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FALL SPECIAL
Kinky Friedman Leaves Successful
Rock in Roll Career For Writing
=Now
MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to The Jewish News
N
ew York — Nope,
this isn't no urban
cowboy.
Oh, sure, Kinky Friedman,
who rode herd on that Musi-
cal Texas Jewboys group for
so many years, is here in the
big city, pluggin' his book
with the pop of a six-shooter
and plenty of ammo.
But Kinky, the country
singer, a city slicker? Nah, ya
got more chance of rope-tyin'
a steer headed out for its first
date after a year penned in
with a whole lot of celibate,
bulls.
Kinky talkin' about his
new book Greenwich Killing
Time (Beach Tree Books,
William Morrow), his first
. novel, chock-full of nifty
numbers about killings,
ghosts, double-crossers. He's
callin' it a mystery; the cri-
tics are callin' it a hit.
No matter where he hangs
that sombrero, Kinky still
calls Texas home. So we sit
and talk about that state's
many mysteries, about how a
Jewish hombre from the Lone
Star state hitched his star to
a country singin' career; how
that same dude from Alamo
country can run roughshod
- U' v
■,
... T'
_
Watch out for Kinky; the
guy can lasso a conversation
and then have time left over
to shine his boots.
"My second novel deals
with country music and a
murder at the Lone Star
Cafe," the New York site
which has played home on
the range many a time to
Kinky and the Texas Jew-
boys. "But that's my second
book; let's talk about this
one."
Why not? This one's about
a country singer playin' at
detective. Kinky knows the
character well; heck, the
Ca,“.,
t/1.1.1.1JVCrittiV.1.1.
Kinky Friedman
book's central character is
named Kinky Friedman.
But why would a good ole
boy like Kinky, who last elec-
tion ran for his town's post of
justice of the peace, elect to
write a mystery? "The mys-
tery genre lets you combine
entertainment, humor and
truth," says Kinky, smoking
a 10-foot stogie. (That's Texas
parlance for a long cigar.)
Kinky, the writer, is a
natural. "I was looking for a
re
khat
my presence; -
says, tilting
his 10-gallon hat at a five-
gallon angle. "I wanted some-
thing that could amuse the
American public on the air-
craft."
If the easy rider was aimin'
for easy readin', well, that's
what he got. "My theory is
that to write fiction, you have
to tell the truth," says the
singer/writer who admits to
"a rock 'n roll age of 39,"
meaning, he later says, pos-
sibly somewhat older.
"Kinky, the detective, is
just like Kinky, the writer,"
he says. "He knows that life
he
Entertainer Phil Marcus Esser is performing at 8:30 p.m. every
Wednesday through Saturday at the Red Cedars until Dec. 20.
is too important to be taken
seriously."
And he also shares the
writer's Jewish sensibilities.
"Judaism," says Kinky, flic-
kin' at that cigar, "has a lot
to do with the way I look at
life."
Not to mention with some
of the songs he wrote when
corralling audiences with the
Texas Jewboys — songs such
as "Ride 'em, Jewboy" and
"Top 10 Commandments."
But his first book, while re-
flecting Jewish attitudes and
insights, provides no Jewish
statement. "It's not like my
stage act," he says. "I'm writ-
ing in a bigger casino now."
On the road again — that's
where Kinky gets the gristle
for his characters' shenani-
gans. "You got to live it to
make it come out your horn,"
he smiles.
Yet, despite all those toot-
ing his horn, Kinky is a little
ticked that his many talents
only amuse so-called cultural
experts. "A lot of people are
surprised that I can write,
but to write a great outrage-
ous song is as hard as writing
a great song. People overlook
that."
He is most concerned about
"writing at the top of my ta-
lent." It was important, he
felt, to keep his Kinky detec-
__ tiva in New Ynrk
_hart #1,-
stay there," says Kinky. "I
thought of taking him out of
New York. But that would be
like having Sherlock Holmes
in Dallas."
When it comes to the Big
Apple, Kinky offers a bit of
his own. "I'm what you call a
participating observer, like a
Jew in a strange land."
It's not much better back
home, he says. "Texans are
charming," he says with eyes
closing to a slit, "unless you
have to live with them."
Not that he had any prob-
lems being a Jew in Texas.
He does admit, however, "I
felt like one in a million."
But it's different in New
York. "I came up here and I
find there are eight more like
me."
Impossible. The guy's one-
of-a-kind, and he knows it.
"Being Jewish makes you an
outsider," he says. But he
really hates to generalize. "I
know many Jews who should
have been WASPs and blacks
who should have been Jews.
What America is about is
those Cambodian boat people
— why that little Cambodian
girl who came here not
speaking English and then
two years later winning a
spelling bee, why, she's
Jewish."
No matter how others see
him, Kinky is secure in his
own self-image_ "I see myself
as a country western Mar-
garet Truman," he avows.
But there's no joshing
when it comes to his next
project, a Broadway musical
in which Kinky's collaborat-
ing with popular New York
radio celebrity Don Imus.
I
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