Actors - Kinky Friedman

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	Actors - Kinky Friedman

Richard F. "Kinky" Friedman, (born October 31, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, novelist and currently an independent candidate for the office of Governor of the State of Texas.

Personal life

Born in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish parents, Friedman's family moved to a ranch in central Texas during his childhood. He had a keen interest in both music and chess at an early age. Friedman was chosen when he was seven years old to be one of fifty local chess players to challenge Polish-born U.S. grand master Samuel Reshevsky to simultaneous matches in Houston. While Reshevsky won all fifty matches, Friedman was by far the youngest competitor. Friedman graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts, double-majoring in Psychology and Plan II Honors. He then served two years with the Peace Corps in Borneo with John Gross. He has been featured in the news including 60 Minutes on CBS and made an appearance as one of Jay Leno's guests.

Friedman currently lives at Echo Hill Ranch, his family's summer camp near Kerrville, Texas, just outside of Medina. He also founded Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, whose mission is to care for stray, abused and aging animals; more than 1,000 dogs have been saved from euthanasia.

Music career

Friedman formed his band, The Texas Jewboys, in the early 1970s. Friedman's father objected to the name of the band, calling it a "negative, hostile, peculiar thing."

Arriving on the wave of country rock following on from Gram Parsons, The Band and Eagles, Friedman originally found cult fame as a country and western singer. His repertoire mixed social commentary ("We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You") and maudlin ballads ("Western Union Wire") with raucous humor (such as "Get Your Biscuits In The Oven and Your Buns In Bed"). His "Ride'em Jewboy" was an extended tribute to the victims of the Holocaust.

He confronted racism and anti-Semitism head-on in the song, "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore," a song in which the fictitious Kinky verbally and physically beats up a drunken White racist who berates African Americans, Jews, Greeks and Sigma Nu's in a bar.

Sample lyrics: "You know, you don't look Jewish, near as I can figger, I had you lamped for a slightly anemic well-dressed country nigger!"

and

"Oh, they ain't makin' Jews like Jesus anymore, They ain't makin' carpenters that know what nails are for"

In the spring of 1976 he joined Bob Dylan on the second leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour.

Friedman was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live
in October 1976. It has been reported by Mr. Friedman himself that he is the only artist known to have taped an episode of Austin City Limits only to have it never reach the airwaves.

Album Discography

Sold American (1973)
Kinky Friedman (1974)
Lasso From El Paso (1976)
Live From The Lone Star Cafe (1982)
Under the Double Ego (1983)
Old Testaments and New Revelations (1992)
From One Good American To Another (1995)
Classic Snatches from Europe (2000)
Mayhem Aforethought (2005)
They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore (2005)

Writing career

After his music career stalled in the 1980s, Friedman found a new lease on life as a detective novelist. His books have similarities to his music, featuring a fictionalized version of himself solving crimes in New York City and dispensing jokes, wisdom, Texan charm and Jameson's whiskey in equal measure. They are written in a straightforward style which owes a debt to Raymond Chandler.

Friedman has also written a regular column for the magazine Texas Monthly since April 2001, although it has been suspended during his run for governor of Texas; his last essay appeared in the March 2005 issue.

Selected bibliography

Greenwich Killing Time (1986, ISBN 0688064094)
A Case Of Lone Star (1987, ISBN 0517694271)
When The Cat's Away (1988, ISBN 0517075644)
Frequent Flyer (1989, ISBN 0688081665)
Musical Chairs (1991, ISBN 0688091482)
Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola (1993, ISBN 0671869221)
Armadillos and Old Lace (1994, ISBN 067186923X)
God Bless John Wayne (1995, ISBN 0684810514)
The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover (1996, ISBN 0684803771)
Roadkill (1997, ISBN 068480378X)

Blast From The Past (1998, ISBN 0684803798)
Spanking Watson (1999, ISBN 0684850613)
The Mile High Club (2000, ISBN 068486486X)
Stepping On A Rainbow (2001, ISBN 0684864878)
Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch (2002, ISBN 0684864886)
Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned (2003, ISBN 006620979X)
Curse of the Missing Puppethead (2003, ISBN 0970238363)
Prisoner of Vandam Street (2004, ISBN 0743246020)
'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out (2004, ISBN 0060539755)
Ten Little New Yorkers (2005, ISBN 0743246039)

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