The “Texas Jewboy”, Allen’s old friend, Kinky Friedman turns 77 years old today [November 1 2021 – he was thus 79, on his passing, June 27, 2024 ]
Kinky:
“Great artists, in my reckoning, have always been out-of-control forces, invariably intertwining passionately their lives with their art. Examples are Van Gogh, Mozart, Charles Bukowski, Hank Williams, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, Stephen Foster, Allen Ginsberg, etc, etc…”
“I believe in passionately interweaving your life and your work, like Allen Ginsberg or Willie Nelson. … Every poem Ginsberg wrote may not have been great. But his spirit was.”
“Hey Kinky doesn’t understand me. He’s been in Texas too long. I told him he ought to live with Allen Ginsberg for a year, that’ll straighten him out”. (Bob Dylan quoted in Larry Sloman’s On The Road with Bob Dylan)”
” I don’t understand music, I understand Lightnin’Hopkins, I understand Lead Belly, John Lee Hooker, Woody Guthrie, Kinky Friedman” (Bob Dylan)
Unapologetically “politically incorrect” (that’s part of Kinky’s schtick) – he was also provocatively and politically informed (that’s why Allen loved him). How could you not like the author of such classics as “Arsehole From El Paso” and “They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore” ? –
Kinky famously ran for Governor of Texas in 2006, one of two independent candidates in the race. Here‘s interview footage from that time – and here and here
– and here‘s his then campaign message
Kinky also has a whole additional career as a hugely popular mystery writer, beginning with Greenwich Killing Time (1986).
Here’s a list of his books in chronological order
Here’s (from the end of last year (2020). Kinky Friedman – A Brief Portrait