The doctor’s son who grew up as Richard and gained fame as Kinky
When Dr. Thomas Friedman moved his family from Chicago to central Texas in the mid 1940s, he could not have known the repercussions would last for more than half a century.
The doctor’s son, who grew up as Richard and gained famed as Kinky, is a musician, author, politician and cultural provocateur who defines the unofficial motto of the Texas capital city: Keep Austin Weird.
Friedman, an infrequent touring musician, visits the Southgate House Sunday night as part of the Springtime for Kinky tour. If that name sounds vaguely similar to the play at the center of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers,” it should. This is the man who led the rollicking band of misfits known as Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys who traveled the country entertaining fans with tunes such as “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “A—— from El Paso.”
“I don’t spend much time on the road these days,” says the candidate for governor of Texas in 2006. “But when I do go out, I realize that being a musician is a great thing.
“I’ll play some music, tell some stories, read from the books and then I’ll sign anything that people want me to.”
That might include “Heroes of a Texas Childhood,” which features 23 stories about people who influenced him including Sam Houston and Lady Bird Johnson. Friedman is a firm believer in learning from history.
“There are kids growing up in Texas today who don’t know who Barbara Jordan is, who Audie Murphy is,” he says. “That’s just a shame.”
It’s no surprise that Houston, Jordan, the former U.S. congresswoman, and former Texas governor Ann Richards are high on his list, but Lady Bird might raise eyebrows. It makes sense, however, when he talks about being a personal friend of George W. Bush.
“Well, I knew Laura Bush, who was a very good librarian and librarians are good people,” says Friedman, who makes the distinction about her husband the person from her husband the former president. “And I’m friends with Bill Clinton too, although I think they’re both probably psychotic. Ambition does that to people.”
This exchange leads into a rambling – but focused – discourse on American politics.
“There is not one person in this country who is a visionary or a leader today,” he said. “There are only three honorable men in Congress and you (Ohio) have one of them: Dennis Kucinich, (Vermont senator) Bernie Sanders and (Texas congressman) Ron Paul.”
This is a taste of what might take place Sunday night. Is it surprising that a person who draws a line from cowboy actor Audie Murphy to Sanders, the socialist lawmaker from New England, is also a former Peace Corps volunteer and the founder of Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch near his home in Kerrville, Texas?
One night with Kinky can only touch the surface of the man’s breadth.
Kinky Friedman performs “They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore”.