Wednesday, July 02 2008
Editor's note: The following article titled, "The kosher cowboy," by Paul Lester in The Jewish Chronicle (www.thejc.com) sheds light on the life of Kinky Friedman, renaissance man and cigar aficionado. Whether you've seen him on The O'Reilly Factor talking politics, or have enjoyed one of his
Kinky Friedman cigars, Kinky's one of the most interesting people in the business. I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did. - G.K.
Kinky Friedman is a singing, writing, cigar-smoking Texan. Which doesn't make him any less Jewish, he tells Paul Lester
Richard S "Kinky" Friedman has done it all. He toured America in the '70s as part of Bob Dylan's legendary Rolling Thunder Revue with his country band Kinky Friedman & The Texas Jewboys; he has written 28 detective novels; for most of this decade he has penned a column for the magazine Texas Monthly; he runs an animal-rescue ranch, and he was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 election for the office of Governor of Texas. Satirist, novelist, animal-lover - whatever you call him, just do not call him a politician.
"I'm anti-politician," he says, getting ready for a flight to Manchester where he is about to give a lecture on the meaning of life to fans of his witty aphorisms and absurdist worldview. "You want to know my definition of politics? 'Poly' means more than one, and 'tics' are blood-sucking parasites."
The kosher cowboy
