1. Being Kinky

    Posted in: Videos on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

    kinky friedman on being kinky

    This being a big election year, and with one party having trouble falling in love with a candidate, I thought it would be fun to look back at one of my favorite candidates for public office.  Kinky Friedman ran for Governor of Texas a few years ago in one of the most entertaining campaigns ever staged by someone who was serious about getting elected.  He had bumper stickers that read, “He Ain’t Kinky, He’s my Governor”  and “Kinky for Governor, How hard Can It Be?”  For the record he was campaigning against the incumbent Governor of Texas, Rick Perry.

    I’ve known Kinky since the mid seventies.  When we first met he was writing and performing country music with a satirical social message.  Satire and irreverent humor don’t usually translate into elected office.  Of course in those days he wasn’t running for anything, although he may have been running from a few things.   He had one band called the “Exxon Brothers”, but correspondence from Exxon’s legal department forced a name change and the group became “Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys.”  For the benefit of the concerned politically correct, members of the JDL were some of his biggest supporters.  They got the joke and the message.

    In 1986 he ran as a Republican for Justice of the Peace in Kerrville, Texas.  He lost that election, an outcome he would duplicate as an independent running for Governor in 2006.  In between his two runs for office, Kinky was still singing some but primarily he became a novelist, writing mystery novels staring himself as a country singer / private detective.  It was during this time in the late 80’s that I drove my red Cadillac down to Kerrville to do a story about Kinky for the TV Show, “USA Today on TV”.

    By the way, the red ’63 Cadillac, which still runs and was the car used in all my “Flying the Coupe” stories is now in my driveway and it’s For Sale.  It comes with a copy of all the “Flying the Coupe” stories if anyone is interested.

    This video in which Kinky sings some, reads a few lines from one of his novels, and shares a bit of the Kinkster’s philosophy will give you a glimpse of the colorful character that later tried to be Governor.  It may also explain why his campaign got a lot of coverage from the press, but not enough votes from the public.  I say his not winning was a big loss for Texas.  And who knows, had he won, this year Kinky might be the front-runner in the Republican primaries.

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  2. Belinda Carlisle in the Red Cadillac

    Posted in: Videos on Sunday, February 20th, 2011

    watch?v=aCpFXUw2yE0

    A confession.  I’m an “American Idol” junkie.  I know it’s embarrassing for a guy my age.  I even swore off the show at the end of last year saying no more.  But out of curiosity to see what the new judges would be like I checked out an early show this year.  Steven Tyler, who knows something about addiction, has got me hooked on the show again.  He’s honest, funny, compassionate, and entertaining,  just a real person connecting with viewers and contestants.

    But that still doesn’t explain my long running obsession with American Idol.  Unlike most of those who try out for the show, I know I can’t sing. And yet I’m convinced I know who can sing, what songs they should be singing, and I think I know when they go off key.  So I do my own judging each week from my couch, much to the annoyance of my family.

    I lay claim to some expertise in this area because I used to cover the music industry as journalist.  For about five years during the time I was a correspondent for the Today Show record companies sent me copies of every new album they released.  I went to countless concerts in small clubs and big arenas, went on tour with some groups, went to recording sessions, and for a while did a segment on the show called “On the Record”.

    Of course that doesn’t make me a music expert, but it does give me a good baseline for comparison.  And like most journalists who have a little bit of exposure to those on the inside it gives me the confidence to spout off with a air of authority.  What really got me thinking about my past connections to the music business was a talk I gave this week to media and broadcasting students at Drexel University in Philly.  While talking about the twists & turns my career has taken, the music stories came up and I was remembering how much fun I had on some of those interviews.   Later I also also did a few music stories while working for USA Today on TV.

    This Belinda Carlisle story was one of my USA Today interviews from 1989.  She didn’t quite know what to expect when I asked her to do the interview in my Cadillac convertible sitting in the parking lot, but she smiled and went along with it.

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