Still Kinky After All These Years
ROTHENBERG, JENNIE
Still Kinky After All These Years JENNIE ROTHENBERG "I think Judaism's going to flourish when I'm governor. The only problem I have is that I can't get Texans to pronounce the word 'Jewish'...
...Too Jewish, too Jewish.'" Today, Judaism and the Jewish State are still interwoven with Friedman's endeavors...
...For Jews, of course, it just makes them a little uncomfortable...
...He's got his eye on the 2006 race, hoping to enter as an independent...
...It's always one syllable: 'Joosh.' And they pronounce 'Jew' with about eleven syllables: 'He married a Jeeeiiiuuuuuwww...
...Still Kinky After All These Years JENNIE ROTHENBERG "I think Judaism's going to flourish when I'm governor...
...That's not very politically correct...
...And he wears a silver Star of David pendant on a chain around his neck...
...And the only one they know personally is me...
...Earlier that same year, in the jungle of Borneo, Friedman had written the song "Ride 'Em Jewboy," an odd but sincerely moving piece that casts the archetypal wandering Jew as a cowboy wearing the "yeller star" and riding around the "old corral": "I'm, I'm with you, boy / If I've got to ride six million miles...
...In the mid-1980s, Friedman set aside country music and began writing novels...
...He likes to joke that, if elected, he will appoint his Palestinian hairdresser, Farouk Shami, as Texas ambassador to Israel...
...Meet Kinky Friedman, the man who intends to be the next Governor of Texas...
...In the 1970s, as singer and songwriter for The Texas Jewboys, Friedman paired country music melodies with unlikely Jewish themes...
...Friedman, who attended Hebrew school as a child and was Bar Mitzvahed in Houston, first visited Israel in 1968 on his way back from serving in the Peace Corps...
...But the self-declared Texas Renaissance man seems to have every intention of gathering the 45,000 signatures needed to run as an independent candidate...
...Farouk is very close with Israeli mayors of little towns south of Jerusalem," Friedman says...
...As a token of thanks, Friedman offered each Commander in Chief one of his favorite illegally imported Cuban cigars...
...As for his chances of winning, Friedman claims to be optimistic...
...I'll kiss their mothers...
...Such original thinking is exacdy what fans have come to expect from "the Kinkster...
...The goal of his campaign, he says, is to restore independent thought...
...His eccentric literary wit has earned Friedman a host of new highprofile friends: Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are fans of his books, and both hosted him at the White House during their respective administrations...
...But the main thing is to show Sharon and Arafat what can be done...
...This is from the man who once wrote a song called, "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore...
...Both [Jews and Arabs] are ingenious people...
...Friedman's exposure to the nation's top politicians may have inspired his own bid for governor...
...We're talking about putting aside any quarrels about other stuff and seeing if we can make a lot of money for kids...
...The only problem I have is that I can't get Texans to pronounce the word 'Jewish' right...
...I've often said that people in the Texas Hill Country are familiar with two Jews: Kinky Friedman and Jesus Christ...
...Willie [Nelson], on the other hand, recorded the song...
...Despite their shared sense of roguish independence, Friedman and his Muslim business partner do not necessarily see eye to eye on issues like Jewish settlements and Palestinian statehood...
...In fact, he's been warned that it's somewhat dangerous...
...Adding the olive oil venture to his other activities—his animal care-taking duties, his book tour, and his purported five women—it would seem that Friedman had enough on his plate without also running for governor...
...The only problem I have is that I can't get Texans to pronounce the word 'Jewish' right...
...It's always one syllable: 'Joosh.' And they pronounce 'Jew' with about eleven syllables: 'He married a Jeeeiiiuuuuuwww!'" For all his kitschy appeal, the former country singer can strike a surprisingly serious note when discussing politics...
...And I'm very pro-Israel...
...In another, a disgruntled hippie wanders into a synagogue: "My book was backwards, couldn't read / But I got a good rise when I heard that rabbi sing / 'Boruch atoh adonoi, / What the hell are you doing back there, boy...
...I think Judaism's going to flourish when I'm governor," says Friedman who, despite his cowboy sensibility, does not speak with a drawl...
...Later this year, he and Shami will introduce Farouk and Friedman's Olive Oil...
...In his 1997 book Roadkill, for instance, the Kinkster is called upon to rescue his onetime touring companion Willie Nelson from an ominous Indian curse...
...and "How hard could it be...
...He writes a column called "The Last Roundup" for Texas Monthly Magazine— always on a typewriter, never on a computer—and is not shy about appearing politically incorrect...
...He has written more than a dozen to date, each starring himself as a retired country singer who solves mysteries with the help of his real-life friends...
...In fact, he and Shami are launching a new olive oil business whose proceeds will benefit both Israeli and Palestinian children...
...During my campaign, I won't kiss babies...
...They just don't work together at all...
...Some of his other books are Elvis, Jesus & Coca Cola and Kinky Friedman's Guide to Texas Etiquette: or How to Get to Heaven or Hell Without Going Through Dallas-Fort Worth...
...Friedman has enjoyed some measure of success selling food products—including Kinky's Private Stock Salsa and Kona Kosher Blend Coffee—in support of his animal rescue ranch...
...Deep in the heart of Texas, about an hour northwest of San Antonio, lives a one-ofa- kind cowboy...
...He has five girlfriends...
...In one song, a Jewish truck driver wins the heart of a waitress by ordering corned beef on rye...
...Kind of like Jackie Mason said—people would come up to him after his shows and shake their heads...
...Bob [Dylan] used to sing that song in the shower, but he never sang it onstage," says Friedman...
...There are problems there," Friedman admits...
...We'll see how that works out...
...He taps out bestselling mystery novels on an old typewriter...
...The first item on his web site, KinkyFriedman.com, is a plea to exonerate Texas death row prisoner and Jew Max Soffar, who Friedman believes was coerced into making a false confession...
...Born Richard Friedman, Kinky earned his moniker some 35 years ago when he began growing out his dark, frizzy hair...
...Texas didn't get to be the Lone Star State by being politically correct," Friedman says...
...His campaign slogans are "Why the hell not...
...We need more loose canons...
...He recently cancelled the European leg of his book signing tour, in support of his new novel The Prisoner of Vandam Street, to protest European criticism of the United States...
...He shares his ranch with 70 homeless animals including dogs, cats, pigs and armadillos...
...It's not clear just how much money he's raised, but he does sell kitschy items on his website, such as a $15 poster with the slogan: "Kinky for Governor: How Hard Could It Be...
...His official bumper sticker features the Texas flag with a Star of David replacing the five-pointed Lone Star...
...I'm anti-Europe right now and anti-U.N.," says Friedman...
...I'm amazed at the reaction that Gentiles have had to it, which is quite often tears...
Vol. 29 • August 2004 • No. 4
