kerrville but didn't win. "My fellow Kerr-verts returned me to the private sector." His campaign slogan was, "If you elect me the first Jewish Justice of the Peace, I'll lower the speed limits to fifty-four ninety-five!"
He's a friend of Dubya. [He used to be a FOB (Friend Of Bill).] He has shared Cuban cigars with both of them. [Yes, there's this pesky embargo thing against Cuba. So it's illegal to import Cuban products. So you'd think that Cuban cigars might not be welcome in the halls of government.] Kinky tells them to think about it differently: "We're not helping their economy. We're burning their fields."
The postmaster in the Medina, Texas, post office called him excited one day. "You have a package from the White Horse Saloon! You know, that place in Nashville where they do the line dancing." Of course, the package was from the White *House*, not the White Horse, but no one was expecting that. And it was less exciting, anyway.
His books sell well overseas. "I just got a royalty check for the translation of 'Spanking Watson' into Croatian." His books do very well overseas, don't know exactly why, but some people do better for export than at home. Martin Luther King and Gandhi, for instance. The books do very well in Germany. "The Germans are my second favorite people." Who are the first? "Everybody else."
He is apparently the second biggest author now with his publisher. The first is Mary Higgins Clark, who gets like eighty million dollars per book. "But no sentient being that I ever met has read anything by Mary Higgins Clark."
The interviewer, Evan Smith, is the editor of Texas Monthly magazine. He thinks that the Kinkster thinks young for his age. Kinky credits his years with the Peruvian marching powder for stimulating his brain. "I'm fifty-eight, but I read at the 60-year-old level."
Lastly, he talked about Willie, who is an old friend of his. He talked to Willie recently, around the beginning of the recent Iraq war. Kinky was pro-war and Willie was not. "Willie, this guy is a tyrannical bully. We have to take him out." Willie responded, "No, Kinky, he's our president and we should support him." Ta-dum. Old joke, but good.
